God’s Word Brings Peace

00:01
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
How do you bring comfort and peace, especially peace, to people who live in fear all the time? Well, point them to the one who drives out all fear and can conquer fear. 

00:21
Rich Rudowske
Welcome to the essentially translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible translators. 

00:25
Rich Rudowske
I’m Richardowski. 

00:26
Emily Wilson
And I’m Emily Wilson. 

00:28
Rich Rudowske
Welcome back to the podcast. And we hope that you love listening to essentially translatable. And if you find I really need essentially translatable in my life, then there are ways that we can help you with that. Emily, why don’t you tell some folks how they might be able to be? Sure essentially translatable shows up when and. 

00:43
Emily Wilson
Where we would love to help you. Lbt.org slash podcast is a surefire way to find all of them, but also on all of your platforms. Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, all the fun things. Yeah. So more than just finding them, I recommend subscribing because then you get an alert, right? 

01:06
Rich Rudowske
And see the latest. Yep, definitely so. And we love your feedback. Certainly. Write to us at info@lbt.org with any feedback you have or leave feedback on Apple podcasts. I know that platform for sure gives you a place to do that. And that positive feedback helps to move the podcast up via some kind of magic algorithm stuff. 

01:27
Emily Wilson
You’re talking to android user, so. Huh. Sure. 

01:31
Rich Rudowske
Android people just write email. It’s still a thing we use. 

01:36
Emily Wilson
Smoke signals. 

01:36
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Thank you. 

01:37
Rich Rudowske
Smoke signals. Yeah. But we do love your feedback and appreciate that. 

01:43
Emily Wilson
So today we are talking with Dr. Tim Beckendorf, who is actually a translation consultant in training. You want to fill us in on what that actually means, right? 

01:53
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Sure. 

01:53
Rich Rudowske
Tim’s got years of experience, and as a translation consultant, he’ll work with different language groups as those communities produce the Bible translation in their language. He can give them guidance, training, technical support, and he has finished his doctorate recently and just doing a little bit of shadowing with a translation consultant. That’s the in training part. Soon ready? And Tim has been in Botswana for 17 years, if I’m not mistaken, and has spent most of that time working with the Quaidon language community. Quaidam is a Koisan language, and that means that this previously unwritten language, if you just stop and dwell on that for a second, that he has helped and used other resources to help them to be able to write their language. This language, in addition to having previously been unwritten, also has clicks in the language as some of the consonant sounds. 

02:53
Rich Rudowske
A really unique group of folks that are scattered in northern Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. 

03:01
Emily Wilson
We hope you enjoy this conversation with Dr. Tim Beckendorf and that it’s highly educational because it was for me. Enjoy. 

03:14
Rich Rudowske
All right, we are here in the studio today with Dr. Tim Beckendorf, the Reverend doctor from Botswana, one of our missionaries, and glad to have you with us in studio today. 

03:24
Emily Wilson
Welcome to the podcast. 

03:26
Rich Rudowske
We want to have the listeners get to know a little bit about your contacts. Tell us some about where you’re at in Botswana and the folks that you’re working with in ministry in Botswana. 

03:33
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
We’re in the far northwestern part of the country, 10 from the namibian border. We’re far removed from the major population in the country, which is down south and east. The quay are traditionally huntergatherers. They have been dispersed among four different countries because of conflict, mostly war. They’re in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. So it creates some logistical challenges to meet everybody. The women are still engaged in the gathering part of their culture, but the men are not allowed to hunt anymore. That was about the mid ninety s that stopped. The government has not allowed them to hunt and they’ve been relocated. They used to follow the migration of the herds. They don’t do that anymore. 

04:18
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
They’ve had to settle down in villages in order to be recognized by the government to receive any government services, such as clinics Kotla, which is their court system for the tuana. So the men’s role has changed dramatically in the last generation. When we first got there 16 years ago, most of the men really had no direction, didn’t know what to do with their lives. They unfortunately spent a lot of time drinking. That has changed significantly in the last probably five, six years. Church involvement and mostly with the Zion Christian Church of South Africa. They are a healing type church. They combine elements of Christianity and elements of traditional african religion, and it’s very popular. And one of their main tenets is if you are drinking, you’re damned. So that stopped a lot of the drinking because the men are looking for direction. 

