{"id":43,"date":"2010-01-12T11:36:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T01:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/?p=43"},"modified":"2010-01-12T11:36:37","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T01:36:37","slug":"merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/2010\/01\/12\/merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas reflecting on God\u2019s Precious Gift. We are praying your New Year has started out not with resolutions that will be forgotten by February 1, but with resting in Christ\u2019s sufficiency in all your circumstances.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

CLA Evaluation<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We had an evaluation in early December to check our progress in the Menya language and culture. Our CLA consultant rated the two of us at Basic Mid and Basic High. Out of 9 \u201clevels\u201d we must pass, we are on levels 2 and 3. We and our teammates can begin Bible teaching and translation after we reach Capable High. We\u2019ve made good progress considering the complexity of the Menya language, but please pray that we will not grow weary in pressing on.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Why take the time?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Eating
Eating together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why are we spending 3 or 4 years to learn the language and culture of the people? Why not teach in the trade language?\u00a0 There are many reasons, but an important one is that the people aren\u2019t empty vessels, waiting to have truth poured in. They already have a complex, interwoven belief system defining what they think, who they are and how they view their world. It clashes with the Word of God in most areas, and must be confronted carefully and clearly again and again by the teaching of God\u2019s Word. This is best done in the \u201cheart language\u201d of the people, and the result is worth all the work of learning it. It is not our job to convince them of truth with clever words or man\u2019s reasoning, but we must be absolutely clear what the Word of God does and does not say.<\/p>\n

Animistic people will often hold two contradictory beliefs in harmony, claiming both are true. It is a sad reality that\u00a0much Bible teaching in Papua New Guinea has been\u00a0corrupted and mixed with the people\u2019s tribal beliefs. Teaching in Melanesian Pidgin without an understanding of the culture is the cause for much of this confusion. Though teaching in Pidgin would be the \u201ceasy road\u201d, without careful preparation we would almost certainly reap what we sow.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It all happened here…<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since moving in to Menya, we have heard many stories demonstrating the confusion that is here. The Menya people believe the creation of the human race happened less than 10 miles from where we live here, that everyone (including you!) came out of a cave nearby. Others have told us Menya was the original language spoken before the tower of Babel, and that all languages (including English) derived from it. Many, many others believe Christ lived and walked, not in Israel, but in Menya, that He spoke their language, and was\u00a0crucified on a mountain near them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They have been exposed to some form of Bible teaching for over 50 years, so obviously something is wrong. The best way to clear up the confusion is to go back to the beginning and lay out God\u2019s Word as He revealed it, gently confronting the errors and showing the people where they fit into God\u2019s design.\u00a0 Although this is true, we do not put our faith in methods or in outlines to transform and renew their minds, and we do not find sufficiency in ourselves, but in the living God.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Pandanus
Pandanus nuts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why did God send His Son to dwell among\u00a0us? Why not allow Christ to be offered as a sacrifice for sins in heaven and reveal it to His prophets as He did so many other things?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Why let His Son live in poverty and obscurity for thirty-three years, to suffer and die at the hand of His creation? He did it to identify with us, to relate with us, to make Himself known. We know that we have a sympathetic High Priest, who is \u201c…touched with the feeling of our infirmities….\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the basis of that knowledge, God intreats us to \u201c…come boldly unto the throne of grace…\u201d<\/strong><\/em> He came to experience all we experience as He made Himself known in a personal way. In a small way, we are following His example as we, too, seek to make Him known. We left our home to live among the Menya, to share our lives with them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We are taking the time to learn from them; how they garden, how they hunt, how they eat, how they meet together, how they show love and hatred, how they celebrate and how they mourn, what they fear, what is both good and wicked in their culture. We want to rejoice with them when they rejoice and weep with them when they weep. When we teach, it will be on the basis of knowledge about them and relationship with them, so they do not miss the significance of the message for their lives. They will know how we have lived among them as God\u2019s ambassadors, and through that we hope they will realize this message is important for them, and not just for us.\u00a0 They need to see that He is not distant and detached as they now see Him, but that He is the God of the Menya who knows them fully, and loves them despite their absolute unworthiness.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for your prayer and support of the Lord\u2019s ministry through us. Pray with us that we will be found vessels fit for the Master\u2019s use.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas reflecting on God\u2019s Precious Gift. We are praying your New Year has started out not with resolutions that will be forgotten by February 1, but with resting in Christ\u2019s sufficiency in all your circumstances. CLA Evaluation \u00a0We had an evaluation in early December to check our progress in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1231,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-family","category-newsletters","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/steve-natalie-arn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}