Did you know that not all Scorpions are the same?
I knew absolutely nothing about scorpions before moving to Botswana and almost nothing until 2 years ago when we moved to live in the bush.
There are actually two main categories of Scorpion (according to danger levels) - a thin pincered but fat tailed deadly type, and a fat pincered but thin tailed almost harmless type.
But up until last week, I had basically only had experience with the dangerous fat tailed version. Then one morning my husband suddenly and urgently called for help in dealing with a large scorpion that had scurried in the front door when he opened it. However after capturing it and looking more closely, we realised it was an almost harmless thin tailed-fat pincer version....the first of this type we had seen.
We also live with snakes in the bush around us. Some are deadly (I haven't seen them yet and they haven't been near our house but others on the property have seen them), but the ones we have found are relatively harmless.
It is easy to assume something about a situation or object because it looks similar to something already experienced in another context. If I had only ever seen harmless scorpions it could be easy to see yet another scorpion and assume it is the same as others without looking more closely and noticing it is one that should be attended to very differently. I could fail to 'fear' what I should fear or end up in a 'panic' over something that I didn't need to be. A closer look could either save me some 'fright or flight' energy in the case of a harmless scorpion , or save me my life or hospitalisation in the case of a deadly version.
This reminds me of looking deeper in cross-cultural situations.
Especially in an urban missions situation that can have many 'familiar' Western factors evident, it is easy to be in a frame of mind that is 'lulled' into assuming, projecting and expecting Western responses, attitudes, actions and worldview. I have found that it hasn't been until I've trained myself (and continue to do so) to gain more knowledge and look more deeply into circumstances around me, that I notice more about a situation so as to properly assess and respond.
It's so easy to miss what is obviously there if you don't know what to look for. Some things that might be high on my radar due to my own birth culture may not be priorities to be noticed in the 'new' culture around me, and other things that were low or not even on my previous radar, need to be if I am going to respond appropriately and effectively with gospel truth.
Here are a couple of examples.......
If you are a Westerner reading this, what would be your first thoughts if you read about a cemetery having problems from underground water, so much so that when graves are dug they don't take long to have water in them and the ground is waterlogged for those walking on it at funerals?
Maybe you would start to wonder about contamination of the water table (especially if the bore hole on your property was nearby). Or maybe you would be concerned people would slip on the wet ground and injure themselves, or the difficulty in mowing the grass around the graves.
Here is an excerpt from a local paper where the Assistant Minister for Local Government and Rural Development commented on the issue:
"...I will talk to my officers to always make a survey before allocating plots for cemeteries because it is not proper for the body of our leaders to be on the grave that has underground water,"
The priority is related to honouring community elders whether they are alive or 'late' (as is said here).
This is not so different from a situation where a man was charged after embezzling funds from a charity. The detective's first comment was 'how could he do this to his people and his country' and second comment was 'now overseas donors will cease sending funds to Botswana because of the reputation this will give us'. No comment was made that stealing was wrong or that the charity would have bills to pay but no funds to pay them now etc etc.
The priority is related to the shame this brought upon the wider group.
Part of our 'research' is simply 'living' here, making the effort and taking the time to 'see' further than the surface of life around us. This is not just about noticing donkey carts or ladies carrying babies on their backs, its about noticing issues of differing worldview. It is so easy to not see what is right in front of our eyes, if we are not actually looking for it. Once upon a time I would have read the newspaper article and just thought "Mmm that's a bit of a health hazard with dead bodies rotting in the water table and muddy ground where people could slip and hurt themselves". But that would be looking at the situation with 'Western eyes'.
Rather such situations alert me once again to how pervasive the 'honour of elders' and 'shame on the group' is, and the great need to ensure that in discipleship these issues are addressed biblically.
If we are going to help people understand God's word and come to know transformed lives in Christ resulting in doing business better, being better parents, better spouses, better church members, better citizens etc etc we have to understand how they think - what are the primary values and perspectives......and its most likely they won't be what a Westerner thinks they are. But if we don't take time to see into culture at a deeper level than the surface of life around us, we will miss what is really going on and also miss being able to properly interpret, communicate and apply God's truth within the realities of daily life.....and that could result in someone not just having earthly 'scorpion' consequences, but eternal 'salvation' consequences.
As Jackson Wu says in his book 'Saving God's Face' about areas of culture that don't get properly addressed/corrected biblically....
'Silence then becomes the Trojan horse where culture imports meaning, values and practice. Human beings demand answers to life questions. A myriad of life experiences push a person towards one conclusion over another, whether consciously or unconsciously. Inevitably, if not informed by a holistic biblical theology, many will simply default to the prevailing cultural norms."
'Seeing into culture' more deeply, really matters!
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