BIBLE NEWS: Translating in the Face of Deadly Illness

Many Bible translators work under difficult conditions as they try to bring the gospel to remote and often hostile tribes. But some face difficulty in the comfort of their own homes.  Helen Sylliboy is working to finish translating the Bible into Mi'kmaq (a language of the Native Americans of Canada) in the face of extreme health problems which threaten to end her life before her work is done.

Diabetes left the 64-year-old blind in one eye and forces her to undergo kidney dialysis three times a week.
She also has arthritis that keeps her confined to a wheelchair.
Despite all that, she still spends 10 hours a day at her computer, translating...
Sylliboy also fears a heart attack could kill her.
"I want to be able to meet my creator and tell him I did my share of promoting my language and my prayers and my spirituality with others," said Sylliboy. 

BIBLE NEWS: Church is Good for You

It is no surprise that pastors teach that church is good for us - that's where they work!  But now science is getting into the act to explain why the Bible teaches "not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." - Hebrews 10:25.

Social support is no doubt part of the story. At the evangelical churches I’ve studied as an anthropologist, people really did seem to look out for one another. They showed up with dinner when friends were sick and sat to talk with them when they were unhappy. The help was sometimes surprisingly concrete. Perhaps a third of the church members belonged to small groups that met weekly to talk about the Bible and their lives...A study conducted in North Carolina found that frequent churchgoers had larger social networks, with more contact with, more affection for, and more kinds of social support from those people than their unchurched counterparts. And we know that social support is directly tied to better health.