Should Christians celebrate Christmas?

It’s 5:30 am and I can’t sleep because of a discussion I had on an internet forum. There was an article explaining the origins of Christmas and the discussion that ensued was focused on whether or not Christians should celebrate it because of its origins.

I wish when I lay in bed and my mind starts writing a paper or an internet blog, I could just record it straight from my brain to the computer. In my mind not more than a half hour ago, it was crystal clear. But now that I’m at the keyboard typing away, the coherent thoughts I had seem to evaporate.

Now before I proceed any further, let me state clearly that I do know that Jesus was most likely not born on December 25. Is there any Christian in America who doesn’t know this? So I am not doing this out of ignorance of history. I also know the background of the original pagan celebration that took place.

Do I think that we should place more emphasis on Jesus’ birth than on the resurrection? No. The resurrection has and should always be the focal point of Christianity. It is the basis for our faith.

Something I did learn from this discussion was that I would never be any good at debating. To debate a person needs to be able think quick at the spur of the moment. I don’t have that ability. Instead after the discussion my mind begins to focus on the issue and I replay what was said by others and what I said. I mull over in my mind what the other person was really saying and what he meant. Then days later ideas start coming to my mind. But a lot of good that does me! It’s never the same to go back and start up the argument again because by that time the other person has moved on. So why don’t I move on? I don’t know the answer to that question. But the discussion seems to follow me around for days. And then things start to make sense to me.

So what do you all think? Should Christians celebrate Christmas and why? At 5 am this morning I woke up thinking about this question. It had been on my mind for several days already. But now the thoughts were clearer and ideas started coming to my mind. At this point I decided I needed to write down what I was thinking in order to get it out. So first let me give as way of introduction some of the points those who were against Christmas made.

A woman, along with a few others, was making the point that God is not pleased with the celebration of Christmas because it was not ordained by Him in the Bible. Only the feasts/celebrations that are actually in the Bible and given by God should be celebrated. This is what could be called an argument of silence. The fact that God did not put it in the Bible means it is not right.

Second, she claimed that because it is a pagan ritual, we should not take part in it. This, I believe, she holds to because she knew the origin of Christmas.

Third, Christmas, according to her, is a man-made religion – human tradition. Based on Colossians 2:8 the argument is that Paul tells us not to be involved with human traditions.

She had arrived at her understanding “through the Holy Spirit from the Word.” I would never claim that the Holy Spirit does not speak to us through the Bible, but when a person uses this type of argument, there is no way to further the discussion because in her mind, it is a done deal. I had a similar discussion with a man from a cult at my door front when he said “The Holy Ghost put a burning in my bosom, therefore it must be true.” I promptly explained that the Holy Spirit had put a burning in my bosom that what he was teaching was false, so now we are in a quandary as to which information from the Spirit was correct. You see it is fine to say that, but I honestly believe God did not require us to shelve our minds when we came to Christ. I like J. P. Moreland’s book “Love the Lord your God with all your mind.”

If Christmas in America today was a celebration of the sun god, I doubt any believer would take part. But as far as I can see it is not about that and never has been in American culture. It started out this way long before America was even founded. But over time it no longer has anything to do with that. Christmas is not evil. It is neutral. Evil happens when greed becomes the basis for the day or the worship of things, whether it be material goods, Christmas trees or Santa Claus. Take for example the recent black Friday sales where greed drives people to do evil things. Or when a store is selling Michael Jordan tennis shoes and people are not interested in the Savior, but only in whether or not they can get a couple of pieces of leather. Retailers are about making money out of Christmas. That does not mean everyone does the same.

As for the Colossians passage mentioned, it is doubtful that Paul was thinking of things like Christmas. If you are interested in a different take on the origins of Christmas observed by Christians see the following article in Biblical Archaeological Review: http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp. In it the author states that the traditional view of Christians borrowing from pagans may not be true. He states:

 “There are problems with this popular theory, however, as many scholars recognize. Most significantly, the first mention of a date for Christmas (c. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (c. 250–300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions of such an obvious character.”

The author’s point is that most likely Christians did not adopt the date of December 25 to correspond with pagan solar festivals and that the date was well established before 312 AD.

Furthermore, some of the feasts given in the OT to the Israelites to observe replaced certain pagan festivals such as the agricultural festivals.

After much arguing and discussion back and forth, I realized that it was a game of semantics. The question, to me as a follower of Jesus Christ, should be framed differently. As believers should we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior on Dec. 25? When we leave it as “celebrate Christmas” confusion ensues. What do we mean by Christmas? For this woman, she filled it in with all the content of several hundred years ago, something which most people wouldn’t even have on their minds today. It seemed that when this woman heard “celebrate Christmas” she was really hearing “celebrate a pagan ritual,” but she never did actually define how she understood it. In my posts I tried to narrowly define what I was doing at Christmas, namely, celebrating the fact that God gave His Son Jesus, the Messiah, to save us. But this woman said God judges not the heart, but the actions.  

