Celebrating Almost 100 Years With the Bible (Philippines)
Successful Series of Seminars Promotes Bible Translation Principles (Philippines)
India Newsround
Standard Korean Bible Revised for Third Millennium
Japan – Looking Forward to The New Millennium
Bible People in the News (Japan)
When God Takes a Hand (New Zealand)

The event held at the Manila Midtown Hotel – one of the biggest hotels in this tourist area of Manila City – was graced by one of the doyens of UBS: Dr Eugene Nida. Dr Nida has been the main force behind the development of the dynamic equivalence translation method, which aims to render the meaning of the Scripture texts in accessible language rather than stick rigidly to a word-for-word translation.

Under the theme ‘God’s Word: Hope for Justice and Peace’ some 355 members and partners of the PBS gathered to thank God for his provision and guidance of the work in the Philippines. Again, focus was on the goal of providing a Bible for every adult in the country.

Prior to the anniversary dinner, Dr Nida had travelled throughout the Philippines to conduct PBS-sponsored seminars on Bible translation. Among the venues were four of the top universities: Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines Diliman, and University of St Tomas.

Dr Nida spoke of three of his most memorable experiences while working with the UBS. The first was when he encountered what he thought were ‘dirty Bibles’ belonging to a congregation in Portales, Mexico.

He was surprised to discover that the members of this church read the Scriptures line by line and then followed the biblical instructions to the letter – hence the constant fingering of the pages which left them quite marked and grubby.

He also spoke of the co-operation among the Christians of different denominations through the Bible movement. Dr Nida had seen the power of the Holy Spirit in operation throughout Europe, affecting church leaders who had previously remained aloof from each other.

“You really know it when the Spirit of God moves, melting our hearts and uniting our spirits as one. Then we can reach decisions we never thought possible, even consider new ideas we never dreamt of,” Dr Nida said. “Thanks to his Word, the Spirit of God works in us and through us to his glory.”

Finally, he talked of the difficulties faced and the perseverance needed in bringing and living out the Word of God in the most hostile of places, and especially where the distribution of the Scriptures is prohibited.

He said that no-one would know the whole impact that the message of Jesus had thanks to the distribution of Scriptures and the lives of his followers throughout the world. This was the real ‘good news’, when people turned to Christ because they saw him lived out in the lives of ordinary men and women.

Preparations for the centennial celebrations began as far back as last year. The PBS wants to ensure that the celebration of 100 years of organised Bible work in the Philippines will ‘catapult’ the work of the Society into the future and engrave it on the minds of the Philippine people.

The events will really begin with the grand Centennial Celebration to be staged this coming November. There will be Bible launchings, the National Bible Week in January, and a series of lectures throughout the year.

The Assistant Corporate Secretary of the board of the PBS unveiled the PBS Centennial logo at the end of last year. The Society is applying to have a postage stamp issued to commemorate the 100-year anniversary.

Another event that will mark the celebrations is a special distribution of Scriptures. The PBS receives hundreds of letters from people from all over the country, from very different backgrounds and walks of life, all asking for a free copy of the Bible. Because of the PBS Free Scripture Distribution Program, there is some hope that these letter writers will receive a Scripture, a New Testament, if not a Bible.

So that this can happen, the PBS is putting a lot of emphasis upon raising the funds to subsidise the production costs. With the current economic crisis in Asia, this will be hard, but the Society’s members and partners would not let the economic problems deter them when the project was presented. It was heartily applauded and people set about raising the funds.

Dr Medarlo Rivera, General Secretary of the PBS, said, as he presented this program to the assembled members: “Such an ambitious program is one of the more significant aspects of our centennial celebrations: to produce 200,000 quality Bibles will be bringing something memorable and meaningful to the poorest of our poor.”

As a result of that early appeal, Bible Society friends and partners have pledged some US $1,532 towards this program. And the PBS continues to receive support from members and friends every day.
 

MANILA, Philippines — The Rev Renato Combatir had always believed that the King James Version of the Bible, dating from 1611, was the only correct translation.

“I have had my eyes opened concerning other Bible versions thanks to this seminar,” he said.

Pastor Combatir was one of 500 people who attended Bible seminars organised by the Philippine Bible Society (PBS) to mark the preparations for the celebration of 100 years of Bible work here.

The series of six seminars, held in four key universities, attracted seminary and linguistics students, translators, missionaries, educators and church leaders.

They were conducted by Dr Eugene A Nida, who has 40 books on linguistics to his credit. He worked formerly for the UBS and is the translation expert who developed the theory of dynamic equivalence – where the original meaning of the text is rendered clearly rather than a rigid word-for-word translation.

