The
Bible in A New Century
Excerpts
of an address by Hon. David
Kilgour, M.P., Edmonton Southeast
and Secretary
of State (Latin America and
Africa)
Annual
Meeting and Dinner
of
Northern Alberta District Branch
of Canadian Bible Society (CBS)
at
Evangel Pentecostal Church
50
Street & Whitemud Freeway
Edmonton,
April 28,2001
Permit
me to begin with a true story
about the book – the
most important one in any
century – that brings
us here tonight.
In
the era of sailing boats,
an English ship found itself
becalmed in the South Pacific
somewhere between Chile and
East Australia.
It was carried by a
current to an island not then
shown on any chart.
The crew scrambled
ashore unsure of how they
might be met by any local
residents.
To
their surprise, they were
met by people speaking English,
who took them to a neat village.
Their hosts turned
out to be crew members from
the "Bounty", who
had murdered Captain Bligh.
Following the mutiny,
the "Bounty" had
been caught in a storm and
wrecked on the shores of this
island.
The crew, drafted off
port city streets in Britain,
soon began to fight and even
kill each other over ownership
of the wreckage.
Pitcairn
Island
In
the remains of the "Bounty",
one crew member had found
a Bible, which he began to
read to the others.
They began to worship
and order began to take hold.
A community in which
caring and justice prevailed
gradually took root.
The few local women,
once the cause of violent
jealousy, became respected
wives and homes were built.
Pitcairn Island eventually
appeared on maps and was known
as s haven of hope for all
who came to it.
Such
is the impact of the Bible
– about 1000 pages long,
composed of 66 different books
by several dozen authors,
and written several thousand
years ago – that wherever
humanity and social justice
are found on this planet there
is a fair likelihood that
Bibles provided by the Bible
Societies of the world are
to be found.
The
North Alberta District Branch
of the Canadian Bible Society
(CBS) is doing especially
well these days, both in fund-raising,
which I understand has doubled
in recent years, and in programs.
This Branch has many
projects, including recycling
Bibles to inner city ministers.
Only last month the
Branch presented students
at the North West Bible College
here in the city with a New
Testament in Greek.
District Director Bruce
Kemp visited China, Ukraine
and Egypt last year.
This Branch is part
of hugely successful international
non-denominational movement,
which began almost two centuries
ago and has maintained its
international and trans-cultural
nature continuously since.
The first foreign language
translation was the Gospel
of John translated for Mohawks
in Canada in 1804.
Local Bible Societies
began to spring up across
what is now Canada as early
as 1807.
The CBS itself was
not chartered until 1906,
but today has 16 districts
and dozens of branches across
our country.
Today it distributes
Old/New Testaments and complete
Bibles in more that 120 languages,
including 23 indigenous ones.
In 1999 alone, it distributed
400,000 Bibles and New Testaments
and seven million scripture
portions and selections.
The
goal of Bible Societies in
more than 200 countries is
to see lives and hearts changed
through the Word of God.
By 1999, all the national
Bible Societies, which make
up the United Bible Societies (UBS), had together translated
the Bible into 2,233 languages.
There are still, however,
many languages for which there
is a recognized need for Bibles.
Bibles
Abroad
A
brief word about the role
of Bible Societies in two
countries, which experienced
enormous hardships last year:
El Salvador and India.
In the first were several
terrible earthquakes and about
3000 after shocks, which did
enormous physical and psychological
damage. The Rapid Response
Service of the UBS got a Scriptures
distribution underway as quickly
as possible.
The Salvadorian Bible
Society is seeking money to
help re-equip churches and
clergy with Scriptures.
In India after their
terrible quake in January,
the local Bible House was
damaged, but staff attempted
to help communities devastated
by the catastrophe.
In
Egypt, Bible Society volunteers
today go door to door for
donations and more Bible stores
have been opened to spread
the Word.
