Well, it’s been almost a month since I traveled to SM land with our culture/language consultant, Sergio, who did an evaluation of our co-workers’ progress in their culture/language acquisition. The people reminded me a lot of the W where I grew up—and our time was very profitable. I was also able to help our co-workers with some additions to their porch on the front side of their house.
As I understood them, some interesting worldview tidbits surfaced during the culture/language checks; and the SM pass these on, to some degree, to the next generation:
- The SM believe that the great evil spirit (they identify him w/the Portuguese for Satan) manifests himself as a HUGE snake (among other things). In fact, he carved out all the river beds on earth by slithering around.
- Especially during a hard rainstorm, Satan is roaming about to take the SM. (Talk about fear! The SM live in the Amazon rainforest where…it rains A LOT!)
- Lightning is the tongue of this snake—and the noise of the thunder is obviously associated w/Satan, too.
- It is not uncommon for the SM to cover their ears (or their children’s ears) so that they do not hear the thunder.
- And what about the rainbow, a reminder of God’s promise not to destroy the earth again w/a flood? Not so w/the SM—the rainbow is the mouth of the snake eating who knows what! And, be careful because the snake might be coming for you!
- Surprise (or any form thereof) is not a good thing to the SM. For example, how many of you jump when lightning strikes? Well, when the SM are startled, their soul “jumps” within them, trying to escape their body—in fact, Satan is trying to steal their souls from their bodies! And so, they fear Satan’s attempts to take their souls by surprise—and when they are sick or hurt in a specific area on their bodies, they understand that as an attempt of their soul being taken from their bodies, resulting in death. So, they must go to the witch doctor and be “sewn up” over that localized pain to keep their soul.
- By the way, in their myths they have an account of a bright—i.e., brilliantly white—being appearing on the scene. This they have determined is Satan. So, what will the SM do w/the Transfiguration of Jesus? Or with the descriptions of God in His glory and brilliance? Then again, perhaps this might serve as a segue to teaching about Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).
Wow! So many things to learn in the culture and language—and even deeper, in their worldview! Pray for the missionaries among the SM (and other tribes) as they labor to learn the culture, language, and worldview of the people they are trying to reach w/the HOPE of Jesus Christ!
Check out our posts on FaceBook (David-Angie Kern), along w/the photo album we added there, too.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.