The seminars, held in November, were organised by the PBS as a means of thanking the churches for their support over the years.

“It is a great honour and privilege to meet Dr Nida after studying his publications for years,” said Bill Davis, a Bible translator.

Everyone was delighted to meet Dr Nida, aged 84 years, still willing and able to travel from the USA and then to undertake a strenuous speaking tour lasting three weeks.

“Dr Nida is not dogmatic about the issues,” said the Rev Nemuel Frac, a participant at the Bacolod seminar, Visayas area. “His presentation is balanced. I like his style in dealing with issues, and this teaches me to do likewise.”

Dr Nida was equally impressive in his ability to field questions afterwards and his quick humour was much appreciated.

“For those who attended, the series of seminars was an eye-opener regarding Bible versions, languages and culture,” said PBS Communications Assistant, Edna Mae Rabago.

“Thanks to such a positive response to the seminars, many more people in key positions are now informed about the activities of the PBS and the different Bible editions.

“Even though the Bible Society has been around for almost 100 years, many Christian Filipinos are still in the dark about the different Bible versions. Some people believe that the new versions are not true to the original text and that translations are merely the process of “adding to or subtracting from” that text.

“After attending the seminar, however, many Christians have started to appreciate the importance of meaning-based translation and the need to use modern versions of the Bible to get a better understanding of the biblical message,” she said.

Brian Yap, a student at the Biblical Seminary of the Philippines, said: “The seminar showed me the need to simplify theological terms into something that readers or listeners can understand.”

At one seminar an Islamic scholar was encouraged to have a broader understanding of the development of translation techniques. At another, a student from the University of the Philippines felt moved to make a decision: “I now want to become a Christian,” he wrote in a letter to the PBS.

The PBS will be conducting a second series of lectures this year where Dr Daniel Arichea will speak. As well as being PBS President and Chairman, and formerly UBS Regional Translation Coordinator in Asia-Pacific, Dr Arichea is Bishop of the United Methodist Church, Baguio Episcopal Area.

He will be joined by theologian Dr Oscar Suarez, Administrative Pastor of the Cosmopolitan Church and faculty member of Union Theological Seminary and Southeast Asia Graduate School. Dr Mariano Apilado, President of Union Theological Seminary in Dasmarinas, Cavite, will also participate. (WR 340/15 - 4/5.99)

l UTTAR PRADESH — The Uttar Pradesh Auxiliary of the Bible Society of India (BSI) has released its first audio Scripture: a cassette of songs in Bhojpuri.
     The songs are based on the Scripture texts in the New Reader Portions series published by the BSI. The text for the songs was translated into Bhojpuri by the Rev Jagdari Masih of Allahabad Bible Seminary.
     The BSI Auxiliary staff had to search long and hard to find an authentic ‘Bhira’ singing troupe and finally located one in one of the remote villages.
     ‘Bhira’ is a catchy style of singing culturally relevant to Bhojpuri speakers, and these are found in parts of Uttar Pradesh, in Bihar, in Mauritius and in some Fijian islands.
     The cassette is entitled Jyoti (the Light) and was formally presented at the Bhojpuri Convention held in Allahabad during October. It received a very encouraging response.

l GUJARAT — Despite acts of persecution, attacks on Christian communities throughout the state, and continuing threats of violence, spiritual revival is sweeping through Gujarat.
     It is being particularly felt in the south among the Gamit people, according to the Gujarat Auxiliary of the BSI. Gamit speakers are responding so positively to the Bible’s message of salvation that many are turning to Jesus Christ.
     The Auxiliary have longed to provide the Gamit people with some form of Scriptures, but Gamit does not exist as a written script. Although they are an industrious and enterprising people, many Gamit speakers are unable to read and write.
     The BSI Gujarat Auxiliary has now produced an audio Scripture in Gamit. Gamit-speakers are found mainly in Vyara, Songadh, Lakhali, Devalpada and other towns and villages in the south.
     The people were so thrilled to hear the Scriptures being read in their mother tongue that the whole batch of 500 Scripture cassettes produced were sold immediately. The cassette was launched in October by the Auxiliary President, the Rt Rev V M Malaviya, at Vyara.
     In November, 350 youngsters participated in the Fifth Youth Festival held in Biladia, Sabarkantha district. Under the theme ‘The Lord Needs You’, Bishop Malaviya inaugurated the festival with an encouraging and challenging message to follow the Bible and become involved in the Bible cause.
     The Gujarat Auxiliary staff, led by Secretary the Rev N G Parmar, organised the program, and more than 100 people responded to the Gospel message, while 15 others declared an interest in going into full-time Christian ministry.

