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"Every head bowed. Every eye closed. Yes, Leo, I hear that arf. Is there another? God bless you, little pooch."

http://usa.ntm.org/field-news/filling-i ... lank-spots

FILLING IN THE BLANK SPOTS
by Cathy Drobnick
Feb. 2, 2012

Missionaries Richard and Wendy Rees share that studying the Pwo Karens’ world view often feels like working on a very large, very complex puzzle. There are many areas that require focused attention in order to make the pieces of translation fit together accurately.

One way to zoom in on those critical areas of the puzzle is through interviews with Pwo Karens aimed at understanding what a word means in their culture. In a setting that is relaxed and personal, many interesting insights begin to fit together.

Richard and Wendy share an example of an interview that was an attempt to get a better handle on the cultural context for the word “sin.”

Richard: What is sin?

Language helper: Sin is breaking the five precepts taught by Buddha. Don't steal, don't take life, don't commit adultery, don't tell lies and don't drink alcohol.

Richard: What about anger or greed? Are they sin?

Language helper: No, they are bad, but they are not sin.

As the interview continued, it became increasingly clear that to use the common word that the missionary has learned for “sin” will not accurately convey what God says about sin in His Word. How important is this little piece to the big puzzle? It is critical to a clear understanding of the Gospel.

Every puzzle piece is essential and it must be fitted carefully into place. Pray for Richard and Wendy and for the many faithful translators who pray and persevere in the essential task of Scripture translation. Pray that God will graciously give insight into languages and cultures that will enable accurate communication of His loving message of hope and salvation to the Pwo Karens and to people all over the world who so need to hear it.

Learn more about missionary training.

Showing 3 comments


Red

I support NTM and their work in the harvest fields of the whole world.

(Edited by a moderator)

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2 months ago

Jimviv
Good article, Cath.

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2 months ago

Cindyrantal
Wow, that is so great to be able to understand in detail how this process works. Good job, Cathy!

Well that proves one thing. Buddhist teaching makes quite a bit of sense, can't argue with that wisdom. Aussie was right.

Returning for a moment to the general theme of this tread....

VOM made this comment about Tom White's apparent suicide: "Allegations were made to authorities this week that Tom had inappropriate contact with a young girl. Rather than face those allegations, and all of the resulting fallout for his family and this ministry and himself, Tom appears to have chosen to take his own life."

Then, they launched into a lengthy obituary:

Walter Thomas White

Born: October 29, 1947, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Died: April 17, 2012, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Tom White worked with The Voice of the Martyrs for more than 30 years. He served as VOM’s executive director for more than 20 years, during which time the ministry saw incredible growth in its outreach to the worldwide persecuted church. Under Tom’s direction, the ministry relocated its headquarters to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1991.

Tom married Maria ‘Ofelia’ White of San Jose, Costa Rica, on Dec. 8, 1973, and the couple had two children, Dorothy and Danny.

While teaching English in the Cayman Islands in the late 1970s, Tom made repeated flights over Cuba, dropping hundreds of thousands of gospels provided by The Voice of the Martyrs (then called Jesus to the Communist World). The gospel drops were a response to Fidel Castro’s ordered destruction of 100,000 Bibles, which were ground up in sugar mills. In May 1979, Tom’s private plane crashed on a Cuban highway. He was arrested and sentenced to 24 years in prison for his evangelistic work.

During his imprisonment at Combinado del Este Prison, Tom was able to fellowship with imprisoned leaders of the persecuted church. After many prayers and letters of appeal from U.S. legislators, Mother Teresa and Christians around the world, Tom was released to be reunited with his family on Oct. 27, 1980.

Tom told the story of his work and imprisonment in the book God’s Missiles over Cuba. Tom also wrote other books, numerous articles and a monthly column in VOM’s newsletter, which is distributed to more than 500,000 homes in the United States. In addition, he contributed to the million-selling book Jesus Freaks, written by the Christian music group D.C. Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs.

Tom traveled to more than 100 countries, including many dangerous areas, in order to meet with and deliver aid to persecuted Christians and to document their testimonies for Christians in the West. He was in high demand as a speaker, sharing stories of the many persecuted Christians he met and worked with in his travels. Just weeks before his death, Tom traveled to China, where he met secretly with underground Bible school students.

