Let's Hurry this Along, God
Let’s Hurry this Along, God
I love to fly. I love airports. I’ve flown around the world numerous times, from east to west and west to east.
With so much experience flying, why can’t I fly the airplane? Let me sit in the cockpit and you’ll see how smart I am.
“Hmmm, so many dials and knobs here. I don’t know what all these thingamajigs mean. Oh good, you have it all on a computer. What a great idea. All the answers are right here. Yes, it’s perfectly clear now. Well, I do understand most of what it’s talking about. Now just one more question, could my ten buddies come in and help me? Sam, I’d like you to keep watch of that dial over there. Jose, I’ll put you in charge of this other round one. Judy, your job is to keep your eye on this meter over here. And Sarah you watch that light up there, okay? If we work together, we can get this airplane off the ground in record time.
“I must admit I’m not exactly sure what this bar is for but never mind, I’m sure it will all become clear as I fly. And the pedals don’t look exactly like in my car. Does anybody know how you get gas in this airplane? And how come there are two seats up here? I thought I was the pilot; I don’t need a co-pilot.
“Now let’s go over the routine one more time, okay? Keep that computer handy. Let’s pray and be on our way. I know others have flown an airplane, but no one has ever done it as quickly as we will.”
How many of you would come aboard if you overheard such a conversation?
The whole thing is preposterous, isn’t it?
Of course, you’ve got to have 250 hours of flying time, go to instrument school, spend hours and hours with a teacher pilot sitting beside you in the airplane, pass practical exams and written exams, and the list goes on. Someone said that if you have all the money you need and can be in flight school full time you might possibly get a private license in 6 months. But normally it takes 3-4 years. The requirements and time increase as you go for a commercial license or desire to fly for the Navy. If you earn a flight instructor certificate then you could gain the required 1500 hours within a year or two, making the total time to go from zero to airline pilot about three to four years. Everything I have researched about flying tells me that you must be dedicated and study hard in order to advance through certificates and ratings.
With that in mind, I can’t help but wonder how we can expect someone to do an accurate Bible translation with a mere two weeks of training. That’s what Wycliffe Associates advocates.
I have a hard time getting on board THAT airplane.
I’m not saying the team that WA works with can’t learn, I’m saying that they need real training and a teacher pilot sitting beside them, checking their work until they are qualified to do it on their own.
As a missionary I sent out quarterly newsletters with lots of photos and descriptions of what my students and I were doing. I would spend hours writing and designing colorful, well laid out newsletters. I would give it to someone from my organization to edit it and be sure everything was appropriate for the country I was in. Then re-do the letter, get it printed, print address labels, write personal notes and send off at least 100 newsletters. The process usually took 2 weeks from start to finish. Often what I printed looked nothing like my first scribblings.
Wycliffe Bible Translators has a 23-step checklist to go through before submitting the newsletter for approval. It covers basic things like being sure you don’t forget the date (which I often did) all the way up to ‘Tasteful stating of needs; no pressure; financial needs are not mentioned too frequently.’ I think communications from WA should have to go through this checklist. We would be receiving much different letters.
All these blogs, such as this one, are written after much discussion, extensive research, editing, and rewriting. Then they go through several checks by different people before I post them. Does it make sense to you that a chapter would go through more edits than a Bible translation? 1356 words make up this blog, but God’s Word is infallible. Why isn’t it treated more carefully?
The MAST audio instructions video is 25:08 minutes long. I would guess that they worked on that video for more than two weeks.
The Nabak translation went through vigorous edits. My parents translated each line back into English for the benefit of the consultant. Each proposition, each verse was checked by a Greek expert. They checked to see:
- Had anything been left out?
- Had the translator’s own pet theology crept in?
- Was something missed in the Biblical culture or the Nabak culture that skewed the meaning?
- Did the translation say what the Bible really said?
- Was the emphasis correct?
- Were all the dots connected?
And then there was the proofreading to make sure no one had misspelled a word, that the correct punctuation was used and that there was consistency with key terms.
My Mom says that she figures that the Nabak New Testament went through 13 complete read-throughs before it had official approval for publishing in one complete volume. Of course, individual books and many portions of scripture had been printed before, as the translation of each section had been completed and each of those had gone through countless edits before becoming part of the whole. Did you know that “Good News for Modern Man” was proofread 8 times?
I’m talking about professional work here, not just “get this through the assembly line” as fast as possible.
I have a friend in Florida who leads a ladies Bible study every Friday morning. On the average she spends 16 hours that week in preparation for that 45-minute presentation. She only covers 15 or 20 verses in a session, but she studies long and hard on the passage, so she has something valuable to share with the ladies. “No heresy will come out of my mouth,” she says. She is treating the Word of God as the gem that it is—not “let’s hurry on and get this translated faster than anyone else.”
It cheapens the Word of God when the emphasis is speed rather than faithfulness and professionalism.
Pastors study for 4 years of undergrad and most work for a master’s degree to present yourself “to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” II Timothy 2:15 in the KJV says: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The Message says it like this:“Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.”
Nicholas Batzig says, “There is a need for mature, thoughtful, wise, educated and skillful ministers in churches that are committed to the prayers, the pure preaching of the word of God, the right administration of the sacraments and church discipline.”[i]
Doesn’t it give you a lift when the pastor says, “Let’s stand in respect as we read the Scripture this morning?”, and doesn’t it cheapen Scripture when it’s read with hesitancy, with “ahh”s and “uhh”s, words mispronounced or read in a monotone voice? We should always approach God’s holy Word with deep reverence, not casually or like a sports event—the faster translated the more we can brag.
I beg Wycliffe Associates to bow in humility and awe before this supernatural book. It is a disservice to handle translation of God’s Word flippantly instead of professionally.
Take the classes, pass the exams, study hard, spend the hours necessary with the teacher pilot and only then fly the airplane.
Why is Wycliffe Associates rushing God?
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