In Peru, the local
Bible Society presented thousands
of copies of A Change of National
Attitude -- 14 texts from
Scripture -- following President
Fujimori’s resignation
in preparation for new elections.
A scandal weary people
have reportedly taken very
warmly to this publication.
Let
me here propose an important
project for Africa.
Should Bible Societies
in Canada and across the world
not partner with sister societies
in Africa to print Scripture
texts which, stress the importance
of monogamous marriage?
If these were circulated
in the ten of thousands of
village and city parishes
of all denominations across
the continent, would they
not have a major positive
impact on the incidence of
HIV/AIDS?
No one here needs to
be told that the disease is
having a catastrophic effect.
A friend in Uganda
- a doctor - tells me that
the promoting monogamous relationships
is the best way to bring down
the infection rate.
He adds that Uganda
has succeeded in bringing
its own infection rate from
40% to 11% among the general
population, but what of so
many of the other countries?
Society
Vision
The
vision of CBS is to reach
every person with the life-giving
Word of God and to encourage
its use. This means providing Scriptures at an accessible
reading level.
In many countries,
the material provided are
valued as quality educational
tools. “New Reader Scriptures” with simplified
text and colorful illustrations
are very useful in literacy
projects. For instance, Andrew Rugege, a Ugandan working
out of the CBS office in Ottawa,
is well-educated and fluent
in nine languages.
He learned to read
through early exposure to
the Bible.
His wife Chantal lost
several members of her family
in the 1994 genocide, which
was the factor bringing them
to Canada.
Janette
Oke, the Canadian author of
children’s books, says,
“If a child has only
one book to read, let it be
the Bible.”
Eastern
Cree
The
CBS working closely with the
Wycliffe Bible Translators
have just published the New
Testament in Eastern Cree.
The first edition,
carefully prepared over a
period of almost twenty years,
will be launched on June 30th.
The people of the Ukraine
had the Russian language forced
on them through seventy years
of domination from Moscow.
Now, in rediscovering
their cultural and linguistic
roots, there is a vast hunger
for the Word of God in Ukrainian.
The CBS is committed
to meeting that need.
It is translating the
New Testament into contemporary
Ukrainian, making the level
of language accessible to
all.
Typical of so many
countries, these efforts are
applauded by local authorities.
They are aware of the positive spin-offs for
the development of their people.
The
impact of Bible translation
is educational, social and
spiritual.
For many language groups,
the Bible Society plays a
unique role in providing the
first written materials for
both adults and children.
“New Reader Scriptures”
is a program specifically
designed to help people to
read in over 350 languages
while bringing the message
of hope and life.
Bible translators serving
with CBS (and its partners)
are committed to making the
Bible available to all people
in their “heart language”.
Each year, some portion
is published in about 40 languages
for the very first time.
It
is estimated that 26% of the
world’s adult population
(about 900 million people)
are totally illiterate.
Most have never held
a book or even touched a printed
page. Of the over six billion
people living today, about
77% live in developing countries.
More than 95% of the
illiterate live where it is
difficult or impossible to
learn to read without outside
help.
They are locked in
a time frame with no access
to discover vital information
to better understand themselves,
the world, or God’s plan
for their lives.
There
are about 6,500 living languages
spoken in the world.
More than 3,500 of
these languages still lack
an alphabet or any form of
literature.
It takes translators,
language consultants and the
commitment of many people
to accomplish the amazing
process of literacy. The spoken
language is analyzed; a grammar
and dictionary are established
and entered on computer.
Manuscripts are prepared
and published.
The people are taught
to read.
The technique of reading
the printed page opens up
a whole new world of understanding.
Faith
in Communities
On
a visit to South America and
South Africa, I discussed
faith with a number of individuals.
A leader from Central
America indicated quite spontaneously
that God has been good to
her and her family.
God, she added, gives
talents to everyone; the more
one has the greater the ability
to be a “beacon”
for Him.
