Doing the right thing…

October 27, 2009

…isn’t always easy.  There are times and circumstances that we face which when right and wrong are more like shades of gray than they are black and white.  There are those moments when a choice presents itself when both (or all!) options seem more than ‘okay;’ times when we have to decide about jobs, health procedures, organizational strategy, whether to stay or go in any number of things, or the best course of action for a loved one and their future… and the details, options, and consequences are anything but simple.

In Joshua 9 & 10, there are principles demonstrated to the reader about how to handle those times when we don’t know what the ‘right thing to do’ is.  The people of Israel are in the midst of a progressive military campaign as they work to conquer & claim land promised in generations past.  They have faced and overcome many obstacles; individuals have risked their own lives and families for the sake of a greater cause; all the while God has shown he alone is the Leader, Provider, and Conqueror.

Word comes to these same people that an army unlike anything they had faced thus far had amassed… and is heading directly toward their position.  Israel’s battle tacticians and warrior-leader, Joshua, begin planning strategy, knowing there are many battles which still lie ahead… and that if they can’t deal with the obstacle heading their way, all will be lost.

In this midst of this, a band of tired, road-weary, seemingly desperate travelers comes their way seeking a treaty of peace.  And the Joshua, the Israelites, (and us, too!) learn some hard lessons in doing the right thing.  Over the next few Joshua posts, we’ll discover what some of those lessons are.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Gimmies

October 6, 2009
Greed<Image courtesy of bejealousofme>

Christmas is coming.

Now, we may not be very far into autumn, Halloween is still almost a month away, and Thanksgiving is a distant thought for those of us here in the US.  But reminders are everywhere that Christmas is coming and retailers are working hard to instill a bad case of the gimmies in every consumer.  It’s a disease that strikes young and old alike, when raw consumerism and selfishness reign, and though self-restraint may keep us from actually verbalizing, “Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie…” the sentiment can still be found in many.

But The Gimmies aren’t something unique to the Christmas spending season or retail marketing.  Somewhere deep within each of us is the desire to grab a hold of the stuff that isn’t ours but we think we deserve.

In Joshua 7, Achan did exactly this.  He grabbed a hold of some of the very things God said were only God’s, and, as shared in the last Joshua post, the result was disastrous for the people of Israel.  Achan held onto something that wasn’t his and the consequences were dire.  His actions should cause each of us to ask if we aren’t holding onto things not ours… things even greater than the shiny new _______ (you fill in the blank) we desire when flipping through the Sunday ads.

Are we attempting to possess something that isn’t really ours?  Do we recognize that even ‘our’ job is simply God’s chosen vehicle for his provision in our lives and that it isn’t really ours at all?  That our job isn’t ours to squander or take advantage of; it isn’t ours to do with as we please… because it simply isn’t ours?

What about ‘our’ church?  We often try to make church what WE want… either in the name of some sacrosanct tradition, because of ‘righteous indignation,’ or in the name of ‘reaching the lost at any cost’ when, at the core of it all we’re just fighting for personal preference and comfort… what we want when we want how we want.  And yet, Scripture is clear that the Chruch is Christ’s body over which he is the Head… and as the Sovereign King, His design and desire are all that matter.

Or how about family?  Parents (I’m treading lightly here because I recognize I’m not a parent) sometimes forget that ‘their’ children are really lives which belong to God and the parent is given brief stewardship over.  Spouses are called to love, respect, protect, and submit to one another not because they belong to each other but because God has, in a sovereign but loving manner, given husbands to their wives and vice-versa.

We all too often commit the sin of Achan, taking the things that are devoted to God and trying to claim them as our own.  To those of us in Christ, our call is one to a life of continued, consistent obedience, even in those areas of life which may seem too big/special/scary to trust to God.  But they (and we) are His, and so is the victory we seek.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Victory: Simple

September 29, 2009
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Over the course of the last few Joshua posts, some ideas have been shared about where victory for the Israelites wasn’t found as they fought in the somewhat well-known battle for Jericho and their less familiar defeat at Ai.  As counterintuitive as it may seem, we discovered that the key to their victory wasn’t in a flashy move of God, attempting to conquer, or self-confident.

The key to their victory—and the key for us to find victory and freedom in what we face—is simple:

Joshua 7:10-13 (TNIV)—

10 The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

13 “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

In seeking God for understanding about the source of their defeat, the Israelites discovered the source of their victory: Obedience.  Their victory wasn’t theirs at all but came about as a direct result of their obedience to God’s direction.

