Christian Missionary Deconverted by Tribe

Pirahã tribe of Brazil returns Christian Missionary, Daniel Everett, to atheism. A good video to watch and listen too, I wish more of the world were as simple as these people. If I had the dough, and knew the language, I would go there and live myself.

reply to post by autowrench


link broken.

reply to post by autowrench


Your link was broken my friend is this the video ?
Sounds very interesting if it is I look forward to checking it out fully later

[yvid][/yvid]

Here is the url...wonder why I can't seem to imbed a video today?

Christian Missionary Deconverted by Tribe
www.youtube.com...

Well that's good to hear... I know from my many trips to Peru Jehovah Witness are "not" welcome... very militant and demanding to the point where some of the south american countries no longer allow them in... There have even been reports of children kidnappings by the JW's....
this is refreshing to hear

Originally posted by DaddyBare
Well that's good to hear... I know from my many trips to Peru Jehovah Witness are "not" welcome... very militant and demanding to the point where some of the south american countries no longer allow them in... There have even been reports of children kidnappings by the JW's....
this is refreshing to hear

Wow so JW's are resorting to kidnapping children now?

I guess they need to do something to get their numbers up.

They have had negative growth in the U.S., U.K. and Australia since early this decade.

reply to post by lucentenigma


I remember reading the story in a Bolivian Newspaper maybe 1999 or 2000 ish... I have to take the granddaughter to her doctors now but when I get bake I'll try to goggle it up for you

Thats pretty awesome, perhaps just goes to show the power of nature.

This is the first time I've heard of this. I was curious about what the tribe thought about death and how they handled it so I googled the tribal name to try to obtain more information. I discovered that this man is selling a book called "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language In The Amazon Jungle". I discovered a book review that contained more information about the book. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The Pirahas have other cultural anomalies besides language. They live in the now—never referring to anything in the past. Yesterday did not exist, and tomorrow is not considered. They are the only people known not to have a creation myth. They also have no ceremonies, leaders or concept of God. Worship is not part of their existence. This is extremely unusual. They are peaceful and loving, yet have no concept of marriage (the way we think of it), family units, or faith. Yet they see spirits. They see them communally—as solid flesh beings. There were numerous instances where a group of Pirahas would stand on the river bank pointing to an apparently visible spirit not understanding why Daniel saw nothing.

Over the years, the innocence and purity of the Pirahas nature began to rob the author of his own strength of conviction. In one remarkable evening, after years of witnessing to the tribe, the men came to him and asked if he would stop telling them about Jesus. They couldn’t grasp the ephemeral nature of worshiping a man whom they could not see. In fact, they didn’t have a concept or either history or worship. This is extraordinary only because the Missionary agreed in his heart and never proselytized again. Daniel paid a heavy price for this. He divorced from his fundamentalist wife, became alienated from his children and lost his funding.

www.goodreads.com...

I haven't read this book, so I'm assuming that the information the in the review is true. Based on this information, I found it interesting that even though they wouldn't accept Daniel's faith because they couldn't see it, they allegedly saw 'spirits' that he couldn't see. Wouldn't that mean that had their own version of spirituality rather than none at all like is being suggested? I don't know. That part just struck me as odd--especially since he supposedly lost everything and is now selling a book.

I also found this excerpt from a review at amazon.com:

There is an illustrative story (among many) of Everett being approached by men in the tribe who wanted him to buy them a big canoe from a neighboring tribe. With all the right instincts as a missionary and development agent, he did everything needed to transfer the skill of canoe construction to them. He invited the neighbors to come in and demonstrate, and insisted that the Pirahã men work alongside them. Not long afterwards, the same men came to him for money to buy another big boat. "I told them they could make their own now. They said, "Pirahãns don't make canoes."

www.amazon.com...

I don't know. After reading that quote, I determined that those Pirahans may not be as innocent as they're portrayed (or at least as he thinks they are).



[edit on 12-10-2009 by gazerstar]

[edit on 12-10-2009 by gazerstar]

Here's an interesting lecture by Mr. Everett about his experience with the Piraha. Watching it now.

Daniel Everett: Endangered Languages

The power of atheism is just unbelievable.. it always finds a way to reach peoples hearts. Good luck to the ex missionary and his new found reasoning.

There is always time to throw jesus out of your heart, you just have to think rationaly, and dont be fooled by false promises of "gold and glory" and threats of torture.

Originally posted by Daniem
The power of atheism is just unbelievable.. it always finds a way to reach peoples hearts. Good luck to the ex missionary and his new found reasoning.

There is always time to throw jesus out of your heart, you just have to think rationaly, and dont be fooled by false promises of "gold and glory" and threats of torture.

Its not about jesus verses a group of Natives, this story is about respecting a culture and learning the customs of a people far older than your church! the arrogance of Christians is just astounding... anything that doesn't conform to your views just has to be evil.... All that hate and intolerance will poison your soul

for another heart wrenching story on indigenous South American people go read this www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by autowrench


I just watched this on youtube and wanted to post, glad i did a search first,
this is an excellent example of how industrialized world has become
so detached. Everything here is backwards compared to these people and
how they live. Excellent Video.

Originally posted by DaddyBare

Originally posted by Daniem
The power of atheism is just unbelievable.. it always finds a way to reach peoples hearts. Good luck to the ex missionary and his new found reasoning.

There is always time to throw jesus out of your heart, you just have to think rationaly, and dont be fooled by false promises of "gold and glory" and threats of torture.

Its not about jesus verses a group of Natives, this story is about respecting a culture and learning the customs of a people far older than your church! the arrogance of Christians is just astounding... anything that doesn't conform to your views just has to be evil.... All that hate and intolerance will poison your soul

for another heart wrenching story on indigenous South American people go read this www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think you mistook the sinful post of an atheist, thumping his chest, for a christian post.

Originally posted by Daniem
The power of atheism is just unbelievable.. it always finds a way to reach peoples hearts. Good luck to the ex missionary and his new found reasoning.

There is always time to throw jesus out of your heart, you just have to think rationaly, and dont be fooled by false promises of "gold and glory" and threats of torture.

Atheism is showing it's ugly head, more and more, these days. The dogma of this worldview can easily push Jesus out of anyone's heart, if they allow it to.

“As I read more and I got into philosophy and met a lot of friends who weren’t Christians, it became difficult for me to sustain the belief structure in the supernatural,” he said.

Read more www.newyorker.com...

I don't think he was actually deconverted by the Tribe. He admits here, something entirely different, but it's not as sensational. It was his non-Christian friends who actually had an influence on the deconversion. If you read up on this guy, and watch the video, you may get the picture of someone who used being a missionary as a stepping stone to further an obsession.