“Te gusta to go to the iglesia?”
“Do you like ir a la church?”
The phrases above all mean the same thing (find out the meaning if you can) and are a clear example of a hybrid language that is spoken all the time by bilingual people in Miami and other cosmopolitan cities: “Spanglish.”
“Spanglish” was also the name of a popular romantic movie in 2004. In this film a married American man falls in love with the Hispanic maid/nanny, but he and his wife chose to remain together, which is the right and biblical thing to do.
Mixing races, cultures and languages in a marriage is challenging, but not sinful. A marriage between a believer and an unbeliever (even from the same race, nationality and social class) is not only a bad idea, but it is also a grave sin and so it is getting mixed up in extramarital affairs.
The children of God are called to walk faithfully with Christ, but we are sometimes guilty of spiritual “Spanglish” which is a mixture of darkness and light. There are many examples of spiritual “Spanglish” in the Bible and in the practical life of many contemporary Christians.
We see this kind of “Spanglish” in Adam and Eve: They attempted to serve God and to fall into sin at the same time. The same happened to King David, to some prophets, to the apostle Peter and to many others.
The Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13)
The Bible also tells that there is only one God and that only He must be worshipped:
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)
We must have only one love, which is God. Therefore we are commanded by the apostle John,
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15, 16)
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
Let us speak only one language: The language of heaven.
A. G.
