Culture
We are on vacation in a tropical paradise. Well, I’m on vacation. My wife is working. The last couple days, we’ve been hanging with our friend who lives here. He was very clear to distinguish that his family immigrated here from the Philippines so while he is from Hawaii, he is not a Hawaiian (whoops, now you know where I was). In fact, the conference that my wife is at, started this morning and she texted me to let me know that they opened the conference with a traditional Hawaiian prayer of welcome.
We don’t think anything about our community coming from many places in the world before settling here. In fact, I have been to many smaller towns in Kansas where they are proud of their immigrants that first settled the town. But even with that, there is a recognition that people came there from many different places. Natural born Hawaiians have a different attitude. I imagine that Jews and Native American Indians have a similar perspective (it may be that whole conquered versus conqueror thing).;
Anyway, our friend took us around the island to give us a tour and narrative that we wouldn’t hear from any tour bus operation. One of the things he emphasized several times is that Hawaiians have an almost reverence and respect for the land as being a part of the larger spiritual realm. One of the stories he told us was about the number of people who died tunneling through the mountain for one of the 3 main highway routes. I know he is very involved with a large (over 5,000 members) Christian church so I asked him how he reconciled his Christian faith with the local belief in land, respect and history. He didn’t understand what I was asking him. To him, the belief in the land and respect fit in perfectly with his Christian faith. I don’t believe that he believes in Pele’, the goddess of the volcano, but he knows the stories because those are a part of the land.
For example, we passed a place called Chinaman’s hat (or as the Hawaiians would call it Mokoli’i because the other name is disrespectful), and he told us the legend of a boy who went to the island to fish during low tide and never returned. As you follow the road north, you can watch a cliff face that resembles a boy’s head close his mouth as you continue driving north. Hawaiian legend tells that story of how part of the boy was found in that cliff face and that represents his last breath.
To me, I see that as believing and propagating stories that are not biblical. But then I remember how every parent tells their kids about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and I have a hard time seeing how it is any different. The more I think about it, I don’t see any pitfalls in his theology. But it does remind me that it is important to try to understand what is important to someone else and, as long as it doesn’t cause you to violate your own beliefs, accommodate where appropriate.
“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” - Romans 14:13-23 ESV
Seems like God is way ahead of me again…
