Aquila89 wrote:IamNotCreepy wrote:Assume for a minute you buy into the Evangelical idea that you have to believe in Jesus as the son of God and have a "personal relationship" with Him in order to get in heaven. If you don't reach these people, they will burn for eternity in hell.
It's a pretty cruel thing to believe though - that these tribespeople deserve to be tortured for all eternity because they don't belong to a religion they've never heard of. A for the moral imperative; there are plenty of people in Asia (and elsewhere), who aren't Christians but would be far more likely to convert than the Sentinelese.
There is the theological perspective that, no they won't. The standard for whether they go to heaven or not might be different, one way or another. At this, you might feel compelled to ask, "Why bother with the missionaries and gospel spreading then?"
Here's my argument/thought: Every people group on earth has needs and a way of trying to achieve its fulfillment or problems to solve. If you knew a better way, wouldn't it be wrong of you to not spread the news of it?
God is quiet literally a despot who will judge the acts of all humankind and maybe some will get through that process. In the meantime, he's promoting a form of nepotistic and easy immunity through his Son.
And, maybe a lot of people who've never gotten the word are going to hell, based on whatever standard tried for their judgement then. But, is that always unfair?
Theres certainly got to be a better way of life than that one odd part of Papua Guinea, where a totally uneccesary and culturally-instituted tradition of rape and pederasty exist.
Also, the Sentinelese probably don't have immunity to common diseases; they could be wiped out by something like influenza, as many Native Americans were. It could be that their hostile behavior actually serves their interests, even if they don't know why.
I'm wary of the negative attention and commentary this had gotten at this point in time, politically.
But That missionary was pretty ignorant, though.