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

I think that it is not quite right to describe Sawi's culture, uncivilized. They live in the modern world, but the only problem with the Sawi tribe's uncivilization is that they did not live in an atmosphere where they were able to develop technologically and industrially just like us. But there are some things that would help the Sawi to develop into a better atmosphere. Medical care would be one of them. Many people in the tribes have suffered from various diseases and they faced death because there were no medical care. If the society sent doctors to the Sawi tribes, then that would definitely creat a great effect to many people facing death. Another could be education. English could be taught to the Sawi tribe. Then they would be able to communicate with visitors from other foreign countries. Society can also function as a bridge between our modern world and the Sawi's uncivilized world. It would help the Sawi people to experience modern world and maybe develop their own culture through modern ways. In addition, churches can be built also. God has created every single one of us equal. God welcomes everyone into his paradise, including criminals, prostitutes, and even cannibals. Everyone is EQUAL in God's eyes. Therefore furnishing churches would also create eternal faith in the hearts of the Sawi tribe.

What do mission organizations do for these people?

Mission organizations like Don Richardson and other missionaries do various things for people like Sawi tribes. But there main purpose is to spread God's message to those who don't know God's faith yet. God has plans for each and everyone in this earth. Just as a father who would love his children more than anything in the world, God loves us more. Missionaries are basically the messengers who help these people realize God's existence and His plans for them and everyone else. Personally, I think that the missionaries are heroic and courageous. It is absolutely a risk to sacrifice yourself and devote your entire life to help atheists places all over the world. If I were them, I WOULD NOT be able to take such risks such as going to barbaric and cannibalistic tribes and spreading God' s plans and his message to this world we live in. But I would be always be willing to share with others about God's impact in my life and who He is and why he sent his one and only son to die for us, sinners. By looking at the greatest change that the Sawi tribes had made, I once again realized how powerful God's faith and Christianity was.

What does God expect us to do for other cultures and faiths?

God expects us to not only respect the other culture but also to spread his message to those people who doesn't know about Christ. Mark 16:15-16, Jesus says "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." There are millions of atheists out there in the world, who doesn't know about God's message and how he sent his one and only son into this sinful world to die for our sins. (John 3:16) As a creator, God has created each one of us and there is a reason to his creation. God has given us mouth to speak and spread his words to other cultures and faiths. God has given us feet to go and whenever and wherever wecan, to tell others about Christ. God has given us ears to listen Him speaking to us and guarding us through eternal life.

Choose a representative passage from this novel that holds particular significance to you. Type it in and comment on its significance.

(pg.199)
I moved closer to him and laid my hands on his shoulder. His arms had fallen to his sides, and he seemed strangely oblivious to me and to the staring, wondering men seated around him. His one eye gazed past me, shining with a startling new radiance. There was no mistaking it. It was spiritual joy.
"Has he come in?" I whispered.
"Ota, es! He has come in!" He responded and then added, "Yesus av! It is Jesus!"

This passage held particular significance in me because the passage gave me a chance to reflect on my faith towards Jesus and God. Just as I have once accepted Jesus through my heart, I knew how Hato felt like. Hato's acceptance of Jesus Christ through his heart, changed his entire life. I realized how God would now deal with Hato and his faith, just how He dealt with my faith.

What should we do when we are confronted with other cultures?

Facing different cultures may create gaps between people. One may disagree about another person's opinion of the culture. Disagreements always occur in all places. Here is one personal experience I had many years ago. When I first moved to TCIS in kindergarten, I tremendously struggled over the gap between two different cultures: America and Korea. I only knew alphabets and I couldn't speak a single word of english. Then one girl came up to me and starting to ask questions by gestures, due to the fact that I couldn't speak a word of english, only twenty-seven letters of alphabet. At that moment, I felt a bit awkward because surprisingly, the girl came up to me and actually tried to help me throughout my first day of school in the very DIFFERENT atmosphere. Even though she had blue eyes and blonde hair and I had brown eyes and black hair, we soon became friends very quickly. I was stunned because in most korean schools, if someone was different compared to other classmates, then that person was likely to stay alone most of time. I mean, korean students don't tend to walk up to a new classmate and greet them. Obviously, going to an international school created fear and tension for a 7-year old korean girl. But through this experience I learned how to confront with other cultures. It wasn't something to avoid it, just like making excuses for things you don't want to face with, but you actually had to confront it yourself, understanding the other cultures by giving respect. Forcing yourself to understand the culture is also not a good idea. Putting yourself into their aspects and cultures and the process of trying to understand and giving respect to their culture is what matters the most, because there are diversity of cultures in our world.

What reflections and connections can you make with this novel?

Peace Child gave me a chance to think back about myself; return back to my past, present and future. I was stunned to see the overall change within the Sawi tribe. Due to Don Richardson's faith, the faith of the entire nation changed. I was amazed to see how powerful Don's faith was by changing the lives of the people in the entire tribe. He took the risk to go to the Sawi village and change their faith by putting himself in their culture. He was able to use the Peace Child as Jesus Christ and relate Jesus to the Sawi village. By one man's faith, he was able to change a whole nation and hopefully by me I can change a nation through my faith. The Sawi villagers are like me, because, in the beginning, I couldn't understand faith clearly. But I know that Jesus wants people to spread his words and to share his message and faith to atheists. Because Jesus was able to help others by entering into their lives, we should also spread his words and share his wonderful teachings to those who don't know Him yet.

What concepts in the Sawi culture intrigued you?

Quotation :“Then he would return upstream to laugh for days at the simplicity of the Sawi in not knowing such obvious details, forgetting that it had been only a few months since he himself had learned the same lessons.” (53)

This quote shows how other sawi members who encountered the “Tuans” faster than the others boasted about their manipulative skills in using the devices that the white people have brought. This also shows that the Sawi members like to brag and like to be in the “lead” of other men or tribes. I realized that even though the Sawi members were barbaric and cannibalistic, they carried similar characteristics just like us. It was wrong to surmise that they were different from us just because the tribe members lived in different cultures, world views and carried different characteristics. Just like any other human being on this earth, they also liked to brag and be in the "lead" among other people. It all comes from the science of human mind. I guess this reflection also connects to the idea of how everyone is equal and same.

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

Faith is omnipresent. It is present everywhere at the same time. Everyone has their own faith in which they believe and trust in. The Sawi tribes' faith used to be the belief of betrayal and treachery, which created their society to have barbaric and violent culture, even murdering and betraying their own families and friends. But, faith is often defined as belief and trust in relationship with religious matters. Faith is quite different in the atmosphere we live in compared to the Sawi tribes' faith before it was changed to Christianity. Just like I have mentioned before, everyone has their own faith. Once in our lifetime, everybody undergo difficulties and hardships and withstand through it. Religious faith is what helps us most of the time. It's because we trust and believe in our faith. Faith motivates us to carry on and to endure. For an instance, believing in an intangible God and his plans for us even after death, is the faith among Christians. Overall, faith is omnipresent and it motivates, inspires, and encourages us through our life.