Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Combatting False Teaching with God's Word


Have you ever had someone tell you something that wasn't true? How could you tell it was false? What if it was something false your church taught? You are able to read the Bible on your own, perhaps open Bible commentaries written by scholars, and read some online blogs citing different opinions. But for the estimated 40 million Deaf people in the world who are unable to read, those sources aren't available. How can they know what the Bible really says, especially when they are being taught things that are not true?  

There is a lot of misunderstanding that comes when you don't have access to the Scripture yourself, but instead get information from a secondary source. Here's a story about what happened when four Deaf people encountered the story of Moses from Exodus 3 and 4, translated through the work of DOOR International. They learned that God loved them, heard them, and saw them much differently than they imagined. It was related to me by my Deaf friend, Mark.

Mark met four Deaf people who attended a hearing church. This church taught two things that led to some severe misunderstandings for these four Deaf brothers and sisters.

The first was that the church taught that all Deaf people are demon-possessed, and needed to be exorcised. Thus the pastor and several elders in the church went about trying to (unsuccessfully) pray the demons out of these four individuals. They also encouraged them to pray themselves for this.

Mark was able to use DOOR's translation of Exodus 3 and 4 to show them the truth. When Moses doubts God's calling on his life, the Lord responds, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" Through the Scriptures, they saw how God had created them uniquely with a special purpose, that they were no accident, and that he values each of them. They were simply amazed to understand this for the first time.

The Deaf people also asked Mark if they still needed to work on using their voices. When Mark asked what they meant, they replied that their church taught that God only heard spoken prayers, so they needed to work on using their voices (even if they couldn't hear) so that God would listen to them.

Mark showed them that while it is true that God hears spoken prayers, he certainly also understands sign and signed prayers. If he knows all things, then doesn't he understand any language? They didn't need to go through some alternative means to communicate to God; he sees and understands everything they sign. After all, in Genesis 16, didn't Hagar give God the name, "The God Who Sees Me"?


No matter what language we speak or sign, whether you are a hearing person praying quietly in your own room or a Deaf pastor praying for God's blessing at a Deaf wedding in India, God is intimately acquainted with our thoughts and our prayers. And these four Deaf people learned that through the power of God's Word.

How has God's word changed your thinking? 

Sunday, May 4, 2014

A Busy April of Travels

April was a busy month of traveling around the US for our family! We logged about 4500 miles in those 30 days, and we could definitely feel it by the end! This was our opportunity to visit friends and family we have not seen in a while, as well as spread the word about DOOR International, our part in the ministry, and how people can partner with us in the work.

Here are some photo highlights of the month. (I've refrained from putting photos of other people's families here for privacy reasons, but we got to see many, many friends!)


March 30: Rob spoke at our home church, Grace Church in Granger, IN, and they commissioned us in our work with DOOR.










March 31 - April 2: We moved most of the stuff out of our house into storage. Last day of the boys' school was on April 3.








April 4: We took off (with a full car) to visit my grandmother and other family in Illinois.


April 6 - 8: On our way down to St. Louis, MO, to see more family, we stopped in Hannibal to visit Mark Twain's boyhood home. Jon also enjoyed a special birthday treat; be sure to ask him the next time you see him if you don't know what he did.

April 8 - 9: Stopped in Springfield, MO, to visit some family friends there.

April 9 - 10: Stopped in Branson, MO, to visit more family. Rob took Mason out for a special adventure trip on a zipline.

April 10 - 13: Michelle's sister got married, and we were so blessed to be a part of the celebration!

April 13 - 14: We drove down to Arizona where we stayed with Rob's mom and dad. Here we are in OK on the way there.

April 14 - April 18: Enjoyed some great time with family, including a trip to the local zoo!


April 18 - 19: On our way out to CA, we stopped at both the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. Those who had issues with heights had an interesting time at these two sites!


April 20 - 24: We spent four days in the San Francisco Bay Area, reconnecting with old friends from our time there when Rob was in graduate school at UC Berkeley.



(If you don't know the story behind this picture of "Elmo," definitely ask. It was a VERY typical San Francisco street performer experience!)

April 25 - 28: We drove out to Wyoming where we stayed with some friends from Rob's graduate school days who now live out there. Rob got to play violin on the worship team that Sunday.

April 29 - 30: Making our way back to the South Bend, IN area. We stopped at Mount Rushmore, and thankfully the weather cooperated that day. Occasionally the wind gusts got up to 60+ mph, though! 

50% Now, Another 25% by 2025


You may be aware that one of DOOR's main ministries is sign language Bible translation. (For examples of some of that translation work, go to the Deaf Bibles website and select one of the sign languages there.) You may also be aware that there are estimated to be over 400 sign languages around the world, making translation work a huge task. What you may not know is that right now the translations through DOOR that are in process or starting this coming year will make God's Word available to over half of the estimated 70 million Deaf people around the world, and that by 2025, we may be able to widen that to over 75%!

How has DOOR done this?

One of the tensions with Bible translation is that you have many language groups that you want to provide translations for, but limited resources for the translation work.  Thus, it often feels like you have to choose between two difficult options:
  • Providing translation work in a lot of different language groups, but only a little bit for each group (going "wide but not very deep"); or
  • Providing translation work in just a few language groups, and giving them a lot of translation quickly (but missing many others who desperately need to hear God's Word).
One way that DOOR has partially overcome this tension is to identify some of the largest sign language groups, and begin translation work in those key countries. For example, India holds about 17% of the world's population (and thus, about 17% of the world's Deaf). Using this method, it is possible to reach over 50% of the sign language groups simply by working in the 15 or so countries that DOOR currently has projects starting in.

One added benefit of focusing on these key language groups is that many small sign language groups use sign that is similar to one of the key language groups that has translation work happening.  Like spoken languages, some sign languages are more closely related than others.  In the same way that an Italian can understand Spanish, some sign language users can understand other sign languages because they share a lot of overlap.  This means that while we're starting Bible translation work in an official capacity for over 50% of the world's Deaf, we are still providing usable resources for an even larger number who may need to wait to get an official translation in their own sign language.

Focusing on only a few sign languages also allows DOOR to work on training people in Bible translation work so that they can be a resource to future translations that will start in the coming years. This growth may allow DOOR to expand into enough countries in the next 11 years to be able to reach 75% of the Deaf by 2025!

Learn how you can support our family in this work here.