I did some reading online and came across one site that made the following statement: “Most people assume that it has always been a Christian holiday and that it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus.” According to this article the origin of Christmas goes all the way back to ancient Babylon and it involved the worship of other gods and specifically Nimrod. It became a celebration of the rebirth of the sun god on December 25^th. Winter solstice occurs just a couple of days before this. So from this point on the days start growing longer. The quote from the article is an interesting statement because in America today, I doubt there is anyone who celebrates Christmas as though it were the celebration of the rebirth of the sun god of Babylon. The whole celebration has been changed over the year. Santa Claus is even a relatively new addition.

So I asked this woman several times if God was not pleased if people worshipped Him on Christmas day and praised Him for sending His Son. In her eyes, yes it was wrong because He did not tell us to set aside a day to celebrate the birth of His Son, so her conclusion is that it is a tradition of man and therefore should not be celebrated.

The whole discussion, after much pondering on my part, sounds very similar to Romans 14. And I am convinced now that first century Christianity had a lot of conflicting beliefs between the Jewish and the Gentile believers. But Paul’s point in the passage is to maintain unity. He asks the weak in faith not to condemn or judge the strong and vice a versa with regard to eating or not eating meat or observing or not observing special days. The main point I believe Paul is making is this. As Christians convinced of what you believe accept your brother and do not condemn him because God is your true master and judge. The problem in the Roman church that he is addressing has to do with eating certain foods and observing certain days. The weak in faith have a problem eating meat that has been offered to idols and sold in the market place. In fact, this believer has come to the point of eating only vegetables, a vegan in today’s terminology. The strong in faith do not have any problem with this. It seems that Paul did not want to make it an ethnic issue since he never mentions the weak and strong as either Jew or Gentile. But notice that Paul does not condemn the vegan or the one who is eating meat offered to idols. Instead he tells each side not to condemn or judge the other.

The parallel here, I believe, fits. There are some believers who have a problem with the origin of Christmas and so do not want to celebrate (read observe) it (just like the origin of the meat which had been offered to idols). Paul would say, that is fine, don’t celebrate it, but don’t judge the one who does. The one who celebrates Christmas should likewise not condemn or judge the one who does not. The purpose is for unity within the body of Christ. Whether one celebrates Christmas or not, does not affect one’s salvation. Paul exhorts the strong to accept the weak and not regard him with contempt (Rom 14:3). He exhorts the weak not to judge the strong in the same verse. The most compelling reason Paul gives for backing off from judging is in v. 6 where he writes, 

“He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.” 

So we can ask the question why do we celebrate or not celebrate Christmas. I celebrate it to the Lord to honor Him and worship Him for sending His Son Jesus Christ. On the other hand, this woman is convinced it is not right and she does not observe the day as to the Lord. So each side should respect the view of the other. But the most important verse in Romans 14 is verse 5. Here Paul states 

“One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”

So I would argue that each of us as believers need to be convinced of what we believe and why with regard to celebrating Christmas. At the same time we must not hold in contempt others with different views or judge them. Why? Because God is our judge. He is the only one who knows what is in the heart of each person.

But it does grieve me when people combine Santa Claus with God or somehow equate Santa with God and somehow get the two confused. Christmas is a time to honor God sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Just because He does not tell us to do this in the Bible does not make it wrong. Most believers do this throughout the year on a daily basis. But to condemn believers for worshiping God’s Son and thanking God for sending Him on December 25 is not right since it is trying to stop people from worshiping God.

What grieved me most about this discussion is the disunity among believers that it causes and that dishonors God. Every year unbelievers attack Christianity over celebrating it anywhere in public. That is to be expected. But what is happening now is that even among Christians there is argument as to whether or not it is all right to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on that day. And this, I am certain, grieves God and the Holy Spirit. Disagreement is not the problem, condemnation is.

Finally, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas as you worship our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah!

Sept-Oct trip to PNG

This is an update on my last trip to PNG Sept. 18-Oct 27, 2011. It was a very different trip than most and it shows that difficulties can be a good thing sometimes or more accurately, God can use difficulties to His advantage.

Perhaps "difficulties" is not the right word, because that is more the way I might perceive what happened. It was not really a difficulty, rather a mere change of plans and a slight problem to overcome. Nonetheless, we are to use our circumstances to bring honor to God in every way we can. Easier said than done for people like myself who by default will complain and see the worst case scenario. But I had a couple of people around me who were helpful in seeing things from a different perspective and who could see another way of doing things.

