The Unseen

I read a book by a friend who recently passed into glory.  He was one of a few I know who dedicated his life to seeing God's Word translated into some of the world's forgotten languages.  His book was a reminder to me that these languages, and especially the peoples who speak them are far from forgotten by God their maker, they remain, and always have been, very close to His heart.  That is why God persists on calling out numbers of his faithful people to leave their home and their people and to bring the word of God where is has not yet been shared.

 

After many years of working at this task my friend decided to do a promotional walk of 2000 kms stopping at each town along the way for a meeting in a local church.  The theme of the meetings "2000 kms for 2000 languages."  There are in fact many more than 2000 languages in which no significant part (verse) of the Bible has been translated.  How to communicate the reality of the situation?  Have you ever tried brushing your teeth with your other hand?  Try it please this evening, and you will get a small insight into what it is like for many trying to read, understand and live out the Christian faith in a language that is not their mother tongue.  In French we call a left handed person who is forced to function with their right "un gaucher contrarié" which could be back-translated into English as "an upset left-hander" and I do think that the English translation brings out some of the reality of those who are wired one way and are forced to function another.

 

Another example of why it is important to have the Scriptures in your mother tongue : At one point my friend was working with his partner Bible translator.  The translator used the Arabic word for "faith" in the translation.  "Why?," asked my friend.  The translator was fluent in three European languages, Arabic and his own mother tongue.  "There is no word for faith in my language so we must use 'iman' was the reply of his translator."  A difficult situation.  My friend began then searching through several hundred local proverbs he had compiled in the language looking for a word that could be used.  He eventually found a proverb that said something like this "if your house cannot be trusted and might fall down, get out of it quickly."  When he discussed the proverb with the translator he realised that the translator (even with all his other language knowledge) had not come to understand that the word trust is much closer to the real meaning of faith than for example "ritual prayer or observance of religious rites." It was only when this very translator received this key concept of his faith in his own mother tongue that he was able himself to grasp the heart of the word faith, one of the most important words and concepts in the Bible.