11. How did Christianity change this culture?

 I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that Christianity has influenced and changed the Sawi culture nearly turning it upside down. Before Don Richardson was able to reach the Sawi tribes, their culture was not only shocking but also horrifying. Their culture mainly revolved around killing their enemies and bringing back the heads of their enemies as a way to show pride. They honored treachery which not only broke a vital concept needed for peace and unity called trust, but also increased their risk of destroying each other. In addition, because their technology was limited to many different aspects, they relied mostly on nature for their well-being and survival. Amazingly however, when Christianity reached the Sawi, their culture was able to turn away from the treachery and hate to peace and love, and from the advanced technologies introduced by Don Richardson, they were able to live a better life by using the tools not for war, but for the well-being of each other.

    It is truly astonishing how God was able to change such a stubborn culture that only honored treachery, into a culture that valued peace and love under the ultimate Peace Child called Jesus Christ. While I was reading the book, I was able to feel the frustration and fear that Don Richardson confronted trying to tell the Sawi about God's true love. It was not only limited to communicate with the Sawi, but the cultural barrier between the Sawi and Don Richardson's and mine seemed impossible to pierce through. However, before anyone knew, God provided Don Richardson a way to connect the story of Jesus Christ with the Sawi's own culture. The Sawi already knew the superiority of the Tuans, but when Don Richardson was able to connect with them personally, he was able to become the pathway for Christianity to reach the Sawi. When the Sawi first came upon the concept of peace, there seemed to be many obstacles and high risks of violence, but God protected their souls and helped them understand God not as the God of the Tuans, but the God for everyone including them. This impacted their culture in a way that most importantly, it recovered the concept of trust and unity under peaceful means. Now the Sawi didn't have to worry about getting killed by the person next to them!

P.S. Probably, the Sawi would've never been able to become such a peaceful tribe without Christianity.

9. What concepts in the Sawi culture intrigued / reviled / saddened / angered / surprised you?

   Honestly, the whole Sawi culture itself was very shocking, but the most surprising and sad concept of the Sawi culture was the concept of honoring treachery more than anything ever. Before Don Richardson reached the Sawi, their standards were only focused on treachery and manslaughter. The more treacherous the person and successful in taking heads of their enemies, the more honored and respected the person was.  This was a very shocking concept because I don't really think anyone would consider this standard normal and it is also a very sad concept because the lack of trust between Sawi people only created more and more tension and hatred.  In addition, this concept of the Sawi culture was going against a major point in the Bible. God specifically told humans not to murder in the Ten Commandments. However, the Sawi, was completely opposite of God's expectation and even honored murdering others.

 
   Another concept that was very surprising was the concept of exchanging a Peace Child for peace time. At first, I didn't think deep enough to realize the connection between this Peace Child and the Bible, but when I realized the similarity of the concept of the Peace Child, and Jesus Christ, it was truly amazing. I don't really know how the Sawi came upon this concept, but its very surprising how it is so much similar to the concept of Jesus Christ coming to this earth as the ultimate peace child to free us from our sins and give us everlasting peace. I am so thankful that God gave this cultural concept to the Sawi, letting Don Richardson to use it as a way to connect it to Jesus Christ and the Gospel. This concept was what let Don Richardson truly reach the Sawi and spread the Gospel. Once again from this cultural concept of the Sawi, I found how God really wants everyone to find God's love for us. No matter how different humans are, God always provides a way for them to understand the concept of the Gospel.

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

 Before even considering the actual question, I began to question the question itself. The way I understand culture is, it is what shows a certain human group's ideals and history. Ultimately, the distinct culture of nations and tribes is their national identity. Then, who are we to judge about other cultures and consider them to be uncivilized, or not advanced? What is the concept of a "civilized" culture? Is our culture considered to be "civil" because our standard and lifestyle is more "advanced" than tribal cultures like the Sawi? I think considering tribal cultures or other cultures to be uncivilized, is just another side of the human arrogance and pride. 