As I head to PNG each time, I always wonder when I will actually arrive in Alotau. The reason for this wondering is that somehow or other flights get changed without notification and delays happen nearly every time I go. This time, the only problem was in Sydney where upon my arrival there was a baggage handlers strike. This meant a slight delay in getting from the international terminal to the domestic. But with the help of a very friendly Aussie, I made the connection. In Cairns I retrieved one of my bags which had been trashed, but the customer service was extremely helpful and gave me a new bag. However, at the time I didn't know one of the wheels was damaged making movement difficult. In the end I made it to Alotau by Wednesday afternoon, where our center manage picked me up.

I was feeling very exhausted and mentioned to our manager as we were getting into the van that if the boat were to leave on Friday instead of the next day, I wouldn't mind. His reply was "Concerning the boat, it probably will not be able to leave until Friday anyway because it still has a problem." That couldn't be good. He also mentioned that a boat, the Sonoma, was leaving Wed. night around 7 pm. Would I like to go then? Two concerns came to my mind immediately. The first was how in all this world was I too get all my stuff ready to go in just 3 hours when I was feeling the jet lag? Second, how would I get back to Alotau when I had flights to catch at the end of the 4 weeks? This latter issue was important because commercial boats are  notoriously hard to get out there and are quite unreliable. So my response was a simple "I don't think so." The manager, however, expected that and had an alternative idea. We went to the wharf to see the captain and met up with Kwadima's (our organization's boat) manager. After a short discussion, the idea was presented of sending a written message via the captain of the Sonoma to ask a couple of men from Nubogeta to get on and come to Alotau. We could work at the center until the Kwadima was operational. So I gave the captain a note asking Siyokira and Tomasi to come in on the boat to work. I also talked to another man on our radio the next day at noon to make sure they understood.

Somehow with all the messages that I sent, it still was misunderstood and only Siyokira came in. Try as we might to get Tomasi in, no boat ever came by enabling him to come in.

Siyokira came in on a Sunday evening. Because there was no room for him to stay at our center, we decided that he would stay in town with a relative by the name of Gilbert. He was around 3 1/2 km away. We tried to begin the next day, but it did not start off well because Siyokira stayed up all night and it was obvious he was sick. Around noon I took him back to Gilbert's house, gave him some antibiotics and told him we would not work the next day. We did complete the first 14 verses of Ephesians that first morning.

On Wed (28th of Sept) we again worked. However I had decided it might be better to attempt to complete John rather than starting another book. So to John we turned. Tomasi had already read chapters 12-21 and made corrections last year when I saw him. The group that worked with me last year for some reason worked very slow on it and we made very little progress. When I got sick at the end we lost an entire week to work on the book.

Siyokira had a copy of John and I used my computer. We read through sentence by sentence making corrections and discussing the more difficult verses at length. Normally we have a blackboard where I write it all out. We didn't have this and had to make use of my either printing out a copy (while the printer worked) or writing out a verse and showing it to him. He made lots of changes for the better.

We had to set John aside on Thursday so I could buy all the supplies I needed for the village. It was a big risk because 1) if I didn't go, I couldn't get my money back on any of it and 2) it would be wasting a great deal of the little time I had. Friday we went back to John and made some good progress on it. We continued to work on it Saturday and then again on Monday. By this time it was obvious that I was not going to the village. So to make the best of it Siyokira and I pushed on and finished John Thursday. It took us 7 days to complete chapters 12-20.

This was encouraging. So we went back to Ephesians. Five days later we had a rough draft of Ephesians. I had not planned on getting any further than this. In fact, I really didn't think we would be able to finish Ephesians. I had also prepared 2 Timothy but had intended to give the people copies to read through until we could work on it together. So I had not brought any books with on for 2 Timothy. I figured we might as well try it and see how far we get. Three days later we had a rough draft of 2 Timothy.

At this point in time Siyokira told me he wanted to go home. I couldn't blame him. He had expected to be in Alotau a week with me. His garden had not been cut yet, he had received word that his father-in-law was sick (in another language area) and his wife had gone to see him so he was concerned about his kids as to who was watching over them. Also, he didn't like where he was living for various reasons. So I told him we would begin looking for a boat. But none were to be had. We got word that one was leaving in a few days and he said he could handle it till then. Not that he had a choice in the matter.


I had prepared Colossians several years ago, but had yet worked with anyone to go through it together. So we now turned to Colossians. I wasn't certain how far we would get since a boat could turn up at any time. We decided to work on it and see what happened. We began Saturday afternoon (Oct 15). We found the first couple of chapters were difficult to the extent that I decided to skip them and go to the second half of the book. Then in the evenings I could work through the first couple of chapters again to refresh my memory and to make sense out of them for Siyokira. This worked out well so that we actually finished the book on Wednesday afternoon (Oct 19). The next morning we didn't work so that I could make 10 copies of the four books we had completed. That afternoon we discovered a boat was leaving night. We got all of Siyokira's things and put him on the boat. God couldn't have timed it better!

