Stolen notebook at Zapallo Grande

From SPARK

Brief Summary

A story of how Jesus’ message had a high impact on a young viewer of the JESUS film; and a caution about how a biblical truth may be misunderstood when it is similar to a cultural tradition.

Introduction

This is a report of a ten-year-old boy's application of the message of the Cha'palaa JESUS film. The value conveyed was very close to a value in his culture. The author discusses the possibility of nuances of a biblical truth getting distorted when a truth is viewed from a cultural grid.

Key Factors

The Jesus Film was shown in the Cha'palaa language within a year or so after the Cha'palaa version of the Jesus Film was dubbed and made available. As a new product it stimulated a lot of interest.

In Chachi culture, one concedes an object to another person who says he needs or wants it.

What Was Done

M'artires Tapuyo shared with us an encouraging report of a ten-year-old's exposure to the Cha'palaa Jesus film. This young fellow lives at Zapallo Grande. He had bought a large spiral-bound notebook as part of his school supplies. However someone stole the notebook, a significant loss in terms of the local economy. After the incident became known, one of the teachers talked with the boy to see how he was dealing with the situation. The boy said that he would just let it pass, because Jesus had said that if someone takes something from you, that's what you should do. He reasoned that the thief needed it, so he himself was not going to worry about it. This shouldn't surprise us, but it clearly illustrates the power that Jesus' message can have on "one of these little ones".

Results

This shows the power the Jesus Film can have on a young viewer.

At the risk of detracting from the main point above, let me also try to establish one theoretical point I consider relevant. When M'artires Tapuyo related this anecdote to us, he emphasized that the boy had commented that because the thief needed the notebook, he, the victim, was going to accept his loss. I have no quarrel with the boy's reasoning "per se"; it clearly represents a Chachi cultural trait that we have observed over the years. This is one way a Chachi person demonstrates consideration for the next person, conceding something to another person because he says he needs it or wants it.

The thoughtful youngster made a remarkable personal application in real life on the basis of what he had heard and seen in the Jesus film. He processed this part of Jesus' message through the grid of his culture. We all do that. It is both legitimate and inevitable. No one lives in a cultural vacuum, just as no one speaks without an accent of some kind. Often we are unaware that we interpret or apply things according to our culture, whether for good or ill.

This leads me to wonder what would happen if an ethnic group like the Chachi people were to retain only an oral record of the Scriptures, or of the Gospel. I can imagine that in retelling this teaching of Jesus about not asking for the return of confiscated goods, it might often be accompanied by a comment or an implication that the thief should be allowed to keep the stuff because he needs it. Perhaps after a few oral transmissions of the teaching, this particular element would be considered an intrinsic part of the story, possibly attributed to Jesus himself because it corresponds so closely to Chachi thinking. Thus in time the content of the message, or even the main point of the message, would tend to change.

This corresponds to an account we read by anthropologist Bill Merrifield of the development of the Mexican Chinantec people's religion, a distorted understanding of the Gospel. It was based entirely on oral tradition that had begun through contact with a missionary centuries earlier. Oral transmissions of the message clearly have their place, but in no way do they obliterate the need for one or more reliable means of access to the foundational document that we in turn have received from others. The Lord himself felt it important enough to inscribe the Ten Commandments in stone with his own "finger". That encourages us in turn to make some reliable facsimiles on paper, CD, audiotape, videotape, and DVD.

Neil and Ruth Wiebe

Helpful Information from the Author

By: Neil and Ruth Wiebe, 104 - 8590 Sunrise Dr., Chilliwack, BC V2R 3Z4 Canada

Date entered: July 2004

Date range of story: 2003

Location: Ecuador

Other Information

Author: Neil and Ruth Wiebe

Date: Prior to September 2004

Country: Ecuador

Language: Cha'palaa

People group: Chachi

Key Words: Latin America, Ecuador, forgiveness

Estimated literacy rate of language group: Almost all in the younger generation now attend school. People 40 and older show a decreasing rate of literacy, say from 75% down to 10%.

Average educational level of language group: Elementary (6 grades)

Religion of language group: Animism (traditional but fading in influence), Roman Catholicism, Evangelical (growing).

Organization that did the project: SIL

Source: from Wiebe's December 13, 2003 Newsletter

Date the story was obtained by VMS: 2004

Photo(s)/Drawing(s): None

Neil and Ruth Wiebe, 104 - 8590 Sunrise Dr., Chilliwack, BC V2R 3Z4 Canada