Monday, December 1, 2008

Do Missonaries Destroy Culutre?

Religion is part of a culture but it does not define a culture. Other factors such as, geographical location, how people interact with each other, and language(written and spoken) make up a culture. When one is converted over to Christianity one must abandon those beliefs that conflict with Bible and what God says. You cannot say that missionaries destroy the culture as a whole because factors such as I listed above, except maybe human interaction(cannibalism betrayal etc.), can still remain intact because they do not conflict with the Christian religion. Parts of the culture ARE and MUST be destroyed IF one accepts Christianity. Primitive cultures have the right to reject Christianity, be hostile against missionaries and retain all elements of their culture. Yes, there are cases in which missionaries have vehemently forced people to follow Christianity. People also use God and the Bible as a reason to justify their actions of evil. Do not judge God by what you see in people who claim to be Christian, if you want to know who God is read the Bible or pray. First of all most people who say they are Christian are in fact not, they just think they are. I'm not saying I'm a very good Christian in fact I consider my faith to quite small to others I know. The point I'm trying to get across is that men distort the message of Christ because they are sinful. To truly understand Christianity you need to look past the Christians on this earth and look to God for understanding. Christians try and point people towards God and in doing so parts of a culture CAN be destroyed. If a person is converted to Christianity elements of their culture WILL be destroyed.

4 comments:

Jean Eun Jin Lee. said...

Hey Scott:]
"If a person is converted to Christianity elements of their culture WILL be destroyed."
By this, do mean that it is the one who accepts Christianity that destroys his or her culture? I found that very interesting. Great post! You got my mind rolling:)

James Song said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
James Song said...

hey...
you have some interesting ideas. similar as what Jean said above.. do u mean that missionaries do not destory cultures, but its the person who accept Chrsitainty that destory's their own culture??;
excellent post. I will come by some later time to comment more on your posts.

African Globe Trotters. said...

Scott, an excellent post. You obviously understand the theme of the novel. Your understanding of faith and Christianity speaks of your maturity to grapple with the deeper issues in life. Mrs.Mc.