In the end not being able to go to the village was actually the best thing that could have happened. I could not have planned things better. We have never worked that quickly and well before. It took 18 days to complete the four books. When I told Tomasi on the radio that we had finished 4 books, he made the comment that we should probably work at the center again to try to finish up the NT. So that is what we plan on doing in March when Roxanne and I will be returning to PNG. We hope to translate 1 and 2 Peter and other book, either 2 Corinthians or Hebrews. Thank you for praying for this trip.

"More than"

In English we use the comparative construction on a regular basis. We can say "I am faster than you" or "You are smarter than you." Not all languages do the comparative forms like English. In Gumawana to say "I am taller than you" they will say yau maanawegu, kom kaakupim 'I am tall, you are short." Or they can say yau maanawegu namliyeta kom 'I am tall afterwards you.'

In the New Testament these kinds of clauses are found in abundance. One particular type of comparative that occurs frequently is "more than". For example in Matthew 6:25 where Jesus says

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"

It's the last part that becomes challenging in Gumawana. Here's how we rendered it in Gumawana:

 Yawoida moe dogoi gagaina namliyeta awoinu be kwama.

life-our that thing big-it afterwards food and clothing

"Our lives are a big thing followed by food and clothing"

For a Gumawana speaker this has the same meaning as the English and the Greek, namely that our lives are more important than food or clothing. Notice also that in the Gumawana it doesn't say "life", rather it has to be "our lives". There is a generic word for "life" but in this type of context he is talking about everyone's life so it has to be possessed. Also, the generic word for "life" can mean "air" and would be confusing here.

In Matthew 18:13 Jesus has told a story about the man with 100 sheep. He tells the crowd that 99 were all right but one was lost. So the man goes and looks for the lost one. Then verse 13:

"If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray."

The Gumawana version looks like this:

Go tutayana sipiyana ibabane, ina sipiyana taagauna

 But when sheep he-finds-it his sheep lost-one

ibabane manuna bei iuyawana gagaina

 he-finds-it about-it will he-rejoice big 

 namliyeta sipiyadi naintinain dedevidi manudi.

afterwards sheep 99 good-ones about-them

"But when he finds the sheep, listen to me, he will rejoice greatly about his lost sheep which he found afterwards about the 99 good sheep."

Note that the word "afterwards" here is not a temporal sequence. The idea is more of prominence in that he rejoices a lot over the finding of the lost sheep whereas he rejoices not as much for the 99.

Another way that Gumawana can convey the same type of information is by using the word "surpass". We used this in 1 Corinthians 15:10 where Paul is talking about how he is the least of the apostles yet by God's grace he has labored more than all the others.

"but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

To convey the meaning of the words in bold above we rendered it in Gumawana as follows:

Yau apoisogana gagaina go, guna poisoganayana goi

 I I-labor big and my laboring in

 Yeisu ina vamoleyanayao liliudi akalisavedi.

 Jesus his sent ones all-them I-surpassed-them

"I labored hard and in my laboring I surpassed all of Jesus' sent ones (apostles)."

Languages differ in many ways. Our task is to make the translation fit into the normal patterns of the language we are working with. The way we do this is to listen to native speakers talk about various issues, have the write stories which can then be analyzed and finally to give examples and ask how they would express the idea. The answers seem to come, though, when I least expect them. So in casual conversations, I will often hear someone say something in a way that either I have never heard before or in a way that fits something we had been looking for. Either way with God's help we eventually find the answers.

Xaris in NT times - The Patron-Client system

I'm reading a book by David deSilva entitled "Honor, patronage, kinship and purity." Interesting title is it not? I read this book several years ago, but recently pulled it back out because I was working on 2 Corinthians, specifically in chapters 8 and 9 where Paul is talking about the collection he was making to give to the Jerusalem church. The book actually talks about this same issue because in order to understand the collection and what it meant, it is necessary to understand a bit about the patron-client practice of the first century.

Let me illustrate. Let's say I were to ask you for a loan of say $20,000? Would you give it to me? Probably not. I suspect you might suggest I go to a bank. But in the first century they didn't have banks. But what they did have was a very distinct split between the haves and the have-nots. DeSilva notes that at that time there were limited resources and those who were wealthy tended to be the only ones who had access to those resources. The poor, obviously, did not.

The patron-client system was a system by which those without the resources could get access to them. The patron, or benefactor, would be someone of some status and had access to the resources. A person who found himself in a difficult situation could go to a prospective patron and ask for help. If the patron granted the request, the client would then be indebted to the patron. In fact, in many cases a relationship had just begun. The client repays by bringing honor to the patron through publicly acknowledging what he had done.

