| Page 3 of 5 < > |
Plugging the Planet Into the Word
Children in Rong Domriex, Cambodia, learn to read by following along in their books as they listen to a New Testament passage read on tape.
(By Mary Jordan -- The Washington Post)
VIDEO | Christianity in Cambodia
Christian groups are spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to make the Bible more accessible in the world's most distant corners. TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
But this night, children and adults were transfixed by scenes of the birth of Jesus in a stable and of him telling people to be like the Good Samaritan and help those in need. Some cried softly at the vivid crucifixion scene and began asking questions about his empty tomb and talk of him rising from the dead.
When the film ended, several people gathered to ask Lok questions.
"I would like to hear more about Jesus," said Heat Chean, 30, a farmer who held his infant daughter in his arms. "I'm a Buddhist, but Christians are good, too."
Spreading the Word
More than 9,000 miles away in Virginia, Christopher Deckert tracks where the Bible has gone -- and where it still needs to travel. As children ride scooters and bicycles outside his single-family home in a leafy suburb of Richmond, Deckert works at his computer in his den. Paintings of people from around the globe surround him.
The computer cartographer, relying on information from sources such as Wycliffe Bible Translators and Google Earth, creates colored maps that show the progress of efforts to bring Scripture and the Jesus film to every last patch of the globe.
Deckert's maps, available on the Internet at http:/
"There is not a country in the world where missionaries haven't gone or looked at the language needs" in order to bring the Bible there, said Deckert, who works for Campus Crusade for Christ, which distributes the Jesus film. Like many of the major Christian groups working abroad, it shares information, maps and translations.
"It's an awesome opportunity" to help bring the Gospel to all nations, he said. "Tens of thousands of people are out there working."
The Bible, with its parables and centuries-old figurative language, can take as long as 30 years to translate, at a cost of as much as $1 million.
Sometimes a missionary's biggest challenge is sickness, such as malaria or dengue fever, said Fredrick Boswell Jr., head of the translation group at the Forum of Bible Agencies International. Other times it is wrestling with how, for example, to translate stories about the 12 apostles into a language with words only for "one," "two" and "everything more than two" -- such as the Tok Mari language in Papua New Guinea.
Then there is the hostility that missionaries encounter in some parts of the world. Officials from several Christian groups said they do not disclose the location of some of their workers in predominantly Muslim areas in North Africa and the Middle East, out of concern for their safety.
In nations such as Burma, Saudi Arabia and China, where the government restricts or forbids the import of Bibles, multimedia versions are increasingly important. Evangelists said it is far easier to import a single CD, which can be copied repeatedly, than to import large containers of printed Bibles.
