A Particular Significance from the novel....

Choose a representative passage from this novel that holds particular significance to you. Type it in and comment on its significance.
" Only once did my presentation win a ringing response from them. I was describing Judas Iscariot's betrayal of the Son of God. About halfway through the description I noticed they were listening intently. They noted the details: for three years Judas had kept close company with Jesus, sharing the same food, traveling the same road. And yet Judas, one of Jesus' disciples, had chosen to betray Him and carried out the dreadful act alone, without any of the other disciples suspecting his plot. They were acclaiming Judas as the hero of the story!" (Pg. 151).
"But you said a friend-betrayed Him-if Yesus was a Tarop, it was very wrong to betray Him. We have a name for that. We call it tarop gaman. It's the worst thing anyone could do! Tell us more." (Pg 182-183).
These two particular quotes are significant to the Sawi and to myself. From these two quotes, we can that the Sawi have a different perspective than the civilized people. The Sawi also praise others differently for their actions. Such as the Sawi people praised Judas at first because Judas betrayed Jesus. In the Sawi culture, betraying some one keeps a notorious reputation and was a tradition that was practiced by their ancient relatives. Also it was the treachery that was praised among the people. To a civilized person, betraying someone is not something people would praise. Betraying someone is the worst thing a person can do especially if you betray someone for power or money. To a civilized person, when a person gives him or her word, they expect that person to keep their promise. Breaking a promise and betraying someone is immoral to the civilized people point of view. However, over time, the Sawi village are able to change their view of Judas. Through Don Richardson relating Jesus as the Peace Child, the Sawi see how immoral it is to betray someone. I myself, have betrayed God in many ways through my sin, but I realize that betraying God is the worst thing I can ever do. Thankfully, I have a loving God that is willing to forgive my sins. This novel holds many significant events and what is most significant is how one man's faith was able to change the whole Sawi village into Christians.

My Reflections....

What reflections and connections can you make with this novel?
From the novel I can reflect myself from Don Richardson and from the Sawi. As I started to finish reading this book, I wondered where my faith in God was standing. I was astonished and wondered at the beginning how Don Richardson was willing to risk his life to spread Christianity to the Sawi. Would I be willing to risk my life to spread the gospel? I say that I am a Christian and I thank God for everything he has done for me, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to risk my life to spread his word. However, Don Richardson decided to follow God's words and spread Christianity in the world he created. I can connect myself with Don Richardson in many ways. I know that he must have been scared to enter a new culture. I myself was scared when I entered Cambodia. I didn't understand a single word and did not know anything about the culture. Some how thanks to God's grace, I was able to connect with the people without any language trouble and soon learned about the culture of Cambodia by staying there for a couple of days. Don Richardson was scared to enter a new culture, but he was willing to adapt to the new Sawi culture. I also was willing to adapt to Cambodia's culture to connect with the people and spread the gospel with them. I can relate myself to the Sawi village. The Sawi village changed by becoming Christians. When I became a Christian, I felt myself changing. I became thankful of what I had and became to see changes in my life. God gave me so much and is now leading me to a path he planned for me. By reading this novel, I was able to feel my faith grow stronger and realize that rather than just saying that I am a Christian, I need to show that I am a Christian through my actions.

Suprise and Sad by the Sawi Culture...

What concepts in the Sawi culture intrigued/reviled/saddened/angered/suprised you?

In the Sawi culture I was very surprised and saddened when I heard that the Sawi kill each for pride and treachery. These people were known for Cannibals. I was surprised to believe that how a person can eat another person without any mercy. The people treated human beings as if they were animals. I couldn't believe that people would show their power and pride by killing one another and eating them. The number of killing did not matter to the Sawi. What mattered to the Sawi was how the killing was planned. The Sawi believed that betraying each other was not a sin , but it was rather something to be very proud of. They started to praise Judas for betraying Jesus. The Sawi would also use the human body, such as the human jaw as a trophy. If I lived in the Sawi village, I wouldn't be able to trust anyone and try to kill many people to show my power, so no one would come near my family and me. Also trusting someone is hard, because the Sawi people only believe that you can make peace through the "peace child". Without the peace child there is no peace and you never know if your fellow friend would abandon you for a women or for power. It was also hard to believe that the Sawi would trade their own children to make peace with other villages. If they knew how painful it was giving away their own child, they would know how painful it is killing a family member. To prevent this pain they should stop killing each other and stop believing in treachery. However, the Sawi village hatred builds up and revenge between tribes begin. Thankfully, through Don Richardson, the Sawi village was able to change their culture. I believe that the Sawi are realizing that their culture belief was immoral and by accepting Christianity, their culture can change.

Mission Organizations ....

What do Mission Organizations do for these people?

