What does God expect us to do for other cultures and faiths?

When we go to other cultures God wants us to go and then learn about their cultures which is the first thing that he wants us to do and then to respect their cultures as well because He made all and what He has made, is something that we all have to respect and not feel like a different culture is something that isn't new to God but is new to us and should respect like everything else that we knew even though we have never experienced that culture before. This goes the same for Faiths. We should respect everyone's own opinions and faiths and religions even though God might not accept them. But something that we should try and do is getting close to them, respect what they respect most and then finally try and change their mind and their entire world about what they believe in through God. God wants us to preach the Gospel to other people and like Don Richardson to other cultures and may not have even been discovered yet. God wants all to hear about the Gospel and if they are not able to hear about it when you are given the chance, there might not be another chance to preach to them. God expects us to go to cultures and then giving them the message that God wants all to hear about and accept as well. Doing this can then change their perspective and also their entire view of the world.

What should we do when we are confronted with other cultures?

 Before we go to a different culture, we should expect to find something much different than the culture that we are used to avoid culture shock. When confronted with other cultures, the first thing that we should do is respect their culture, which is almost like respecting what they value the most in life. And when respecting what they value most in life, that will bring respect to you and they will treat you as if you were one of them. They would listen to you and at the same time respect what you have to say. Another thing that you could do when confronting another culture is to offer to them something that they do not have. It would have to be something that they would value later on or even the minute you give it to them, but after giving it and realizing that you can give it, they will respect you more as well. There has to be a reason why you are going to another culture and like Don Richardson, you have to find something in their culture that you are looking for in order to give them what they need, like Don Richardson. Finding one of their biggest values and then relating it to something that you are trying to tell them is something that will help you in what you want to say for the people in that specific culture to understand deeply and accept what it is you are going to say to them. For example, Don Richardson went to the Sawi tribe and the first thing he did was give them things. Then he showed that he actually cared about their culture and then finally he tried to learn their language so that he could later communicate with them. This is all very important when going to another culture that you are very unfamiliar with. This is how Don Richardson got God's message across to the Sawi tribe. And Don Richardson's going to the Sawi is an example of how to confront another culture.

How do I relate to faith? How did Don Richardson relate to Faith? How do the Sawi relate to faith?

How do I relate to faith? I think that the way that I relate to faith is in believing in God. I believe in something that is not based on proof but have a strong belief in what I believe is not fake. I think that faith for something has to be "real" to you for you to fully understand. It can't be something where you believe in something where there is nothing to guide you or give you false thoughts. Instead, I think that faith is something where you need other people or even a book to guide you. In Christianity, the Bible is full of God's word about how we should live our lives. Like the Bible for Christians, there has to be something that tells you what to do and how to do that something. Faith isn't something that grows out of your own mind and you think one day that you want to believe in something that may not even be real. faith has to be a growing process towards understanding and respect.
How did Don Richardson relate to faith? Don Richardson related to faith in the same way that most missionaries relate to faith. Faith that what they are preaching to the targeted people would accept the Word that is being preached to them. Don Richardson went because of faith in the first place that the Sawi people would accept the word of hope and that they would learn what they have been doing is wrong. Don Richardson also knew that, through their culture of violence and their value of treachery, that there was something in their culture that will be related to Christ and that he would be able to use that to turn the Sawi away from their values to believing in God.
How do the Sawi relate to Faith? Through the Peace Child, the Sawi were able to relate to faith because of their custom. Through the Sawi custom of giving the Peace Child as a way of settling wars, some of the Sawi were related to God in the fact that they gave their child as a sacrifice for peace. The Sawi can relate to this because when they try and make peace with another tribe, then they will give any one of their children, or even their only child as a peace child. God gave His one and only son as a "Peace Child" and could relate to this faith through their own culture of giving their "Peace Child" as well.

What factors of your native culture have informed your religious world view? Explain the impact of these factors

I, Timothy Kwon, am a second son of 4 with a mother, Susanna Kwon, and a father, Joshua Kwon. I was born in New York and soon after I was born my family moved to California my parents having only my old older brother, Daniel, and I at the time of when I was 11 months old. We moved because my father was attending Seminary. During the time of when my father was studying, my two younger brothers, Stephen, and Joseph were born.


With a family of 6, my father finally finished all of his studies at seminary moved out to become a pastor. Being a pastor was not always easy. Money did not come in well and really the fact that my dad had to provide shoes, clothes, and food for a family of 6 was not easy. There was even a time when we were kicked out of an apartment only a couple of weeks after we moved in because 4 young boys were not always quiet and this brought many complaints. However, we settled in and my father found a church where he was able to preach at.


Ever since I was born, Christianity was always something that was mentioned and remembered in our family because I have parents who love God. Because I grew up with God always being mentioned in my daily life, I learned to ignore it because it seemed as if my parents were just setting rules up for my life, "because the Bible said so." My parents, I guess, were forcing me and my brothers towards Christ since we were young and were trying to drill the Bible and God into our heads but not our hearts. I knew all of the kiddy Bible stories and what they meant, but I never decided on my own to believe in God. I however, felt pressure since my dad was a pastor, it would be sensible that I also believe in God and follow in my father's footsteps.


After a while of being in the same church, God called our family to China to be missionaries. At the time I was nearly 9 years old and it was exciting for me, not to do God's work, but to explore another part of the world. My education in China began in an international school which was not Christian. I was homeschooled with a private teacher, I attended Chinese school, and went back to international schooling. During this time, our family moved once to another location in China. Soon after that I became an overseas dorm student in Korea while attending TCIS.


While my education was going back and forth, every year, there was a meeting for all of the missionaries in our area and we met there for parent training. While we were here however, it seemed like we were at a spiritual camp. We had this opportunity to get closer to God every year and for some reason, every year, I would go back home and think that I could put God off for another year. Well, only a couple of years later did those big meetings stop and so there were no more spiritual camps. While there were no more spiritual camps, I got farther and farther away from God.


In my Sophomore year of high school, I had the opportunity to go to a spiritual camp in Seoul and I applied for it and everything, but I dropped out of it because I felt like I was not ready for it. I thought that God wasn't all worth the time that I wanted to use on other things in my own selfish life. I put God off for about 8-9 years and during the first 7 years was the years that there were those week long spiritual camps where I could "feel" God.


Not until the middle of my Junior year did I go to a spiritual retreat that lasted 3 days did I realize that keeping in touch with God is something that should be done daily. Not only when you feel like it. After having been away from God for 2 years, I felt and urge to go and learn more about God and to find some answers to the many questions that I had with God. After the retreat, I realized that God is always just waiting for us but it's a matter of it we want to go to Him or not.


I think that the native culture of my life has been centered around knowing God but not having a personal relationship with Him. Through my native culture, I have always known God and knew who He was but never really relied on Him. I believe that my native culture has however, given me a strong base on God and what He can do for me even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it in the hardest of times.