Mission Impossible

What do mission organisations do for these people?

This is a hard question to answer.

I guess there are different ways to look at it: missionaries say they're bringing the Gospel and helping the tribal people have a smoother transition into this constantly shrinking and technologically developing world; others say that the missionaries are butting into these people's lives and destroying their culture.

I say that it's somewhat of a hybrid between both. I do understand that when missionaries go to these remote places, they are risking their lives to bring the Truth to these people, and I really do respect them for doing this, because, to be totally honest, if someone asked me, "Would you like to share the Gospel with cannibals and head-hunters?" I'd say "Uh...let me think about that. Nope. I don't associate with people who see me as an Asian appetizer and literally want my head on a platter." At the same time, I think it's difficult for missionaries to introduce something so life-changing without altering a culture. I won't say destroy, because most times, even after a majority of a tribe has converted to Christianity, they keep many of their traditions and way of life. I say most because this hasn't always been the case, as some missionaries get carried away and think the best way to approach a different people group is by becoming tyrants, like the missionary in James Michener's novel Hawaii that Don Richardson mentioned in Do Missionaries Destroy Culture? Most of the time, though, it's not like this. Missionaries do truly care about bringing the Gospel to these people and changing their lives for the better.

On the other hand, though, some part of a tribe's culture are changed, but not obliterated. Obviously the religious aspect of the group's culture changes, but just because the people become Christians does not mean they can't eat the food they used to eat and celebrate their old holidays, so long as they're not pagan holidays anymore, I guess. For example, I'm a Korean that's a Christian, but that doesn't mean I can't celebrate 추석 (Chusok: a Korean type of Thanksgiving) and 설날 (Sulnal: the Chinese New Year).

In the end, it's all about the intention of the missionaries who make contact with the distant people and how they choose to approach them. If a missionary truly cares about the people and doesn't mean to totally change a tribe's way of living, it's all for the better, because, like Don Richardson said, it's not like these people are totally going to be isolated for long in this world of competitive entrepreneurs, who would most definitely destroy a group's culture by exploiting them and all that they have.

Forever Faithful

How does faith relate to the world in which we live?

Faith: believing in something or someone, even though you can give no reason for what you believe in at times; you just know it's true (for you, anyways).

The world we live in today is full of faithful people, just not in the sense that people usually think of the word. Everyone has faith, it's that people have faith in different ideals. Some people have faith in Jesus, others have faith in money, and still others have faith in nothing. Of course, it seems a bit odd to think that a person could have faith in "nothing," but even a faith in nothing is faith, because that person is believing in the fact that life is meaningless and you might as well live it however you like. Nihilism, anyone?

Faith is pretty powerful. It can get people to do things they wouldn't have done if they didn't believe whatever it is that they believe in. But faith can be dangerous, too. It makes people do things for the reasons they think is right, which may not necessarily be right for somebody else. For example, as Christians, we know that God wants us to tell other people about Jesus, and that it's "the right thing to do." Yet for non-Christians, they oftentimes see it as rude and degrading for a Christian to come up to them and say, "If you don't repent now, you're going to hell!" I know, because before I was a Christian, I would always look at them and say, "They act like Christians on Sundays and in Bible class, but then they turn around and start swearing and doing things that don't look very Christian." I'm not saying I'm the epitome of a perfect Christian, but I think it would help a lot if we Christians stopped acting like our faith is the only faith on the planet. We have to remember that other people have their own ideas about life, and we have to respect that. After all, who likes being told that what they believe in is one hundred percent fabrication?

Of course, no one can truly judge what the right faith is. Even as Christians, we never truly know for sure what will happen when we die. That's why we have faith, because we're trusting that God is the truth. In the same way, other people are trusting that their ideas are the truth.

That's why faith is such an integral part of our world today.

First Impressions

What factors of your native culture have informed your religious world view? Explain the impact of these factors.

As a Korean born and raised mostly in the US and now in Korea, I am neither here nor there. I don't consider myself totally Americanized, but I am not fully Korean, either (in my habits anyways). Because of my background, I don't really have a "native culture," per se. I have my own habits and way of life, and I don't think I can really give a label to them. For this reason, I think my religious world view was formed more on my own musings than on my background. Of course, I could be totally wrong on this take, or I might not.

One of the main reasons I feel like my "culture" doesn't have anything to do with my religious views is because I come from an atheist family. Because my parents do not dictate a particular religious view in the house, other than the one where a person doesn't believe in any particular deity, I was, still am, and will always be, left to find a belief of my own.

When I was younger, I used to wonder about the meaning of life, literally. I would think to myself, 'Why am I trying so hard at life? Does it even matter? Even if I get into drugs and alcohol and quit school, I'm going to end up dying anyways. No matter how good or how bad I live my life, the end will be the same, so why am I trying so hard to be so...good?' I would talk to my parents about this, but, being atheists, they couldn't give me any straight answers. Then I'd wonder, 'What happens when we die? Are we reincarnated as different people or do we "go on?" Are we punished for the wrongs we committed and rewarded for the rights that we did? Or is this the only life we have and do we become nothing when we die?'

So I searched, and I didn't even think about what the implications of me being a Korean-American would have on my search for truth.

Eventually, the path towards truth led me to Christianity. And I know that sounds cliche, but it's true. The main reason I ended up here is because nothing else gave me purpose, and what's the point of living life without purpose? Absolutely nothing.

I don't know why, but even after thinking about my "native culture" and how it impacted my search, I still believe that it was not a huge factor at all in my decision to become a Christian. Or maybe it was, but I still haven't realized it yet. Maybe it's because both of the cultures that I was exposed to, American and Korean, were not extremely different form Christianity as the Sawis, which is why I don't see the impact it had. I'm still walking, and I know I'll learn more as I go.

But for now, I'm content with knowing that I have a reason to live: God.