I don't always post every comment that comes here. I regularly receive comments that call me a genocidal missionary that destroys indian culture. I have been accused of being a " religious pollutant " , an instigator of spiritual destruction, and hate monger, also, other names I will not repeat here.
But it does make me ponder...
Yes, I happen to believe in the Bible. I believe Jesus is the Son of God and I believe the Bible does call me personally to go forth and preach, teach and disciple those who have not heard. I believe that by sharing Christ, a culture will only change for the better. I feel that the hard work of the linguistic missionaries that break down a language and develop the alphabet in order to translate the Bible into these tongues are the ones who actually preserve the language and, thus, the culture. I believe education will only make any culture stronger!
I do not believe the Bible ever teaches us to forcibly 'convert' anyone to Christianity and that a person under such a 'conversion' would not even be a true Christian. I would be wasting my time.
Yes, I am guilty of believing Christ saves souls and changes lives! And even, worse, I believe tribal people should be educated, taught to read and allowed to be exposed to history, science, and the Bible. I believe that they are totally capable of making a knowledgeable decision on their own as to what they choose to believe. For I believe all men are created in the likeness of God, equally.
Every people group in this world is equal in intelligence and ability to progress. I think anyone who denies an entire people group this opportunity of progress is extremely arrogant and even a hypocrite! For these people treat tribal people groups as if they are our 'children' or a specimen that we can study. They seem to feel that they are animals that belongs in a zoo so that we, the 'civilized', might learn from them of our own 'primitive' past. There is no justification for this type of arrogance!
These same ones who say I destroy cultures would have us leave the tribes to die of preventable diseases such as malaria, or to perhaps continue practicing destructive habits out of ignorance. It seems to me that the real genocidal agents are these 'elitists' who happily condemn people to a life of misery and an early death !
Most of these types are admittedly atheists and Darwinists. Isn't it hypocritical to believe in evolution and Survival of the Fittest and yet, want to isolate primitive tribes and not allow them to ' evolve' ( I would use the word 'progress') and partake of the fruits of our combined progress and the knowledge that the rest of us enjoy on a daily basis?
Why should these Darwinist feel that I am evil when I seem to be the one promoting progress and thus making the tribes more 'fit' in order that they might 'survive'?
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37 comments:
Amen, sister! Amen!
*clap clap clap*
Well said, Rita!
You have my applause. Don't let those liberals get you down!
Applauding here, too.
aw keep the faith...live honestly and dont let the haters hurt ya!
Thank you, Rita!!!
Part of the One World Order elitists is to depopulate the world, bring the numbers down, so they could care less if third world countries better their situations. Actually, the elitists would prefer them to die off and they will be more than willing to help it happen. I wrote about that in one of my "AWAKE YOU WHO SLEEP" articles that appeared on my blog.
Anything that missionaries do to help these people is a thorn in the side of the elites.
So keep on ticking them off, it is fun to watch them squirm.
Don't worry what other people say to you, because it is not what they think of you that matters.
Yes, yes, yes...well said!
:)
~Kristi
Amen, sister! You said it beautifully. Permission to steal, um, I mean, borrow, that sometime?
Here, Here JM, greatly done!
Why shouldn't the dear souls of every tribe receive an education, both secular and Biblical!
Amen, Amen and Amen! Well said Rita!
Excellent!
well worded rant, catching up with you.....glad that all is well...if busy.
Amen and well put and well said and I loved reading that! If evolution is true why don't the scientist actually see something evolve? :-/
i say we should ask the indians, "do you want people to come help you get over your diseases and help you live and teach you how to read and write or would you rather everyone just observe you?"
You have to realize that they've temporarily become missionaries of a competing faith, Rita. A once hopeful but now disillusioned and more pessimistic one. And their current lives would have absolutely no meaning without their opposition to you. For they fear that the improvements you bring to the backwaters of the world will not be sustainable.
Give them time. A breakthrough will come and on that day they'll rejoin us. Have faith and pray for them.
AMEN! That was very well said. I get SO tired of those who think that we (those who share Christ in another country) are trying to 'change' the people into something they are not. Personally, I think this post should be distributed to EVERY newspaper in the US!!!
I like what Antonio said in the village... "Why should we listen to you about living without progress or machines or proper clothing and education for our children. When you leave this jungle you will go home to live in a nice apartment with screens on the windows for mosquitoes, running water, air conditioning, cars, medical care around the corner and good food everywhere to be bought. If you think our life is so great and should not be changed, then you come live it with us for a while. You won´t last eating our food for a month, let alone a lifetime. Go home with the rest of your "Antro" friends. We are not zoo animals to be studied"
note ****
"Antro" is a shortened derogatory term for Anthropologist. It is said with utter disdain equivalent to the worst racial slur.
The one comment you long to hear is, "Well done, good and faithful servant." While that benediction must come from the Lord, those of us who love the Lord say our own, "Well done." Only eternity will reveal the blessing you have been and will be for generations to come. Warren
Accolades to you---
those who wish to judge you do not know the iompact you have had on the people you served. It WAS NOT FOR SELF GAIN, but to improve the lives and health and eternal life of those peoples. Without your influence, many mor echildren would have been lost, as well as the adults to treatable illnesses, and to teach them the importance of cleanliness and food prep.
You gave them more knowledge than imaginable for the longevity of the tribe!!
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Its always so refreshing to meet other Believers.
Keep up the good work for Him!
