Wanna see a trick?

12. What reflections and connections can you make with this novel?

Imagine a deck of cards. They are taken out of the box, fanned out, to show that they are real. The aces, are produced, strangely, to say the least, putting you on a slight edge.

This is a little of topic, but bear with me for a bit.

The aces are spread out, and shown fairly to you. One is placed aside. The other three sit innocuously on the side. You wonder if he's being completely upfront with the cards, and in the moment you ponder, it happens. A card transfers from one pile to the next. You were deceived, and delightedly so.

You can watch below to see how the rest of the trick plays out in the video below, but I think I have made my point. Its the instant in which we feel one thing happens, another occurs, a larger motion covers a smaller, but more critical one.And now, to connect it to the topic.

Before I go into my little response, however, let me clarify one thing first. I have nothing against missionary organizations. In fact, they have been the sole support for most of my life. Although what I say may sound rather negative, it isn't in anyway.

Missionary organizations, before coming into a new area of people, must discover a new way to interact with the new civilizations. Although they try their best to put up a completely clear front, many times they cannot. Let me give an example with the Sawi. For Don Richardson to waltz into their midst, and try to convert as he would, say, a ten year-old who grew up in a Christian environment would be futile. Richardson, in order to convert,the natives, had to use the imagery of the Peace Child to introduce the idea of Christ.

Another example of a slightly skewed version of Christianity in order to introduce it to natives, is found in the Auca. Missionaries like Rachel Saint and her translator Dayumae had to use the story of Waegongi, an all powerful God, and the story of how we had wrongly hunted down Waegongi's son. Waegongi, however, in his infinite wisdom, left behind a trail of markings cut upon trees, a.k.a. The Gospels.

Neither example showed the missionaries using the culture as they were initially intended. Yet both reached their goal in the end. I wouldn't call their methods deception, perse, but if some disagree with the principles of their techniques, think about my first illustration. The magician doesn't use deception or do magic for the sake of the deception. He does it in order to entertain. And he never means deception to hurt. Very few magicians actually claim they are actually performing miracles (and the few that do are often exposed as frauds). Instead, they use misdirection in order to entertain.

Missionary organizations, I have found, use the technique of finding similarities, analyzing the psychology, and finding connections between societies in order to reach their goal of saving people. In my life, I have had to to separate things, apart from simple magic tricks of course,where I have had to find different ways to approach problems. This unique method of problem solving is one I have found a deep personal connection to.

Now watch the trick. I gave away the secret, but I still bet you can't figure it out.