Why translate the Bible?

here is a brief essay from a friend of mine, a translator whom I've helped many times with computer advice and repair

Why Bible translation? Why not just preach the gospel to them?

Missionaries have been preaching in Papua New Guinea for over 100 years and many good churches have been established. But on any given Sunday in the village where we work, you can hear the following things being taught:

Jesus died for our sins and we should follow him. He is the way to a relationship with God.

Or, you might hear that you can’t be a Christian unless an apostle from that particular church baptizes you. He will write your name in the book of life, which is at church headquarters in Kitchner, Ontario.

Or, you might hear that Jesus was only the messiah for the white people. In order to please God you must take food sacrifices to King Charles, the messiah for Papua New Guinea. He lives in Arkosame a village about a hundred miles away.

Who do you believe? What makes any one of those messages more believable than the other – the color skin of the messenger, how loudly he speaks his message, how much money he gives you to come to his church, how well you know him?

When the Bible is used in a church service, it is the Pidgin (trade language) translation. You might also hear this familiar passage read: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. The pastor then applies this verse by saying that it means you should not smoke or chew bettlenut.

Part of the problem is that while we have many churches there is little or no Bible instruction for the teachers of those churches. Our friend Peter is the pastor of a church. Once a year he goes to a pastors training course for two weeks. He comes back to the area and then teaches what he learned to the leaders of the other churches he has started in the area. Those pastors have more training than most in our area.

One of the local translators we work with said this: Reading the Bible in church in Pidgin confuses people and our pastors end up teaching all kinds of wrong stuff which confuses people more. When we have it in our own language, it's clear.

Like Nehemiah, seeing this great need, contrasted with the importance of the scriptures in our own lives, was our call to take God’s word to those who don’t have it.