Our friend and colleague Bob Ulfers, who works with his wife, Yezmin, among the Karang people, posted the following on his facebook page yesterday, and we thought it was such a great message that we wanted to share it with you all.
The Ulfers have been working with the Karang for many years, and Kevin had the chance to teach their two older children, Josiah and Hannah, so theirs is another project that we have had a hand in supporting.
Enjoy, and we pray that you have a blessed celebration of our Savior's birth!
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| Bob and Yezmin Ulfers |
Testing ‘virgin’ – pure or empty?
“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23)
It was a typical dusty and smoky afternoon in the dry season of northern Cameroon when Jacob, Abba and I went out to comprehension test the Karang language translation; the end of 2nd Corinthians. We gathered at Mr. Noel’s compound with several Karang people of different ages. As is our practice, for each verse we asked key questions to make sure the Karang translation is understandable, natural, and accurate. We had no idea that Mr. Noel and his friends’ replies would require three days of revision on one verse, actually only one word – tikla our choice for ‘virgin’. It was the second verse of chapter 11.
Our culture influences how accurately we understand the Bible. That day at Mr. Noel’s the Karang culture became a problem. It changed the meaning of the holy message. You see, the image of a virgin girl for most of us evokes the idea of ‘purity’, ‘chaste’, ‘reserved for a special purpose’ or something along those lines. That’s because for most us, the Bible has influenced our culture for centuries. The Biblical view of ‘virgin’ has become ours. It’s how we see Mary the mother of Jesus, for instance. But the concept of a virgin girl for the Karang is quite different.
That dusty day at Mr. Noel’s, the Apostle Paul’s virgin bride analogy of Corinthian church induced an unexpected wrong idea. Paul wrote: “I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.” Earlier the Corinthians’ moral lives were dirty - real dirty. But in time and by God’s reconciling power Paul was hoping to present them as ready for Christ, as a pure virgin bride is to her groom. The word we used for ‘virgin’ in Karang is tikla. It describes accurately a young female who is unmarried. We naturally used this term and to make sure about her purity we also added, ké tu wo̧ro ya (who does not know a man). Our testing session at Mr. Noel’s went like this:
Our question - “Who is Paul referring to when he talks about a tikla ké tu wo̧ro ya (virgin)?”
Their answer – “ The people who follow Zezu (Jesus), the ones Paul is writing to.” “The ones living in Kɔrente.” “Good.” I replied (We happily check off one question).
Next question - “Why did he call them a tikla?”
Their answer – “Paul wants to bring them to Zezu. He is like the groom and they are like the tikla.”
“Good,” I reply. (They know it is an analogy so we check off another question.)
Next question - “What is Paul trying to say about the Corinthians when he says they are like a tikla?”
Noel’s answer - (After some thought) “They don’t know anything about Zezu and Paul wants to introduce them to Zezu so they can believe for the first time.” (The others all nodded their heads!) I looked at Jacob and Abba whose eyes were wide open too. “Ooooookay” I remarked taking a deep breath. I tried not to look surprised. I paused to form a logical follow-up question.
Next question - “So how do you know Paul says that the Corinthians know nothing about Zezu?”
Their answer – “A tikla is somebody who knows nothing.” “That’s right, why else would Paul call them tikla?” I quickly confirmed by asking one last question - “Like an empty blackboard?” (They all agreed!)
Jacob and Abba gave me that oops-time-to-go-back-to-the-drawing-board look. So we did. And over the next few days we modified tikla. We embellished it with ‘pure-hearted’, changed its place in the phrase, we then explicated more saying she did not have sex with another, etc. But each time it did no good. The response was always, “Paul is saying that he wants to present the unbelieving Corinthians to Zezu.” What they understood confused them as much as it disturbed us. You could see the silent query in their eyes, ‘Why is Paul presenting them as empty and ignorant to Christ.’
Finally on the third day we came to the conclusion that we could not use the analogy of virgin (tikla) at all. Culturally it just refused to conform to the Biblical view. Then another idea came to us: use fiancée (mbana). We used the following analogy “I want to present you as a mbana who guards her body with a pure heart for her groom, Christ.”
We then tested it at the next session -
Their response – “Oh, Paul wants them to be pure and ready for Zezu. He wants them to keep themselves for Zezu and nobody else.” There was no confusion in their eyes.
One more question – “So they are NOT ignorant?”
Their answer – “Of course not, because a mbana already knows the one she loves and the Karang says it clearly, she, the Corinthians, are pure to him.”
Finally we could really check off that verse, that word. And what a reminder it was again that translating God’s word into a different language means translating it into a different culture, a culture that God wants to make pure and ready to receive him. People who can say, we are ready to be one with you, Zezu.
As we celebrate that great day when the God of the universe lowered himself down to be born into all our dirty humanity through a ‘pure’ virgin, we also look forward to the day we are presented to Christ as his pure fiancée, ready to love him back as he did us.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Bob (& Yezmin) Ulfers, December 24 2016
