Odlučio sam slijediti Krista - Luka Balvan

I grew up hearing this song first as I have decided to follow Jesus" and much later as Odlučio sam slijediti Krista.

Later, when I was in graduate school some of the professors decried the song because of its "decisionalist" theology.  Their position was a puzzlement to me.   By the time my professors were squawking about it, this song was already deep in the catholic consciousness of Croatians.  The other matter that caused me some difficulty with my professor's opinions was a little matter in Holy Writ which I hold authoritative as being the Word of God without error.  

There it is in Joshua 15:

Međutim, ako vam se ne sviđa služiti Jahvi, onda danas izaberite kome ćete služiti: možda bogovima kojima su služili vaši oci s onu stranu Rijeke ili bogovima Amorejaca  u čijoj zemlji sada prebivate. Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi."

na engleskom:

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

So, there it is:  "izaberite."  On english that is "choose."  "Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi." "I and my house to serve we will to the Lord."  You want good engleski, you put on on good engleski or go read for your self on english.  I want to show you literal construction which is very close to original language how it says this.

Then we look at Luki 9:57 "Dok su išli putem, neki čovjek reče Isusu:  'Slijedit ću te kamo god ti pošao!'"

We Slavs have an advantage you know.  Holy Writ was put on "old" slavonic long before on  other languages.  Our translations are old, almost as old as the greek for the old testament.  The point of my saying this is to assure you that the translators were close to the old understandings of these texts and so they are very very accurate.  Latin or Slavonic? Take the Slavonic every time.  Even the Pope in Rome long long time before Vatican II said we Croats can have our liturgy and our Scripture in our very own language.  English or Slavonic? Slavonic every time.  Even the translators for King James took very close look at the Slavonic before they put their translation into print.

I suppose this may place me at odds with certain of my professors and with part of the church. Oh well.  Along with Martin Luther "“Unless I am proved wrong by Scripture or by evident reason, then I am a prisoner in conscience to the word of God. I cannot retract and I will not retract.  To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other.”   Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi.

"Choose."  "I and my house to serve we will ..."  In old Slav's thinking I cannot tell the  difference between this and "Odlučio sam slijediti Krista."  Never mind.  If there is some difference it does not matter, jer odlučio sam slijediti Krista and that's that. If you want come with me, then, here is the path ... Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi.

Supposedly some fellow named S. Sundar Singh  wrote "I have decided to follow Jesus" and put it to an old Hindustani melody.  Maybe that was my professor's real objection to the song.  The Hindustani melody.  Someday someone please be explaining to them about the group who came down from Bohemia to Saxony and who are the people called the "Saxon immigration."  How on earth did they decide to be German?  Sigh.  You can paint the duck white but he is still not a  pelikan.  The song is in the public domain.  Luka Balvan sings it for us.  Balvan graciously makes all his music available for all the people.  I think this song is good meditation for Ash Wednesday and for all of korizma.

Tekst:
odlučio sam slijediti Krista,odlučio sam slijediti Krista,
odlučio sam slijediti Krista, neću se vratit nikada.
Da niko neće, ja idem za njim. Neću se vratit nikada.
Krist je preda mnom, a svijet je za mnom. Neću se vratit nikada.
Uzmite sav svijet, dajte mi Krista. Neću se vratit nikada.


As it comes to us from Singh:
I have decided to follow Jesus;I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
no turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac


24 veljača 2012