The instructions to Israel about how to fight the battle for Jericho had been clear: march around the city day after day (even though it probably looked and felt ridiculous) and then when the city was invaded the people were to dedicate certain objects to God.  The source of Israel’s defeat at Ai was their  disobedience at Jericho: they had only followed PART of the instructions.  Even ‘worse,’ only part of Israel followed part of the instructions—for the most part, everyone seems to have very carefully followed God’s direction and acted within the parameters which had been set for them.

But there was one man who didn’t.  One.  A man named Achan took hold of some the very things God said belonged only to Him and claimed ownership of them for himself.  As a result all of Israel was defeated; one man’s disobedience meant the suffering of an entire people.

Our personal disobedience never effects only us.  Our personal sin is never personal.  Our individual issues reach far beyond our personal experience.  This is one reason the Church is called to judge herself and we are reminded of our existence as a single Body not a group of individual people.

Victory for us, our churches, our families, our communities is found in our  obedience to the Lordship of God’s Spirit.  This may be simple, but it is not easy—the incredible thing is that through Jesus Christ, we have access to the desire to obey and through Christ we have the ability to find obedience (and, therefore, victory).

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Victory: More than Confidence

September 15, 2009

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In our final discussion of what victory isn’t based on chapters 6 & 7 of Joshua, we find the Israelites engaged in a post-Jericho battle with the people of a little town called Ai:

Joshua 7

2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.

Israel had experienced victory in the midst of impossible odds; but in the face of a seemingly insignificant enemy at an insignificant town they were soundly defeated.  The Israelites were confident.  Brash.  Full of themselves.  But they didn’t look at the obstacle before them with spiritual eyes, and it cost them.  Huge.  There were problems within their own camp that had to be dealt with, but those issues were indiscernible to eyes which were focused simply on the physical realities of battle conquest.

True to form, the Scripture here teaches us something:

Those who serve as our superiors, mentors, trainers, and trusted advisors often seem to indicate that the more confident we are, the more successful we will be.  I definitely think there is some truth to that, but we run the risk of talking ourselves into frenzied activity where we forget we are wholly dependent on God, and that, as great as we think we are, when we become full of ourselves, we destine ourselves for failure.

The battles we’re fighting and obstacles we find ourselves facing must be viewed through spiritual eyes (we forget that the spiritual is far more real than we may be tempted to believe).

The first time I ever went snorkeling, I was amazed to discover a whole different world— just as real as what I had been experiencing on land— thriving under the surface of the water.  Sometimes, even from the land there were some indications of this ‘other’ world: kelp leaves discernable at the surface, tide pools evidencing various treasures, and ‘flying fish’ jumping from the water.  But when we peered under the water, with masks properly secured, a new understanding of ‘ocean life’ came to be mine.  For someone from the desert of Arizona, ‘ocean life’ had always been more an untested theory than a real concept until I experienced it firsthand.

For those of us living in the desert of this present world, the reality of the spiritual may be lost on us because it is sometimes seen only in brief, somewhat confusing glimpses.  But when we view what is occurring with spiritual eyes, we are amazed at what seems to be a whole other world full of vibrant reality.

We must view the battles we are fighting with spiritual eyes, no longer focused only on the obvious or our personal confidence.  We must see our battles as ones with spiritual consequences and even spiritual roots; as the kind of fights which can only be truly won if we are on the side of God, full of his Spirit and transformed by his Word.  Walking by faith rather than what we see isn’t always easy, but it’s particularly important that we battle by faith rather than our confidence in what is seen.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Victory: More than Conquest

September 12, 2009

pinkyAndBrain_traced

In discussing a couple of specific battles found in the book of Joshua, as God leads his people into the land promised to their ancestors, we’re focusing on where victory wasn’t found for the people as they began to move.  We’ve already watched as they were prepared for these battles by some less-than-conventional means (like here, for example).  And as we’ve watched the battle of Jericho unfold in Joshua 6, we’ve also seen that victory wasn’t found in the miraculous event of the city’s fortified walls collapsing.

Neither was victory found in conquest.

Now, you may find yourself thinking, “Isn’t that what they DID?  Didn’t the Israelites conquer Jericho by crushing the military protecting the city and destroying the town?”

Not necessarily.

Joshua 6

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”

The proof of conquest for the people of Joshua’s day was walking away with the possessions of the conquered people; in many ways, the aim of conquest was to assimilate the good and powerful aspects of a civilization into your own.  The conquering people would proudly display the valuable, often sacred artifacts of the conquered party as a badge of honor and evidence of the victorious army’s great strength.  By destroying everything about the town and preserving precious metals in the Temple treasury, the Israelites are giving up evidence of their conquest and, thus, of their superiority.

