In the past centuries, some have risen with certain objections to missionary work. Few of the objections are as follows (do you think that they invalidate Christianity or the seriousness of the Great Commission?):
1. Missionaries destroy native cultures to establish or expand their own.
2. Missionaries are self-conceited, ambitious, and fanatical.
3. Missionaries have oppressed and been the cause of the backwardness of several civilizations.
4. The Christian view that Jesus takes all our sins gives Missionaries license to do what they like.
5. The Crusades, the Portuguese invasion of Goa, and Christian support of the Nazis are evidence that Christianity has been responsible for genocides as well.
6. The Church has also burnt innocent women as witch-hunting.
My answers are concise:
1. Activities by Christians or missionaries cannot be considered "Christian" unless they follow the principles of the Bible. If one can point to "unjustifiable" actions by Christians, then the similar can be undeniably found in other religions as well. A valid connection must be drawn between a religious principle and an action to relate it as such to it.
2. Some kind of cultural changes are bound to occur always, since culture is dynamic. Change is ubiquitous.
3. The Reformation and several such movements are evidence of the fact that Christianity cannot be labelled as so and so just by extrapolation of a segment of it's history somewhere.
4. The accusation that Christianity has sent civilizations backward is false. Africa and North-East India are examples of how Christianity converted cannibals and head-hunters into preachers of Christ love.
5. Let's ask, what would the world look like if the Bible and the Gospel were absent from it.
6. The reality of sin and the cross of Jesus Christ are historically undeniable and show the divine seriousness of publishing the good news.
7. The Bible says that "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox" (Prov. 14:4); we don't throw the baby with the bathwater!
Domenic Marbaniang, 30 April 2009, 04:31am
1. Missionaries destroy native cultures to establish or expand their own.
2. Missionaries are self-conceited, ambitious, and fanatical.
3. Missionaries have oppressed and been the cause of the backwardness of several civilizations.
4. The Christian view that Jesus takes all our sins gives Missionaries license to do what they like.
5. The Crusades, the Portuguese invasion of Goa, and Christian support of the Nazis are evidence that Christianity has been responsible for genocides as well.
6. The Church has also burnt innocent women as witch-hunting.
My answers are concise:
1. Activities by Christians or missionaries cannot be considered "Christian" unless they follow the principles of the Bible. If one can point to "unjustifiable" actions by Christians, then the similar can be undeniably found in other religions as well. A valid connection must be drawn between a religious principle and an action to relate it as such to it.
2. Some kind of cultural changes are bound to occur always, since culture is dynamic. Change is ubiquitous.
3. The Reformation and several such movements are evidence of the fact that Christianity cannot be labelled as so and so just by extrapolation of a segment of it's history somewhere.
4. The accusation that Christianity has sent civilizations backward is false. Africa and North-East India are examples of how Christianity converted cannibals and head-hunters into preachers of Christ love.
5. Let's ask, what would the world look like if the Bible and the Gospel were absent from it.
6. The reality of sin and the cross of Jesus Christ are historically undeniable and show the divine seriousness of publishing the good news.
7. The Bible says that "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox" (Prov. 14:4); we don't throw the baby with the bathwater!
Domenic Marbaniang, 30 April 2009, 04:31am
