Scripture Engagement

It's popular these days to say that all of us are addicted to something, in some small way. I hear some people talking about those with 'addictive personalities' too. I'm afraid I don't know much about these things from a sociological or psychological perspective (ask my daughter), but I can say this, there are many people in the world addicted to alcohol or drugs (I suppose the former is actually something to do with the latter), and they need help. My burden is to help those in Central Asia who are addicted to heroin. How can we address this issue? What I have noticed, is this: Heroin and opium are much cheaper and more easily available in Central Asia than in some other parts of the world Because of the collectivist culture where there is a desire to gain social capital and stay connected with one's extended family, if someone becomes a narkoman (drug addict) their family will frequently hide them away, and then provide them with the drug to avoid shame...

The very first believer from one Central Asian group we worked with said that it wasn't possible to pray or preach in his mother tongue. 'Our language is too poor, it doesn't have the right vocabulary for prayer or preaching. How would you even say the word "prayer" in our language? The word " doga " means "charm" as well as "prayer". We couldn't possibly use that word in church! We should use Russian, which is a rich language and has all the right words for these things!' This is a very common response when people first become believers. They see their own language as inappropriate for use in worship. This is because what they see as 'Christianity' is being modelled in a language of wider communication like English, French, Russian, Urdu or Classical Arabic. To use a more local language seems like a step down to something too basic for spiritual use. In the end a whole bunch of young men became believers, and the...