In my understanding, God is again calling his people to be humble: by having the Israelites operate in this way, they would be unable to brag of what they had done.  It’s as if God is again reminding them that they were not the ones responsible for the victory enjoyed.

I wonder how many times we have wanted some area in my life ‘conquered’ so that we would be able to build up our own name.  Admittedly, I have not always faced the difficulties and obstacles in my life with humility, but hoped to overcome them so others would see how great Jeremiah Gómez really is.

How often have we wanted to win the next battle at work and climb the corporate ladder so others will finally see how smart we are and how much work we do?  To overcome family issues so others will recognize how much of a ‘good’ spouse, parent, sibling, or child we really are?  Or to find financial freedom so we can have all the stuff that better demonstrates our success?

The Israelites, it seems, needed to learn and practice humility in the face of obstacles.  It’s a tough lesson that we need, too, but it’s one that will bring us to a place of greater confidence in the God Who Never Fails and less in our own design or desire.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Victory: More than a Miracle

September 10, 2009
fireworks<image courtesy of Image*After>

After the Israelites have crossed into enemy territory and prepared themselves for battle in some pretty interesting ways, it’s time to overcome the obstacle of Jericho—a fortified city with some strategic importance.  If you’re at all familiar with the story of the Battle of Jericho, you know the ‘highlight’ is when the  walls collapse, leaving a once impregnable fortress ready for the taking.  It’s an incredible picture of God demonstrating his divine power over the human effort of the people of Jericho.  But this ‘flashy move’ of God isn’t where the Israelites find victory.  In fact, far from it:

Josh 6:1-5

1 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

Even after the wall was destroyed, the Israelites still had to quickly move in to fight so that the people of Jericho wouldn’t escape and the Israelite army wouldn’t be routed.  Even though God had moved in an unmistakable way, there was still danger involved for Joshua and his people: as said before, Jericho knew the Israelites were coming, so they were prepared and anxious for a fight.

In our own lives, we often look for a miraculous, overwhelming, shock-and-awe end to our struggle.  We wish God would just *zap* our enemies and troubles away.  We forget that most of the time, however, when God shows his miraculous power or performs a miracle of such incredible wonder there is no doubt it has been his hand at work, you and I still have a part to play.  Even when God does something huge which demonstrates he is with us, that he has already made a way, that he is for us rather than against us… the ‘us’ factor still remains in the equation: for the Israelites it’s seen in the fact that the power of God destroying the walls of Jericho did not mitigate the responsibility of military to move in and overtake the city.

In the areas of our lives where we are crying out for victory, it’s important to question if we have simply asked God to *zap* our problems away, or if we have asked to be equipped to face the challenges at hand in his way so we can be prepared for the next part of our journey without avoiding this part of our journey.  The difference here is profound:

  • “God, fix my family.” Vs. “God, help me to love my family the way you love them and transform us by your Spirit to being more like you.”
  • “God, give me a better boss.” Vs. “God, help me to honor you and my leadership as an employee.”
  • “God, fix my finances.” Vs. “God, please teach me the way to be the kind of money-manager you call me to be.”

It’s a difference between a ‘genie-in-a-bottle’ kind of God and the God of the Universe who is able to work all things (including the battles we face, and the dark aspects of our journey) for his glory and the praise of his Great Name.

Would the Israelites have won the Jericho battle without God’s miraculous hand at work?  Absolutely not.  Would they have won if they refused to their part?  Nope.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , , , | Comment (1)

Victory…

September 9, 2009
bricks<image courtesy of Dano>

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The last few posts on the book of Joshua focused a little on the battles faced by the Israelites, and how God prepared them to find and find victory as they began their conquest of the land they had been led to as well as some things we can take from their pre-battle lessons.

Now in the story (chapters 6 and 7 of Joshua), we’ll follow the Israelites as they battle at Jericho (which is a well-fortified city whose residents/leadership had seen Joshua’s army coming from afar—so they are very, very ready for a fight) and at another town called Ai.  If you’re familiar with the story at all, you might have in mind that the battle went something like this:

  1. The Israelites march around the city a few times and the wall surrounding the city are supernaturally destroyed.
  2. The Israelites claim victory and move on.

