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Missionaries (pg. 2)
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| placebo |
| quote: | Originally posted by {b.s.e.}
i like missionary. :clown: |
+1
ashlee simpson needs to catch on fire, damn that'd be sweet. |
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| Lira |
Yanomami, which means "Human Being", were considered "soulless" by the Catholic church as they had not embraced God.
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It's been 5 hundred years since the Portuguese first came to South America. When they arrived in Porto Seguro (literally "Safe Harbour" in Portuguese), they were welcomed by the natives. In a letter to the Portuguese king, Pero Vaz de Caminha said something in the lines of "They're fit as no one in Europe; even though they don't eat potato and wheat, their health is impressive. They've got no shame and they wander around naked. Anything grows in this land, ". As for the natives, they seemed to like their visitors too. Those weird pale sailors who had come from the sea, with coloured hair and big eyes, and exchanged mirrors and combs for pieces of wood. Pindorama (the name of our land in some native languages), would soon be named after that wood, Pau-Brasil (pau means wood in Portuguese, by the way).
In the following day, there was a mess, in both ways: the priest started to pray blessing the land and the Portuguese sailors gave the natives some clothing (although it didn't really work out the way they planned, as they didn't know what to do with all that cloth). And the priests found out the natives didn't know God either. They worshipped lightnings, trees and the soil...the church had to save them from this work of Satan! (I wish I was kidding in this line, but I'm not).
The Portuguese loved it. Fit girls (even if they weren't fit, after spending 4 months on the sea surrounded by beard everywhere, they would look fit anyway), good weather, no need to work hard. They just couldn't find a good excuse to hang out there, as India had most of the products they were looking for and, unlike the Spanish crown, the Portuguese just couldn't find any Gold and Silver in their land (later, they would find out they were too many kilometers far from their goal).
May God save us all.
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Soon they lost their interest on the land. The once fit girls were now pregnant (probably the sailors' wives back in Portugal wouldn't like it as much as their hubbies did), there were no treasures they could find other than the wood (which renamed our land from "Pindorama", the native name, to "Brasil", the name of the wood. That's a shame, a place called "Pindorama" would most certainly have become a world power by now, as all people would get on their knees because of our hotness). There was some wood, some people who didn't have God in their hearts and plenty of priests annoying our fellow Portuguese people in their homeland. Solution: send the priests overseas to save those poor creatures with no soul (the Church actually said that) and ask them to help the crown gather more wood, they like it or not.
It didn't last long till the first culture shocks appeared. "Who the heck was that "God" these funnily dressed missionaires were talking about? Why would they punish us just because we didn't know him? Why are out deities evil now if they've given us all we wanted for generations? Why do we have to wear these clothes if it's bloody hot in here? Above all, why are we dying from sneezing all day long and the priests hide in the hut with our little boys? hmmm... I don't feel like gathering them wood". Resistance was futile - those who weren't assimilated genetically (even most "Caucasian" Brazilians have Native American mitochondrias) died because of the slavery, slaughter and cultural shock. In fact, the millions of natives that lived here soon became hundred thousand and, after we became independent from Portugal in 1822, just a few hundred.
This native Brazilian product (you can see it in its natural form in the picture above) was bravely found by some eco-saviour who claimed copyright on this exotic product yet to be known by civilisation (never mind the plastic wrap). |
Now you might be asking "How the heck can someone die of Culture Shock?!". Simple: Imagine what would happen if aliens suddenly came to Earth, found themselves in a church and claimed "God is evil". Their most important belief would fall apart (or they would say the aliens are messengers from Satan). That's what happened to the natives. Suicide is not rare among the remaining generations. I recall seeing on TV some brainless French eco-nutter (not Jacques Cousteau yet) claiming he was the first white man to enter some indigenous tribe. He was welcomed with arrows, bows and adidas tennis shoes :p
Priests, missionaires, Greenpeace... name them. These outsiders came here wanting to change our world without having the slightest grasp of what was actually happening here. Not to mention that we can hardly trust them. There are suspects Jacques Cousteau mapped the entire Amazon river area, and handed the French government information on what mineral goods were available there. The most sceptic may state that it's Brazilian territory, so we should use our sovereignity in order to protect it. Well, we do as much as we can, but we often stumble on problems caused by the "developed nations". Too many airplanes were flying over Amazon and, even if we spotted them, asked for identification and had no reply (if you've got nothing to fear, you've got nothing to hide), we weren't allowed to shoot them down. The amount of narcotics in the region was outrageous already. When the senate tried to pass the law that would allow such airplanes to be shot down, the United States government claimed it was a threaten against human rights. Well, we're not the ones who kill prisioners, are we? Other than the problem with narcotics, we also have to fight the problems of bio-piracy. One example?
Why halo thar, buttseckz? lolololol
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Cupuaçu was suddenly copyrighted by a Japanese company. Why haven't we copyrighted it before? Because it's something as traditional as blueberries in North America, who would own the patents over this? This is not an exception, there's Açaí, Andiroba, Copaíba, Ayahuasca and plenty other biopiracy cases.
