Was confronted with a daunting prospect in Religion & Worldview today. It is something I have thought about in the past but it seemed to leap out and bonk me on the head today. The prospect was the encountering of what I would consider to be cultural evils and my response to it, as an outsider. For example, if the people of a culture knocked three times on a door before entering to ward of evil spirits, I wouldn't get too worked up about that on any basic emotional level. But what if there was some form of ritualized abuse that was occurring before my very eyes? What if it was about to happen and I had prior knowledge of it? Should I intervene?
I debated giving the example that was given in class and am currently deciding against it. While the situation seemed morally cut and dried enough from my perspective to make a personal judgement on the matter, I don't really want to be assessing this particular culture without any personal experience with the individuals involved. Therefore, I will invent a scenario and ask for the input of anyone who would like to respond, in hopes that my views in this area will be helpfully sharpened before this theoretical issue becomes a practical one.
NOTE: Read the following only if you are interested in engaging in this exercise and will not be bothered by imagining an unpleasant circumstance.
Imagine that you are involved with a people group in some far corner of the world where you have been living and attempting to comprehend their culture. One night, you are wakened by cries in the center of the community living area. It seems that the village has gathered to perform what you would consider to be a torturous act on the physical person of a young man, who is perceived to have brought illness on a community member by allowing the shadow of a woman to touch him as he sat in the marketplace.
1) Do you intervene in some way? Why or why not?
2) What would you do or say? What wouldn't you do or say?
Using the comment link to the bottom right of this posting will enable you to post a response. If you prefer, you can email me directly.
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2 comments:
This is Peter. I didn't want to create an account, so I'm posting anonymously!!
I have a couple questions--first, is the young man submitting to this punishment somewhat willingly? Does he agree with the cultural norms that would allow this type of punishment? If yes, then there is not much you can do, even if you wanted. If he accepts this punishment as a valid consequence of his actions, then you have to live with it. Stopping the punishment would hurt your ministry tremendously, even if you think you are behaving for humanitarian reasons.
Also, what's happening to the woman? In these types of cultures, usually the woman should take some fault for letting her shadow fall on him. Did she do it on purpose? Perhaps she wanted to person to become sick so she cursed the man by letting her shadow fall on him. Shifting the blame, as it were.
If this is accepted behavior, no amount of reason will make anyone understand your objections. They obviously see the world as a much more spiritual place then we do, so it would be up to us to see things from their point of view, and try and make changes from within the culture, not imposing our own cultural values on them. This would probably be one of the hardest parts of being a missionary, when one is faced with situations like this.
Alright, I've started the discussion. Someone else say something now.
Good points, Peter. And I will, no doubt, always have questions. Is he submitting willingly? Let's assume that I don't know. But I'm taking from your response that you lean towards inaction 'in the moment', at least until you have a better grip on the situation. Am I correct in my assessment of your response?
I agree with you on the 'stay out of it' stance if he is submitting willingly and on the proposed ministry repercussions if I did get involved.
What's happening to the woman? Let's say that, in this culture, her intent is irrelevant. Interesting that you should ask that though. The classroom scenario, which was taken from a real-world culture, involved someone being punished for the potential communal ramifications of their victimization by someone else. They were, quite arguably, beyond even innocence. The person who victimized them was considered as only acting according to their nature and, therefore, not even considered in the scheme of culpability. Let's say, then, that the woman was just walking and bears no resonsibility for where her shadow falls, for that is the nature of women. She may have done it 'on purpose' but that is not the concern of the community. The community is concerned with taking action in a way which appeases the force(s) that caused illness in the community member. Not punishment so much as making things right on a supernatural level.
"If this is accepted behavior, no amount of reason will make anyone understand your objections. They obviously see the world as a much more spiritual place then we do, so it would be up to us to see things from their point of view, and try and make changes from within the culture, not imposing our own cultural values on them." That's pretty much what came out in class. And, yes, this is the aspect of my involvement in missions that gives me pause. Weak stomach, me.
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