But there’s a great deal more to the story; and there’s a great deal more for us to learn about where victory was found in these particular battles.  Starting tomorrow, we’ll begin by looking at where victory in battle wasn’t found (you might be surprised to learn that the walls collapsing wasn’t the mark of victory in this battle; neither was ‘conquering’ the town; and the assurance of victory wasn’t in the confidence of the people) before we look at what really brought victory for the people of Israel.

But even this little conversation makes me wonder if, in the areas of life that are uphill and otherwise difficult right now, I have been looking for a ‘win’ that really isn’t a win at all but my simple, wrongheaded definition of victory.  How do you define ‘victory’ or a ‘win’ in your circumstance right now?

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Is That Enough?

August 5, 2009

As the story of Rahab and the spies in Joshua 2 continues, we get a deeper look at what faith is… perhaps gaining a perspective that isn’t celebrated as much as it should be.

The story continues and indicates that faith is obedience.  In a world where belief and obedience can be two very separate entities, the Scriptures indicated belief without obedience is simply folly.  We see faith play out as obedience for the spies and Rahab both.

For the spies:
Going into the land would have been a pointedly obedient act—they would have had knowledge of the last time an expedition had been made into the land and would recall the resulting report—

Num 13 (TNIV)

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Entering into the land was an act of obedience—allowing their belief that the land was theirs from God and He was indeed leading them to play out in action, even though that meant life might get messy.

Most of us will only believe/obey someone or something if we have a well-rounded understanding of who is directing us or what it is that we will be obeying in.  The spies had that—they had been travelling in the desert where they had been recipients of supernatural food, of leadership in the form of fire pillars and clouds, and had been directed by the very prominent human leader of their people.

But Rahab didn’t have any of this well-rounded understanding of what it meant to obey.  Her obedience comes from an incomplete picture… and this, I believe,  is part of why she is seen as a woman of great faith:

Josh 2

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”

There’s no indication here that Rahab has ‘converted’ (for more on this, see The IVP Bible Background Commentary, which is one of my very favorite resources).  Simply put, she has found someone stronger than her deities, someone that she knows she should be afraid of… and she asks for help.

YHWHIn the passage, note how she asks the spies to swear by the LORD.  “LORD” in capitals means the Hebrew word there is YHWH; the sacred name of God.  Get this: all Rahab knew was God’s name and that he is strong. Rahab risks her life for the lives of the spies… and would be obedient in what they later instruct her to do even though she only knows a little part of what is going on.

There are times when we can relate very well to Rahab: we find our heart ‘melting in fear’ because of what we’re facing.  And in those situations we think, ‘I don’t have faith enough.’ In those times, it is especially important to remember that all we really need to know is his name (he invites us to call him ‘Father’) and to recognize his strength, allowing this knowledge to fuel our belief and obedience.

But here’s something even more incredible: Rahab’s great faith points to Jesus by pointing us to his redemptive activity.  We do not celebrate Rahab because of Rahab or because of her obedience, but because of the testimony her life is of God’s activity and hope.  In the same way, our ‘great faith’ isn’t about us but about the Giver of faith—the one to whom all obedience is due.

Great faith is seen in obedience even when we don’t understand.  It’s seen in obedience even when ‘obedience’ means doing something messy.  But I am comforted to know ‘great faith’ can mean calling out for help even as my heart melts in fear.  My prayer is that I would be a man of great faith both when I understand and when I don’t; that I would be a man of great faith when I am facing the impossible; that I would be obedient in the ‘big’ things and in those that seem insignificant.

Today, I am facing the impossible.  Today, my heart wants to melt in fear.  Today, it seems that tomorrow will never come.  Today, I don’t know what my obedience will mean.

But I know His Name and that He is strong.  And, today, that is enough.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

What a Mess!

August 1, 2009

62316127_5ec01559d9_oImage from iboy_daniel

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I’ve been walking through the book of Joshua here on the ol’ blog and at this point we’re looking at chapter two as a bit of a case study on ‘faith’ (since Rahab, a central character in this passage is heralded later as an example of great faith and this is part of God’s story of keeping his promise to his people).

Taking that ball and running with it, we don’t have to go very far in the Scripture (or in life!) to discover that faith is messy/uncomfortable.  I think we see that in a couple of aspects within this story:

First:

1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”  4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.     (Joshua 2:1-5, TNIV)

Later in the story, Rahab indicates she has heard of the power of the God of Israel and is showing favor to the two spies because of her own fear of this powerful God.  In doing so, she commits a treasonous act against the city-state government of Jericho.  I don’t think she would have described this situation in any way as ‘comfortable’ or even all that enjoyable.  She lies to the authorities in order to hide the two men spying for Joshua and misdirects those same authorities’ search efforts.  Don’t think this is a small thing: if found out, Rahab would have been confronted with the business end of a rock or some other ancient tool of execution.  Faith is messy.

