As a Christian I have been brought up to live a good and faithful life. Throughout my life keeping my faith strong has been hard and I have stumbled through rocky paths spiritually. Living as "a good and faithful servant" is not as easy as it may seem. Faith is believing in God and keeping it strong and consistent. I believe that faith is one of the most important aspects of Christianity because faith is belief that is not based on proof or any sort of evidence. God is an unbelievable, undefinable, unstoppable king of all the universe. However, we cannot see our Lord and king. This can make it hard for average human beings to maintain faithful to God. Being able to have absolute trust and faith in God amidst all the obstacles and the works of the devil may be extremely difficult, but it is not impossible. As a Christian, that may be my biggest struggle but it is also my number one goal in life.
In the novel "The Peace Child," by Don Richardson, there is an extraordinary story about how Don Richardson related the Sawi culture to faith in order to reach out to the Sawi people. When Don Richardson first went to the Sawi village, he realized that their whole purpose in life was to gain the title of "most treacherous" among all the tribes. As he saw the treachery and lies and terror taking place in the Sawi tribe he tried to figure out a way to get the message across that Jesus is their everlasting Savior and that they shouldn't murder other people. He was trying to tell them that treachery is wrong and that it should be the opposite. Don Richardson wanted to show the Sawi that they did not have to live as cannibals and that although they have been at war and are sinners, there is still hope because Jesus died on the cross so that they may be able to repent and still live everlasting lives with God. When Don Richardson was finally able to get the Sawi people to end war, he was able to see the ritual that had to take place in order to maintain peace between the two tribes. 
In the Sawi village, when there is a war and one of the tribes want to initiate peace between the two villages, they propose to offer a 'peace child.' Although they may be cannibals whose main purpose in life is to gain the title of 'most treacherous' by fattening the victim with friendship and then viscously murdering them once they gain the victim's full trust. This a very cruel life that the Sawi people and all the other tribes lived. This was their idea of how the world was and how the world will always be: viscous, cruel, unforgiving, merciless, and treacherous. But when it comes to creating a sort of 'peace treaty' between two tribes it may be the most beautiful thing in the world. The peace ritual is basically a mirror of God's sacrifice to the world. God sacrificed His son, Jesus Christ, to us so that we may live and maintain peace just as the Sawi leader sacrificed his son to the enemy tribe so that he could save his people and maintain peace between the two tribes. The novel "Peace Child" truly exemplifies the fact that we are all sinners and flawed people who are in war with the world but God sacrificed His son so that we may all live and be forgiven for all our sins. The Sawi people put their faith in the other tribe that they shall keep the peace and not kill the peace child.Our faith is what will save us in the end.
Hey Christina :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your post about what Faith is to you. All of those definitions of Faith are exactly what it is. Sometimes I find it hard to completely understand what Faith is, but I feel like when I was reading your views about it, it made sense. I also wanted to say that there definitely are many aspects of Christianity and our relationships with God, but I do 100% agree with you when you say that you think that Faith is one of the most important aspects of our religion and relationship with Christ.
I really enjoyed your post!
~Becca Roberts