Worldview Test

Picture yourself sailing the seas and landing in a foreign land. Almost naked natives greet you. They have painted their bodies with crude paints and offer you trinkets as gifts. When you speak to them, they repeat your words with skillful clarity, even though they obviously do not know what the words mean. Since there is a language barrier, they attempt to communicate with you using hand signals and pantomime.  What would you think of these people? How would you record this event in your journal?

Events like this, with all these details in common, did happen to two very different men at two very different times. They recorded their experiences in their journals.

The first man described the natives he encountered as handsome people, of good height, well-built and strong. He said, "They were so friendly to us, it was wonderful."  When he heard them repeat his own words, he surmised that they must be very intelligent people indeed. By signs he inquired about wounds he saw on their bodies, and through sign language discerned that men from a nearby island sometimes came to take their people captive as servants. The man had no doubt that such strong and intelligent people would make good servants, but he had better hopes for them. He hoped to see them learn of the Lord.

The second man described the people he encountered as a "curious and interesting spectacle." He said they closely resembled devils seen on stage in plays. He noted their gestures, but apparently made no attempt to try to decipher them. He said, "I could not believe how wide was the difference between savage and civilized man; it is greater than the difference  between a wild and a domesticated animal." Their language, he said, "scarcely deserves to be called articulate." "Certainly no European ever cleared his throat with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds." When the natives showed remarkable skill in mimicking their gestures and repeating their words, this man did not conclude they were intelligent, as our first man did. Rather, he equated it with a state of 'savagery.' After noting that no European would be able to repeat so many words so perfectly he said, "All savages appear to possess, to an uncommon degree, this power of mimicry...How can this facility be explained? Is it a consequence of the more practiced habits of perception and keener senses common to all men in a savage state, as compared with those long civilized?" When others suggested these men be taught English, and be taught the Christian faith, he considered the task futile because of their savagery.

The first encounter described above happened in 1492. The journal in which these events are recorded is that of Christopher Columbus. The second encounter happened in 1832. It is recorded in Voyage of the Beagle, and is written by Charles Darwin.

Worldview matters.

Update: I should give you the sources on this, in case you wish to read the accounts in context. Since many editions (and in the case of Columbus, translations) exist, and my page numbers would be useless to most of you, I think this is the best way to lead you to the passages: In any edition of Columbus' journal, find the entry for October 11, 1492.  In Voyage of the Beagle, turn to Chapter X on Darwin's visit to Tierra del Fuego. If you read these works, you will find similar attitudes of delight and contempt, respectively, throughout. I used these examples because of the striking similarity in the particulars of the two incidents described.

Comments

[Dawn]

I think it's interesting that through time, we distort history by making the nice guy bad and the prejudiced man a great thinker.

[Dory]

Dawn, Ironic, isn't it? And to think, the second had over 300 years of progress and enlightenment on his side.

[Diane R]

I studied Columbus for many years and despite him being a Catholic (everyone was in his time) I do beleive he was what we would term today a born again Christian. He was self-educated and knew the Bible fairly well. In fact, in his museum in Spain his Bible is open to the verse he himself marked, the verse in Isaiah 49, that he believed God gave him for the evangelization of Asia. Unfortunately, he succumbed to Gold Fever and ended up treating the natives cruely. Isabella and Ferdinand, the king and queen at that time finally had to send a military guard to bring him home in chains. They were going to imprison him but he was so popular that they just let him "retire."

[Dory]

Diane, as usual raises a great point. He almost seemed to get batty, didn't he? Both Darwin and Columbus are good examples of how we tend to rewrite history and make men out to be either perfect never-did-wrong angels or else vicious villains, depending on which 'side' you're on. Of course when we idolize men they disappoint us, and when we vilify men, we often end up with our own sins thrown in our faces. The Bible certainly shows the flaws of its human heroes, doesn't it?

[Dave Holsclaw]

Dory:
You are on target with you comment about Darwin's world-view.

I remember reading extracts from his journal entries while on the Beagle. He describes being laughed at by the ships officers for defending theism. Later, he mentions lying in his bunk, imagining the discovery of this or that ancient document which clearly supported the truth of Christian teaching. However, he said, he eventually realized that he could not imagine ANY discovery that could possibly support the truth of Christian teaching.

As the voyage continued, he moved farther and farther from his Christian moorings.

[Jim Baxter]

Every world-view system worth its weight is based on God's accurate definition of each Individual human being.

Man is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by nature
and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of Criteria.
Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive characteristic
is, and of Right ought to be, the natural foundation of
his environments, institutions, and respectful relations
to his fellow-man. Thus, he is oriented to a Freedom
whose roots are in the Order of the universe.

Man-made systems are inaccurate - and measure by the group - collectivism. Small wonder definitions of value and character are needful for success. 'Thinking' is a function of the brain utilizing criteria greater than man-made. So, how can diplomacy and compromise settle these differences between people and nations? Not.