The people on the Amphlett Islands, where we work, have a very similar system, though they have no name for it. I recall years ago a man by the name of Kaidiriya came back from a trip to the Trobriand Islands and he had a new sailing canoe. I asked him what he had to pay for a canoe like this. He told me, "Nothing. My friend gave it to me." I was rather surprised at this. I had no idea you could just ask for something like this and a person would just give it for nothing. So I asked why his friend gave it to him for free. His answer was interesting. He simply said, "Because he is my friend." For him that explained it all. For me, I pondered if I had any friends who would give me a new car if I asked for it just because he was my friend? Would you?

What was happening between Kaidiriya and his friend is very much like the patron-client system in the first century. They often referred to such relationships as friendship. This is how Kaidiriya saw it. What I didn't find out till later was that Kaidiriya later gave a valuable stone to his friend. But he was very clear on this that it was not in repayment, rather it was because the man was his friend. To have a relationship with anyone in the village, there is reciprocity.

On the meaning of the Greek word xaris
The Greek word xaris is a very difficult word to translate. In most English translations it is rendered 'grace'. But 'grace' in English doesn't have the same semantic domain or range of meaning that the Greek word has. DeSilva explains that xaris has three basic meanings from which a variety of English words could be used to translate it. First, it can be used to describe an action by the patron which we might translate as 'favor'. It is a gracious act of kindness toward another. Second, it can refer to the gift itself. And finally, it is also used of the response which the client is to give to the patron for the gift. In English we would render it 'gratitude' or 'thankfulness.' So to summarize its use:

1) The gracious act of giving
2) The gift itself
3) The response of gratitude toward the giver

Gumawana has a word that is somewhat similar. For the first one they would say yabobona which as a verb they originally told me meant 'love', but over the years it has become clear to me it means 'to give a gift without expecting anything in return.' As a noun it fits category number 2 above in that it refers to the actual gift given. However the word cannot be used for category number 3. Instead they have to use something like lokagutoki 'thanks'.

In 2 Corinthians 8:1-4 we are told that God had "graced" the Macedonians. In other words, he has given graciously to them enabling them to give graciously. We see all three uses of grace here. God acted in giving (as patron). The gift was enablement to prosper. Their response was an act of service in the form of giving to the collection to be sent to the Jerusalem church.

DeSilva (p. 141) summarizes the implication for us of this idea of 'grace' with these words:

"God has acted generously, and Jesus has granted great and wonderful gifts. These were not earned, but grace is never earned in the ancient world... Once favor has been shown and gifts conferred, however, the result must invariably be that the recipient will show gratitude, will answer grace with grace. The indicative and the imperative of the New Testament are held together by this circle of grace. We must respond generously and fully, for God has given generously and fully."

He then asks the question, "How are Christians directed to respond to the beneficence of God in Christ?" He gives several ways we can respond. First is to thank God for what He has done through His Son Jesus Christ and for what He is doing in our lives.

Second, DeSilva states "It falls to the recipient of favor to testify to the favor and bring honor to the giver." Have you ever thought of proclaiming publicly what God did for you as a way of giving thanks to God? This is what took place in the first century with regard to the patron-client system. The client would proclaim to all what the patron had done. He would honor him in this way. In fact, he looked for ways to bring honor to his patron. In this image God is our patron and we are therefore to bring as much honor to Him as we can.

DeSilva also points out that "Words are not the only medium for increasing God's honor. Jesus directed his followers to pursue a life of good works that would lead those seeing them to 'give honor to your Father who is in heaven' (Mt 5:16)." What we do is also a testimony to God. We don't do these things to earn His favor, rather it is a gracious response to what He has done.

Another response that is typical of patron-client responses is loyalty to the patron. Our loyalty to God can be costly, depending on our circumstances, i.e., when we have to choose between two loyalties, we may suffer for being loyal to our Lord. We know many believers around the world suffer daily because of persecution.

A final response that DeSilva notes is that of "services performed for the patron". Our response to God will include service to Him. He states "IT is here that good works, acts of obedience and the pursuit of virtue are held together inseparably from the reception of God's favor and kindness." He notes that we don't offer our service to gain his favor, rather "they must be offered in grateful response to God."

By understanding the cultural practice of patron-client relationships we can understand better what Paul is saying in the letter to the Corinthians and to us. It expands our understanding of our relationship with God and challenges us to ask some very difficult questions. As clients of this relationship are we showing the gratitude due our patron? Very haunting question.

I encourage you to pick up a copy of DeSilva's book. A very good read.

