Primitive jungle tribe with no concept of a God?

  • Thread starter Thread starter clarkgamble1
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

clarkgamble1

Guest
Has there ever been newly discovered a primitive jungle tribe with absolutely no concept of a God. I read of the Tasaday who at best seemed to recognize that someone more powerful than them owned the large cave in which they found shelter. But in no way did they have any organized body of beliefs about that being.
 
Has there ever been newly discovered a primitive jungle tribe with absolutely no concept of a God. I read of the Tasaday who at best seemed to recognize that someone more powerful than them owned the large cave in which they found shelter. But in no way did they have any organized body of beliefs about that being.
I read about the Amazon people called the Pirahã (Hiatíihi or The Straight Ones) that do not have gods. Former missionary Daniel Everett reported that they have no creation myth either.
 
Last edited:
40.png
clarkgamble1:
Has there ever been newly discovered a primitive jungle tribe with absolutely no concept of a God. I read of the Tasaday who at best seemed to recognize that someone more powerful than them owned the large cave in which they found shelter. But in no way did they have any organized body of beliefs about that being.
I read about the Amazon people called the Pirahã (Hiatíihi or The Straight Ones) that do not have gods. Former missionary Daniel Everett reported that they have no creation myth either.
@Vico so that’s the story of a US linguist that in his protestant missionary fervor decided to go evangelize the remotest amazon tribe he could find and in the process lost his own faith (turns out, the Indians converted him!! 🤣🤣🤣). Like I’m supposed to believe there hadn’t been plenty of intermarriage between the Portuguese and native speakers of the tongue, over the preceding 450 years…

Oh well, Daniel Everett’s findings regarding theology would be equivalent to saying no animist believes in God, when in fact the pope’s have spoken frequently of the African’s religious vitality in context of animism.

I like Durckheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life at least the totemic folk worshiped their own society as being God - and don’t we get a lot of that these days (just look at contemporary politics hehehe)?

hehehe 🤣🤣🤣
 
Last edited:
Well, I read a brief description of the tribes beliefs and it seemed perfectly animist to me.

Work with me here @Vico, when I read something written in English about the Portuguese speaking space there are frequently discrepancies. It’s long standing tradition that the British would try to rewrite Portuguese history to serve their own worldview.
 
Last edited:
absolutely no concept of a God
No such tribe could exist, since God has given every person sufficient divine revelation to know Him.

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; Rom 1
Not so long ago there was that tribe that killed a missionary
I read about that - I was amazed that such a thing would still happen in this day and age.
 
There is no such thing as a ‘primitive’ tribe. All human societies are equally complex. Technologies differ and some technologies are more complex than others.
 
Source:
https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Pirahã

https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Quadro_Geral_dos_Povos
Na percepção pirahã, ambos rituais são realizados com a intenção de provocar ruídos, fazer barulho, para que o demiurgo Igagai, localizado no segundo patamar celeste, possa ouvi-los, cientificar-se de sua existência do lugar exato aonde se encontram. O receio dos Pirahã de não serem localizados por Igagai pode ser interpretado como um temor de que se repita o que está contido no fragmento mítico que narra a destruição do mundo. A destruição do mundo deveu-se, em última instância, ao fato de Igagai ignorar onde os pirahã estavam. Foi somente com o choro das mulheres, que restaram sozinhas e sem o fogo, que Igagai pôde, então, escutar, localizar e iniciar a reconstrução do mundo.
Translation:
In the perception of the pirahã, both rituals are realized with the intention of provoking sounds, making noise, so that the Demiurge Igagai, located on the second celestial plane, may hear, becoming aware of their existence and of the exact place where they are. The fear of the Pirahã of not being located by the Igagai can be interpreted with the temor of repeating what is contained in the mythical fragment that narrates the destruction of the world. The destruction of the world was owed, in last instance, to the fact that Igagai ignored where the pirahã were. It was only through the cry of the woman, that remaining alone and without fire, the Igagai could, then, listen, locate and begin the reconstruction of the world.
 
Last edited:
Where did you read it?
Sorry my esteemed friend, but I’m no expert on the matter and neither was I aware of this polemic surrounding the author you mentioned. Given that time is always a limited resource, this was the best I could come up with - and I must say I was unprepared and you caught me on the wrong foot.

Merry Christmas @Vico and God bless.
 
No such tribe could exist, since God has given every person sufficient divine revelation to know Him.

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; Rom 1
What God has shown has turned out to have been received most ineffectively as virtually all religions are polytheist.
 
What God has shown has turned out to have been received most ineffectively as virtually all religions are polytheist.
It is a fact that our perceptions are limited by our personal experiences and education (or lack of it). I think you lost me, though about all religions being polytheist.
 
Has there ever been newly discovered a primitive jungle tribe with absolutely no concept of a God.

I read of the Tasaday who at best seemed to recognize that someone more powerful than them owned the large cave in which they found shelter. But in no way did they have any organized body of beliefs about that being.
Your question assumes that a concept of God (and by extension an “organized body of beliefs” is necessary for all men to be able to commune with God. This betrays your modern/Western/rational bias. It is quite possible to commune intensely with God without ever conceptualizing Him. In truth, such concept-less communion is superior. Modern man cannot do without a concept of God, at least not in the beginning and intermediate stages of his Walk with God. Therefore, for modern man insistence on the concept of God (and all concepts that flow from the concept of God) is quite appropriate. But even modern man must ultimately transcend his concept of God and meet God directly, unmediated by any concept. It is only that meeting that we call the Beatific Vision, and it is something that comes much easier for the “primitive” man than for the modern. To look with “gentle condescension” on primitive “jungle” tribes as “not getting God (yet)” is not just an error of perception; it is an unethical error, because from this perception easily flows the tyranny of forcing modern concepts on the tribals in an utterly misguided attempt to “help” them. Modern man would do wise to look to the tribal man for guidance, instead of assuming that the tribal man needs his. (And yes, I know that’s never going to happen. Modern man will wipe the “primitives” off the face of the earth, if it’s the last thing he does. And for that, things won’t end well for him.)

EDIT: Took the edge off this message just a tiny bit. It’s Christmas after all.
 
Last edited:
40.png
Vico:
Where did you read it?
Sorry my esteemed friend, but I’m no expert on the matter and neither was I aware of this polemic surrounding the author you mentioned. Given that time is always a limited resource, this was the best I could come up with - and I must say I was unprepared and you caught me on the wrong foot.

Merry Christmas @Vico and God bless.
Merry Christmas to you also. I see the the other authors writing on the Pirahã say that the tribe has belief in beings on another plane and make invocation that good may occur.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top