for 6 MAY 06: LOST IN TRANSLATION?

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this humorous, serious, or a little of both - but from time to time, we offer things to reflect upon as we keep the seventh-day Sabbath.)

My daily Bible study was on a completely different topic this week, when I stumbled upon an amazingly timely set of verses. It spoke to the debate over whether the national anthem should be sung in Spanish - which reminds me: are they singing the anthem at ALL at Fiesta Columbus?

The passage I found was in the last chapter of the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. It talks about "men of Judah" marrying women from other ethnic communities. Half the children wound up speaking the language of the other people, "and did not know how to speak the language of Judah." Of course, this was before Berlitz tapes....

How did Nehemiah respond to children speaking other languages? The Bible gives his answer: "I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair." Hmmmm - this makes me a bit thankful opponents of immigration reform do NOT read the Bible every day.

Nehemiah's point was that marrying outside one's culture led to wickedness and sin. But my point today involves the language part. Some fundamentalists might use this section to declare English the only acceptable language in the U.S. - right before they encourage members to become missionaries in South American jungles.

But if you try to use that Bible passage to argue for an "English-only" country, I'd have to ask some questions. Wasn't the original Bible written in TWO languages - Hebrew for the Old Testament, and Greek for the New? As my pastor points out, people who say the Bible is "Greek to me" are only half-right.

And when Jesus said some strange-sounding words to God from the cross in Matthew 27, was that wrong? One Bible says it was a "mixture of Aramaic and Hebrew" - a bit like Spanish-language sportscasts, where a baseball player hits a "jonron." [True!]

Besides that, the apostle Paul apparently was multilingual. He surprised a commander in Acts 21 by speaking Greek. So much for the idea that leaders of religious groups are backwoods know-nothings....

And I won't even get into the touchy religious issue of "speaking in tongues," mentioned in I Corinthians 14. Sometimes that comes in handy outside church, you know - for instance, when singers can't remember the words on "American Idol."

I decided during my teenage years to make Spanish my main language of study in school. I could see the population trend building way back then. I don't think it's affected me in a negative way -- unless perhaps I snack on too many tortilla chips and salsa.

. Do you realize how many countries today have more than one national language? Belgium does. Canada does. South Africa does. And in modern-day Israel, many people speak English while the "official language" is Hebrew. The better to lobby for U.S. aid, of course....

To those upset about the national anthem being sung in Spanish, or concerned by some residents speaking mostly Spanish every day, I would ask: what are you afraid of? When you flee the country to retire to cheap land in Costa Rica, you'll still need to know it a little.

But there's good news for you fearful folks. The King James Bible also mentions a future time when there will be one "pure language." Yet we should note there's no guarantee that language will be English, either....

Other Bible translations suggest that passage of Zephaniah 3 is talking about a people with pure lips. Now THAT would be a refreshing change - although it means a lot of stand-up comics will have to change their acts.

BLOG UPDATE: I couldn't make it to the National Day of Prayer event at the Phenix City Amphitheater this year, but I'm told only about 50 people showed up. When more people gather there to hear a woman yodeling country music - and they did later that afternoon -- are we really in the Bible Belt?

I'm not sure why elected officials tend to keep their distance from National Day of Prayer events. The only one I'm noticed in recent years was Peggy Martin, when she was Phenix City Mayor. Whether she has a prayer this election year against state Senator Ted Little remains to be seen....

And Columbus city officials never seem to show up at the National Day of Prayer service. It's as if the Chattahoochee River is illustrating the separation of church and state.

It didn't help that the organizers of the Phenix City service wasn't listed at the official National Day of Prayer web site. Believers may be led to attend, but I doubt any of them are psychics.

But did you notice a little of the Phenix City prayer service appeared Thursday evening, on ABC "World News Tonight?" We mention this for the local ministers who want to add that to their biography, for speaking engagements....

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