2 Corinthians

I am working on 2 Corinthians now. It is one of the most difficult books I have translated so far. People often ask me what is the most difficult book to translate. Most think that Revelation is the most difficult. But I always tell them that we found the book to be fairly easy. The reason is that there is a great deal of imagery in the book which no one knows for certain what it means. We were able to translate it literally, but meaningfully in a very short time.

Many translators begin with the gospel of Mark. This is due to Mark being the shortest gospel and not having as much Jewish imagery in it. Gospels tend to be easier to translate because they have many stories or narratives within them. Narrative tends to be easier to translate than the letters of the NT because the latter have a great deal of teaching.

We began with Mark as well but we moved to Old Testament narrative (Genesis and Exodus) because the men in the village kept wanting to translate literally word by word from a local trade language that had the NT completed. This made for awkward Gumawana. Although this slowed us down on the NT translation, I believe it was a good move. It forced the men to begin to think more about their own language and how to state things. Furthermore, it gave them a good understanding of the Law of Moses and the beginning of so many aspects of life. Having these books translated made translating Galatians much easier. They understood what Paul was talking about in that letter because they understood about the Law and its purpose.

So what makes 2 Corinthians so hard or any other book for that matter? Everything! Let me give you some examples of what I go through to get a rough draft that the men in the village can then use to work through.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3 Paul writes "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." If you know another language, try putting that verse over into it meaningfully. Or at least think about the problems you might encounter.

Here is what I encountered. First the word "blessed" is not found in Gumawana. The Greek word can mean "praise" or "thanksgiving". So right off I have to decide if Paul is thanking God or praising him - two different words in Gumawana as in English.

Second, to say the "God of our Lord Jesus Christ" is rather problematic for Gumawana. If we say it that way, it means that he is the God of Jesus but not us. In Gumawana, if we say "his" it means it belongs to him and him alone. So the question is why does Paul state it that way? Not many helps discuss this - well actually I didn't find any that discussed this question.

Then comes "the Father of mercies." First I have to determine what the phrase means. But the idea of "the Father" is not possible without saying whose father. There is no generic word "father" in Gumawana so that every time it occurs in the New Testament we have to indicate whose father. Mercy is an easy one to do in Gumawana. They have that word and we can put it with 'his father' as an adjective which then means 'he is a merciful father.'

When we come to the phrase "God of all comfort", it becomes a bit of a problem because I have not found a good word for comfort or encourage. We have to say something more like "God closes our livers greatly." Sounds strange to English ears, but the idiom has the idea of boosting a person up. It still needs to be checked.

That is just a small part of what goes into translating. Most of 2 Corinthians is similar. Every verse has multiple problems of not only discovering the meaning Paul intended, but then the more difficult task of making sure the same meaning comes across in Gumawana.

Another wild trip to PNG

Just returned from another incredible trip to Papua New Guinea. I could do with a little less excitement on these trips, however. I'm getting too old for this!

I left the US on November 7 and had given myself only a day in the provincial capital of Alotau. Unfortunately, my flight from Port Moresby, the national capital, to Alotau was delayed by several hours so that I was left with just a few hours to my things ready once I arrived in Alotau. I had 1 hour on Wednesday the 10th to purchase what I needed, then that evening I packed up everything.

I had hoped to leave Alotau on the MV Kwadima the next morning. But unfortunately, we had to wait several hours for some cargo to be loaded from one of the local stores. We also had 10 extra passengers to help bring the cost down for me. We managed to get off around 3:30 pm.

The boat was almost to East Cape, the eastern tip of the mainland of PNG when we started having trouble with the fuel lines. There seemed to be an air leak in the lines. The problem was compounded when the captain attempted to restart and something was then wrong with the gearbox. After several hours of trying to bleed the lines, a boat, the MV John Vincent towed us to East Cape where another boat, the MV Jazz II agreed to tow us back to Alotau.

When we arrived in Alotau the next morning (Friday) the boat manager was waiting for us (around 5:30 am). I spent the entire day on the boat while they tried to fix it. Late afternoon it looked like everything was ready. We departed again from Alotau 5:30 pm planning to sleep at East Cape (3 to 4 hours away), then leave there around midnight.

We made it to East Cape with no trouble, but didn't leave there until around 3 am. We had several stops to make to drop either cargo or passengers. Each stop took awhile so it was already around 3 pm when we arrived at the second to last stop before heading to Nubogeta. As we were leaving there the engine stopped again - same problem. The crew boy got it going again and we kept going. As we rounded the eastern end of Fergusson the engine again seized up, but this time the crew boy couldn't get it going. It was now 4 pm. We were in a bad place to anchor. If the wind picked up we could end up on the shore which was quite rocky. It was calm at the time which was good. We all worked on the engine until about 10 pm. Another boat passed, the MV Koyatabu coming from Basima (where we were to drop some passengers) and heading to Budoya (where we had just come from) to drop some passengers. The captain of this boat agreed to tow us to better anchorage on his way back and to take the Basima passengers to their village of Basima.

