Native American Christianity

There are a number of significant reasons Native Americans are so strongly against becoming Christians, as the following will show.

First, the whole "Manifest Destiny" thing. The idea that white people were divinely ordained to settle the whole continent of North America-which necessarily meant removing and/or destroying the Native people already here. The premise that white people were inherently superior, and the conviction that God had ordained them to conquer the North American territories from sea to shining sea led to forced removal and/or violent extermination of the Aboriginal people who were viewed as blocking the furtherance of racial and technological progress.

What this meant for us was that the government would force us off our homelands onto reservations, where men professing to be Christians would steal most of the food allocated to us and sell it for their own gain. And then the government forced two generations of children to boarding schools. At these schools, men(and women)professing to be Christians beat, tortured, and raped these children. Punishment was for crimes such as speaking in the only language they'd ever spoken, and other "serious" offenses. My mother told me many stories of her experiences at Chemawa Indian School in Oregon.
When those children returned to their families, they no longer had anything in common with them. Many were sent to trade schools and forced to live and work in cities, so if they ever returned to their people's there was a vast gulf between who they were, and who they should've been.

Then there was the whole eugenics thing, where Indian Health Services clinics and hospitals were routinely sterilizing Native women-perhaps as many as 50% of all Native women, until the giovernment finally put a stop to that in the 1970s.

I am a Native man. Someone pointed out that I wasn't a full blood(which is true), but blood quantum wasn't an issue for us before colonization. Blood quantum is 100% a non Native creation, and nothing we went by prior to the coming of a white man.

Another person pointed out that I was racist, and implied that I thought "whity was bad.". I never thought that, and can't even understand why someone would think I would. Doing so would entail hating half of myself, and that would not only make me stupid, but crazy as well.

The reason I made this post was to let my Christian Brothers and sisters know the challenges I had to overcome, and the challenges other Natives are facing, before becoming Christian. These things are of vital importance to me, because I need to figure out how to respond to these obstacles. I was fortunate to meet a few Christians who weren't afraid to come witness to me where I was. There are a lot more JWs and Mormons out there doing the very same thing, and i've met so many Natives professing to be Mormons and JWs. It ought not to be so. The last time I saw Christians reaching out to this Native community was at Easter, and they came here from Russia to witness to the people in my youngest daughter's community. Some people think I'm angry, and I am, but not for the reason you might think. I'm angry with myself, because I don't know how to tell my own people that we've believed a lie all this time. Real Christians don't do all the things we've been believing they did. I know this because of a few brave souls who witnessed to me. I felt God's love through them, and even though I didn't get saved until years later, I never forgot those people who showed me Jesus Christ, and His love.

So, my brothers and sisters, I don't hate you, I love you. Like Paul, I have an overwhelming love for my people, who are being left to the JWs, and the mormons. I hope some of you will benefit from knowing how hard it is for Native people to even consider Christianity. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, and we know that the preaching of the cross is the power of God.

I know that God is in control, but I also know that He said that the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few

There are a number of significant reasons Native Americans are so strongly against becoming Christians, as the following will show.

First, the whole "Manifest Destiny" thing. The idea that white people were divinely ordained to settle the whole continent of North America-which necessarily meant removing and/or destroying the Native people already here. The premise that white people were inherently superior, and the conviction that God had ordained them to conquer the North American territories from sea to shining sea led to forced removal and/or violent extermination of the Aboriginal people who were viewed as blocking the furtherance of racial and technological progress.

What this meant for us was that the government would force us off our homelands onto reservations, where men professing to be Christians would steal most of the food allocated to us and sell it for their own gain. And then the government forced two generations of children to boarding schools. At these schools, men(and women)professing to be Christians beat, tortured, and raped these children. Punishment was for crimes such as speaking in the only language they'd ever spoken, and other "serious" offenses. My mother told me many stories of her experiences at Chemawa Indian School in Oregon.
When those children returned to their families, they no longer had anything in common with them. Many were sent to trade schools and forced to live and work in cities, so if they ever returned to their people's there was a vast gulf between who they were, and who they should've been.

Then there was the whole eugenics thing, where Indian Health Services clinics and hospitals were routinely sterilizing Native women-perhaps as many as 50% of all Native women, until the giovernment finally put a stop to that in the 1970s.

I am a Native man. Someone pointed out that I wasn't a full blood(which is true), but blood quantum wasn't an issue for us before colonization. Blood quantum is 100% a non Native creation, and nothing we went by prior to the coming of a white man.

Another person pointed out that I was racist, and implied that I thought "whity was bad.". I never thought that, and can't even understand why someone would think I would. Doing so would entail hating half of myself, and that would not only make me stupid, but crazy as well.

The reason I made this post was to let my Christian Brothers and sisters know the challenges I had to overcome, and the challenges other Natives are facing, before becoming Christian. These things are of vital importance to me, because I need to figure out how to respond to these obstacles. I was fortunate to meet a few Christians who weren't afraid to come witness to me where I was. There are a lot more JWs and Mormons out there doing the very same thing, and i've met so many Natives professing to be Mormons and JWs. It ought not to be so. The last time I saw Christians reaching out to this Native community was at Easter, and they came here from Russia to witness to the people in my youngest daughter's community. Some people think I'm angry, and I am, but not for the reason you might think. I'm angry with myself, because I don't know how to tell my own people that we've believed a lie all this time. Real Christians don't do all the things we've been believing they did. I know this because of a few brave souls who witnessed to me. I felt God's love through them, and even though I didn't get saved until years later, I never forgot those people who showed me Jesus Christ, and His love.