Whenever she feels
herself to be in God’s
presence, which I took to
occur frequently for her,
she wants to use all her abilities
to advance His will.
A
Canadian colleague on the
same flight offered another
perspective.
For him, Jesus offers
every believer a sound basis
for salvation because He came
into the world to help the
marginalized and suffering.
He loves every human
being and does not judge individuals
in the foolish way the world
does so often.
Love and redemption
are His promise to believers.
Several
days later in Johannesburg,
I met an old friend from Canada,
who now works there with a
lay ministry.
He and some others
were invited to conduct a
“spiritual wellness”
forum for employees of a large
utility company.
Its management, deeply
worried about the HIV/AIDS
pandemic in southern Africa,
asked Christians to speak
to employees on faith, self-esteem,
family breakdown under apartheid
and promiscuity.
Robben
Island
Not
long afterwards, I found myself
on the rocks and sand of Robben
Island off the shores of Cape
Town for an unforgettable
day of listening to former
political prisoners of the
former maximum security facility. Beforehand, we 600 or so visitors, mostly from
North America, were given
a tour, beginning with the
lime quarry known as the ‘birthplace
of reconciliation’ because
there Nelson Mandela and many
leaders of the new South Africa
first reached out in friendship
to their guards.
The personal humiliation
and natural human desire for
revenge they had to overcome
to do so became clearer as
we listened to Robben Island
‘alumni’.
The white wardens at
Robben Island tended to be
bitter men who were often
assigned to the island as
punishment.
Beatings of prisoners
were common, but in such rocky
soil the ‘miracle of
South Africa’ took root
Desmond
Tutu
Desmond Tutu spoke
of reconciliation during a
visit to this city last year.
Emerging from 27 years
in prison, said Tutu, Mandela
“urged his own people
to be ready to forgive and
to work for reconciliation.
He has preached his
gospel of forgiveness and
reconciliation a great deal
more by example than by precept.
He invited his former
jailer to attend his presidential
inauguration as a VIP guest.
Who would have imagined South
Africa would be an example
of anything but the most awful
ghastliness?
And now we see God’s
sense of humour, for God has
chosen this unlikely lot and
set up as some kind of paradigm…that
just might provide the world
with a viable way of dealing
with a post-conflict, post-repression
period.”
In a session on reconciliation
and the future, we heard from
an Anglican priest, Michael Lapsley, who as a New Zealander
was expelled from South Africa
for working as chaplain to
both white and black students. Shortly after he returned to Africa from a
national tour in Canada, he
received the letter bomb,
which destroyed both of his
hands.
For him, Jesus looked
to individuals at the bottom
of society and offered the
form of compassion, which
liberates rather than merely
pities.
He thinks believers
today must also attend the
poor, widowed and orphaned
with a similar message.
In his own case, he
has gained much from his faith
journey, in part by refusing
to accept the “harvest
of hatred” of which he
is one prominent survivor.
Friendly
Believers
I’d argue that
believers of all faiths have
a duty to be happy and positive
individuals.
Nothing is more off-putting
than a sour workmate or colleague,
whereas someone who is serene
and friendly is magnetic.
If we are to be effective
witnesses for our faith in
our workplaces, much is demanded
of us. Good interpersonal
relations must be under constant
re-examination in case we
are hurting someone’s
feelings by thoughtless words
or deeds.
Grace
– God’s love for
all humanity even though undeserving
– deserves the final
word. It is the one thing
that only the church can provide
in a world which craves it
the most. Grace can bring
transformation and hope.
As
Philip Yancey, who is probably
the most persuasive writer
in English for the Christian
cause alive today, put it
in his book, What’s
So Amazing About Grace?,
it is hunger for grace that
brings people to any church.
“I rejected the church
for a time because I found
so little grace there,”
he writes. “I returned
because I found grace nowhere
else.” In a world full
of too much ‘ungrace,’
we believers should seek to
dispense grace in every city,
town and village of Canada.
