WORLD-WIDE WARNING!

This old plastic beach ball has been knocking around my grand-kids' toy stash for years. When they were really wee ones, their grandpa and grandma (me) would help them toss the ball back and forth—one of us on the couch, the other six or so feet away, holding them, in the recliner. Oh, the giggles of little ones. As the years (and grand-kids) increased, the ball also increased in holes that we patched with white duct tape.

Such simple, innocent fun—or so I thought until I paid attention to one-sixth of the ball's surface, filled with a “consumer warning” in twenty-two languages. In English it said, simply, “Use only under competent supervision.” Then came the linguistic world of warning words. All for a plastic ball!

I thought, what if our Bibles carried a consumer warning? To be honest, the Bible is full of warnings. Obviously, the book of Proverbs jumps back and forth between “do this” and “don't do this.” But the histories, teachings and correspondence of the entire Bible weren't just limited to their time and place of composition. God's warnings and instructions to early civilizations still speak to the good and fallen behavior of men and women today. So do God's purposes, as expressed in the life and teachings of His Son Jesus (the Gospels) and Jesus' “messengers” (the writers of what we call “the epistles”).

Decades ago, for two years, I served as “support staff “ for a world-wide mission organization devoted to translating at least the New Testament into never-before-written-down languages. I didn't have to put up a grass hut in a desolate place to carry on this exacting discipline of linguistics. My role (as a newspaper-trained writer) was to report to donors how things were coming along in this widespread translation ministry. During my time on staff, its primary monthly communication newsletter was appropriately named “In Other Words.”

In our times, self-help books and speakers abound. Many claim to have the secret to a full and fulfilling life (and also a full wallet!). But I keep going back to what an ancient prophet wrote about the true source of meaning in life: As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that its yields seed for the sower and bread for the water, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11 NIV)

In other words (oops—the name of the publication I helped edit!), what has been compiled into what we call “The Holy Bible” is more than read-ready words. It imparts the wisdom and commands of the One who created us to live in harmony and for Him. No matter your language (take your pick from the beach ball), the core message for humanity is this: Love God, love others, keep God's commandments.

That's not something to bat around (like a beach ball) but to take to heart—deeply take to heart.

P.S. What's your guess of how many languages are spoken in the world? Here's one estimate:

number of languages in the world - Search