l NORTH WEST — To coincide with the ‘Urs’ Fair in Ajmer last October, the BSI North West Auxiliary, Ajmer branch organised a Freedom Festival and a distribution program to reach the many visitors to Ajmer.
     The vision of the many volunteers in the program was to reach out to the pilgrims coming for the 786th ‘Urs’ Fair with the Gospel message. A two-day training seminar taught volunteers how to present the Gospel to non-Christians while being sensitive and respectful of people adhering to other religions.
     Inaugurated by the BSI General Secretary, Dr B K Pramanik, the Freedom Festival began with a service at Robson Memorial Cathedral on October 18. On the following day, bookstalls were erected all over the city as distribution points that fed the many volunteers with Selections and other Scriptures as they were needed.
     Some of the other organisations participating were India Every Home Crusade, Asian School of Evangelism, Mobile Gospel Ministry and Emmanuel Bible Institute. By the end of October almost seven million Selections had been distributed, along with more than 1,000 Bibles, New Testaments and other Scripture materials. According to the Auxiliary, it was “heart-warming to see so many people show a keen interest in Christianity.”

l DIMAPUR — The first Maring Naga New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs was dedicated on January 15 during a special service at Minou Baptist Church, Manipur.
     The result of many years of commitment and hard work, the Maring Naga New Testament was received enthusiastically by a gathering of more than 3,000 people. Translated by K Moses, who spoke about his work at the dedication, the New Testament was symbolically presented to the Secretary of the Dimapur Auxiliary by Dr B K Pramanik, BSI General Secretary. Special messages were given by Translation Adviser, the Rev Dr Hynniewta, who had been closely associated with the translation project, and by the Rev Z K Rochill, Secretary of the Dimapur Auxiliary. This first New Testament has generated much excitement among Maring Naga-speaking Christians, and it was not surprising that some 3,040 copies of the Scripture were distributed following the service.

SEOUL, South Korea — The dedication service of the New Korean Revised Bible took place at Chungdong Jeil Church on November 12. This was the culmination of ten years of careful revision work which has brought a much-loved text in line with the new orthography rules and changes in the Korean language, said Ho Yong Kim, the General Secretary of the Korean Bible Society (KBS).

The Korean Revised Bible, a text which has been a proud part of Korea’s Christian heritage, was last revised in 1961. However, as the orthography rules have been changing, and because of changes in the everyday language of Korean people, it was generally agreed that a revision was needed.

Following the principle of maintaining the characteristics and style of the well-known version, the revision work was begun in 1983 and completed in 1993. In August of that year, a special Supervision Committee consisting of Biblical scholars, theologians, pastors, Korean linguists, and others, was convened to supervise the manuscript over a four-year period.

Following this committee’s work, a trial version of the new Bible edition was published to test its reception in November 1997. More than 1,600 copies were distributed widely to pastors and scholars of all denominations.

In May 1998, the Revision Committee and the Supervision Committee both convened to make a final examination of the text and consider all the comments received. So, some 15 years after the revision work began, the KBS published a new, up-to-date Bible edition, which is still largely the Bible Koreans have come to know and love.

The principles applied to the revision process were as follows: in addition to respecting the original text and the literary style of the Korean Revised Bible, passages which have become too ambiguous have been re-worded. Words no longer used in Korean, and all Chinese expressions have been replaced with contemporary words. Any grammatical mistakes have been dealt with and the orthography has been brought into line with the new rules. Dialect expressions have been replaced with the standard Korean expression, as have any words that may prove offensive in modern Korea. Any errors found have been rectified.

In January the KBS launched a CD-ROM full of Bible editions and Bible helps. The CD contains four versions of the Korean Bible, including the New Korean Revised Bible, three English versions of the Bible, and a translation of the commentary accompanying the German Bible Society’s Stuttgarter Bibel. The CD also contains 17 Portions and promotional material for the KBS. (WR 340/17 - 4/5.99) [PHOTOS]

Japan – Looking Forward to The New Millennium
  

Bible People  in the News l JAPAN — The Rev Kunihiro Sato has retired following 12 years as General Secretary of the Japan Bible Society (JBS). Mr Sato took over a Society suffering financially due to the expenses involved in work on the new intercon-fessional translation of the Japanese Bible. He set himself two long-term goals: the distribution of this new Bible and the involvement of Japanese Christians in supporting the JBS. Both of these goals have been achieved (please see the previous article) and the JBS has been able to begin making substantial contributions to worldwide Bible work. Mr Sato’s enthusiasm for Bible work, his hard-working regime, and his innovative approach to spreading the Bible in a country where Christians are a small minority, have been exemplary. As he says himself: “I have spent the brightest days of my life in the Bible cause.” He has also made many friends both in Japan and across the international community. (WR 340/IB4 - 4/5.99) [PHOTOS]

In the year 2000, the JBS will celebrate 125 years of Bible work in Japan, and many of the fundraising schemes are associated with this event. “We expect to be able to support the production of 50,000 Scriptures for unfunded programs over the next four years,” said the Rev Kunihiro Sato. “This year we will fund the production of 50,000 community Bibles for the Philippine Bible Society’s 100th anniversary program.

