My friend John paid some pirates to go to an island to talk to people about Jesus, when he knew that he had no business doing that. John’s parents brought him up to be Christian. He was just, like, full of light. I had a little bit of a crush on him. You couldn't have asked for a better
young man. He reminds me of who
I wanted to serve with. He told me his plan was to go
live in the middle of the jungle. It didn't sound that bad. I thought that John would get accepted. People whose language
no o
ne speaks, whose culture no one knows. There's a fine line
between faith and madness. Once he found out about that tribe, he knew he was going to go all in. John was telling a story, “I'm a climber. I'm an adventurer.” Here we are, hiking out! If things don't go well. He wanted to look like a young, arrogant,
western person did a stupid thing and move on. John said to me,
“This is what the plan looks like.” “Have it right here.” There are so many ways
the seductions of this story can go wrong. T
his idea of people who exist out of time, that erases their humanity. These cultures that are isolated, when we cross that boundary,
we're saying, “Your prohibition means nothing to us.” That there's a group that we would decide “Sorry, you don't get to hear about Jesus,” that's a violation of their human right. John did exactly
what Jesus told him to do. John was pursuing a fantasy. In discerning the call, we can mess it up. My friend
did something stupid and courageous and bold, and I wish I w
as that bold.
Comments
"The Prime Directive is not just a set of rules. It is a philosophy, and a very correct one. History has proved again and again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed civilisation, no matter how well intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous." -- JLP
"On his final visit, on November 17, Chau instructed the fishermen to abandon him. The fishermen later saw the islanders dragging Chau's body, and the next day they saw his body being buried on the shore." - Wikipedia
Moral of the story is, leave people alone who don’t want to be bothered.
May they live in uninterrupted peace forever.
They say he wasn't stupid. I'd beg to differ.
The Mission was used as the title of a film in the late 1980s with beautiful music by Ennio Marraconi.What a pity they used the same name which will now get confused in all the searches.
Just watched this documentary....what happened to john is so sad but i wish he would have left to US after the first attack ... atleast he been alive today,my deep condolences to his parents
That was incredibly arrogant and foolish of him to think he could change uncontacted people. Sorry that he died,but he did it to himself.
I do not think it is right to go to an indigenous society and tell them what to believe in. It always ends tragically. It is sad this delusional thinking is still happening!
Jesus didn’t tell him to do it, his religion did.
“As ever, the true address of the missionary is to the self-satisfaction of the sponsor and the donor, and not to the needs of the downtrodden.” - Christopher Hitchens
Great doc! Story reminds me of “At Play in the Fields of the Lord”
Chau: I want you to meet Jesus! The Sentinelese: You first!
These tribes/cultures have survived for generations without the need for Jesus or any other outside religion. Why is it up to us to help them see different? Why are we so impelled to preach that our “God” knows best and is using us as a vehicle to spread the word of whatever our religion is?
He should not have gone . He may have exposed the people to something that they have no immunity from . I have no sympathy . Your own decision and selfishness do what was not allowed caused your death .
If the Indians on the main island had the same courage, India would have less problems after 281 years of British and 300 years of islamists. I hope we can learn from the sentinels to defend our culture when forced upon with out will.
I have a hard time feeling bad about what happened to him. He was blinded and misguided by his own zealotry and should have stayed away from those people.
Where can we watch this??
I really hope the directors handled this one without ill intentions or narrative manipulations. Because if they actually handle this well, with humanity and nuance and respect, it will probably end up being an amazing documentary.
Just saw it. Really great doc. Left with a lot to chew on.