I had the pleasure of emceeing the Kitchener Waterloo branch of the Canadian Bible Society annual dinner - and it gave me a new appreciation for the work of the United Bible Societies.
During the evening, Hart Wiens, Director of Scripture Translations, played a short video of a village Indonesia receiving the New Testament in their native language. While I have always understood the Bible Societies having their goal of translating, publishing, distributing the Word of God and encouraging its use, I haven't really seen what that work looks like until today.
Here is a link to the 10 minute version of the video that was played this evening.
Not to be a downer, but what exactly is wrong with the tribal "religions" and cultural practices these people followed originally.
ReplyDeleteTranslated bibles are great to be able to read without learning a new language, but they also make it easier to push out local traditional cultural practices. In a lot of places throughout the world many of these traditions are on the verge of being totally destroyed. Local language bibles can only serve to hasten this process of western Christian ideology.
The elder woman who spoke up in the inspiring linked video is a great example of this in action. She said they were excepting the words of the book, and will now in local language be able to teach the youth. (this means they will learn less of the tradition knowledge, and bible stuff instead)
It is unfourtunate, but Christians have a long negative history of missionary work. Encouraging locals to become Christian under the guise of helping, and for centuries before that they didn't even help, they just forced it on people.
From a Christian perspective, what would be considered wrong about tribal religions is that they will not lead to an eternal life in heaven.
ReplyDeleteI can understand your point of view - because if you don't believe in Jesus, and that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one gets to the Father except through Jesus, then your points are very much understood in my opinion and there wouldn't be much point for me to provide a rebuttal. As Christians we are called to preach the Gospel to all.
What I can say is that there are many languages that are becoming dead or extinct languages for different reasons, and in some cases, the Bible is actually helping to preserve these languages. I can speak first hand of an experience I had in Attawapiskat, Ontario, where in some cases the children there are unable to speak the native language of their grandparents. This is because the children there learn english from watching tv via satellite dishes.
In this example, having the Bible translated into a native language is actually allowing for the language to be preserved.
As far as making people become Christians I would argue that it is not our job as Christians to make people become Christians, just as Jesus did not force anyone to follow Him. We are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength first and secondly, love our neighbour as ourself.
Lastly, if the people in the video chose to live as the missionaries because the missionaries genuinely loved everyone in the village, and the people in the village wanted to share the love they received from the missionaries with the people they came in contact with, would you still fault them for wanting to know where the missionaries learned to become like that?
That makes sense, as to the reason for spreading the gospel, as a Christian it is seen as your duty.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, I'm happy to hear about the bible helping to preserve a disappearing language. I think historically and over the long run this is generally not the case. There certainly are many other factors, like the TV you mentioned, that destroy peoples local languages and cultures.
I would not fault people for wanting to love as the missionaries do, and spread that feeling.
I'm also certain that the intent of most missionaries is to spread this love.
I just find it sad the all over the world local "pagan" traditions are lost or changed due to Christian, or Muslim missionaries and their spreading of "Love" of their own beliefs.
peace
Thanks for being honest and open with your reply. There are so many influences changing local culture and traditions for sure. I think of how there was such a protest to have a Walmart located in St. Jacobs, Ontario, and how after a long struggle a Walmart was finally put up.
ReplyDeleteIf the missionaries were / are pushing Christianity similar to the Walmart situation, then I would say that is a bad thing for sure. If, however, the local people accept the message and embrace it, and decide to follow Jesus, then I would be ok with that as the culture would be evolving based on new found information. I would hope that the previous culture would be incorporated into the practices of the Christian faith, provided it doesn't contradict with what God asks of his followers (for example, worshiping other gods).