“We will also support the production of more French Bibles for Francophone African countries as we did previously.” (Please see World Report April-May 1998, 330/4.) “In the year 2000 we are also planning to have a large Bible exhibition in Tokyo,” Mr Sato said. “We are encouraging churches to take part in a nationwide Bible ‘readathon’, and so far we have had a lot of positive reactions to this idea.”

In the past twelve years, as Mr Sato looks back on the time he has led the JBS, one of the major features has been the distribution of the new translation of the Bible into Japanese. Published in 1987, the New Interconfessional Japanese Bible has sold beyond the Christian community. With not even 1 per cent of the population Christian (approximately one million people), almost three million copies of this Bible or New Testaments in the same version have been distributed since its publication.

Mr Sato himself visited 300 congregations and 50 Christian Schools to promote the new Bible edition. He estimates having reached 38,867 people in the last 12 years. But it is the Bible exhibitions that have successfully brought the Bible Society into the local community. (Please see World Report March 1999, 339/24.) Mr Sato reckons that some 85,000 people have visited the Bible exhibitions in 22 cities across the nation.

Another leap forward has been the purchase of land for a new Bible House and distribution centre on the outskirts of Tokyo. Two buildings have been completed in the last 12 years and these have brought profits enabling the JBS to contribute more to global Bible work.

“I believe we are moving forward to meet the challenges of the new millennium, and we will see greater distribution, more involvement and support from the churches, and the Society will be able to increase its funding of needy programs in other less well-off Bible Societies,” Mr Sato added. (WR 340/18 - 4/5.99)

Andrew attempted to restore the young man’s faith and get him back on the Christian path again. He gave him Sundays off so that he could attend church. And to help him further, Andrew decided to read up about Christianity. He dug out his old Gideons New Testament and began to read it in secret.

He was struck by the truth contained in this book and continued to read it at every opportunity. Finally, he got into conversation with his worker about what he was reading. As they talked the young man became enthusiastic about his faith again. Later he told Andrew that he had re-dedicated his life to Christ.

Andrew found the Bible message a challenge to his lifestyle. He began to set aside his old ways. His friends noticed that he did not drink alcohol like he used to. Andrew was so hungry to read the whole Bible but needed a more modern translation with larger print, so he went to his local library.

He could not find that type of Bible, however, and his attention was drawn to a book about the prophet Mohammed. But as he reached up to take it down off the shelf, something seemed to restrain him. He actually found it hard even to move the book. Something odd was at work, and he walked around to the other side of the shelf just to make sure that no-one was playing a trick on him and holding the book in its place. But there was no-one.

He was so unnerved by this incident that he decided to do something completely different: he would dump a load of rubbish that had been waiting. At the dump, to his amazement, he saw a well-used book on top of a pile of rubbish. He picked it up and found that it was a modern translation of the Bible in easy-to-read print.

This was too much for Andrew: he stood there awhile, and then, looking up to the sky where the seagulls were circling, he shouted out loud: “Okay, God. I’m on your team!” Then he went home, shut himself away, and read that Bible from cover to cover.

He realised that a total commitment to God was required of him. However, he did not relish the idea of going to church again. But one Sunday morning, while clearing up after having friends around the night before, he felt a strong urge to drive the 70 kms (44 miles) to the nearest town and go to church.

When he got to the town and enquired about a church, Andrew was directed to an old warehouse-type building – most unchurch-like! Inside he found an inconspicuous seat not too far from the door.

But this was nothing like the church he could remember. Here people were enjoying themselves. The music was exciting and contemporary, and he slowly warmed to the worship. There was a brief interruption for an announcement. Someone had parked illegally outside the church, and unless the vehicle was moved they risked having it towed away. Andrew knew it was his vehicle.

Of course, everybody turned round as he got up to leave. His heart sank – so much for trying to remain anonymous! But when he returned he was welcomed with great enthusiasm. Suddenly he felt wanted and comfortable among these people of God. For the first time, Andrew felt at ease in a church.

From that day on his faith went from strength to strength. He is now a regular churchgoer and encourages other Christians. His greatest help and sustenance comes from the Bible. (WR 340/19 - 4/5.99)