05:17
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
They see this church as providing some sort of giving them some power over disease, which was prevalent with HIV and AIDS. The nation as a whole, back when were started, had like a 33% infection rate with a quay and other minority languages and minority groups. It was closer to 60%. On a given day, I’d look in the village and I knew how many people were positive and it was just astounding. So we had lots and lots of funerals. And that’s really changed because of the Arva program by the government, but also because guys have stopped drinking and stopped fraternizing, as it were. So, yeah, their role has changed a lot. They’re still trying to figure out a direction. How do they fit in with their community? 

06:02
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
They have this tie to the past, and yet they’re living in the present, and what are we going to do? So some of them are getting jobs, which is good. The government has recognized that the minority groups need to be engaged with the rest of the economy, and so they provide free training for guys. One of our translators, when he got out of high school, he was trained to be a paramedic, compliments of the government. I know a number of those type of situations, so that’s very positive. Language wise. They have a language that is unique for most people who are used to indoeuropean languages. Quasan languages use clicks. There are five clicks. The quay have four of them that they incorporate in their language. It’s a very fascinating language. Linguistically, why did clicks develop among the sun and not other groups? 

06:52
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Just as an aside, there’s a theory that because they were hunters traditionally, and they had primitive weapons, they didn’t have rifles and such. They used bows and spears to kill large animals. And so how did they get close to them and be able to communicate with each other? Because it was a team effort. And one of theories is that the language evolved to match the environment. The Kalahari is very dry, a desert, and so the sounds in the environment are these dry, snapping types of sound. As you walk, things will break, and it’s a snapping sound. So they theorize that the clicks came about in order to enable them to communicate with each other and get close to the animals to hunt them. 

07:37
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
That makes a lot of sense to me, because as we get further north and away from the desert into more river areas, which is where we are, the frequency of the clips in the languages decreases down in the know, very high frequency of clicks. Ours, I mean, still high frequency compared to other languages, but not nearly as much as in the Kalahari. So that makes a lot of sense to me. 

07:59
Emily Wilson
So this language wasn’t written down right. I think that’s what we’ve heard through reading your prayer letters and the like. So how did you learn the language and to be able to communicate and work with the Bible translation program? 

08:14
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Language learning was a lot of fun. I had found three guys out in a village close to where we lived. Most of their villages are across the river, which is not easily accessible. So I found a village on my side of the river where I could go every day easily and we’d just go out in the bush, walking around, and I’d ask them the names of plants and trees and so forth, and I’d just write them down using the international phonetic Alphabet so that I could go back and remember how they would sound. And I did that for a long time. And then I began gathering stories from the elders. I recorded them. We went to every village in Botswana and a few in Namibia, and we just gathered the elders together and asked who would like to share a story? 

08:59
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
And we recorded them. And then it took probably five, six months for one of my language learning helpers and I to transcribe them all. And once we transcribe them, then I started developing not only my language skills, but also building a dictionary. Then that’s where I really got to learn the language. Well, was when I started transcribing. I am crippled by literacy. I would say. I cannot learn as well just hearing, but when I can see it written down, it sticks in my mind. So that was a lot of fun, not just language learning, but getting to know the culture through those stories. They have some amazing stories to tell, and some of know they’re fables people. Well, Pete unseth asked, know, are there any proverbs in the language? 

09:47
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Well, I said, well, there are fables that sort of have a teaching, but they’re really violent. And the heroes of the stories are always the most devious ones who are able to deceive others and to get to their place of position of power over the others, that’s elevated in the culture, and it just really bothered me for a long time. And you accept that it’s a culture of survival and power, right? 

10:11
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. And I think we should also point out that Kwe dam language is one of many Koisan family languages. Do you have any idea approximately how many different languages there are? 

10:25
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
I should know that, but I don’t. 

10:26
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, I mean, there’s dozens at be. I was recently in Botswana a couple of months on research, and you’ll hear people talk about the sound language, and I’m like, okay, yeah, so lots and small groups and fairly different languages, like, you know, Kwaidam. So you’re not just automatically going and speaking all these other languages at this point? 

10:46
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Correct. A lot of the sound languages, the smaller ones, have or are dying out just because population wise, the populations are dying, especially during the HIV AIDS pandemic. A lot of people died, and the communities were small to begin with, so there are not a lot left, however, with larger song groups like the quay or the narrow. There are significant population. The language is vibrant. Children grow up speaking Kwaidam. They don’t learn Setswana or English until they go, or if they go to school. Many go to school now. It used to be not many, but now a lot of them go to school, probably the majority. 