Now, this next part isn’t exegetically sound—but I believe much of this passage is seeing God active in redemption & faith.  Understanding this passage as an exercise in faith helps us to view the messiness of faith from a different perspective: the spies’.

The spies are two men who have been wandering the desert for years with their fellow Israelites.  In the forty years God has been leading these people, there is one major theme that’s been retold, reiterated, and reinforced: God is holy and sin cannot be tolerated in his camp.

First order of business: approaching a prostitute at night. The ‘why’ seems obvious—it’s nighttime and you need a place to stay.  Who is up at night and conducting business?  Members of the world’s Oldest Profession, that’s who… and I’m not talking about bakers.  Two men, likely chosen for their integrity and passion for the things of God & Israel (there had been a problem with sending spies into the land before, resulting in a forty-day journey lasting forty years… Joshua wasn’t going to risk the same problems again), have to spend the night in the home of a prostitute.  If you don’t think that might be a little uncomfortable, you’ve never faced a decision where necessity and integrity seem to exist in tension.

These spies are an interesting hiding spot as the authorities search them out:

(But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)    (Joshua 1:6, TNIV)

Stalks of flax are laid out on the roof to dry after they have been soaking for awhile (sometimes the better part of a month) in water so the different fibers can be separated and woven together to make different kinds of things like linen and rope.  That may not sound so bad, but imagine hiding underneath a pile of wet nastiness that has been soaking for weeks in water full of putrescence and reek.  Imagine trying to ‘hide’ in a pile of pig slop and you can imagine the ‘yuck’ factor involved here.

Faith is messy.

Rahab’s desperate request to the spies for help and rescue.  Messy.

The spies hiding in rank dampness.  Messy.

Sacrificing home and future.  Messy.

Somehow we’ve gotten this idea that faith is ‘easy’ and that our lives should immediately find a pain free, straightforward existence when faith is involved.  But that isn’t the case.  The fact is, faith is uncomfortable and at times can be very hard.

Is it possible that the very uncomfortable, seemingly ‘desperate’ thing you’re facing is God’s opportunity for you to become more of a person of faith?  I don’t know what that is for you–maybe you’re being drawn to really follow Jesus; maybe it’s stepping into a major change, move, or job transition; perhaps it’s ending an inappropriate relationship; or it could be something not so huge but just as difficult, like asking for help.

God has already equipped you to endure the uncomfortable, and even tells us faith is a gift from him.  You can do this—just recognize it won’t be easy… and it might be a little messy.  But it’ll be worth it.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in Joshua | Tagged , , , | Comments (7)

“Kill the Indian, Save the Man”

July 3, 2009

How’s that for a motto?

Not far from where I live is what used to be the Carlisle Indian Boarding School, which used that same motto—the ‘Indian School’ now houses the US Army War College (I think their motto is something like, “Kill the Enlisted Man, Save the Colonel”).  The above ‘mission statement’ gives a pretty clear image of the view most people had toward native Americans: if we could just ‘un-Indianize’ them, there would be hope for them to enjoy life as “civilized” (read “educated, white) persons.  Their differences invited ridicule and caricature—think of how natives have often been portrayed, especially in the books and movies of not-so-long-ago—all because of ignorance on the part of those who felt they knew best.

In 1744, a group of well-meaning people from Virginia and Maryland offered to instill “proper culture and education” into the lives of natives by covering the costs for a group of young men from various nations to attend the College of William and Mary.  What follows is the response of Conassatego of the Iroquois League, replying on behalf of the Six Nations (as found on p. 239 of American Indian Tribal Governments, Sharon O’Brien, 1989):

We know that you highly esteem the kind of Learning taught in these Colleges, and the maintenance of our young Men, while with you, would be very expensive to you.  We are convinced, therefore, that you mean to do us Good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily.

But you who are so wise must know that different Nations have different Conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our Ideas of this kind of Education happen not to be the same yours.  We have some experience of it.  Several of our Young People were formerly brought up at the colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a Deer, or kill an Enemy, spoke our language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counselors; they were totally good for nothing.

We are, however, not the less obliged by your kind Offer, tho’ we decline accepting it; and to show our grateful Sense of it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia will send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take care of their Education, instruct them of all we know, and make Men of them.

Ouch.

Put that in your paradigm pipe and shift it.

By JeremiahGomez | Posted in history | Tagged | Comments (0)