Response: “How do I relate to faith? How did Don Richardson relate to Faith? How do the Sawi relate to faith?”

Response to the question, “How do I relate to faith? How did Don Richardson relate to Faith? How do the Sawi relate to faith?”

There might be two ways to respond to this question, one approaching the word “faith” as a set of beliefs in spirituality, or to approach the word specifically as the Christian Faith. I'll take the first route and make a remark that perhaps includes the second route as well.

A simple answer when using the first definition of faith is, depending on what the beliefs are, they impact the way one think, feel, and act, including Don Richardson, the Sawi, and myself. The Sawi belief “that no misfortune happened by accident, but was invariably caused by demons who could be either activated or restrained by witchcraft,” and, a text in Peace Child[“... use witchcraft to keep them [hamars, which I assume are the spirits or demons in the traditional Sawi beliefs] from entering your villages, your homes, your very bodies”] seemed to indicate that witchcraft may have been practiced (Richardson 148-149). For Don Richardson, however, it his belief in God probably led him to pray; it's also probable that his mission work with the Sawi has its roots in his Christian beliefs, since he likely wouldn't have carried the gospel message and stay with the Sawi with all that he had to go through in order to evangelize the area if he didn't believe in the gospel himself.

Having said that, the Christian faith has its unique way at least in some regards, as differing sets of beliefs have different influences, of influencing its holders, impacting the person's ethics, motivation, worldview, etc.

Work Cited

Richardson, Don. Peace Child: An Unforgettable Story of Primitive Jungle Treachery in the 20th Century. 4th. Regal, 2005. 148-149. Print.