Yangja Isuko

Link


this pisses me off.

Ellis14

Me too.

It is one thing to try and help people. To do so on the assumption that you alone have the keys to salvation (though you can't prove it) is another; nothing short of sheer arrogance.

Yangja Isuko

not to mention destroying a unique culture and view of the world in the process.

Starboy

That is a crime against humanity.

Starboy

Onager

Seems like a microcosm of what the Xians have been doing to everyone.

Mageth

Sheesh. QueenOfSwords should give this page her patented treatment.

But the Saluan people did not want us either.

Yes; they were a wise people.

We moved into a little bamboo house and began to work toward our goal of teaching them about Jesus.

We must leave no wise people untainted by our message.

How could we teach these strong, independent, and wilful people? How could we teach these people whose social control was so effective that there had not been one theft, divorce, wife-beating or adultery episode in the village as long as we had known them?

We must teach them Jesus so that they can understand that you can do those things and still be forgiven! Or not do those things and still burn in hell because you do not accept our Jesus!

And yet their lives were not as idyllic as they appeared. Feuding and fear permeated their lives — feuding among the clans and fear of unexpected repercussions for the slightest offense against the unpredictable spirits.

I'm reminded of a quote by Edward Abbey - "The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages - as if the savages weren't dangerous enough already!"

And they much teach them Jesus so they can come to understand they should fear expected eternal repercussions for the slightest offense against the unpredictable spirit.

They needed to know about God's love and power, shown in creation and His holy standards, shown in the law. Only then did they understand their need. They received God's gift of salvation with great joy.

Yeah. First, teach them about sickness your religion invented, and then teach them about the medicine that your religion claims is the only cure.

They will never be the same.

Sad but true. What a terrible loss of a culture and a mythology.

My prediction? theft, divorce, wife-beating and adultery are soon to follow.

Hyndis

And most likely conflict as well.

While all native civilizations are anything but peaceful, the level of carnage that can be inflicted thanks to industrialization and the sheer amount of hatred caused by holy wars is hardly an improvement.

Just look at Africa. You've got militant Christians and Muslims armed with AK-47's. They think they're doing god/allah's work by cuting babies from their mothers wombs and hacking them apart with knives!

If anything it seems like the level of bloodshed rises exponentially whenever missionaries start to convert the locals, and this goes for both Christians and Muslims. Muslim extremists tend to want to go back into the bronze age while Christian extremists like using the joys of modern industrial warfare to get their point across.

Religion is depressing.

Magus55

And yet if they were atheist in that village, that most certaintly would have said that God doesn't exist, and religious people are just delusional mental patients.

Ellis14

Not at all, Magus. Despite your continued cognitive dissonance of this fact: I used to be a theist, so I know a bit about how it feels to believe in God.

More than likely, a civilisation raised by atheists would teach children the beauty of nature and science, and how the world really works. I doubt there would be any need to even mention god or gods.

And your paranoia not withstanding, there wouldn't be much point in anyone insulting religious people if there were none around to force their dogma down others' throats.

reprise

So I wonder what previously unknown diseases have beem introduced to this community and whether the missionaries will tell the people that those diseases are God's punishment for rejecting him.

Magus, an atheist wouldn't have been able to argue that God doesn't exist to people who have no concept of God (which I guess makes them "natural atheists"). To argue against the existence of God you must first introduce the concept.