He did not return that night like we had thought. Instead around 10 pm we were pretty well tired of working on the boat and getting no where with it. We did discover why the gear box had been a problem, though. It turns out when the engine stopped, the boat was in gear and the Captain forgot to take it out of gear. So when he tried to start it, it was in gear and that is what caused the gear box noises. So at least that mystery was resolved. There were maybe 12 of us on the boat and so we gathered together with all the lights off to save battery power and prayed over our circumstances. You can't imagine how amazing this time of prayer was. Several people prayed out loud, but each did it in his own language. I would say that was the highlight of this trip. We all asked God to protect us from the pirates who were in the area (we were sitting ducks) and to protect us from the wind pushing us ashore, and finally to provide a way to get everyone where they needed to be. The wind never picked up all night and the anchors seemed to have firmly held.

The next morning another boat came at first light. It was the MV Sagu II. The captain agreed to tow us to safer anchorage and to take us to Nubogeta. After towing us about a mile, we saw in the distance the MV Koyatabu coming. The Sagu II captain told us the the Koyatabu had been stuck at Budoya the night before because the steering cable had snapped. They finally fixed it and the boat was headed our way to pick up the Basima passengers.

The Sagu II captain wanted to try something on Kwadima that might work. He bled all the injectors and the boat started right up. We had already got onto the Sagu II so we departed for Nubogeta. The Koyatabu took the Basima passengers and the Kwadima headed back to Alotau.

The Kwadima was fixed a few days later and seems to not have any more fuel line problems. I made it to the village Sunday afternoon, which left me only the afternoon to get my house set up and to get the translation house ready for work the next morning.

We were working on 2 books, John and 1 Corinthians. The first week was 1 Corinthians with people from Nubogeta. The second week some from Gumawana Island came to work on John.

I started the first week off sick. I had a low grade fever all week along with a sore throat. The weather was incredibly hot. The days in the village were in the low 90s with about 70 % humidity. The inside of the translation house was even hotter. I was already drinking a tremendous amount of water.

At the end of the second week I was finally feeling a bit better. Throughout this time people had been coming daily complaining of headaches and fever. I figured it was malaria so gave everyone malaria treatment. But this was not normal. People don't typically all come down with malaria at the same time. I had given out so much chloroquine, yet people were still sick.

Early Thursday morning of the third week I woke up with a fever. I went down to the translation house around 7:30 am to start work with the men on 1 Corinthians, but after a half hour, told them I couldn't work any more because my fever was increasing. I went home and discovered my fever had gone from 99 to 102. My head was pounding and all my joints and muscles were in pain. I tried various pain relievers I had (even some with codeine) but nothing seemed to help. I had informed our manager in Alotau that I thought I had malaria and had even started the treatment for it so that he was aware that I was sick. But later in the afternoon I began looking through our medical books. This just didn't feel like malaria. I reread about dengue fever. Both Roxanne and I had it 14 years ago. After reading the symptoms again, I began to think that was what I had. It made since that everyone else in the village had probably had it as well. There is no medication for dengue fever. Pain medication is about all one can take. Dengue fever is passed by mosquitoes and appears 4-10 days after being bitten. It can often effect a lot of people all at one time. The person's temperature will go up each day. It ends with a rash. One of our translators, Siyokira, had itching after 2 days. Another kid in the village, I remembered, had thrush in the mouth.

The next morning (Friday) the fever was at about 99. I felt well enough to try working again. We finished 1 Corinthians around 2 pm. I noticed all day I was itching on my arms and legs. So I thought maybe I was already at the end of the sickness. But by 2 pm I could tell I was not feeling too well again and went home. Sure enough the fever had gone back up to over 102. So I thought that it was not over. But then on Saturday again the fever persisted. Around 1 am that night the fever broke. I was drenched in sweat and assumed that I had finally got to the end of it. I had not been eating a lot, but had been attempting to drink more water. The next day, Sunday, the fever was back and it persisted throughout the day. It was still holding at over 102.

The men from Gumawana came and I explained that if they wanted to wait for me to get better maybe in a couple of days we could start work. I was still hoping the end was in sight. But the next morning I could see I was getting weaker each day. I talked to a doctor at Ukarumpa on the radio. She advised me to get out of the village immediately. She suggested I have the helicopter come get me, but I knew the expense would be huge. So I declined and told her that I would let our manager in Alotau know and perhaps the boat could come out and get me.