11:25
Emily Wilson
So there is a great impact of being able. This is their first language. It’s maybe the language they understand best as adults. 

11:33
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Absolutely. 

11:34
Emily Wilson
That the impact of having the Bible translated in their own language, I’m assuming for the community, then this has been something that has brought a little bit of an identity recognition. I’ve heard that with a number of our other language programs on the continent of Africa. 

11:53
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Can you share a little bit about translation? You know, we have this very lofty goal of getting God’s word into people’s hearts, and that is our goal, to engage people with God’s salvation story and for the Holy Spirit to create faith. But there’s also another aspect of it that brings, like you said, identity to communities. Not just that, yes, our language is important, but once you have published material such as a dictionary or a grammar, and even more importantly, when you have the Bible now, you’re recognized by the government, your language is legitimate, and that allows you to now in Botswana, to have your language be a candidate for being taught in the schools, which is hugely important. 

12:37
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
These are people who have been marginalized for centuries by other tribes, and to have them know not only is our language important, but we’re important not just to the government, but when they realize that God speaks their language, that’s hugely important. 

12:55
Emily Wilson
Yeah. So powerful. The language program that you’re working with is a little unique in comparison maybe with our more typical programs. Can you share a little bit about what makes it unique? 

13:09
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Yes. When we first started working there, our regional director, Jim Lesh, had floated an idea past me about know, perhaps it would serve them best to have a panoramic bible. One of the former LBT missionaries who has since passed away, Jonathan Burmeister, had devised a schedule for which portions of the Old Testament, which portions of the New Testament would give you the broad picture of God’s salvation story from creation through the book of acts, the creation of the New Testament Church. And I thought it was fantastic idea. I have always felt that the New Testament on its own is one person I read said very bluntly, it’s incomprehensible without the Old Testament. I wouldn’t go that to be that strong. But there is so much lost when you don’t have the Old Testament as the background for the New Testament. 

14:05
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
And so I thought it was important to have that full picture, as it were. And then once we would finish that project, which should have been done in five years time, and here we are 16 years later, then we could hopefully move on to filling that into a whole New Testament, or even beyond that. But as we know, things go a little bit differently scheduled in Africa than they do here. 

14:33
Rich Rudowske
And what was an experience you had which really showed the need for God’s word in the heart language, as you were beginning to work with these folks? 

14:40
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
When I was doing language learning, I was constantly being called upon to help people get to the clinics, because, like I said, heiv and Aids was huge. And I went to the village one day and one of my language helpers came to me and he said, can you please come to my cousin’s hut? She needs to get to the clinic. She’s dying, sir. Absolutely. We’ll see if we can help her. And it’s a very long story, but to make the story short, yes, she was dying. We took her to the hospital in Namibia, which is right across the border, because they have a very good clinic there on our side. The clinics were not as well equipped, and her family was on that side as well. 

15:19
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
She was married, living in the village where I did my language learner, but all of her family was in Namibia. The border is artificial for the Kwe as for many people. So she ended up dying. And after I found out that she had died, I went back out to the village and tried to find her husband. And I couldn’t find him anywhere. And ask people, where is he? Where is he? Don’t know. Don’t know. I finally found someone who said, yes, he’s in that little hut over there. And it was just a makeshift hut. He had taken branches, constructed it, put a blanket over top of it. He was hiding from the ancestors because he was convinced that the ancestors were going to kill him, because he was responsible for his wife’s death. In his mind, he was responsible for her death. 

16:03
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
And so he is hiding, because if he’d go out during the day, the ancestors would see him and they would kill him. And it just made me acutely aware of how this was a culture that lived in fear of everything, not just the ancestors, but the environment was dangerous. Darkness is dangerous. Fear was just prevalent in the culture. And how do you bring comfort and peace, especially peace, to people who live in fear all the time? Well, point them to the one who drives out all fear and can conquer fear. 

16:36
Emily Wilson
It’s incredibly powerful. 

16:38
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. So in the panoramic Bible stories, which, of course, as you mentioned, have been worked on for a while, you’ve also had the privilege of being able to release some of those in the interim, one of which is the Noah and the story of the flood. How was that one particularly impactful for the Quaidam community? 

