CanadianBass48 said:
The thing is about this is that those out there in tribes haven't even had the chance to hear. They have no Bible. We here in america have everything. Jesus said go preach the word to those who have not heard. They need to hear.
I bolded the part that piqued my interest. It is true that Americans have far more in material terms than those who live where you would travel. But I wouldnt say that it necessarily holds true for the immaterial, the kind of thing that you are concerned with.
Sure everybody in the US knows that there are people who go to church, and everybody here is familiar with the basic tenets of Christianity, but I think this probably also holds true for all but the most remote populations throughout the world, and soon enough will hold true for all.
But what kind of lives are people leading in terms of spirituality and richness of experience?
In the US, the depth of complexity in our social structure places heavy demands on ones attention. Your average Joe spends most of his time thinking about the intricacies of how to please his boss, attract a mate, invest money, all the little chores that need done, impress friends, avoid getting a speeding ticket but get to and from work rapidly, how his kids will do all of these things, getting drunk at a party, whats on TV, whos going to win what sports competitions, political issues that either affect him of offend his sensibilities, noisy neighbors, etc. etc.
Through all of this, its likely that the scope of his communion with fellow humans, and living out the implications of the love your neighbor commandment is limited. His intimate relationships end with his immediate family, and its likely that some of these are one-sided and lacking in depth. Acquaintances are a function of necessity and objective. You have to at least act personable with your coworkers to make money. In some cases, if Joe professes to be religious, his church-going experience may contain the same kind of social emptiness. What Im saying is that the material wealth and richness of US living is not reflected in social richness and complexity, and indeed may be exist at its expense. This is debatable.
On the other hand, the populations least likely to have heard the good word are going to be those most community-oriented. Sure theres work to be done, and survival is paramount, but the experience of living generally takes place inside a healthy social environment. Living for your fellow person is a fact of life. Social isolation is not.
What all this says to me is that nations industrialized as the US might be considered to be more spiritually-barren ground, more in need of care and community than those areas not yet subject to the demands and benefits of technological-industrial living.
That being said, the people in developing nations are starving and stuff and we arent.
CanadianBass48 said:
Thank for the advice. I am a missionary Kid or MK from venezuela so I am up on most of the techneques to use. I am not going there to convert. I am going there to make reelationships with the people and then tell them of what God has done in my life and what he can do in theirs. It is always about relationships. Its about the people. I am not the kind of guy to just walk around and throw my "riligion" around. I have to acually know the person first.
This sends up some caution flags with me. Talk of techniques and relationships as a means to an end imply to me that conversion is indeed your objective. Conversion makes sense in the context of many Christians beliefs, but I think you could be headed down a bad road if you arent honest with yourself and your prospects.
When I attended a University for a while there were several Christian groups, many of them evangelically-focused with almost cultish tendencies in recruitment, comprised mainly of converts intent on spreading their brand of Christian meme. Their basic strategy was to be extremely friendly with non-Christians, and use friendship as leverage for conversion. In this way, the friendship wasnt really that, but a trick, like a perversion of the practice of love your neighbor. This probably wasnt their view, as they couldnt allow themselves to think in those terms as a consequence of their born-again-ness, but thats what it was nonetheless. Please avoid this.
. Bass is awsome but it is no longer the number one thing in my life, Jesus Christ is in the front seat now.
