Native American Christianity

Do you actually have anything specific to my points, or are you just here to represent those "different" values?

I am not a Christian so I think I might have a pretty good idea of the reasons a person might not accept Christianity, yet seeing that the United States was not established as a Christian Nation then I see no need to make excuses why people don't accept Christianity as if believing words written by man are any different that words spoken by man if the written word is the invention of man.

I don't remember if I responded to your post before, but I saw some things I missed the first time. My point initially was that the first wave of missionaries did a poor job of your most excellent list, and that even some in the current wave are focusing on supposed sycretism-rayjer than what you said. And, as always, there's the issue of who is recruiting, if Christian churches aren't. There are six "churches" in my home town (four of which are arguably Christian). The only ones sharing some "gospel" are the Mormons and the JWs. Again, it ought not to be so!

I am not a Christian so I think I might have a pretty good idea of the reasons a person might not accept Christianity, yet seeing that the United States was not established as a Christian Nation then I see no need to make excuses why people don't accept Christianity as if believing words written by man are any different that words spoken by man if the written word is the invention of man.

Z...,

It absolutely was.

It is contained in our establishment documents and even captured in the dollar.

Why would you say something so opposed to fact? For what purpose?

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

Throughout the old testament, time and again, it shows that God's people overtook lands. The people coming to take over America were seeking to worship God, while the people already here were worshiping creation instead of the Creator, or even their dead ancestors. God allowed them to take over, just as He had done many times. As for the people who took over, there were some among the group who did evil things, that is true of any large group- which is why God judges us individually.

Physically speaking, I am of both groups. But I am not Indian, english, Irish, or whatever, I am Christian. I do not consider physical heritage or the histories of them. I consider only the heavenly race. We are only connected to worldly people for a short hundred years, but we are connected to God's people for eternity. Whoever is doing right and good- they are my people, no matter their skin color or national history.

Z...,

It absolutely was.

It is contained in our establishment documents and even captured in the dollar.

Why would you say something so opposed to fact? For what purpose?

So what tribe are you speaking for?

The inner man tribe.....

Perhaps next yo might elaborate on how the Chinese have been treated in our history.......

If I move to China, I'll be glad to do so, sir.

Quite pithy, but, the Chinese were almost slaves in constructing the transcontinental railway, the wester link anyway. I was just mentiong it because you seemed to be interested inthe fair treatment of people. Sorry I asked.

Quite pithy, but, the Chinese were almost slaves in constructing the transcontinental railway, the wester link anyway. I was just mentiong it because you seemed to be interested inthe fair treatment of people. Sorry I asked.