Note, if I were translating this professionally I would pay much more attention to the tenses of the verbs. Germans do this a bit differently than English speakers.
"You really believe in the Bible?"
By Elke Naters and Sven Lager;
translated by Google and Pastor Rob Myallishttp://www.zeit.de/2012/32/Glaube-Suedafrika-Religion/seite-1
Two writers from Berlin go to South Africa, not knowing exactly
what they seek. And there they find God. Elke Naters and
Sven Leger tell how they became Christians. A modern revival story.
The
other day we were praying for a terminally-ill construction worker. Soon afterwards, he got up from the hospital
bed, his medical drip bag in his hand, ran out into the hallway and said,
"I'm cured!
I'm cured! "
At
the same time, we received an angry letter from a German family who had made a tour
of the poverty stricken townships in South Africa. As
journalists, we would have described the misery there, but colorfully and full
of life. Her
outrage made us realize something we had – something that had become so normal
for us that we did not realize it: an almost aggressively positive attitude.
We, along with our children, have lived in South Africa for seven years.
It was our decision to see the
light in the darkness of the world which brought us to faith. This belief
has to do with the transforming power of love. Eight years ago we lived in downtown Berlin. We were at a point in our life where there was a weariness spreading; it was difficult to grasp. Was it Seasonal Affective Disorder? Typical artistic anxeities? A mid-life Crisis?
We wondered whether this was all life had to offer: to write books, have kids, go for a drink. A few frenzied nights, good movies and stimulating conversations. And so life passed us by - most of the time very pleasantly, without any particular pain, but also without any particular depth.
There had to be more than all this! Although we lived amid incomparable cultural wealth, art, music and literature offered no answers. We were thirsty and hungry, but no matter what we used to “stuff” ourselves, we were not satisfied.
Since we could not find anything deeper, we tried to go “wider.” We sought more sun, friendlier people, more cultural diversity and a more complete life. We thought about the Mediterranean; Vancouver; or even California. But to our surprise we ended up in South Africa. Our prejudices were immediately confirmed when we drove past the shacks in the townships, which dragged on endlessly. But it was damn beautiful this country. The expanse! The mountains next to the sea! The ice blue, ice-cold Atlantic! So much uninhabited, undeveloped nature touched the hearts of us, the city people.
On a warm January night, as we sat on a bench in the garden of Bougainvillea, the moon rose and then stood for a moment on the mountain ridge. He then, as he pleased, rolled down and sank into the sea. A peace came over us. And we knew we wanted to live here.
\We went lobster fishing, surfed the wild Atlantic, climbed the mountains and got to know people, who reflected the natural generosity of their country. Their life stories were a couple of sizes larger than ours.
Take for example, the candy seller in our children’s elementary school. He began as a teacher, then been a mercenary in the Congo, followed by time as a corn farmer, and later had his basket factory lost in a tropical cyclone. Now he sells medicinal herbs, African decorations and breeding parrots. Or, take Wilson Salukazana. He was a bank clerk during the apartheid era, is founder of a preschool, a whale whisperer, a mentor of many fatherless in the township, king of the clan Hlubi, fundraiser, and with his 70 years, yet a tour guide. Above all, a Christian.
It did not take long before we realized was how much the people here influenced by the Christian faith. Nelson Mandela’s rejection of violence and his preaching forgiveness for the young democracy saved it from civil war. Without Desmond Tutu and the Truth Commission there never could have been the peace that enabled the victims to overcome the trauma of apartheid and continue living. Forgiveness has always been important in South African life. Unlike in our country. It is hard to imagine that in Germany, a former Nazi would wash a former concentration camp prisoner's feet, like the former South Africa’s security minister, Adrian Vlok, had done for the churchman Chikane, whose poisoning he had commanded during the apartheid era. Or the mother of the young American Amy Biel, who was stoned to death in a township: the killers, not only forgave, but also helped them to a better life.
Such stories of human love in South Africa are daily
occurances. It is always about forgiveness,
compassion, encouragement and community. Here the
Christian faith still has a social force. Not an explosive, but a
unifying one. When our children had become
accustomed to the new language and settled, a seven-year classmate named Zach became
ill from a brain tumor. The whole neighborhood helped cook, his brothers went to school
and raised money for the mother so she could spend as much time with him in the
hospital.
Zach is now twelve.
Dozens of family and friends are still in with everything they have. This is Jesus
in action.
T
Among South Africans, we got to know
a God who lives in the people and not in a church building. A God who at any time offers a
new life. A personal God who has humor,
who loves and gives people confidence. A faith that is more radical than punk, communism, feminism,
and every revolution. A faith that overcomes diseases, races
and classes. A just
God who refuses to one percent of the population to pocket 50 percent of the
profits.
Jesus did not hesitate to be with
outsiders. He also seemed to drink wine constantly
with his disciples. 200 years
ago, the German missionaries in South Africa did something similar. They taught former slaves
reading, writing, music and handiwork skills. They still lead grass-roots communities in villages
across the country.
To us they seem like utopia come true - and this has enabled us to become
Christians.
Since then, we see the power of faith not only in South
Africa. The Americans,
Shane Claiborne, for example, has spilled -- many years before the Occupy movement
-- $ 10,000 in coins and small bills on Wall Street, and caused a commotion
that the street had to be shut off. Radical Generosity closes the doors of greed - that was his
Christian message.
