Evangelizing remote tribes

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Salvation is in everybody’s best interest.

That being said, we also have to be realistic about the dangers of spreading illnesses to people who don’t have immunity to our germs, to be respectful of the culture of the person’s we are evangelizing, to dialog with them and basically don’t be a jerk about it.
 
He broke the law of India. This is the last pre-neolithic tribe left, and is under the protection of India since the 1940s. They want to be left alone. They don’t tolerate anyone coming to the island. They survived a tsunami and then shot arrows at anyone trying to get close enough to see if they were ok.

Basically he was illegally on their soil. And they reacted in a way appropriate to their ways.
 
these same neolithic people nearly took down an Indian Coast Guard helicopter with arrows two years ago

they want to be left alone…
 
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Their land. Their rules.

This young man had two opportunities to escape. He came back wounded two nights in a row. He insisted on going back a third time. Clearly, he was willing to die a martyr for Christ.

Eternal rest grant unto him…
 
mrsdizzyd said:
Clearly, he was willing to die a martyr for Christ.
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Honestly, I have a problem with this. At this point, it seemed to be very clear for him that they won´t listen to his missionary work or have any interest in the christian faith. I do also think he wanted to be a martyr, and this is, in my understanding, wrong. To accept dying while preaching is perfectly fine and many saints did so. But to stay on a useless mission in order to die like a martyr is in my eyes near to dishonoring the gift of life the Lord gave us.
 
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Salmonslayer said:
If the missionaries to the pagan tribes of Europe had given up, respected their wishes and not tried to change their culture, none of us would be having this conversation
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But they did it a bit more reasonable. The cases where missionaries were killed were often conflicts rising up after the missionary lived with the community for some time and stepped in to defend another person against tribal law, for example. At this point, the gospel was at least known to some of them and grew. But the case above…is in my eyes too much death seeking.
 
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That’s unlikely to happen since the island is specifically protected by Indian law—precisely to keep people away.
 
They have no resistance to common viral and bacterial infections.
In being there he put them all at risk health wise.

we have seen what happens many times in this situatuion.
 
alice24 said:
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mrsdizzyd:
Clearly, he was willing to die a martyr for Christ.
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Honestly, I have a problem with this. At this point, it seemed to be very clear for him that they won´t listen to his missionary work or have any interest in the christian faith. I do also think he wanted to be a martyr, and this is, in my understanding, wrong. To accept dying while preaching is perfectly fine and many saints did so. But to stay on a useless mission in order to die like a martyr is in my eyes near to dishonoring the gift of life the Lord gave us.
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What you say here is also true to a certain extent of many of the martyrs of the church. Many knowingly went to their death in order to spread the gospel. The North American martyrs immediately come to mind. Additionally, many of the Saints were very open about wanting to die a martyr.
 
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I just read about this. I’m sorry to hear of his death.
KevinK said:
What do people think about the morality of trying to evangelize uncontacted or remote peoples?
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I think in this case, their wishes should have been respected - they have been documented as wanting to be left alone. I can’t imagine even if he’d gone and they’d let him onto their land they would have been converted.
 
Salmonslayer said:
That being said, they defended their borders, and fought to keep their way of life intact. I can respect that, even if they’re wrong.
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Why are the wrong but a nation state doing the same is considered to be waging “just war”?
 
What are you talking about? They would have no idea the guy was there to evangelize.
 
Salmonslayer said:
How did any of the pagans previously engangelized know what it meant? They were told.
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How was he going to tell them, though? Nobody outside the Sentinelese can speak their language, and the Sentinelese certainly don’t speak English. How were they supposed to understand his purpose in coming to their island?
 
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Much as I admire this guy’s zeal, I wouldn’t call his death martyrdom so much as natural selection.
 
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TheAmazingGrace said:
How was he going to tell them, though? Nobody outside the Sentinelese can speak their language, and the Sentinelese certainly don’t speak English.
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Umm… this was always the case for people encountering previously unencountered people. You communicate by gesture and eventually learn the language (if you survive).
 
mrsdizzyd said:
Umm… this was always the case for people encountering previously unencountered people.
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Not necessarily. Sometimes you’d have neighboring tribes that would act as mediators, or members of the tribes themselves who’d help build bridges between their people and outsiders. There is no such precedent with the Sentinelese. You definitely don’t let rando Americans snoop around and just hope they survive, especially when they have the potential to wipe out the island population by giving them the sniffles.
 
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TheAmazingGrace said:
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mrsdizzyd:
Umm… this was always the case for people encountering previously unencountered people.
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Not necessarily. Sometimes you’d have neighboring tribes that would act as mediators, or members of the tribes themselves who’d help build bridges between their people and outsiders. There is no such precedent with the Sentinelese. You definitely don’t let rando Americans snoop around and just hope they survive, especially when they have the potential to wipe out the island population by giving them the sniffles.
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I said “previously unencountered people”. You don’t need a translator to learn another language. It’s certainly easier that way, but you don’t need it.
 
Sure, if they are willing to try to communicate. These guys kill (or, at best, violently drive off) strangers on sight. If you bring security, they hide and take potshots until you decide to leave. For whatever reason, they really, really don’t want to deal with anyone from the outside world.

Plus, as mentioned, they are under the legal protection of India, because they are both biologically and culturally fragile. They are basically a present-day example of Star Trek’s Prime Directive.

I understand the evangelical impulse, and I suppose Mr. Chau is technically a martyr for the Faith, but North Sentinel Island is not an ordinary missionary situation. I don’t think we have a “Dumbass and Martyr” category, but we may need one now.
 
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