   So, to answer the question, I don't think there is much society could or should do for these different cultures like the Sawi. The only thing our society could do for these cultures such as the Sawi, is to introduce them with technology that might enhance their life and spread the Gospel so they could find the flaws in their cultures themselves. Like Don Richardson in the Peace Child, we should be respectful of other cultures and only introduce better technology so that it might help the people. We should try to show them the flaws within their cultures, but we should not try to "civilize" other cultures because they do not meet our standards of civilization. If we try to do so, we would only be invading their national identity and way of living. For an example, when the Americans believed they had to "help" the uncivilized Native Americans by introducing the American society.

 Did the Americans actually help these Native Indians by "civilizing" their culture? My answer is no. Surely, Americans enhanced way of living, but on the contrary, the Native Americans have lost their national identity in many different ways and basically became Americanized.

  In conclusion, I think our society should help other cultures to live a better life, but try not to invade their pure culture. 

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

 God wants us to spread the gospel to everyone from any different culture or ethnicity. He also wants us to love each other and respect each other. In Jesus' time period, there was a very huge gap between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews, believing to be the only God's children, and the Gentiles, basically the non-Jewish people. I don't specifically know all of the cultural differences between the Jews and the Gentiles, but clearly there was a major gap between the two because it was almost considered a disgrace for a Jewish person to even talk to a Gentile. However, Jesus throughout his ministry emphasizes the importance of spreading God's words to everyone living on earth.

               "He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 16: 15 (New International Version, 2010)''

He emphasizes to love everyone not only Jews, but also Gentiles. He wants us to love and repsect each other although the barrier society put upon us might separate us. Jesus showed everyone that we should love not only ourselves, but also our neighbors, and this includes everyone around us. This is the main reason why, not only Don Richardson from the book Peace Child went to the Sawi, but other missionaries leave their "comfort zones" and go to places where they might have to risk everything. Don Richardson, although the Sawi's culture was a very distinct and harsh one, he boldly decided to live among them and spread God's words. Although he faced many difficulties, because he showed them his true sincere respect and love, he was able to gain trust and respect thus enabling him to spread God's words among the Sawi.

 

This might sound somewhat disturbing to others but, I think with other faiths, God wants us to be more firm on our stance of saying no to other faiths and religions. Although I believe we should not try to force Christianity upon other people, we still should not be so indulgent about other religions. Ultimately, God wants to be known as not even the best God, but the one and only true God. To achieve this, he uses us as his tools to spread his love and his majesty to other people. He especially wants those who believe in other gods to find him as the true light of the world. As Christians, and as God's tools, we should try to show others God's love and grace so that they would be able to find the true God.

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

      

         Our distinct culture is what defines us and differentiates us from other people. It is more than our nationality, our heritage, or our past experiences. These diverse and distinct cultures are what makes this world such a colorful planet. Mostly, cultures have very different ideals, that sometimes impedes us from understanding each others perspective. For an example, some tribes in Africa still teach their children how to hunt and survive in the wilderness without any use of technology. They hunt wild animals and sometimes eat  bugs to survive. Personally, I find this very hard to understand because I think people should go along with the vastly developing world. However, just because we do not understand other cultures does not mean that we can look down on them and ignore them. In fact, when we are confronted with other cultures, we must not try to change the culture, but be sensitive and careful to understand and respect their cultures.

        In the book the Peace Child, the reason Don Richardson was able to reach the Sawi, was because he was very sensitive about their culture and also respected them. Although he disagreed with some aspects of their culture such as the exchange of a "peace child", he didn't condemn them for it but waited for God's help to use their culture to convey his message. Because Don Richardson didn't just try to show the Sawi of his culture and he was willing to accept their culture, he was later able to convert them by using their culture. However, like how Don Richardson told the Sawi that treachery is wrong and that they needed peace, I think we should confront other cultures and tell them if something is wrong. We should confron the culture and point out the things that are wrong, especially in God perspectives. This would be the very hard part about confronted other cultures because sometimes people will be offended when others try to change their culture. However, although we might get persecuted or condemned for trying so, I think it is necessary to tell other cultures about the problems of their culture. This however must be in a very respectful and caring way like Don Richardson, so that the people of the other people may not feel offended and know that we are talking from sincere heart of love. 