Tom received many honors over the years for his heart and diligence in presenting the plight of the persecuted church. In May 2001, Oklahoma Wesleyan University awarded Tom an honorary doctorate of ministry for his work on behalf of persecuted Christians worldwide. This award recognized his lifelong contribution — through books, videos and articles — to the body of knowledge about the modern-day persecution of Christians as well as his call to appropriate Christian study and response.

Tom will be remembered for his ministry service and as a lover of people, adventure, literature, poetry and life. His enthusiasm for life will be missed by all who knew him.

We deeply appreciate your prayers for Tom’s family and for VOM during this time.

To read this obituary, you'd think Tom White was a wonderful person, not a child molester! VOM assures us that he will be remembered for his service and as a lover of people! God be merciful!

Do we need to be reminded of Frank Parker's obituary NTM put out in their own publication, for their own "flock"?

Does the word "service" ring any bells? Oh, yes, now I remember. Les Emory served in the Philippines!

<hyperventilating>

This is a tricky issue. It is customary not to speak ill of the recently deceased and funerals can be interesting for what they don't say as much as what they do say.

The fact that an organisation has chosen to make public the apparent cause of and circumstances surrounding the demise is unusual, in that suicide is generally not talked about. I think that deserves some recognition. The obituary is mostly I presume a factual account of a life and that is fair enough in light of my opening comment.

What I think is now timely to think about is this may be an issue we face closer to home. There are families of paedophiles who are finding out about what there "heros" have been hiding for many years. There are also paedophiles that are beginning to feel uncomfortable how much attention the child abuse scandal is now getting worldwide and will know it is only a matter of time before the spotlight shines in their direction.
Does this mean we retreat from the pursuit of justice? That remains a personal choice. For me the answer is no, what one does when the spotlight falls upon ones guilt is also a personal choice. Offenders made wrong choices that hurt children who had few options, now they must face up to the consequences of those choices which when all is said and done, were criminal acts.

I didn't mean to imply that VOM should have spoken ill of him, though I wouldn't have criticized them if they had.

But, if they are going to run an obituary at all, it could have said the bare minimum:


Walter Thomas White

Born: October 29, 1947, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Died: April 17, 2012, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Please pray for his family at this time.

There! See how easy that is! Not a negative word about him!

Moreover, "not speaking ill of the recently deceased" surely includes not saying things like "He drank too much at parties" and "He had a chip on his shoulder and a way of helping others knock it off." There is a point, though, where a notorious event deserves mention, or rules out the appropriateness of an obituary at all. I guess it can be argued whether or not "inappropriate contact with a young girl" fills that bill.

Closer to home, I'm not sure why NTM felt obligated to run ANY kind of an obituary for people who it knew had sexually abused children in their care. If these deaths had to be mentioned for any reason, just list their name, date of birth and date of death. Instead, they make them sound like heroes.

Did the person in charge of compiling the information for Frank Parker and about Les Emory's wife know the sordid details of their "service"?

No one in NTM would have had a clue of what had gone on! Service, indeed!

"Allegations were made to authorities this week that Tom had inappropriate contact with a young girl. Rather than face those allegations, and all of the resulting fallout for his family and this ministry and himself, Tom appears to have chosen to take his own life."

I agree with Bemused, that VOM does deserve some credit for being even this open about the allegations, and about the fact that this man apparently committed suicide. Bearing in mind that these accusations are apparently very recent, the VOM office may have very limited information at this point. Given the nature of this crime apparently committed against a 10-year-old girl, my heavy heart warns me that this is probably not the first time this wolf-in-sheep's clothing molested a child. We on these forums have known other men like him. Too many of them.

What a sad, sad world we live in.

And as far as what the diligent worker bees in the publishing department in Sanford know about what really goes on in their mission, apparently it is "very little". I suspect that the person assigned to compile the obituaries for Frank Parker and Wendy Emory knew nothing at all about their personal lives. Just as the person who picked Dean Van Vliet's quote for NTM's 2012 calendar possibly had no idea that he was no longer on the Revered Historic Figures of NTM list.

At least I'd LIKE to think none of these unfortunate choices were deliberate.

That's what I'd like to think.

Perhaps there would be some merit in an epitaph that reads

"Another Fallen Hero"

It could be interpreted in two ways, depending on what one knows.

It would also be a fitting epitaph for the "Heros" from my childhood, of whom there are very few now left that would not have earned those words.