The Coolest Thing

Paul had a fantastic idea earlier this week about making a Wall Bible. That is, a whole Bible covering a whole wall. So when you wanna read… just stand up and go to your wall, and read. Start anywhere, finish anywhere, read as much as you want, and hardly any risk of falling asleep because you’re standing up straight (or slightly bent depending on your height and the part of the wall where the writing is)- that struck me as an AWESOME idea because I fall asleep if I’m reading my Bible lying down, and I love reading stuff on walls (and notice boards and stuff you know that kind of reading?).

I started with the gospel of Matthew. I printed it on A4 sheets and it took about 18 pages but I have 2.something posters which contain the entire gospel of Matthew. They go on my wall as soon as I’ve stuck Mark below it, and so on. I’m not going to have an entire Bible on my wall because my eyes are a little weak and I don’t read very small print so my text size is not tiny. But I’m going to have all the gospel books + Acts + Revelation on my walls God willing. And maybe some of my favourite Psalms. If not all that, at least just the gospel books.

And that is the absolute coolest thing that happened to me this week. Thank you Lord for giving Paul this incredible idea!

What’s the coolest thing that happened with you this week?

Literal Translation vs Paraphrase

I was singing “Tere Bina” to myself and I came to this bit:

“Tere bina sona peetal, tere sang keekar peepal, aaja…” and I thought of a new meaning to it today which didn’t strike me yesterday. This line basically says “without you around even gold seems like brass and when you’re around the keekar tree is like a peepal tree” which yesterday I would have translated as “there’s no difference between a keekar tree and a peepal tree when I’m with you, cos I’m focusing on you and not on the trees” (keekar trees and peepal trees are very different from each other).

But today when I was singing I thought hmmm why does he mention keekar and peepal? Just to make it rhyme? And it struck me then, keekar trees are kinda… skinny and well pretty looking but peepal trees are huge and comforting and nice to sit under.. etc. I was thinking maybe this line means that even a keekar tree feels like a peepal tree because of this person being around. Cos a pretty thing like gold becomes plain like brass without the person, but with the person a plain thing like the keekar becomes a peepal. Maybe.

So with Bible translations. 2 reasons why I prefer literal translations over paraphrased ones:

1. You’re reading the real text and not the translator’s interpretation of it. That means, you’re not reading it as “the two trees are the same” but as “the keekar is like the peepal”. On the surface that’s the same, and maybe the first translation is one correct interpretation, but it’s still an interpretation and not necessarily the most “real” possible translation text. There are no 2nd meanings left to think about, what the words say is simple and clear, no 2 ways to read the same text. So the comfort from that text might be restricted to lesser situations also… maybe.
2. When you’re reading the text instead of an interpretation of the text, you get to apply your mind and interpret it for yourself. I think interpretation of scripture is an important sign for christians because the Holy Spirit is the Counselor who leads us in truth. If we can’t understand the truth ourselves, we need to pray for wisdom not just rely on someone else’s understanding of truth… And meditating on an interpretation of the text is not the same as meditating on the text itself. There is so much depth in the words of the Bible that is lost in interpretation. *Some* is lost in translation, but that is a negligible loss - loss by interpretation is a more serious loss in my opinion.

I know lots of people read only paraphrased texts because literal ones are not too readable or something. I admit translations which are literal like Young’s Literal can be quite impossible to read through smoothly, and even the KJV gives people trouble because of the old english- but the ESV and other literal ones maybe even the Amplified and NASB etc (I’ve heard good things about them) are a good idea.

Tere Bina

Tere bina beswaadi
beswaadi ratiyaan, oh sajna
Rookhi re oh rookhi re,
Kaatore kaate katena …

… Tere bina chaand ka sona khota re
Peeli peeli dhool udaawe jhoota re
Tere bina sona peetal
Tere sang keekar peepal
Aaja katena ratiyaan

Sigh. [Late reaction I know, I just fell in love with this song from Guru.] I’m not going to try to translate it. Sorry. Hindi speakers welcome to do it for me though. And I might take off the video soon so watch it while it’s on… if you want. It’s the song from the movie I love the colours and choreography and singing. This song is about a married couple living apart missing each other and imagining this sequence. In the end, the husband comes to take his wife back (stepping out of the imaginary song into real movie life). The best part of this video is the end.

Night before Exam

My final exams (3rd semester of 10) start tomorrow. I’m glad for them because they are already late and we will have a short 4th semester. Our year at college is from July to June and the first half of the year is finishing 10th March with the end of these exams, so the second half of the year will be tiny - March to June including exams.

Story Making is a lot of fun I am really enjoying reading what everybody’s coming up with! Thanks for playing.

Today was a bit tiring for me (I’m absolutely exhausted right now).
I was walking a little while ago (not exercise but I had somewhere to get to) and I just wanted to lie down and sleep, my head hurt and my flesh said “you’re allowed to fuss yourself a little bit”. I don’t know if that is true or not sometimes, but it was definitely not true today. Immediately I thought about religious people who preach at others and know every rule of the book, but can’t deny their own desires when it comes to actually living their ideals. And I thought “nope don’t wanna be like them” and decided to continue walking. Then I thought that is the most negative incentive I could have given myself. Christ is worth it and it’s for HIM I should be doing things, not because I don’t want to be like other people. I felt a huge burden get off my heart. It made me really happy to think about Christ and doing everything with Him in mind. I remembered the verse from Philippians 1 - “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.”

Story Making

Does anyone like story writing? If yes then play a game with me. We make a story- each person can contribute 1 line minimum and 4 lines maximum (at a time), and 2 comments in a row if you really want to exceed the 4 line limit (or if you accidentally submit before you’re done with your 4 lines). Then wait for at least 1 other person to comment before coming back with the next bit of the story.

It can be funny, dramatic, serious, weird, scary, stupid, whatever. Anyone and everyone is welcome to play.

I’ll start-

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who really wanted a pet penguin.

Who’s next?