So, my brothers and sisters, I don't hate you, I love you. Like Paul, I have an overwhelming love for my people, who are being left to the JWs, and the mormons. I hope some of you will benefit from knowing how hard it is for Native people to even consider Christianity. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, and we know that the preaching of the cross is the power of God.

I know that God is in control, but I also know that He said that the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few

There are a number of significant reasons Native Americans are so strongly against becoming Christians, as the following will show.

Hey Didymous,

Thanks for that honest and heartfelt message. There is no question that Native Americans got a raw deal from Whites, particularly the governments. Even while the Civil War was being fought to end slavery, the federal government was enslaving Natives through their despicable policies of land grabs and reservations. Natives were also looked down upon by many others. Their lands were stolen and their buffalo destroyed. So that is definitely true.

Ever since, the chiefs and leaders of Native Americans have enriched themselves and neglected their own people. And many Natives are their own worst enemies. This business of building casinos on Native lands has contributed to their problems in my estimation.

But we can be thankful that some genuine Christians reached out to you with Christian love and as a result you are a child of God and love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians in North America could be doing a lot more for Natives, and should be doing so. In fact their is an entire mission field right here.

There are a number of significant reasons Native Americans are so strongly against becoming Christians, as the following will show.

First, the whole "Manifest Destiny" thing. The idea that white people were divinely ordained to settle the whole continent of North America-which necessarily meant removing and/or destroying the Native people already here. The premise that white people were inherently superior, and the conviction that God had ordained them to conquer the North American territories from sea to shining sea led to forced removal and/or violent extermination of the Aboriginal people who were viewed as blocking the furtherance of racial and technological progress.

What this meant for us was that the government would force us off our homelands onto reservations, where men professing to be Christians would steal most of the food allocated to us and sell it for their own gain. And then the government forced two generations of children to boarding schools. At these schools, men(and women)professing to be Christians beat, tortured, and raped these children. Punishment was for crimes such as speaking in the only language they'd ever spoken, and other "serious" offenses. My mother told me many stories of her experiences at Chemawa Indian School in Oregon.
When those children returned to their families, they no longer had anything in common with them. Many were sent to trade schools and forced to live and work in cities, so if they ever returned to their people's there was a vast gulf between who they were, and who they should've been.

Then there was the whole eugenics thing, where Indian Health Services clinics and hospitals were routinely sterilizing Native women-perhaps as many as 50% of all Native women, until the giovernment finally put a stop to that in the 1970s.

I am a Native man. Someone pointed out that I wasn't a full blood(which is true), but blood quantum wasn't an issue for us before colonization. Blood quantum is 100% a non Native creation, and nothing we went by prior to the coming of a white man.

Another person pointed out that I was racist, and implied that I thought "whity was bad.". I never thought that, and can't even understand why someone would think I would. Doing so would entail hating half of myself, and that would not only make me stupid, but crazy as well.

The reason I made this post was to let my Christian Brothers and sisters know the challenges I had to overcome, and the challenges other Natives are facing, before becoming Christian. These things are of vital importance to me, because I need to figure out how to respond to these obstacles. I was fortunate to meet a few Christians who weren't afraid to come witness to me where I was. There are a lot more JWs and Mormons out there doing the very same thing, and i've met so many Natives professing to be Mormons and JWs. It ought not to be so. The last time I saw Christians reaching out to this Native community was at Easter, and they came here from Russia to witness to the people in my youngest daughter's community. Some people think I'm angry, and I am, but not for the reason you might think. I'm angry with myself, because I don't know how to tell my own people that we've believed a lie all this time. Real Christians don't do all the things we've been believing they did. I know this because of a few brave souls who witnessed to me. I felt God's love through them, and even though I didn't get saved until years later, I never forgot those people who showed me Jesus Christ, and His love.

So, my brothers and sisters, I don't hate you, I love you. Like Paul, I have an overwhelming love for my people, who are being left to the JWs, and the mormons. I hope some of you will benefit from knowing how hard it is for Native people to even consider Christianity. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, and we know that the preaching of the cross is the power of God.

I know that God is in control, but I also know that He said that the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few

Becoming a Christian, does not identify one with any other group defined politically or ethnoliguistically.
Children of God are found in every ethnolinguistic group on the planet, but are defined in these terms "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal 3:28
So, no matter what our gender, race, or social standing...

We are all blood relations, but only by the blood of Christ, nothing else would bring us together...

Ok, a quick question. What do you think of Native American Christians using the sweat lodge, dance regalia, sweet grass, sage, mugwort(the last three items are used as smudge{incense}; hand drums, and pow-wow drums?

Ok, a quick question. What do you think of Native American Christians using the sweat lodge, dance regalia, sweet grass, sage, mugwort(the last three items are used as smudge{incense}; hand drums, and pow-wow drums?

Ok, a quick question. What do you think of Native American Christians using the sweat lodge, dance regalia, sweet grass, sage, mugwort(the last three items are used as smudge{incense}; hand drums, and pow-wow drums?