I don't believe "they fear that the improvements you bring to the backwaters of the world will not be sustainable" as Berty does. I don't believe that's their reasoning at all because I don't think they care about the people who live in the backwaters of the world at all. So who is it that they care about? Why, themselves, of course. They prove it over and over and over again.
You know that you do important and good work for the betterment of humanity, Rita, and so do the people you and other missionaries help. God bless all of you!
Like you, I don't publish the hateful comments either. If people can't be civil they don't get into my home and the same goes for my blog.
Have a beautiful day! :)
I went to a restricted blog because I got tired of being hassled and it made the old blog no fun. But you can't really do that because so many people enjoy your blog so much. So I guess you just have to hit the delete button and vaporize rude people. I'm not religious but I don't see how you are hurting anyone by helping those folks out, myself.
I once talked to an indigenous Paraguayan who complained about peace corp workers who come to Paraguay and try to "live like the natives" and end up promoting unhealthy habits and lifestyles rather than impacting the society with changes that would be lasting and helpful. They teach them to make an ecological oven but don't bother with sanitation. Which is why my cousin left the peace corp and became a missionary. The only way to impact a culture is with the power of the Gospel that transforms lives. I could go on and on. . . but I totally agree.
...WHAT??? There are actually people that backward?
Such people are not merely liberal. That is a label that is not really descriptive of the problem. After all, I'm a moderate - I'm liberal in some ways (I'm very pro environment and believe in global warming) and conservative in others (I'm a B.A. Christian).
No... people who believe in leaving such 'cultures' alone don't reason well. After all, such cultures are not exactly successful.
In the history of man, missionaries have traditionally brought civilization to cultures that are unsuccessful in survival. They may, as a whole, survive as a group but their lives are not happy ones. Infant mortality is high, barbaric practices often exist which infringe on an individual or group's rights, and the list continues.
I think of such 'cultures', such as cannibalistic ones, or the ones that practice FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) and I think those cultures could stand some civilizing. If these people don't agree with this, are they saying that such practices are acceptable?
As C.S. Lewis once wrote in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe:
"Logic!" said the Professor half to himself. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools?"
http://www.abc.com.py/articulos.php?fec=2008-04-23&pid=409111
Take a look at this. . . Chavez and Lugo
By the time I get to your blog I'm always buried lol. But I do like this post. Keep doing the good work of the Lord.
Hi Rita, I've been had problems posting. I finally figured out why (and other peeps report the same.) Blogger won't post from the preview window, just this original window folks type in. Anyhoo, glad you found me.
....
Amen, amen. Good reasoning and well said.
Darwinism brought us eugenics and the holocaust...Christianity brings a betterment of life,mainly because evolutionists have a secret superiority complex. Christians know that we are all sinners saved by grace...
tmw
AMEN, Rita. You say it and do it well.
I, for one, personally do not screen my comments. I think most of my readers can see through the ignorance of the ignorant without my doing so. Just my view and personal opinion for myself.
Susan
Amen! Great piece...Lisa
(friend of Brenda in U.S.)
Why should these Darwinist feel that I am evil...?
Odd how that works. Darwinists believe that "the best will out" (more or less). But you apparently don't qualify because you are bringing the Word to those who might be receptive to it. Were the situation reversed (various tribes bringing their culture to you), that would just fine and dandy with Darwinists.
Ah, well. Forget consistency with such types, for the most part.
Amen well said and most importantly you are prayed for!
Really disheartening to hear such demotivating comments from some ignorant people..
You are doing a great Job dear..
May the love of Jesus be with you always!
Amen!
What Julie said! You go, girl!
Rita, very well thought and said. I'm really encouraged to hear your thoughts on this.
I do understand many of the critiques of missionaries over the years who have made Christians in their own cultural image. I think we must be very careful how we approach someone else's culture, that we try to understand how much of our faith is tied up in our own cultural expressions and present the good news about Jesus in a way that transforms people to be like Jesus in their own way rather than ours - to give them the freedom to be transformed. Not everything that is different from "our way" of being Christians is wrong or sinful. One critique of many early missionaries is that they took their European expressions of their relationship with Jesus and thought other people needed to behave in the same ways to be mature Christians.
I for one have learned a lot from anthropology about the different aspects of God that we can see through various cultural expressions. Every person and therefore culture, though fallen, is made in the image of God and reflects his glory in different ways. It's amazing to watch the power of God redeem a culture and a people, to redeem the brokenness of individuals and of culture and bring about the fullness of a people who God created in His image. I stand in awe of the power of the Spirit and the power of God's word heard in one's own language to transform people's lives. But the end result of God's transformation of someone else doesn't always look like what I think it should. This is a very humbling realization. It shows some of the errors in the living out of my own faith.
I think you've responded to these critiques and others in a very thoughtful way. Culture is never static anyway. Cultures are constantly changing in response to experiences, outside influences, etc. The description of anthropologists who just watched and "made marks" versus missionaries who helped transform people in "Spirit of the Rainforest" was really interesting to me (and has obviously stuck with me for the 7 years since I read it!) That said, though, I think a lot of anthropologist, at least the ones I know, are very concerned about helping people to live healthier and more productive lives, and the discipline overall seems to have moved away from the idea that indigenous cultures are quaint and should be "preserved" as they are. In terms of language, though, I would rather see people "transformed by God" rather than "civilized," as a few comments suggested.
Well, now that I've written a comment as long as your original post, I'd better sign off! Thanks for keeping me thinking, as always!
BRAVO
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