       In conclusion, when we are confronted with other cultures, we must try to embrace and understand the culture but we should also point out the wrong sides of the culture in a way that the people may accept it as an advice coming from love.

2. How does Faith relate to the world in which we live?

       Often times as imperfect human beings, people seek for guidance from metaphysical superhuman beings. This is why humans first came up with the many gods that they worshiped for many different reasons such as good harvesting seasons and wealth. Even the very uncivilized tribes in the world have some kind of superstition and superhuman force that strongly influences and forms their culture and way of living. As shown in the book Peace Child, the Sawi, a tribe that killed and ate human beings, had their own "gods" called supernatural spirits, that they were trying not disturb and appease to. "They were on their own, and they felt themselves trembling under the

responsibility of a decision which could dramatically affect their own destinies and the fate of their little ones" (Richardson, 40). Many times in history such as the time period where the Roman Empire stretched its influence all over Europe, faith and religion has shaped the empire's way of living dramatically. In Rome, the Roman Catholicism not only affected the believers, but also the normal citizens because it was involved deeply into political matters of the empire. Also in the case of the United States, religion and faith to God took a major role in forming the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The U.S. was first established by the people who were seeking for religious freedom. As a result, in hardships people relied on God as much as possible, and when the nation was ready to stand alone, the government was highly influenced by their faith in God. For an example, in the Declaration of Independence, it states that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", the "Creator" representing God. Still, the U.S. currency has the phrase "IN GOD WE TRUST". 

          Although religion is no longer part of the political matters of this world, it still affects the daily lives of the ordinary human beings roaming in this world. In our daily lives, either Christian or not, most people have faith in a particular god that they believe to be the true divine god. Just like the Sawi in the Peace Child, humans often try to seek for god's mercy and grace for their own goods. Although the Sawi first didn't rely on God for their peace, later on after finding and turing to God, they rely heavily on him for the peace to cut the horrible cultural trait of killing each other and honoring treachery. Like this, although many still believe that religion has no relation to their own lives, at one end or another, religion has affected their way of thinking and the strong relation between faith and the world is vivid and unbreakable.

1. How do I relate to faith? How did Don Richardson relate to Faith? How do the Sawi relate to faith?

 

         My faith to God is a very crucial part of my life. As I said in my earlier post, as a Pastor's kid, I try to view the world as a Christian. When I was young, my faith in God was not that significant in my life and I lived as I wanted to be. However growing up and going through many ups and downs, I was able to find the reason to truly have faith in God. Although as Christians we should always praise God and seek for his guidance, when ever I was going through hardships, I was swayed away from God. In addition, when everything was fine and life was easy, I was easily thankful of my situation, however, when hardship came, I was not able to thank God and only complained. As you can see, I was a very selfish Christian that did not understand God's love and his plans. However when I was separated from my parents as a teenager and studied in the U.S. with my brothers, I came to realize the true meaning of faith in God. In the U.S I went through a very hard time. Although I had many friends, I always felt lonely, and even though I knew my parents loved me, I was unable to show them how I truly felt inside. Then, God strongly hit me and changed my life forever. Long story short, I was deeply touched at a revival held at a local Korean church and there God told me that he knew how much I was suffering and aching inside. He told me that he's been always with me and that he wanted to help me. He told me that he loved me. This idea of God always being with us was a well understood concept as a Christian, however, I realized how much I have been only understanding God's love with my human brains and not with my heart. That day for the first time in my life, I found the true peace and comfort that only God was able to provide. Now, my life is highly dependent on my faith. I know that God is always with me and he is the only one to understand me fully. He is the one who leads me according to his wills and often kicks me back on track when ever I seem to sway away from his plans. He is the indescribable merciful God who I know will always love me.

