Saturday 29 November 2008

3.What do mission organisations do for these people?

We live in a world of distortion therefore we should extract adequate knowledge before making the delicate choice of spirituality. However it is quite evident that missionaries, as Christians, provide biased knowledge of what they think is right or wrong. I sometimes feel that they are 'advertising' their religion, which is quite immoral.

Every Saturday night a knock on my door. A Korean girl, with a bible in her hand, standing outside. I am tired of listening to her tedious ongoing 'messages' from God, yet she keeps coming. I know that her intentions are good but her approach is irritating. It is like a scary hand trying to get hold of me. Have I ever preached from the 'Geetanjali' to Christians?

I believe that missionaries are good individuals with pure hearts. They seek out to serve God. However they need to realize that they cannot force religion on other cultures. In a modern society, someone does not need to be a Christian to know that cannibalism is wrong. So a person does not need to be a missionary to improve other cultures. Moreover missionaries enter a location with the mindset of converting people, which upsets me the most. I don't believe that a person needs to be a missionary to improve society. Personally, I think that if a tribe has to be exposed to twentieth century they have the right to know every other perspective, religion and belief. They do not deserve to be biased by a certain religious group.
Similarly other religions such as Islam imply 'holy war' on individuals to convert them. It is basically like 'become Muslim or die.' I read a book called 'She said yes' which is based on a true story of a young girl. When terrorists entered her high school, she hid under a table and started praying. After a while she realized that she was looking down the barrel of a gun. They asked her, “Do you believe in God?”. She said yes. They took her life. This book impacted me a lot because her mom wrote about her dead daughter's faith, which was the reason was killed. This reminded me of the part in the where it read, “When Fray Diego de Landa, a Catholic missionary accompany in Spanish forces in the New World, discovered extensive Maya libraries, he knew what to do. He burned them all, an event, he said, the Maya regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction.” Clearly, some missionaries interpret the Bible inaccurately, just as the Muslims interpret the literal meaning of 'holy war' as stated in the Koran. Furthermore I think that Don Richardson uses an exaggerated analogy when he writes, “It’s true that we destroy certain things in cultures, just as doctors sometimes must destroy certain things in a human body if a patient is to live.” There are non-Christians in this world who don't necessarily require a spiritual 'doctor' to live.

Therefore I think that evangelizing is a flawed concept and missionaries' mindset should be to improve society instead of portray religion. If Christians want to improve a culture they should educate tribes with knowledge of everything distinguished. To decide on what to believe you need to know, because once you open your eyes to knowledge, you will find where to look.

5 comments:

theXG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
theXG said...

Hey Pritha,
I really agree with what you say in this blog..mostly...especially your point that "They need to realize that they cannot force religion on other cultures." Some people tend to force their beliefs on others just because they think that is right...but not everybody has the same central belief. I get the irony when you said "Have I ever preached from the 'Geetanjali' to Christians?" I understand that Christians have strong faith, and are willing to share their faith with others, but sometimes the over-willing-ness seems scary to the listener's point of view. Interesting blog! And I was quite surprised, in a good way, when you said "once you open your eyes to knowledge, you will find where to look." It reminded me of the book called "Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress"...(it's a pretty good book about the irony of a country girl trying to leave communism when she was "civilized" by a boy from the city, after when she was so faithful to it all her past). I feel like missionaries should clarify their purposes, goals, and limits before they actually take action.
-Christy

Lucia Jeong said...

Interesting post <3 I agree with you where you say that the missionaries need to realize that they cannot force religion on other cultures. Instead of forcing religion, I belive that they should give the choice for them to belive by teaching them about Christianity instead destroying or taking away thier culture. I also agree with you on the part where Christians sometimes go overboard and start 'advertisting' their religion. Several times, I had Korean women or men who were Christians that would come to our house to persuade us to come be a part of their church. When our family first encountered them, they tried to teahc us the word of Christ by reading scriptures from the Bible and refused to budge until we told them that we were Christians who went to Catholic Church. They reluctuantly turned to the other house that was across from ours.
Although these people might not have had pure intentions, I do think missionaries who bring themselves out to the wilderness to teach the word of God are those who genuinely serve God and glorify Him. By risking thier lives, they are willing to spread the message of God and I think that is truly remarkable.

D@n!kA said...

Pritha!
I liked the way you wrote again, really interesting. I agree with so many things that you have said, for example "I sometimes feel that they are 'advertising' their religion, which is quite immoral." and "Have I ever preached from the 'Geetanjali' to Christians?" even though the last one was a bit funny, I agree!This is true as well "someone does not need to be a Christian to know that cannibalism is wrong." I should have written that in mine :P nice pictures as well all colourful!

African Globe Trotters. said...

Pritha, this post did present many interesting thoughts. I totally agree that many Christians are relentless about their religion, and don't seem to care about offending others. This frustrates me. I do want to set the record straight - no Sawi was forced to accept Christ - there are many who are faithless. It really is their choice. Mrs.Mc.