Among our German friends, we would have been met with more
understanding if we had been Buddhists, vegans, or alcoholics. By now the second bottle is uncorked!
Even after a few bottles of wine and
serious conversation, n But we have set the ball rolling and
stimulated a culture of faith sharing. Most do not
know what it means to be a Christian.
We are always surprised at how little we knew ourselves for a long time. We may have been confirmed;
one of us even attended a Catholic boarding school, but our lives had hitherto been
unaffected. It
was our experience in South Africa, where we spoke a different language and lived
a foreign country, which helped us to develop an openness for which we would otherwise
not have been ready. Openness to
a belief that we had long set aside. ot everyone of our friends believes what we believe.
South Africa was initially only
adventure, a penetration into unknown worlds.
We operated as anthropologists.
And it was scary and fascinating at the same time, when we sat in the living
room with a strange man, laying on the hands, eyes closed, praying in tongues
or tearfully recounting what God had caused in their lives.
As crazy as it all seemed at first,
people were sincere, and the evidence of their transformed lives were the best
stories we had ever heard. He also collects toys for children and writes
plays for young people. Like Enrico. Enrico was a high-ranking gangster. His teeth are made
of gold, he is tattooed from head to toe, his rank is inscribed in the skin, a
clear sign of his past; everyone must respect this gangster. Three years ago he shot and killed his
best friend while cleaning his weapon. When he realized that God forgave him, that
which he could not forgive himself, everything changed for him. He left his criminal
life behind him, now earns his living with odd jobs and repairs.
Or James, seriously ill in hospital bed, whom God visited, even
though James would not hear from him and healed him in one fell swoop.
His family thought he was crazy when he suddenly began to pray and just spoke
from God. Until then, only his wife had prayed and preached on
street corners, and then, only if she was drunk. James stopped drinking,
cheating on his wife and brought his family to faith. Including his illegitimate son, who is no longer addicted
to crystal meth.
That was what fascinated us as writers:
the people and their dramas that were so true and wild. So we read the Bible as a deeply moving story of real
people. The best book of all time, as Bertolt
Brecht (a famous German author) said.
Initially, our faith was still a
little blurry and it contained a lot of doubt and skepticism. But gradually the truth unfolded in
all its beauty.
It never stops. The radical love of God, the freedom we find in
him, and how Jesus is reflected in every human being - to understand this, we need
more than just a human life.
This requires an eternal life, because faith goes beyond our worldly thinking.
In South Africa we have seen how
faith binds the heart of different people. After a bike
accident he became a paraplegic. We met in the hospital and prayed together every week,
but things did not go well with him. The
bed wounds did not close; he had AIDS and was depressed. He was getting
thinner and weaker and slept the whole day with a sheet over my head. The doctors and even his family had already given up
on him. But then came Sipokasi, an old school friend of Patrick, and proposed to baptize him. Overnight Patrick was better. The doctors were baffled because the change was obvious. It was as if someone had switched on a light in him. His depression disappeared; after a few weeks he was discharged from the hospital. His mother was beside herself with joy. She believed that someone previously using a witch doctor had put a curse on her family. The curse of envy and jealousy is common among the Xhosa, and a lot of money set is aside to counter spells and curses.
So-called sangomas offer their powerful magical assistance in all areas: illness, debt, marital conflict, erection problems, unrequited love - for everything there is a Muti, a spell and potions. Prostitutes pay a considerable sum each month in order to be protected against pregnancy and AIDS, to no avail.
Rose, a modern young Xhosa woman, was intended by her clan to become a sangoma. The world of magic, which we Germans preserve in the tales of the Brothers Grimm, is for real. Water spirits, witches and demons. About a year after she had become Christian, the real struggle began for her. Whenever she started to pray out loud, unpleasant things came out of her mouth, insults, curses, weird stuff. Such attacks occurred very suddenly, and she often had to run out of church. The church family was praying but undaunted. And God helped Rose with his love: the fear subsided, the attacks ceased, and they never came back.
With friends like Patrick and Rose, we learned that the Christian faith in Africa is not only a way of life or a philosophy. For Patrick, the Holy Spirit broke the power of evil spirits over his family. He believes in a real God who protected him: a personal God of wonders, who is superior to all other spiritual powers that could harm people.
The Europeans know the word church, but no community
The story of Jesus, that God died on the cross for our sins and his resurrection is victory over death, this enlightens each African; while the Western Europeans understand the supernatural only as symbolic…but then really not at all.
We have learned in Africa that the gospel brings together different people in a family. The strength of faith is in Ubuntu, the Xhosa name for the unconditional community cohesion. The Europeans know that is the word for church. Except that they have lost the radical early Christian meaning of the word.
Faith has made us stronger as a family and has deepened our love for each other. It’s almost like we’re suddenly seeing our lives in three dimensions instead of just an outline. And we cannot imagine how other people do without Jesus marry; how they cope with puberty in their children; how they endure financial crises, anxieties, desires, fears, death, how they deal with one’s own aging.
We have also realized while in Africa that not everything must be understood. What we know is that God gives us the task to make this world a better place. It is simple. With humor, joy, and with our art. With sincere love for each other. From person to person - but using a power that is divine.
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