          Don Richardson, the author of the book the "Peace Child" highly depended on God when going to the headhunting tribe, Sawi, as a missionary. The fact that he was going to a tribe that honored treachery and eats human flesh was very dangerous and hard. Many times he faced dangerous situations even almost getting killed. However every time a hardship struck him, he prayed to God for guidance and only looked to him for a solution. Although everything was stripped away from him and he was now standing in the middle of a jungle and around savages, he knew he had God on his side and that God wanted him to be there to spread the Gospel. As a result, he was able to rely fully on God in any situation and find what God truly wanted through this experience.

          To the Sawi, the concept of faith was very hard to grasp. For decades, the Sawi killed each other in hatred and even ate the enemy's flesh. They highly honored treachery and betrayal than peace and love, and they were tightly bounded by dark superstitions. Because of this, when Don Richardson, a Tuan, came to their village and tried to have peace, it only seemed awkward and wrong to the Sawi. However, Don uses finds out about the "peace child" and from there he is able to connect Jesus Christ, the son of the one and only God, as the everlasting peace child for everyone. Slowly the Sawi come to trust the concept of the ultimate peace child and start to move away from their old brutal ways of life and relying on God. As a result, most of the tribes came to accept Jesus Christ as their ultimate peace child and savior, and eventually the Sawi built a church for any followers of Christ. Once enemies that only sought to kill each other and take revenge, were now sitting together harmless and peaceful to worship God. To them, God was the key to break away from the old dark ways to finding the true everlasting peace and mercy.

The Korean American Christian boy's worldly views!

My name is Daniel and I am a student attending Taejon Christian International School in South Korea. As a Christian with a bicultural background, I find my worldly views highly affected by my faith and the culture hat I've been exposed to.

First of all, most of my worldly views are formed from the fact that I am a Christian, especially a Pastor's kid (PK). When I was young, I didn’t really take my religion seriously, but now that I became mature enough, I find that my worldly views are very strictly according to my faith. As a Christian, I find drinking and smoking very sinful. However, I don’t judge people of their wrong doings because God told us not to hate the person but hate the sin itself. Small things from drinking and smoking, to more global issues such as peace talks and racism, I first think about what God has told us to do and not do. 
When I look at the world, I try to understand what God wants from me and what he is trying to do through me. I also try not to hold on to the materialistic things that this world provides because without God, no one will be able to find true peace and comfort. All I try to rely on is his grace and mercy. It is not that I find this world meaningless and useless, but it is that I value God's way more than what society and generally the world values more on. The world is only a temporary bus stop before reaching my final destination, which would be heaven. 

Other than my faith, my culture also shaped my perspective of the world. I have a very diverse view of the world because I was raised up in two very distinct cultural environments. I was born in the U.S. in 1993 and was raised there until I was seven years old. Then my family came to Korea and I from 1^st grade in elementary school to 7^th grade in middle school, I was in Korea. At this time I forgot most of my English and the American culture, and was very used to Korea. However, after the first semester in the 7^th grade, my family went back to the U.S. for my father’s sabbatical year. After a year, my parents came back to Korea and my brothers and I were left in the U.S. for further education. For two years I attended Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma.

This year I came back to Korea because I believe that God wanted me in Korea. Because of my bicultural life, my worldly views have been shaped neither as a Korean nor American, but as a person in the gray area. When looking at the world, I always find myself as someone in between a Korean and an American. For an example, in Korea it is not that homo to wear skinny jeans. However in America, some people still believe that skinny jeans are very girly for a man to wear. When I see a guy wearing skinny jeans, I don’t immediately think he is girly, but I understand his style and respect it. On the other hand, I also find my self-understanding why my American friends find it looking not so manly; because a man needs to be strong and built rather than skinny and weak. Small things like these to global issues such as the Iraq war and FTA issues between Korea and the U.S, I can understand both perspectives. 

I didn't realize before, but now that I think of it, I found how much my faith and my culture has influenced my perspective of the world. I am also very thankful to God that he has exposed me to both the American culture and the Korean culture. Now I can understand both cultures and view this world in a borader way.