What is a word? Many years ago
I created a guideline that has helped many students of the Bible navigate their
way through the maze of interpretations and translations facing them every time
they open their Bibles. I call it “The
Law of Language.”
A word is a
symbol or group of symbols with an attached bundle of associations. Those
associations are a product of the author’s culture, historical time period,
geographical location and personal experiences.
The
two things we must understand are:
(1) The symbols are the letters of the word.
(2) The “bundle of associations” is the meaning that we have for the symbols.
Let
me use this example to help make my point. A group of people, who all speak
different languages, are assembled in a classroom and asked to write the word they
use for this animal.
These
are the words they wrote (courtesy of Google translator).
(1) perro
(Spanish)
(2) σκύλος
(Greek)
(3) chien
(French)
(4) cane
(Italian)
(5) mbwa
(Swahili)
None
of them wrote the symbols “dog,” but they all had the same “bundle of
associations” attached to their symbols.
Now
consider what would happen if they all wrote the same symbols, but had
different “bundles of associations” for those symbols. They would all be writing identical words but thinking different thoughts.
This
will help you understand what I meant when I asked the original question – Who is God? What I want to know is:
What “bundles of
associations” are attached to the symbols “G+O+D”?
“God”
is a theologically loaded word because of the conflicting “bundles of
associations” people have attached to it – for example Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
(1) For most Christians, their “bundle
of associations” is “Jesus is God.”
(2) The “bundles of associations” of
most Jews and Muslims does not include “Jesus.”
(3) For most Jews, their “bundle of
associations” is “YAHWEH.”
(4) For Muslims, their "bundle of associations" do not include "YAHWEH."
(5) The “bundle of association” for
Muslims is “Allah.”
(6) The “bundles of association” for
most Christians and Jews do not include “Allah.”
However,
in spite of the above facts, the American media uses the word “god” as if it is
a reference to all of the options above. Some groups find this unacceptable in
their countries. A recent case in Malaysia makes it clear that Muslims are
aware of the above facts and believe that the way the word “God” is used in the
media may have significant consequences:
Allah can no longer be used by a
Christian newspaper in Malaysia to refer to God after a landmark court ruling
on Monday, reversing a decision made four years previously that maintained the
term transcended different faiths.
“It is my judgment that the most
possible and probable threat to Islam, in the context of this country, is the
propagation of other religions to the followers of Islam,” said chief judge
Mohamed Apandi Ali, announcing the change.
The panel of three judges was unanimous
in their decision that the use of Allah by the Roman Catholic Herald newspaper
constituted a threat to the sanctity of Islam, as defined in the federal
constitution.[i]
If
media would report the “bundles of association” instead of the generic symbols
“God,” it would transform the way their stories are understood. It would also
place the actions of those who hold those “bundles of association” in the
spotlight for what they do – good or bad.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to get off track.
In
the series of Bible studies that will follow, it is important for you to be
aware of the way we understand the answer to the question – Who is God? The correct answer, for the
purpose of our studies, is this – it is the author’s “bundle of associations.”
When we read the verse below, our goal is to discover what “God” meant to the original
author.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.[ii]
When
we discover what “God” meant to the author, we can then compare our “bundles of
associations” to his.
(1) If they are the same, then we have achieved a
successful communication experience.
(2) If they are different, then we must consciously
make sure to use his “bundle of associations” to interpret his words.
(3) If they are different, we should find out
where our “bundle of associations” originated and why.
One of the major challenges for translators is to avoid ethnocentrism, a term
applied to the cultural or ethnic bias—whether
conscious or unconscious—in which an
individual views the world from the perspective of his or her own group,
establishing the in-group as archetypal and rating all other groups with
reference to this ideal.[iii]
This form of tunnel vision often results in:
(1) an inability to adequately understand
cultures that are different from one’s own
(2) value judgments that preference the in-group
and assert its inherent superiority
Now
we are ready to study our Bibles and find out what it says about who we are. I think we all know that life is getting more
complicated, but if we use the linguistic principles that teach us how
words work, the “Bible” part of our life will quickly become much less
complicated.
I
believe that we are all looking for
ways to live a meaningful life, and for a lot of us, the Bible plays an
important role. When we apply the principles above to our studies and meditations
of the words of our Bibles, a very distinct path begins to emerge. It is a path
that places the control of our spiritual destinies in our hands – not in the control
powerful competing religious institutions.
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Shalom
& Be Empowered!