Through Mission Organizations, people around the world are able to hear the gospel. The Mission Organizations follow God's wishes. As God wanted his people to spread Christianity to others, the Mission Organizations are not only able to help uncivilized countries, but are able to spread the gospel to countries that are not aware of the existence of God. Usually Mission Organizations send people to countries that are not developed. Don Richardson himself went to the Sawi village that was uncivilized and was willing to spread the gospel. I myself was in a mission organization and was able to go to Cambodia and share the gospel. I realized that I do not only share the gospel with the people in Cambodia, but I also give help them in other ways. My love towards the orphans in Cambodia was able to bring them happiness. By teaching them some Bible songs and dances, they started to open towards me and later begged me to play with them. My simple actions towards the children was able to bring happiness to one country. I realized that Mission Organizations do not only spread the gospel, but try to make the country a better place by trying to develop the country and teach the basic method of living. The Mission Organization in Cambodia built a school for the homeless children and children who wanted to learn. Also, every Monday, they would hand out bread to people and bathe the little children. The Mission Organization spread the gospel by respecting the countries culture. Through Mission Organization actions, many countries are able to hear God's words and many people are becoming Christians. Through these Christians, the country also change as well, such as the Sawi village changed. Hopefully, Mission Organizations are able to change the world as well, rather than only changing uncivilized countries.

What should we do fo the Sawi????

What does Jesus want us to do for the Sawi?

In the world right now, we see many people who are struggling to live. We see people who are starving and have nothing in their life. Even though people know that this is happening around the world, they do nothing about it. Why is that? For the Sawi village, they are still uncivilized compared to other countries. As Jesus said to his disciples to spread his word and make people into disciples, I think God wants up to continue to spread Christianity to the Sawi village. Don Richardson was able to do what Jesus wanted us to do. There are more than half of the Sawi people that have accepted Christ through Don Richardson. God wants us to be willing to risk our life and spread his word. God may even want us to go to the Sawi village right now and make the other half of the Sawi villagers accept Christ. If we cannot go to the Sawi village, we may show our love towards them by praying for them and teach them the basic life style. By our care and actions, the rest of the Sawi villagers may accept God. Through the Sawi, I was able to realize that I had so much compared to these people and these people were willing to accept God. As God gave me so much, I would like to share this to the Sawi people as well. The whole Sawi village can probably become Christians through our actions and love. This is what God wants us to do right now!!!

What should Society do...??

What should society do for “uncivilized cultures” like the Sawi?

The Sawi people are not the only tribe or country that are "uncivilized" or have an "uncivilized culture." One group of people or missionaries cannot help all these people. The society should be able to help uncivilized people. These days there are many ways the society can help. People can send care packages, food, clothing, and support mission trips or missionaries. However, instead of just sending stuff we should help these people by teaching them the basic method of living. Such as gardening, finding jobs, and house work. For example, Prince Harry of England, goes to Africa himself to help the children with AIDS. Instead of supporting a family of only eight children and a grandmother, he taught the children how to garden so they would able to have food to eat. I also went on a mission trip to Cambodia and the Philippines. Instead of sending money to these third world countries, I sent myself to them. I was able to help these countries by building houses and taking care of the orphans. All these people were amazed by our love towards them and soon was able to accept Jesus through our actions. When the uncivilized countries see the benefits that other societies gave to them, they would soon accept the ideas and cultures of a normal standard living. However, these days people only think of how to benefit themselves. We should realize that there are many people out there that have nothing compared to us. These people are waiting for us to take an action. The society should be motivated to help these uncivilized countries and soon by the help of society, there would be no third world countries.

God...wants......

What does God expect us to do for other cultures and faiths?
On Mark 16:15-16 Jesus said "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Also on Matthew 28:19, Jesus says "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." From both verses, we can see that God expects us to preach his word around the world and make many believers that would also pass on his words. We should trust God that he would lead our way and because he loves everyone, even sinners, he would like all Christians to spread his word. In any circumstances, God expects us to spread his word around the world as Don Richardson was willing to give up his own life to spread Christianity to the Sawi village. Jesus did not only give orders to his disciples to spread Christianity, but he wants all Christians to be willing to spread his word even if the other person is from a different culture or has a different religious faith. Don Richardson himself was able to change the Sawi village faith by adopting the Sawi lifestyle. It is difficult to preach to others when the culture is different, but God created humans to glorify him. There is only one way to God and that is through Jesus. There is no other way. No other religion would help you go to heaven. God expects us to share our experience with God with other people, so that they can become believers as well. For our purpose in life was to glorify God and follow his path....

Faith....

How does Faith relate to the world in which we live?
The word faith alone means confidence or trust in a person or thing. Usually faith is used in religion or in person. People have faith in their family, friends, and in God. Faith is the biggest part of a human's life that is needed, but humans are weak in a way that their faith quickly weaken. Satan knows that humans are weak in their faith that he would use all his powers to prevent people to obey God and promote sin in this world. However, most Christians are able to trust God that he would lead them not into temptation. People believe and have faith that God exists. By that faith, people are able to go through hardships in their life having trust that God would help and fix their problems. Everyone in this world has faith. They may not have faith in God, but they have faith in families and friends. Faith alone allows humans to believe and have trust in others. However, everyone has different beliefs and faiths due to cultural differences or having different world views. Such as the Sawi village thought or had faith that by betrayal and trechary would be the only way to survive or show power. The Sawi villagers also believed that the "Peace Child" was the only way to make peace. This shows how painful and hard it was for the Sawi villagers to have peace with others. One man, Don Richardson was able to change the world view and faith of the whole Sawi village. One man's belief was able change the minds of Sawi to have faith in God. Faith alone is needed in this world, but some faiths are not always moral. For people to have moral faith what do we need to do? As there is a pharse that "Actions speak louder than words" people need to start showing moral faith through actions in their characters and thoughts. By human action, faith can change as Don Richardson changed the faith of the Sawi.