http://pngboyd.blogspot.sg/2012/12/ive-only-learned-how-to-fight.html
There has been an increase in blogging about Papua New Guinea lately.
From time to time we cross post to each others blogs when we come
across something good. On the right of my blog here, you'll see links
to some of these other active blogs.
The article above, is written well, and strikes at the heart of the
highland's mentality.
When doing this work in PNG I get asked 2 questions a LOT:
1 - It says on the world factbook that PNG is a christian nation.... so
why are you working so hard there?
Answer: claiming to be Christian is a worldwide phenomena, and it is no
gaurantee of a saving relationship with Christ. We are working to
engage people in the Scripture, to see it change lives. The highlands
PNG culture is very much still a warring, fighting, violence, tit for
tat, based culture. We are striving to create Bibles that people will
engage with because it is in their heart language. Without that, there
is no foundation with which to begin building true decisions for
salvation and discipleship.
2 - Why can't they just learn English, or Tok Pisin and use those Bibles?
Answer: they can, and have, and it has very little impact. It would
have as much impact as if you understood French and read a French
Bible. Yes you get the words and their meaning, but does it impact your
heart? Does it have the deep resonating truth to it? Imagine not having
a Bible in your own language. It wouldn't be far fetched to think that
Jesus Christ only came to save the French. Or that he was some figure
that only the French admired.
We live among experts in this field. The things I've learned about
culturally communicating the Gospel have surprised me. The complexities
that this country has in reaching people, is such a daunting task, that
I honestly have to answer a lot of meaningful questions with:
-You don't really understand what I'm trying to say until you've lived
here for a while.
So trust me when I say, this blog post, nails a tiny portion of the
difficulty translators face.
I'm going to try and summarize a very small portion of the dilemma:
The highland culture (over half the country) has precious few strong
male role models. The culture is patriarchal. So, sons are treated as
royalty because your inheritance is based off having a son. If you are
a wife and produce no son, then when your husband leaves or dies, you
have no right to the land you're on. With no land, you have no garden,
and no food, and no income. So boys are treated like royalty and girls
are put to work.
When you treat boys like that, they grow up without discipline, and as
such can become womanizers, philanderers, fighters, lazy workers, etc.
Enter the AIDS epidemic. Men with multiple wives, moving from place to
place, spawning countless other sons who will grow up like them.
When those boys become men, they have little to do, and so, often they
can get in trouble. One rapes a woman from a different family line.
Then her brothers come and beat him up. Then his friends go and give
them a beating. In the process someone dies. Then others come and kill
in revenge, and it's an escalating cycle that pauses for periods of
peace but never really ends.
You killed ours, so we kill yours, and on it goes.
But when the truth of God reaches into a life and changes it, you end up
with men who try to walk the narrow path. They face all kinds of
opposition. Imagine you're a well known fighter, the tribes go-to-guy,
and there is revenge to be had, they all come to you expecting you to
lead them in the charge and you say 'Christ has changed me, I choose to
forgive!"
They all start shouting 'but without you we'll lose the fight! You have
to come kill them with us or we'll die! Do you want to see your own
family die?'
It takes a very strong man to stand his ground and try to convince his
family to forgive. And remember, men of strong character are rare. Not
unheard of, but rare.
And that is the scenario in a nutshell that we see so often. So in the
Boyd's blog above when they say 'I only learned to fight'..... that's
the truth of it.
The few men of character I have met, are trying HARD to get literacy and
the Bible into their tribes language. They understand and have seen the
changing power that can get their family out of this destructive cycle.
Several of them hold youth rallies and try to become role models for
others. These men are men we get behind and support and try to help
them succeed because they fight an uphill battle.
We have stood there, stunned, and watched these fights. They are not
theoretical. We have seen women and children flee for their lives,
we've seen houses burned down, we've seen fighting, we've been among
violence, since the day we've arrived. It is their culture, and so it
does not shock them as it shocks us. It is not something we were
familiar with when we first came.
Now we are. We can sense the telltale signs of impending violence. We
are alert to it, and know when to get indoors.
And it makes us so extremely sad, because the work is like rolling a
boulder up a hill.
But then, there are moments, when someone steps out and stands up among
their people for what is good.
There are people like that. They face extreme opposition. They face
death frequently. They are swimming against the flow.
So we pray for men and women like this. We pray for the difficulties
they'll face. And they know they'll face them. They know the moment
they stand up and say 'Yes, we want to see God's Word in our language!
And we know it may cost us our home, our loved ones, and our lives, but
we want this to happen!" These are modern day champions that we stand
with and fight for.
Translating the Bible isn't a theoretical work, people put their lives
on the line to see it happen.
Join us in praying for these people.... that they be safe, and that
there be more of them.
