quote:
Originally posted by Number5:
It is true that this continent was inhabited by Native Americans when we came here.
One only has to read the Bible to understand though that it isn't just about warm fuzzies. Certain things were predestined.
Those seeking religious freedom were allowed to come to these shores and claim this land as their own.
The reason they were allowed to do that is because their religion didn't worship nature but was the husbandman of nature. The persons who came here worshipped God who created nature. They certainly weren't perfect beings but neither were the native inhabitants...
That's where things have gone wrong, people have begun to worship the creation rather than the creator.
Situations or feelings don't even come into play when there are absolutes.
To imply that the Bible 'predestined' the European to rape, torture, and steal from the native American must surely be a corruption of Scripture.

To portray the native faith as nothing more than a pagan worship of nature is an affront to the Native American of both yesterday and today.

Each tribe has its own belief, but natives in general never 'worshipped' nature. Rather even today they 'revere' it as evidence of the power of the one God, "The Great Spirit." Proclaiming the native a pagan who worshipped the 'creation' rather than the 'creator' was used by the European to villify and dehumanize him. It was viewed as justification for raping, torturing, and enslaving the native people.

"Predestination" was used to rationalize taking the native's land by trickery, germ warfare, and any other means, no matter how inhumane.

The land is gone and what has happened is over, but those corruptions of the native story should not continue.

smile