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?
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