is God watching

 My grandmother would say, " idle hands do the the devil's work. " I came to understand what she was talking about. There are some things you only learn through experience I guess. I think that may be true with more things than we realize. The first thing to understand about that statement is, the devil's work. What is the devil's work? Anything that is wrong. That's the short answer. Of course then we are left to determine what is wrong. When speaking of the devil we turn to the Bible to find that answer, what is wrong. The problem lies in interpretation. If the Bible doesn't specifically say something is wrong, does that make it right? And the reverse could also be asked.

 St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators, wrote this, " keep doing some kind of work, that the devil may always find you occupied. " It sounds like the same advice Grandma gave. Was she paraphrasing St. Jerome or repeating what someone had told her? I can only believe it is a matter of interpretation. I did take two years of Spanish in 1969 and 1970. I admit to not remembering much about it. I do recall when translating it the verbs and nouns seemed to be reversed quite a bit. What I mean is if you literally translated each word in the order they appeared in the sentence. Now that may be totally incorrect, as I said that was a long time ago, but it is my impression. I can see where the interpretation of those sentences could easily be jumbled around and be conveyed incorrectly. What does it mean? Well that is the limitation of writing. You can't write " emotion " into the statement. It's like using a colloquialism. What's up? If you had never heard that; had no way to place it in context, what is your response? The sky, a balloon, the price of gasoline? I think the same can be said when translating from one language to another. In the case of St. Jerome he was translating from Hebrew to Latin. Latin to English is another translation. 

 In the long list of translations of the Bible this one is from the Living Bible, a more modern translation. Proverbs 16: 27-29 Idle hands are the devil's workshop: idle lips are his mouthpiece. An evil man sows strife, gossip separates the best of friends. Wickedness loves company and leads others into sin. Are all three of these phrases conveying the same message? Idle hands do the devil's work, keep doing some kind of work that the devil may always find you occupied, and idle hands are the devils workshop. I believe they are, but can see where different views could be formed. It is the nuance of language that causes that. Still no explanation of what is the devils work. I googled that, what is the devils work, and there is no definitive answer. There most concise definition said something very bad or painful. Subjective answers at best. 

 Now all of what I've written is just an exploration. That's all it is and all it is intended to be. We should think about the stuff we say, think about the stuff we were taught. I don't think it is a good thing to just accept whatever is handed to you. I do find it fascinating that a great number of the aphorisms we use everyday come from the Bible. I guess that is because the Bible is the the most widely read book in the world. Unfortunately I believe that may be changing. I know I could spend more time reading the Bible than I presently do, which is very little. Where can the answer to what is the devil's work be found? Is it in the pages of the bible? That's certainly one place. The Bible does require translation however. St. Peter says, the church is the authority when it comes to that. So then we are left to decide, which church? Do we choose the one that says what we want to hear, or the one that tells us we are sinners! It's a bit of a dilemma.

 Well I think that all speaks to our legacy. It's something we all will leave behind. We may actively seek to shape that legacy or we may just let the chips fall where they may. It is a choice. When it comes to legacy a man named Vito Belfort, an MMA fighter may have expressed it best when he said, " Legacy is not what I do for myself, it's what I'm doing for future generations. " C.S. Lewis famously said, " integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. " You could say not doing the devils work! Interestingly numerous studies have shown we are far more honest when being watched, or believe we are being watched. Is God watching?