16:55
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
That was very interesting. When the people first engaged with that story, when they heard the reason for the flood, that God was punishing the people because they were excessively sinful, they were not repentant. Noah was the only one who was righteous among all these people. One lady actually said she was astounded that God punishes people because of sin. Sin was not a concept in a culture. The word or the expression that we’re using to convey sin. That concept has to do more with being off the Mark or just not quite right, but there’s no consequence for it, really, and certainly not in God’s eyes. So that was very powerful in the recognition that, whoa, sin has some extreme consequences. And yet that same story with Noah had the concept of salvation that God, out of his mercy, does save. 

17:57
Rich Rudowske
So it was really eye opening then that there’s this God who actually looks and says and makes a call and says, this isn’t right, and we’re going to stop it here. Right. 

18:06
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
And as my wife just pointed out, the creator God, who in Quaidam is Keanima or Keani. He’s like the watchmaker God. He created everything, but he steps back now. Everything is in the realm of the translators. Yes. Is in the realm of the ancestors. 

18:28
Rich Rudowske
We’ll let them know. Yeah, on you guys now. 

18:34
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Yeah. So it’s the ancestors who are needing to be appeased, and if they’re not appeased, then there’s punishment for not appeasing them. But as far as a sin of intention or a sin of omission or those types of sins, it’s just like, well, you just didn’t quite make it. It’s okay. 

18:53
Rich Rudowske
So before we get and dig into that judicial system a little bit before that, you mentioned that you’re translating the Tower Babel, and you get to a problem already, even just a real much more basic problem. Talk to us about that. 

19:05
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
When were translating that story, we got really hung up on, how are we going to express brick? It’s a culture that you can see bricks around town because things are built in bricks, but in the villages, everything is built out of branches and grass and mud, but they don’t make bricks. It’s not part of their culture. And they felt very strongly that they were not going to use a borrowed expression to express brick. They wanted their own expression, and how are we going to do that? And went back and forth in community meetings, and there were some very heated discussions. How are we going to express it? And it went on for years, and it’s still now, every time we come to that story, it’s like, okay, that’s not how we should express brick. It should be this way. 

19:52
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
We need to make a decision here, guys. It’s going to be published soon. So that really insistence that they don’t want to have borrowed expressions in their language, they don’t want to have vocabulary from other languages, especially other tribes that are the oppressive tribes in their language, really resonated with me. And so when we got to the expressions, the judicial expressions, such as law and ordinance and statutes, there’s a good handful of them in the Old Testament. How are we going to translate these? And initially, it was, we can’t. That’s not part of our culture. We’re going to have to use a borrowed word for them to say that meant that there was no way to express it. 

20:38
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, that’s really feeling desperate at that point. 

20:42
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
So initially, we had this borrowed expression, Vetta, which we used kind of like a placeholder, whenever we came across the expression for law ordinance or any of those things. And when we actually had a consulting session long ago in Genesis, the consultants looked at it, and, you know, it’s a sign language. You don’t have judicial expressions? No, we don’t. Okay, that’s fine. Which, to me, that was just too easy. And so it bothered me for years. And Dr. Michael McGahn is our consultant now. And a couple years ago, he gave us kind of a mini workshop on semantic frames and how they’re good at conceptualizing things in a categorized way in a language. And so he started us with, what’s a hunting frame? Let’s fill out a hunting frame. And so you have many subframes within that. 

21:36
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
You’d have weapons would be one frame, and then there would be techniques for hunting, would be another frame. Then the whole food issue is another frame. And that brought up the concept of taboo, because when they kill animal, once the hunters kill that animal, their job is done. Someone else brings that animal to the village, someone else then takes care of cleaning and dismembering that animal. The elders then take portions of the animal, sacrifice it to the ancestors to thank them for a successful hunt, and then the rest of that meat is divvied up according to age, gender. And another lady who had been working with them for many years explained that it really doesn’t have anything to do with what we would consider Taboo in our language. It’s more of survival. It’s ensuring that the community has equal distribution of the meat. 

22:30
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
So this concept of taboo, that you’re allowed to do certain things, not allowed to do other things, brought in a whole nother group of expressions that we explored for how we’re going to express law. And the technique then that we devised or came up with was, rather than explain the concept that’s in the Bible of law, let’s find points where their cultural expressions in certain frames might overlap significantly or just minutely with the biblical expression or the biblical concept. And so what is the essence of the law? So that was the first question we had to answer. So do a lot of research, and the root sense here could be teaching. That’s certainly one sense of the word Torah. And so do we have a way of expressing teaching in the culture? 

