Lost in Translation
By CKL
HAVE you ever tried to explain how sin prevents us from having a relationship with God to someone from a Chinese-educated, Taoist or Buddhist background? For them, sin is not that big a deal. But shame and honour are. Yes, Christ did take away our shame and restored our honour, but how do you explain this without addressing sin?
Likewise, saying "Jesus is the Son of God" in an Englishspeaking church context sounds perfectly normal. But in a different culture, this statement can cause confusion and indignation. It can cause great offence especially among those who believe that God cannot literally have children.
This is why we need a contextualised Bible, one that is culturally and linguistically appropriate, yet faithful to the intended meaning of Scripture. The first time I heard of such a bible was in 2005, when I stepped into the ministry field.
But before that, in preparation to join the field, I had learned all the ways in which to share the Good News: The Four Spiritual Laws, the Jesus Experience and several others. I thought I was prepared, until I arrived in the Central Asian country where I was to serve on a one-year short term trip.
When I got there, I discovered the mindset and culture were so different that what I had learned had almost no impact beyond a small number of university students who wanted to improve their English. In the rural areas (where the majority of people lived), I might as well have been talking quantum physics as far as they were concerned! How do you share about Christ in a culture where the word "Christian' comes across negatively as a colonial or imperialist religion?
I have learned since then, that we sometimes make the mistake of sharing Christianity - the do's and don'ts that we seem to think makes us Christians - and not Christ. When I came back to Malaysia after that year in Central Asia, I prayed: God, show me how to share Christ without sharing Christianity.
When I joined the ministry field full-time in 2005, I first heard of the (then) on-going project to translate the Bible into a culturally more contextualised and appropriate version. This translation has been completed and is in use in some countries today, amidst a lot of controversy in Christian circles1. One of the hot issues then still remains a hot issue now: the Son-ship and divinity of Jesus.
The struggles of translators then are the same struggles field workers are facing now: do we lead people to Jesus using a "watered-down", culturally inoffensive version of the Bible, and then do a bait-and-switch once they come to faith? Do we find other words, in their local language, to say that Jesus "represents" God to avoid using the word "Son", or that God is "Master" to replace "Abba Father" which Jesus used to address God - so that we don't offend our listeners?
What happens then, if listeners come to salvation based on this watered-down version of Scripture?
Here's the crux of the issue. Those responsible for the watered-down translations say they did so because "the translations have never been about avoiding controversy, but choosing words that most accurately reflect the Gospels: Some concepts relating God to family members don't make sense in some cultures".
But, that is how God has revealed Himself to us, in the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If we obscure this, how are new believers going to learn about the Triune Godhead? How will they learn about Jesus' fully divine nature? This is not merely a doctrinal or theological issue, but one that goes to the very heart of our faith: Who is this God that we worship and have given our lives to?
Where I am now, the sharing of the Good News is being done the hard way. We don't obscure the human-divine identity of Jesus. We don't avoid the Fatherhood of God. Does our message get rejected? Yes, very much so! Some of our local workers have been spat upon. Some have been chased out of villages. Others (not from the organisation I'm working with) have been arrested. Should we be surprised? No. Weren't the very person and claims of Jesus so offensive to the Pharisees that they wanted to stone him (John 8: 48-59)?
While we don't bombard people with theology, we tell them stories from the Bible. We tell them what Jesus says about God the Father and about himself. And we leave the hearers to reflect on the message. It is a slower method, for sure. Sometimes we have to repeat the stories again and again until the hearers catch the core teaching and meaning. But we are slowly seeing results. I was present when I heard a man, a simple fisherman, much like Peter, say: "If Jesus is not God, then we are wasting our time!"
Until the day comes when there is contextualised Bible that is faithful and accurate, we will keep on telling stories, one at a time, until the truth is revealed to those who have ears to hear (Matthew 13: 9).
Do pray that the Holy Spirit will move the hearts of believers to fund such a project, and others to give their time and energy to make this happen.
Note: CKL is serving in Southeast Asia
1 Some Western Bible translation agencies have produced translations of the Bible that are deemed less offensive for certain cultures by substituting the Father, Son and Son of God with other words or descriptions. This has resulted in a divisive controversy among Christians and missionaries from the West, with major denominations threatening to pull funding from certain translation agencies. The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is in the midst of conducting a review of such translation practices. To read more about this issue, visit www.biblicalmissiology.org. |
