Jumping to Conclusions

Jumping to conclusions can get you into hot water. We can easily make this mistake even within our own culture. The problem is magnified when working with people of a different culture.

NTM missionaries working in Paraguay, witnessed a local wedding ceremony. They were somewhat astonished at the vows:

Do you, (bride), take (groom) to be your husband? Do you promise to cook for him and to do his laundry ‘til death do you part?’

To this, the bride shyly replied, “I do.”

And do you, (groom), take (bride) to be your wife? Do you promise to buy her soap so she can do your laundry, food so she can cook for you and to buy her a skirt if she needs one ‘til death do you part?

To which the groom responded, “I do.”

Then, you may shake the bride’s hand. You are married.

Really? The wife promises a life of hard manual labor and the man’s only promise is to make sure she has what she needs to complete those back-breaking tasks with an occasional skirt to sweeten the deal. It seems like the bride got the short end of the stick. But before we jump to conclusions, we need to consider the culture.

The local Paraguayan people highly respect young women who display their clean laundry hanging around their yard. If a young husband is forced to take his laundry to his mother, his wife will be ridiculed. Cooking is much the same. A young wife is highly thought of if her husband’s stomach is always full. When the groom promises to provide soap and food for his wife, it ensures that his bride will be accepted and praised among her people, thus saving her from great shame. In their culture, this would be true love.

It would be very easy to jump to conclusions about these people if we failed to view their vows without considering their worldview and value system.

Without a thorough understanding of the local culture, missionaries could very easily jump to the wrong conclusion. At best they might end up making a cultural blunder. At worst they might end up distorting the message of the gospel. This is why we teach our students the principles of culture investigation.

I sure appreciate your prayers as we continue to fine tune our curriculum.

Bob

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The Standards of Grace
by J. F. Strombeck

To reject the law as a teacher is not to say that there are no standards set for Christian conduct. Grace also sets standards but these are on a much higher plane. Those of the law are on a high human plane; those of grace on a divine plane. Furthermore, grace supplies that which is needed to live according to these ideals. Of the Holy Spirit, who is a gift of God's grace, Jesus said, "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). He is not merely a sign post that points to high ideals. He is a divine Person dwelling in the believer to guide into "all truth." This is something entirely unknown to the law.