Eighth Entry

How did Christianity change this culture?

Don Richardson's ministry to the Sawies made a significant change in their culture. Prior to his arrival, Sawi culture consisted of nothing more than barbarity, cannibalism, and treachery. Sawies were also very infamous for their brutal hostility. However, experiencing the Sawi culture through the book, it occurred to me that Sawies are just as regular human beings as the people of the rest of the world. In the book, Sawies began to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour when the father of the peace child experienced the similarity between God and himself. God had to give up his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, in order to bring peace onto the Earth. Likewise, the father of the peace child had to give up his own precious son in order to synthesize peace between the enemy tribe and the tribe, to which he belonged. The pain of giving up a child was unbearable to him. After this event, one by one, people of the Sawi tribe began to believe in Jesus Christ, which engendered a significant change in their culture.

The major change, which the people of the Sawi tribe embraced, especially those who decided to belive in the Lord, is that they gave up cannibalism and treachery. This is significant because to give up cannibalism and treachery meant they are giving up their highest vitue, which is an aspect of their culture they believed to be the greatest thing a man can ever achieve in his life. Now the Sawi culture has assembled peach among its enemy tribes and tries to follow the examples of Jesus Christ, which Don Richardson had succeeded to preach to them.