On Grits, God, and the End of the World...
First of all, hats off to Bill for being a jolly good man in general and not being terminally ill.
I think I've eaten grits every morning this past week. When Lisa was on vacation, I had them, and to be honest, they weren't very good. Guess something must've clicked inside my brain, and I went and got a variety box of quaker instant grits. After that ran out I decided to try the more traditional-routed quick grits (also by quaker, who have apparently cornered the mass-grit-market). Truth be told, making them yourself is a lot more satisfying, takes just a little longer (5-10 minutes as opposed to 3-5), and you can add anything you want to them. Butter, Salt, Pepper, hot sauce, and cheese, even Maple syrup, which is pretty darn good.
Ironically, they're not that bad for you, and if you buy the quick grits, they don't add the salt beforehand, so you can regulate the intake. It's sort of a wierd wet-startchy-corn taste, and is hard to describe. Those of you who have had it know what I mean.
One of the homeless guys who comes to the hospitality room died early this week. Not sure what happened, he was an old black man, walked with a cane, Andrew was his name. He died inside, warm, which is better than what might have happened to him. I served one of his last meals, which hopeully he recalled fondly (Jimmy's Grille off of 13 and Main had extra fried chicken, potatoes, bean soup, and some other good stuff, so they donated it to us.) I didn't know the guy or anything, but he's in a better place now.
Lisa and I went to a banquet (read "fundraiser"), which i thought was going to be about translating the bible (metaphorically speaking) for the modern world, and ended up being literally about translating the Bible. An organization called Wyckliffe, who send missionaries and volunteers around the world, translating the bible (specifically the new testament) into different languages.
Now here's the kicker. Many of these languages (defined as being distinct dialects, often of a more common language, but unique enough and isolated enough to be classified as an individual language), well, most of them are from an oral tradition, meaning that there is no written word for that language. So these missionaries go in, and as well as providing services to the communities, they essentially work with the people to create a written language. Apparently there are more than several thousand distinct languages that have to be translated.
Now, before I go any further, this bothers me on a few levels. One being missionary theology. The reason they do this is so that they can spread the Gospel. The organization feels that these people are lost and desperate without God's word (read "Jesus" word), in their lives, and that it is imperitve that they be given the opportunity to have their own version of the new testament. Okay, fine, the point is that they end up helping these people in more than just "saving their souls", but they also being laying the foundations for infrastructure, medicine, food, communication, that sort of thing. It's a mixed bag. Sort of like monasteries in the dark ages helping to preserve the knowledge of the world, but at the same time eventually playing a part in leading to the Inquisition. A double edged sword.
Now, I disagree with the idea that these people need to be "saved" somehow, that they somehow are being deprived by not having a copy of the new testament. Beliefs on religious dogma aside, who are we to say that these people do not have a proper spiritual life inherent in their own culture? The liberal former political theatre Joanne Klein student side of me clashes immediately with the slightly older, more moderate person I have become. Could these people benefit from knowledge of God, of course. But I do not believe that just ebcause they don't know about Jesus in particular, does not mean that they don't have a relationship with God. I don't think God cares if you believe in him or not, he's still gonna be there.
It kinda came to a head when the guy Emcee-ing the event, (Whom with I had a very enlightening conversation over dinner, I'll go into that shortly) mentioned the Book of Revelations. Okay, fine, it's not like i can ingore the fact that there's this big apocalyptic book at the rear of the Bible. (Although recently I've come to understand that the word "Apocalyptic", actually means "To Reveal", and so sheds a different, less literal slant on this contraversial book). But when someone with a microphone brought up John speaking in the Book of Revelations, alarm bells went off in my head.
Now, I sort of knew this was coming, not like the time when Josh and I, at the Shoreleave Trek Convention in Hunt Valley, sat down in what we did not know was a Kirk/Spock slash forum. Of course, the presence of no men other than ourselves should've been a clue. But I digress.
Basically, he made the point of saying that (Couldn't locate the exact chapter and verse), but to put it succintly, he quoted the writer of revelations as saying "All the people of every nation, of every tongue, parised the name of the Lord." And he used this as an example of prophecy being fulfilled, and the missionaries of Wyckliffe and by extension those of us at the banquet, were helping to bring about the second coming of Christ and the end of the world.
Ooooooookay.
Now, the plank in my own eye being abnormally gi-normous, I won't say much further on this. But that kinda creeped me out. even if they did feed me. But Lisa, my often wiser and always better half, reminded me that God wasn't going to end the world just cause these guys wanted him to. Good call.
Okay, on to the nicer part of the evening, when this gentleman and I (along with Lisa, and the handful of Mennonites at the table), were discussing the bible translating and linguistics in general. And he related a story about how one culture believed that their spirit resided in their Liver. And he commented on how difficult it was for him to stay true to scripture by asking the people to let Jesus enter their Liver. Funny, yes but it brings up a good point. How do you talk (and more importantly, write about) the "Lamb of god", when a person, a people, have never seen a Lamb, and wouldn't know one if it came up and bit them in the ass.
Essentially, some poetic license must be taken (a pain to biblical literalists I've learned), to change some of these verses to make them more applicable in the real life situations of these people.
I, highly amused by this, thought that if I were ever to write a Delmarva Bible, I would have Jesus send the evil spirits out of a man and into a flock of Canada Geese, or more aptly Perdue Chickens, and then they would proceed to drown themselves off the coast of Ocean City.
That, and Jesus would sit, eat, and associate with migrant workers, non-residents (read those not born on the courthouse steps of Delmarva like Lisa and I), muslims, jews, and tax-collectors.
Off to cook late breakfast and do fish patrol at Lisa's clinic.
Peace!