23:28
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Well, yes, we do, because when the children get to puberty, age, the elders, male and female, each divide up the responsibility that men have this puberty right for the boys, likewise the women for the girls. And I had collected a lot of these stories, actually, when I did my language learning. And so we had a way to express teaching. Then we look at, historically, when you go out to hunt, was there a leader? Were there certain things that you needed to do as leader? So let’s bring in that whole hunting frame again. Are there things in here that could express you were doing this to have a successful hunt or so forth? Yeah. Okay. That brings all in a whole bunch more expressions that we could see if they could work. 

24:13
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
And then more significantly, you look at community life, and that brings in a whole range of things, such as recognition of the ancestors, how you appease the ancestors when another tribe is attacking, what you do to keep the Community safe. That one was really key, because when you look at what God gave to the people at Sinai, you’re about to go into the land I promised you. You’re going to be surrounded by a bunch of pagans. These are the laws, statutes, ordinances that you will do to keep you separate, to keep you safe, to keep you separate, to make you loyal to me, so that you don’t go chasing after other gods. So the concept of leadership, what does that leader do and primary role is to keep the people safe. They traveled around a lot. 

24:58
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
They came in contact with other hostile tribes as they were following the migrations of the animals. So that started to generate a lot of expressions that really could overlap with the biblical concepts of law. One of them that we are using quite a bit now to express more specific concept of law is literally, it’s walk this way. And that was an expression that was used to identify the person who would lead them and to keep them safe. And also, these are the things that you will do now in order to stay safe. And so that really resonates well with the community, has significant overlap with some of the legal concepts in scripture. And it’s just looking at these semantic frames, just generated a whole lot of expressions that we could draw from. 

25:50
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
I went back and I did the same thing with the borrowed expressions that we had for commandment for law, and I don’t remember what the other one was. They generated zero. And I wanted to do more research on that. It’s just in two villages, and I’d like to do it in a lot more villages, because it really made it clear that using these borrowed expressions, not only does it continue to marginalize the language and the people, because it gives you the sense that our language is not even capable of expressing biblical concepts. Wow. But it also gives them zero meaning. So we started with these concepts or these expressions in a borrowed language said, okay, let’s try and generate as many expressions from them as we can. In Quaidom, we got zero every time. 

26:36
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
And so, yes, they know this word, right, but they don’t know what’s encapsulated within this word. What are the concepts that link to it? The whole network that is created when it’s a word in your own language, there’s nothing there. So that was very eye opening. And like I said, I’d like to do more research just to see if that is consistent. 

26:58
Rich Rudowske
So is it kind of right now landing on then when you’re talking about the law and you start to picture God in the quaidon language, it’s like someone who leads in order to protect, and the rules are in a sense, like taboos also to protect you and to guide you. That’s kind of how it might feel to. 

27:16
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Right. That’s how it is kind of meshed with the biblical concept. 

27:20
Rich Rudowske
Cool. 

27:20
Emily Wilson
So I am curious, as you’ve been wrestling with everything related to law, as Lutherans, we’re like law and gospel, but all of the terms associated with gospel of being, freedom and truth and life, and all of these terms that we associate, and then we get really churchy terms of, like, sanctification and difference of grace versus mercy. Have those been a particular point of discussion or challenge in the community so. 

27:57
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Far, the ones that have been the biggest challenge have been those that are associated with grace or gift. We have not found a good expression, one that we like. We found an expression quite on to use for gift, but it’s not really a concept in the culture. You don’t get anything freely, which is a great way to express grace. I mean, we can’t even conceptualize it in our minds. We have this word in English for it. But do we really conceptualize it that this is something that is free? Obviously we don’t, because we still have a lot of legalism and a lot of sense that we can do things to earn our salvation. So when you have a culture that does not have that sense to begin with and you associate that expression and you fill it out with God’s attributes and how merciful. 

28:45
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
I’m using words here that are packed with all kinds of meaning here that we need to unpack. 

28:52
Rich Rudowske
We have to make some frames for those, too. 

28:54
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Exactly. But when you express that in terms of these are God’s attributes, they’re completely different from humans, that’s a great opportunity for that gospel to really shine. 

29:05
Rich Rudowske
So, as you think on the time you’ve been 16 years plus, right, in Botswana at this point, what do you think you would say has given you the greatest joy during that time? 

29:15
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Seeing people grow in faith. I mean, I think of splash when I first met him, when we first started and he started as a translator, he was not a Christian. And he’ll even say, know, I was just a pagan. I was a drunkard. He wasn’t really a drunkard, but in his mind, he had a beer once a week. 

