Can Deaf Christian people understand the Bible, partially understand or not?

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.There some people brought to him a man who was Deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. The Gospel writer, Mark, tells the story of Jesus healing a Deaf man in Mark 7:31-35 (NIV).

Imagine any Deaf Christian persons can understand the God’s Words or not!

There are between 200 and 300 millions D/deaf people around the world, BUT only approximately 2% of the D/deaf people are Christian. The average number of D/deaf Christian use their first language, which is sign language. A small number of D/deaf people learn about God, Jesus and the Gospel than the greater number of D/deaf people who have no idea or interest in God.

I came from a Christian family for many years, and my late father’s mother was a strong Methodist devoted person. Hilda was her name and her great grandparent – the ‘Watkinson Clan’ who came to New Zealand and settled in the Northland, New Zealand. I learn to read and understand God’s Words from Hilda when I was very young through Sunday School. In my early days, there was no interpreter for any Deaf people in the church. There were too many Bible books, and it was so confusing to understand the real meaning of God’s News.

It is not just the D/deaf and Hard of Hearing people who struggle to understand God’s Words from the Bible. It is everyone who is going through learning about Jesus and his teaching parables of life. Only one Bible is made for the D/deaf people but only in the New Testament – English Versions. How can they learn from the Bible? Perhaps to use sign language first, show pictures and read the chapters/verse later.

Let go back to the writing times, which was invented between 3400 and 3300BC, the cuneiform in Mesopotamia. Moving onto 3200BC in Egypt and Shang-dynasty China, there was evidence of a writing system by 1300BC. Back in Mesopotamia, it was an early pictorial sign-on clay, not on papers or scrolls.

How about this one? The picture here showed different symbols, pictorial signs or hieroglyphics. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comparative_evolution_of_Cuneiform,_Egyptian_and_Chinese_characters.jpg#/media/File:Comparative_evolution_of_Cuneiform,_Egyptian_and_Chinese_characters.jpg

In cuneiform, each sign stands for a word syllable (consonant plus vowel), like MA or BO. Of course, with a different sign for every syllable, you have to have a whole lot of signs. You need many more signs than we have letters in our alphabet.

https://quatr.us/west-asia/cuneiform-mesopotamia-west-asian-writing.htm

The writing from pictorial signs/hieroglyphics into alphabet by several countries in Europe, for example, Arabia alphabet, or from the Phoenician alphabet (see the detail of picture below.) Where is sign language mention in history? People such as traders, sealers or people with non-verbal communication meet many different people from other countries. They would use gestures/signs as communication in the same way D/deaf people communicate in sign language today.

Fast forward to the present, D/deaf people use their first language as sign language from the beginning of growing up in the family to communicate with their family members. There are few teacher aides with sign language skills and the barrier of accessible of learning in the classroom without visual sign language as exposure awareness the need of sign language to all D/eaf children/youths and adults. What about the churches, and do they have any interpreters available for D/deaf people or not? What D/deaf Christian people/families want the best and friendly accessible in their parish/es worldwide? It is the sign language and visual storytelling/God’s words in sign language.

Some websites and churches already do the Lord’s works for the Deaf Community/ties over many years. For example, the Deaf Missions Home (USA), Wycliffe Bible Translators, United Methodist Committee on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries. Here are several links for you to explore and to read https://www.deafmissions.com, https://www.wycliffe.org/global-search?q=sign+language#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=sign%20language&gsc.page=1, https://www.umdeaf.org/about.html

In New Zealand, yes, there are small branches of the Deaf Christian people/families joins their church/es such as their Auckland Catholic parish – Deaf Ministry Catholic Diocese Auckland, Methodist Parish – New Zealand Ministry with the Deaf. We do not have a collection video of God’s Words in our language – NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) yet like the Deaf Missions Home (USA).