My Home is in Heaven

   There is an old joke which goes something like this: Did you hear about the optimist who fell off the roof of a tall building? As he passed the eighth story he called out: ‘I’m all right so far!’ As he passed the fifth story he cried out again: ‘I’m all right so far!’ and as he flew past the second story the same cheerful cry was heard. Then he landed headfirst and hadn’t a word more to say.  How’s Wycliffe Associates’ Bible translation experiment going? So far, so goooooood. Wycliffe Associates seems to believe that faster is better, no matter the cost, when it comes to Bible translation. But this is the Word of God we’re talking about here, not the Harry Potter books. This is the Bible , the love letter from the Lord, the scriptures that were given to us over a period of centuries . Jesus Himself, God incarnate, walked the Earth for three full years, taking the time to make sure he got it right. If God’s reason for giving us the Bible was simply to...

  Wycliffe Associates doesn’t just think that they are doing Bible translation correctly and best, they also claim they can translate the whole New Testament in lightning speed while other translators take years. On their website Wycliffe Associates states, “This method can be used even with small groups of believers in the most remote locations—opening up a pathway for thousands of new translation projects that would otherwise not be possible for decades to come!” [1] Comparing translation projects against each other is dangerous. Some languages have co-translators with a high interest level but no schooling past eight years old. Others have co-translators with master’s degrees who speak multiple languages. Some walk into a village and have access to modern facilities, while others work just to build a house that won’t fall when earthquakes hit. In Papua New Guinea, some projects were on the coast, and you could travel there easily, while others were remote and involved ...