I'm personally puzzled by this. Missionaires still come teaching us the wonders of Western culture, even though we've been colonised by Europeans, speak an European language (although we would speak Tupi-Guarani, but the Portuguese crown in the 18th century told us not to), have an European religion as our official religion (the pope is in Rome after all) and even have most of our traditions based on customs that came from Europe... maybe the fact that carnival had some "African" influence and that we don't define races as precisely as our brothers from the North gives us a new "exotic" status, and we don't seem to belong to the "Western Civilisation" we came from (really, native Brazilians were almost all slaughtered, would you actually think their impact on our culture was as strong as the European influence? We've got more Japanese immigrants than native Brazilians, so instead of living in trees and walking in the nude, we're more likely to wear kimonos and go to public baths).
Discussing this is pointless though, as it was already pointless in the beginning anyway. "3rd world"... pffft, yeah, right.
Read this for more info on Native Brazilians.
edit: Take no offense those whose parents are involved on this work. This is just a view from someone who lives in a country that receives many missionaires. |
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| jdat |
| quote: | Originally posted by tribu
The thing I dislike about missionaries is that there views are often seen as absolute truth by the people they are with because the amount of things they bring in. |
On a side note you have to be realistic with human nature.
The average human thinks that his beliefs are the absolute truth.
There are few humans who are humble enough to accept the fact that what their lives and beliefs are based upon may be incorrect.
If you want to center this way of living around the missionaries, the difference would be that they actually have convictions and are willing to carry out a true lifes work with what they believe in. |
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| ShadoWolf |
There's nothing wrong with going somewhere and peacefully spreading your views.
In fact, you should be glad they use missionaries and not soldiers.
Think about it: there's no such thing as a missionary in Islam: you simply convert or die.
In fact, look at the flag of Saudi Arabia:
Note the sword at the bottom. Their goal is conquest. |
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| jdat |
| quote: | Originally posted by ShadoWolf
In fact, look at the flag of Saudi Arabia:
Note the sword at the bottom. Their goal is conquest. |
The arabic text means : "There is no god but God, Mohammed is His Messenger" |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by ShadoWolf
Note the sword at the bottom. Their goal is conquest. |
You use the Italian flag... need I say "crusades"? Would I need to re-write my post reminding you that the pope is in Rome and highlight all the times I wrote "Catholic church" in it? ;) |
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| jdat |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
You use the Italian flag... need I say "crusades"? Would I need to re-write my post reminding you that the pope is in Rome and highlight all the times I wrote "Catholic church" in it? ;) |
[mode:smart-ass]
Technically he's in the Vatican not in Rome :p
They are an independent country and their postal system is more efficient then the italian one
[/mode:off] |
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| Nite-Mer |
My brother is a missionary. He and his wife and four kids live in Nigeria. They raised money to build a shelter for orphan children where they food and clothe them.
I am for it, when done right. No one should share the gospel in a "know-all" manner or force it upon people. First of all, it isn't going to be effective, and, secondly, people should make their own choice. If someone is open to discussing it and believes, I think that's great. If someone doesn't want to, they shouldn't be forced to. It's pretty simple, in my mind.
It's a respect issue. |
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| Nite-Mer |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
You use the Italian flag... need I say "crusades"? Would I need to re-write my post reminding you that the pope is in Rome and highlight all the times I wrote "Catholic church" in it? ;) |
A lot of things are supposedly done "in God's name", within many different religions. Doesn't mean that the doctrine teaches it. I don't know much about the Koran, but people tell me it doesn't teach "Jyhad" the way people interpret it. I also know that "the Crusades" are not backed up by scripture in the bible.
Hell, the KKK think they are Christians. That's the whole problem, misinterpretation. |
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| Lira |
I just mentioned it because ShadowWolf is a bit paranoid when it comes to Islamism and Arabs - you can't blame the philosophy for the errors of the fan club ;)
And wasn't the Vatican created by Mussolini, by the way? |
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| Nite-Mer |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
I just mentioned it because ShadowWolf is a bit paranoid when it comes to Islamism and Arabs - you can't blame the philosophy for the errors of the fan club ;)
And wasn't the Vatican created by Mussolini, by the way? |
I think the Vatican was there beforehand, but I'm not sure. I don't agree with a lot of Catholic Dogma, but it's not really based on scripture and that's why. |
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| Nite-Mer |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nou
Personally I think religion is pandemic of mental disease, and the fact thats its spread through word of mouth and education makes it even more sick because people actually have the lack of decency to spread it to other people. Its the same as someone giving AIDS to someone and knowing it. Its that disgusting in my book. |
You're entitled to your own opinion, but surely religion contributes more to the world than AIDS. At least religion gives people a set of guidelines and a conscience. I'm sure that religion has caused many to reconsider crimes and detestable acts. AIDS just kills. |
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