29:31
Rich Rudowske
He was a drunkard. 

29:32
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
So, yeah, to see how he’s grown over the years, to see how God’s word and engaging with God’s word can change a person dramatically. And I don’t have a lot of wonderful stories to tell about this. Splash comes to mind. I’d have to think hard to think of other ones. But God is working very quietly and in his time, and he brings his purposes about in his time. Yeah. 

30:03
Rich Rudowske
What do you think? Again, from those years of experience, western christians can learn from the folks you’re working with, whether they’re christian or not, just about life and whatever. 

30:14
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
One thing I’ve learned, and I knew it academically before we ever went to Africa, but it took many years for it to really dawn on me. It wasn’t until I was actually doing research. We know westerners, we’re time oriented. And in Africa and many other cultures of the world, they’re relationship oriented. You know, we know that. But the time aspect is so embedded in our culture that we can’t get beyond it. And to try and stand in somebody else’s shoes who don’t have the same worldview that we do is very difficult. And so to have patience with another culture who does things differently than we do or than an individual does, and to try and understand from their perspective why. And not just why, but just to accept it and appreciate it and honor that person. 

31:09
Emily Wilson
There’s so much within scripture that it’s like we assume we have our western lens as we’re reading it. Time and hospitality and waiting and a reliance and community. Those are all very firmly rooted in a lot of the cultures that are in the middle of a Bible translation program right now and how much we have to learn from that. 

31:37
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, definitely. How can we be praying for your ministry with the kwaidam? And going forward? 

31:43
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
We are hoping to publish our panoramic Bible this coming year. And one prayer is that will happen. But most importantly, in the meantime, and when it does happen, that people will be engaged with that word and that the Holy Spirit will work through that to bring many to saving faith, we. 

32:06
Emily Wilson
Will most certainly be keeping you in prayer, and we’re just very thankful that you’ve taken time to share about your work in the Bible translation program with the Quay people and God’s blessings as you continue in your ministry. 

32:19
Dr. Tim Beckendorf
Thank you. 

32:24
Rich Rudowske
All right. Like you said, highly educational conversation with Dr. Tim Beckendorf. 

32:29
Emily Wilson
I love how he just captures the challenges, but the opportunities as well, in being able to be in relationship with the Quaidam language community and how there is that hunger for God’s word, even though they’re spread out and they’ve faced a lot of different hardships just as the AIDS epidemic and for education and being able to be united, but they still have that vision for how important it is that their identity is as God’s children. 

33:10
Rich Rudowske
Absolutely. And from a technical angle, too, I love the discussion about frames of reference. They first thought, well, we don’t really have a way that we talk about judging and making decisions. But then using a tool like frames of reference, they were able to dig in and say, okay, but in this case, you guys do have a set of rules and you do make decisions here. So how can we talk about what’s happening in the scripture using that insight into how you actually do things and they actually learned about themselves and then learned how, okay, God does this or describes this thing in his word. And that’s even more relatable to us because ultimately, we’re also God’s children, and we have an understanding to bring to God’s word as well. And it instructs us. 

33:56
Rich Rudowske
But then we, as the greater christian community, also learn a little something about how God’s word works. So that was kind of a cool discussion. 

34:04
Emily Wilson
That’s absolutely true. We strengthen one another from seeing, like, no, God’s word is for all people, regardless of where they are living, whether it’s South America or Australia or, you know, in Europe, Asia, that God’s word is for all people and that those barriers that we sometimes see culturally, that we’ve experienced the bridge ourselves, that so many of the expressions of the ancient Near east have been translated for us, and that same gift can be given. 

34:41
Rich Rudowske
Somebody went before us to do that hard work, and now, today, in the 21st century, people are still on the edges, still doing that hard work, so that God’s word can just get straight into the heart. 

34:53
Rich Rudowske
Thank you for listening to the essentially translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible translators. Look for past episodes@lbt.org slash podcast or on your favorite podcast platform. Follow Lutheran Bible translators’social media channels on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Or go to lbt.org to find out. 

35:11
Rich Rudowske
How you can get involved in the. 

35:12
Rich Rudowske
Bible translation movement and put God’s word in their hands. The essentially translatable podcast was produced and edited by Andrew Olsen. Our executive producer is Emily Wilson. Podcast artwork was created by Caleb DeWald and Sarah Lyons. Music written and performed by Rob Weit. I’m Richard Oski. So long for now.