Not to be outdone by John Allen Chau, who is the subject of his own BBQ Pit thread, it’s now been confirmed that Christian missionaries from New Tribes Mission (a.k.a. Ethnos360) recently made several helicopter trips to the Vale do Javari reservation in the Amazon, home to some of the last uncontacted tribes on the planet.[sup]*[/sup] The Brazilian government has (perhaps only half-heartedly) forbidden anyone from travelling to this reservation, particularly in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But that hasn’t stopped these moronic proselytizers, who evidently believe that telling these tribespeople about Jesus is more important than decimating their population with a deadly disease. The term “genocide” springs to mind, though I thought I’d open this thread in case Dopers want to express their opinions using more colourful language.
FWIW, this Portuguese-language article in the Brazilian paper O Globo seems to be the source of the news. Unfortunately, the article is paywalled, though it can be viewed through Google’s cache. Here’s a machine translation of the first few paragraphs:
Yeah, that one was from before they actually visited the tribes. Despite all the negative press back then, not to mention warnings from the government of Brazil, they actually went ahead with their plans.
Pandemic aside, aren’t these missionaries damning many of these tribespeople to hell? If they die having never heard of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, I imagine they have a better chance of eternal bliss than dying having heard the Gospel and rejected it, right? You know, in-universe. I don’t believe any of it.
That would be the Catholic Limbo (which I think has gone) - the virtuous pagans are not subjected to the rigors of hell. I think that many non-Catholics preach that if you don’t accept JC as your personal lord and savior, you go to hell (which is apparently why they think a lot of Catholics are going to end up there).
AIUI, doctrine is that even those who have never heard of the Gospel will be in Hell if they die unsaved. Hell is regarded as the default, not Heaven. You don’t get to claim “I was never told about Heaven” as an excuse.
As for the OP, these uncontacted tribes lack immunity to all kinds of diseases, so Covid-19 is only one of many potentially carried by these missionaries that could sicken or kill them.
Do many Christians really believe this? Assuming you’re Christian, do you believe this? How could someone believe in a loving, benevolent God if that supposedly loving God damns children who have never heard of him to eternal torment?
Now, don’t get me wrong, as a Christian I’m looking forward to the stories of indigenous tribes sending missionaries to go see Jesus asap…
but the Ethos360 web site *sounds *like their mission trips are on hold.
From their FAQs: Are we still sending missionaries overseas? With many restrictions on international travel, we are encouraging new missionaries to wait until the situation stabilizes and counties open for travel and acceptance of foreigners. All missionaries are encouraged to stay engaged with our personnel department, their sending churches and the fields.
From the CEO: "…And, while the ‘no further evangelizing’ decision may sound definitive … we trust and believe that our God can move mountains, open doors and radically change hearts. Thank you so much to all of you who were praying.”
But the whole web site is full of enough weaselly language that they could be CYSA (covering their sanctimonious asses): “Oh, dear, we encouraged those missionaries not to fly into that remote tribe…”
I don’t think I’ve got any language colorful enough.
They want to kill an entire culture; and they don’t give a damn if they kill every member of it. Just for not agreeing with them about a self-contradictory proposition that they’ve never heard of.
(Sorry about the unclear pronoun references. I expect readers can figure it out.)