Whispers

When I was a child, it was called “Telephone Game.” Wikipedia tells us:

Chinese whispers—known as telephone in the United States—is an internationally popular children's game, in which the players form a line and the first person in the line whispers a message to the ear of the next person in the line, and so on, until the last player is reached, who announces the message to the entire group.

I don’t know if children play it today. If there is a variation of it, I’m certain it’s no longer called Telephone, simply because that word isn’t in use in today’s vernacular.

Words do take on meaning changes across generations, and that’s one of the problems facing explaining why I read a Bible that still uses thee, thou, wouldst, gathereth, etc. I don’t have a problem with those words – my mind translates them as easily as it translates si, nyet, nien, claro que se, por favor and a multitude of other words I’ve read and/or studied.

Years ago I learned that:

Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna. (Reference)

meant the same thing as:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (Reference)

Most people who have attended Sunday School for more than a month could tell you that is John 3:16. If they attended for a year or more, they can tell you those were words Jesus said. It would take longer for them to know that they were said in a conversation – even longer to recall He was speaking to Nicodemus, a “ruler of the Jews.”

It takes even longer to get to the point one remembers the following verses:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18 KJV)

If the verses, even repeating all three, make their way around the “whisper game”, they’ve been known to come out resembling:

Wow, God loves us so much that His Son died for our sins and we are not condemned to hell but will have everlasting life!!

Isn’t that an awesome message? One that everyone can accept simply because love conquers all?
Regrettably, a full reading of the chapter does not leave us with that ending of the “whisper game.” A full reading of the Bible doesn’t, either.

Have you ever taken a walk with someone? Often, you go where they want you to, not your first choice. You discuss with them what you want them to hear, but you are expected to listen to them, too. Direct from them, not through the “whisper game.” Direct conversation – an odd idea when combined with a deity, isn’t it? But there’s a whole book where such conversations take place. A standard set for knowing if the conversation does take place, too.

How do we know we should walk and talk with our God?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8 KJV)

Go ahead, read the surrounding verses. Read the book. Find out where/when/why it was written. Does it apply today? I believe it does, since God first walked with His creation:

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8 KJV)

I’ve run out of time – and over my regular word count. I’ll continue tomorrow.