At noon I talked to our manager. He told me to standby on the radio and he would check with the boat manager to see if that would work. A couple of hours later he called to inform me that the helicopter was sitting at the center. It dropped another translation team in their village that morning and was doing some commercial work in the area for the next couple of days. He could come get me right then. I was feeling so weak and wiped out, I realized I couldn't wait for the boat, nor could I handle 18 hours in to Alotau on the boat, especially if the seas became rough. So I agreed. An hour later the helicopter was there. I could barely walk to it. I had to leave everything out for the men to pack for me.

We arrived in Alotau around 5:30 pm. The manager had arranged for an Australian doctor in Alotau to come see me. He spent about a half hour talking to me and explained to me that I was severely dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital for IVs. My blood pressure was too low, my heart rate was too high. My blood sugar was out of whack, I had sharp pains shooting through my head, along with a few other things that indicated I was badly dehydrated. I told him I would start drinking more water. He explained that I couldn't drink enough water to overcome this one. So I agreed to go to the hospital the next morning. He politely told me, "No, you need to go right now. This can't wait." So I ended up spending the night in the emergency room in the Alotau hospital. I was given two and half IVs. Around 1 am the fever dropped to normal, my mouth was no longer dried out, my blood pressure went back to normal and my heart rate dropped to normal. The blood sugar levels came down as well. The difference was dramatic.

I was discharged the next morning around 5:30 am. As I came out of the hospital, I was feeling so good, it was amazing. But as I got outside all of sudden I felt very, very weak and tired out. I didn't want to call our manager at 5:30 in the morning so figured I would sit on the bench and wait a bit. I looked down and the bandage they put on the IV insertion point had come off and my blood was spurting out all over the place. The nurse who admitted me saw it and ran inside to get something to bandage me up. Even a week later, my forearm has a huge bruise where the IV was.

I think I may have started dehydrating soon after I arrived at Nubogeta. I wasn't used to the extreme heat and it was probably already adversely affecting me right from the start. The dengue fever made it worse. The rash finally did come around Wednesday after I arrived in Alotau. The lower half of my legs had the typical dengue fever rash. It too has cleared up. The good news is that once you have dengue fever, you don't get it again. The bad news is that there are 4 strains of it - this was my second. So the good news is that I can only get it 2 more times. The bad news is that each time a person gets it, it gets worse. Now there is something to look forward to!

After a week of eating and resting and really doing nothing at all, I am finally feeling much better. Thank you for praying for me throughout this. A number of times in the village the men came and prayed over me. I think they recognized that Satan doesn't want this translation completed. As continue to get closer to finishing, it seems more and more obstacles are coming our way. Even still, we were able to finish the first draft of 1 Corinthians.

Grammar

I recently finished writing the third paper on Gumawana grammar. This paper focused on how participants are tracked through a text. Believe it or not I started this paper nearly 20 years ago! Every time I started working on it I would make some progress, but something always seem to come up and I would put it aside for another day. When I returned to it, I would spend a week or so trying to figure out what I was doing when I quit. But it is over for the moment. It will be read by a consultant within our organization who will then get back to me for more editing.

This was the third of three papers I had to write. These help us to understand how they put texts or stories together so that we will do a better job on the translation. So now that these are done, I plan on focusing on translation for the next year. I do plan on eventually working more on the language because writing 3 papers does not cover all aspects of the language. Some areas that I would like to explore some more are 1) use of demonstratives, 2) aspect marking, 3) possessive system and most importantly 4) how they organize information in a non-narrative text. These areas are important for producing a translation that is clear and natural in Gumawana.

On the demonstratives it is interesting how the Gumawana system differs from English. We have basically two: this and that. Gumawana has several. Below are listed the demonstratives in Gumawana.

ame - this (in speaker location)
moe - that (in hearer location)
amo - that (away from both hearer and speaker location)
kive - that (located toward ocean from speaker)
tono - that (located down below speaker location)
mae - that (located above speaker location)

Only the first three are used in written texts normally. Each can take a suffix that indicates person and number but also implies the object is unseen. Another suffix (-ko) indicates that it is an adverb and has the idea of "here" and "there". When someone asks you about a particular object and you point to it you use a prefix go-.

They use the first three demonstratives in stories referring back to thing stated earlier. The task is to discover when they use which one. At the moment I get the impression ame points forward and the other two, amo and moe, point backwards but have a different function. The only way to discover this will be to read through all my Gumawana texts to see each context.

After completing the checking of Matthew, Galatians, and 2 Thessalonians, the next book to translate will be 2 Timothy. I am working on preparing a rough draft to leave with them in November to work on. Most likely we will work together on it next year in April. I also need to begin going through Luke, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy and Philippians to prepare them for checking by a consultant. Luke still needs to be village checked with people who had not worked on it. But since Matthew has been checked, it is likely to go well.

My next trip is in November. I will be working on finishing John and 2 Corinthians.