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

What factors of your native culture have informed your religious views? Explain the impact of these factors

In fact, Korea was one of the latest countries to be acquainted with Christianity, however; today, it’s an Asian country with the most Christians. Although, I was born in the State of Oregon with a US citizenship, Korean culture has always been more comfortable for me. Talking about Korean culture, my parents also grew up with a Korean background and when I first met them, they were already Christians. As I was growing up, they educated me well enough to go to Church every Sunday, to read the Bible, and to pray. Therefore I became a Christian at a young age, but then I didn’t manage myself enough to really get to know who God is. All I had was the basic information about Christianity that most of the students learn in Bible class.

After all, going to Church was simply a habit for me and the moment when I moved to the states to be educated in an English speaking country, I didn’t even care if I was a Christian or not and the problem grew worse until this point of my life. Even though I knew what was right and wrong for me, I wasn’t strong enough to control myself against all the temptations. In addition, as a teenager, living away from my parents was another reason why I failed keep in control of my life.

As my life of faith weakened, I began to ask myself questions like, does God really exist? Or is the Bible true? Then I noticed that I wasn’t a true believer. Also, I just pretend to be a believer, only when I was in deep trouble.

Am I a believer or not? I’m still confused, because if I’m not a Christian, why would I look for God’s help when I’m mentally or physically unstable? I sometimes wonder if he’s just an imaginary figure for me to depend on, because I’m not strong enough to depend on myself.

Even so, my wish for this year is to actually communicate with God and make sure that he really exists. Then hopefully, my goal is to grow stronger faith in him throughout my life.

11. How did Christianity change this culture?

After Mrs. Richardson saved the diverse culture, the Sawi honored Christianity, instead of treachery. Her actions made a huge difference on their beliefs to change completely. Now, she is to be honored, because their faith is growing the right way. Also, they are living an enhanced life by even wearing normal city clothes like the others.

There was no need for them to change, but simply believing in Christianity, automatically did it for them. Unfortunately, without the Christian belief, they were outsiders according to the globalization of the world. More than half of the tribe are Christians today and hopefully, the rest of them will become open minded too.

10. How different is your modern culture from the sawi tenants?

In order to answer this question, I believe the first step is to define the basic yet vague terminology – “modern culture.” People living in today’s modern culture are generally well-behaved and civilized. There are certain conducts we abide by as people in today’s society such as etiquettes and manners we pick up at an early age.

To begin with, the most distinguishable difference between the sawi tenants and people from modern culture is the fact that cannibalism does not exist in today’s society – whether Korean or American. Cannibalism was more than a ritual for the sawi people; it was a lifestyle in which people found the practice of eating other human beings mundane. This custom is unthinkable in today’s society. It could easily be said quite frankly that the sawi people were barbarians. People today, do not find cannibalism as a means of taking vengeance on their adversaries. We would rather display unpleasant feelings towards them verbally or physically in extreme cases.

8. What do mission organisations do for these people?

After reading the peace child, I couldn’t believe that Don Richardson and his wife challenged themselves to get along with the Sawi tribe in Iran Jaya. In fact, the Sawi tribesmen were a group of people who honored treachery. On the other hand, how awkward would it be for the Sawi to accept a person who is not even the same race? Maybe, that’s a part of the reason why they betrayed Richardson.

Richardson and his wife were educated at the same Christian school, and they both became missionaries. After Don Richardson’s death by the Sawi tribe, his wife, who was traveling with him on the same mission trip, actually went back to the Sawi to worship God with them again. After all, more than half of the Sawi today are Christians. They even built a church and school, meaning that they are becoming modernized. Surprisingly, one of the younger Sawi tribesmen even flew over to another country for the first time, to be educated in America.

Today, mission organizations are typically active in undeveloped countries like China, Kazakhstan, and Israel; however, God’s goal is to have everyone in the world to believe in him.

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

What is the denotation of being uncivilized?

According to what it says in the dictionary, if you describe someone’s behavior as uncivilized, you find it unacceptable, for example because it is very cruel, or rude.

So, which side of the world is more or less civilized to you? The globalized countries that stand on similar cultures have enough understandings of each other; therefore, they judge the Sawi’s as the uncivilized outsiders. However, who knows if the Sawi’s think that the rest of the world other than they are uncivilized? This is because, different cultures tend to think and react differently, and no one has the right to judge others as if the rules they follow are approved on.

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

Getting along with another group of people or culture isn’t always a very easy thing to do for most of the people. However, when I was in the State of Texas for about three years, the place felt like if it was my actual home even though I was the only yellow kid there. The main reason why I moved there was to be educated in an English speaking country.

During the first few days of school, I had some kids tease me because I was different than the rest of them. However after a few weeks later I made American friends who were mostly Caucasians. As my friends and I became really close within a year, one of my best friend Matthew Renfro let me in to live with his family. Before I moved in with them I lived in a Korean family and the reason why I had to move was because they were moving into a another state. At that time of the year I was around 100% American culture. Unfortunately, after about a year later, his unhealthy grandmother had to move in with them, because she was getting way too old. By the time when my full year of 8th grade ended, I had another friend who let me in, named Justin Harrison. In the very beginning of 9th grade, they moved into a new house in which I got to live in. His parents were married under a very young age, and therefore they had a lot of fun things to do like four wheelers, hot tub, and a ping pong table.

Even though I lived in the country side of Texas, where no Asian culture existed, it was the best experience I’ve ever had in my life. As I learned from the experiences, I noticed that I never, ever rejected new things that were happening to me in that culture. Also I tried to understand the culture, but did not forget about who I truly was and belonged to.

6. What does Jesus want us to do for the Sawi?

Humans are created in the image of God. Every men and women in the world in which we live in are equal. Even though there are millions of different cultures out there we are all the same. In addition, the world is globalizing even more and more. However, the Sawi’s are like an outsider according to the rest of the world and if we spread the words of God to them, problems like cannibalism will stop.

Nonetheless, the question is, when and how did cannibalism start? The Unusual case is that even the Sawi’s don’t know why it actually started. It is merely predicted that one of their ancestors has started the action. As a result, instead of forcing them to change their culture, but by knowing who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for us, they have a big chance of living the right way. In order for them to change, Don Richardson, who is known as the first person ever to interact with the Sawi culture had brought more than half of the tribe into Christianity. If it wasn’t the man who put everything into action by even risking his own life; the reputation of the Sawi’s could be a lot worse than what it is today.

His unimaginable choice must have been made from God, because it is true that no one would be able to volunteer for a bottomless contact with cannibalism. Even so, according to what Mr. Rader had said, “A person will not achieve anything unless that person is a risk taker.”

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

First of all, the matter of how long a person has been a Christian really doesn’t matter. A true Christian in the world in which we live in should have faith in God at all times. For example, if I look back at my life, I had no time and room for Jesus to stay in my heart. However, the only time when I looked for him was when I was in deep trouble. I’ve been going to church ever since when I was born, and I do believe in Jesus like everybody else. But then, when it comes to the time when I look back at my thoughts and actions, I feel awfully ashamed of myself, because the way I live isn’t how God really wants us, believers, or Christians to live. A person could have faith in a lot of different things like one’s self, parents, friends, and teachers. However the only faith that matters is God. God is the perfect one, he is the one who created us, and therefore he is the only one who we can truly believe in.