BIBLE NEWS: Wycliffe Develops a Sign Language Bible

Christians have worked hard to bring the gospel to the "Ends of the Earth" geographically, but there are still people groups who are unreached due to circumstances other than geography.  For example, it is hard to hear the gospel if you are deaf.  But Wycliffe is looking to change all of that.  The Great Commission is being fulfilled in new and exciting ways!

"There is still no full translation of the Bible in any sign language," reports Wycliffe. Yet the Japan Deaf Evangel Mission (JDEM) aims to change that, creating the world's only full-text sign language Bible using video-recorded Scriptures.
According to JDEM, the mission of its ViBi project is to "translate the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures into Japanese Sign Language (JSL) and produce them on visual media, placing these Bible tapes for sale in bookstores throughout Japan."

BIBLE NEWS: The Tsunami & The Bible Translators

We hear stories about the horrible things that missionaries had to endure in the old days.  Beheadings, hangings, cannibalism, etc.  We thank God that those kinds of things don't happen anymore, and that missionary work is "safe" these days.  For better or worse, we're simply and completely wrong about that.

John and Bonnie Nystrom are missionaries working in Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators.  They were working with local pastors in the village of Arop village to develop a version of the Bible in the local language when a massive tsunami (giant wave caused by an undersea earthquake) hit the island.

"One out of every three people that we know was killed there, and some of the families that we know lost a lot of people. In fact, after the tsunami, our friend Pastor Peter Marokiki was the only one we knew; we know another family now – where the father mother and all the children survived. Every other family that we knew of, they lost at least some of their family members," Mr. Nystrom told The Christian Post.

As we learned this year in Matthew, Jesus never promised that his followers would escape trouble - in fact he promised the disciples that they would be persecuted.  What he promises is that he will always be there with us, and walk with us through the trials of life.

BIBLE NEWS: Translation is NOT easy

A few days back we mentioned that the Bible was not written in English - it's original writings were in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Thanks to scholars, we have a plethora of English translations which do their best to convey the original writings accurately. But what about people who speak less-popular languages? They often only have one translation provided by Missionaries like Wycliffe Bibe Translators. These languages may not have scholars who understand the ancient languages, and may not even have a starting point for discussion of things like "sheep" and "goats" depending on what part of the world they're in. So what is a Bible translator to do? Some recent controversies have highlighted the difficulty that Bible Translators have walking the line between making the Bible understandable to a foreign culture and language, and maintaining the theology taught by Christ.

Creson said that in some cases, what are known to scholars as the "divine familial terms" -- God the Father and the Son of God -- don't make sense in translation in some cultures. Islamic teaching, for example, rejects the notion that God could be involved in a relationship similar to a human family, and Creson argues that people in such cultures might be immediately put off by those terms.
"Translation is a very laborious process, because you have to understand the culture of the community, and you don't understand that overnight," he said.
But using words like "Messiah" instead of "Son" and "Lord" instead of "Father" badly distorts the essential Christian doctrine of the Trinity, in which God is said to be one being in three persons, according to Wycliffe's critics.

Be praying for Bible translators. The job may seem straightforward - exchanging words for other words - but all too often, it is walking a minefield without a map.

Bible translated into Native Alaskan language

Bible translators like Wycliffe are looking to bring the Bible to every language in the world. One of the newest examples is Gwich'in, a language of native Alaskans, which now has it's own Bible to let the gospel reach a whole new people-group.

The gold-lettered title of the plain-covered book reads "Vit'eegwijyahchy'aa: Vagwandak Nizii," Gwich'in for, "God: His Good News."

...Since then, a new Gwich'in spelling/writing system was created by Wycliffe translators Richard and Susan Mueller, who started working on translating the New Testament into the new format more than 50 years ago.

Wycliffe is bringing the Bible to ALL LANGUAGES by 2025

Have you ever stopped to think about how many different languages are spoken in the world? Experts believe there are 6,905! And Bible translators like those at Wycliffe believe that it will be possible to translate the Bible into all of those languages by 2025! Jesus gave us the command to bring his gospel to all nations, and it may be within our lifetime that fulfilling that charge may be possible!

Wycliffe Bible Translators, the world’s largest scripture translation organization, believes Bible translation into all of the remaining 2,200 languages used by some 350 million people is possible by 2025...

Edwards said many factors are contributing to the rapid speed of Bible translation over the past few years.

As recent as 1999, Wycliffe estimated it would take eight generations, or some 140 to 150 years, before it would see the last translation started. In 1999, the group was averaging 20 new translation starts a year and there were about 3,000 languages left.

But 10 years later, Wycliffe had 109 new translation starts in 2009. The average new translation starts for the past 10 years is 75, Edwards noted.

Keep a close eye on these developments, as we may be approaching a turning point in history. Once every man, woman, and child in the world can hear the gospel, who knows what may change?

Wycliffe speaks "Pijin"?

Besides the major languages of the world, there are a number of so-called "pidin" languages in the world. Mostly located in colonial situations (where a major culture conquers a lesser one through war or economic means) these languages are combinations of a major language (like English or French) and local languages. Sometimes they sound very much like the major language, but an outsider would have a hard time figuring it out. Now, Wycliffe Bible Translators is producing Bibles in these pijin languages, so that God's truth can truly be heard in every tongue.

And Andrew VanAndel, a Canadian with a BA in linguistics, stated, "I enjoy learning new languages ‘an distaem mi save staka abaotim Pijin’.”
Jen Quist, another Canadian said: "My favorite part of the Pijin launch was when they said that now God speaks Pijin."
The team plans to hold another SALT course on Santa Cruz Island following the 20 July launch of the Natqgu NT, Psalms and Ruth.
Then they will join with Natqgu Language Project members for distribution tours around Santa Cruz Island.