by Zenas » Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:21 am
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I've got a quick reply then I will reply more in depth later.
I've lived in several third world countries, in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, for over a decade.
I describe my feeling of "culture alienation" this way: I am a freshwater fish living in salt water. We [the other race and I] are both fish, but I am created for one kind of water, they another. I can't speak for the other races, but I believe freshwater is better. And that may be why many salt water fish want to migrate to a fresh water environment. I even know Asians who were born and raised by an Asian couple but lived in Canada and the US their entire life, moved to Asia, at the bewilderment of their parents, and have the same problems with the salt water environment as do us Anglo-Saxons, even though they can speak the language fluently and have two Asian parents. Explain that.
I explain it this way: The Anglo-Saxon world, all things considered, is the best the world has to offer, despite the fact the Edomites have ruined it. [we let them, but that is another topic]. There are Anglo-Saxons who migrate to third world countries, increasingly so lately, but usually because they can't afford to stay in their own nation or they want to escape the affects the so-called Judeans have had on their culture; corruption, high cost, feminism, etc, And although they most likely will not be able to tell you who caused they problems, they can certainly tell you what they are leaving behind them.
Once I thought of my "alienation" in Biblical terms, sheep and goats, tares and wheat, it all made sense. Sheep are not goats and are not made to mingle or mix with goats. I've never seen sheep and goats together, have you? they are separate. They are different kinds. There is a constant attrition that takes place just having to live among Asians, for example. Asia is loud, noisy,despite the image of the eastern mysticism, they are a noisy race; in many ways, chaotic, unorganized, mistakes made years ago are still being paid for today, by everyone, and will never be fully repaired or done away with. They will have to live with what they have because of who they are and what they have done. As an Anglo-Saxon I am always reminded of how it could be and what they [and I] are missing, but they haven't a clue. They think their salt water world is all there is. It is only those who travel a bit that I can relate to and they me. It is like a light bulb has gone off in their head by being in an Anglo-Saxon nation. "Ah, this is what I am missing," or, "this is how it can be." Even the language shows how different we think. For one must think in a language to become fluent in that language, and changing how one thinks is what is so difficult, at least for me, in learning another language. I can't bring myself to think - eat I want, eat you want?
What missionaries are trying to do is give a message that belongs to sheep, to goats. Yet, in some cases it works. For example, South Korea has a high percentage of its population who claim to be Christian and send, next to the US, more missionaries abroad than any other country. It is these anomalies that give me pause.
Last edited by
Zenas on Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.