Lots of people I meet ask me questions about Samoa – people I know and strangers I meet here – both Palagi and Samoan. One of the deeper questions relates to why the Tsunami happened. Here’s another Sunday sermon from Paradise. Hint: Bypass it if you’re not curious, religious or don’t feel like imbibing some theology something deep and meaningful!
It’s Sunday in Samoa. The shops are closed. In fact everything is closed. A lovely little Catholic village in Aleipata called Amaile even closes the road on Sunday! The smoke from the Sunday To’onai rises from sparrow’s-fart dawn and there is a hive of activity as all the locals here get ready for church. After their weekly dose of Sunday morning [whatever] they will all eat up big-time and then sleep for the afternoon. I blog. Sunday Sermons from Paradise!
[Pic: Samoan "boys" on Vavau beach weaving a basket. "Ten Tala please!" "No thanks" "You have to!" "No we don't!" "Yes you do!" No! What for anyway?" "Coming to our beach" "Go to your High Chief and speak to him" "You know him?" "Yes I do!" "Oh OK!" then the pictures for the Palagi tourist are OK!]
I seem to be becoming an authority on things Samoan; maybe it’s that people are interested; maybe it’s because I write; maybe it’s because I’m simply here and many aren’t. Tourists will chat with me and it’s only natural that they will ask a Palagi “What’s it really like here?”
On the ferry to Savaii last week, a Palagi woman asked me a deep and meaningful question. “Why did the Tsunami happen?”
OMG! What do I say if she’s looking to me as “an authority” of sorts?
It’s a question that many ask, both indigenous people and visitors. Until I inquired of her at what level she was approaching the subject I didn’t know if she was expecting a physical or spiritual answer. After all there are many believe that earthquakes can be deliberately caused by mankind. Knowing some of the advanced technologies that are being used by those in power without general public knowledge I certainly don’t discount the theory at all. In fact she was angling at a human or at least a physical explanation and I found a fellow “believer” “conspiracy theorist”*.
But generally most people attribute things such as earthquakes and Tsunamis to “an act of God”. God seems to cop a lot of blame for natural disasters and the Western world is replete with accusations that he “does” bad things to good people. More generously put, He “allows” bad things to happen to good people.
I would say the bulk of the people here in Samoa too have attributed the Tsunami directly to God. Samoans are extraordinarily complex in matters of culture, local governance and such like but are decidedly simplistic in matters of faith (again, a generalisation but basically a true analysis). I’ve mentioned before that many ascribe the Tsunami to be God’s retribution. What for, varies on the village and whether or not they were hit, and what the “beef” is that they think God has on the people who got hit. Sometimes a bigger thinker may discuss the impact on the whole country.
In regards to blaming God for bad things happening to good people, Henry Makow last week caught my attention with a simple observation. I liked it and think it is a lovely point for Christian Apologetics (like me) to make when those antagonistic to the Christian faith point the finger.
In fairness to God, more bad things happen to bad people.
True and very nicely put.
So to answer the question for myself, while I do have suspicions about the 2004 Tsunami and earthquake I doubt that the September 2010 Tsunami was planned and triggered by evil scientists messing with nature. It’s just not realistic. An earthquake off Los Angeles or San Francisco, or a hurricane generated in Florida or the Gulf of Mexico and then manipulated into or away from certain areas – then I see that as a very likely scenario. But the Samoa Tsunami – nah. That’s more than likely just a freak of nature to me.
So now onto the Sunday sermon and of course on the basis of a Christian world view.
Biblical Scripture explains that the world was once created perfect, but that following an event in the Garden of Eden called “the fall” God followed up on His word and death and decay entered the world. He enacted His judgement on a mankind because we rebelled against His rules. The Creator warned His creation clearly, paraphrased: “Just do the right thing and you will live a happy life foreever but do the wrong thing and you will die”. Mankind chose to do the wrong thing and thus trouble began.
Without getting too in depth with theological matters, basically Christians believe that God is good and that mankind stuffed things up. Essentially we’re to blame.
It’s not a popular message and requires a little humility on our part to take up God’s offer. A Catch 22 if ever there was one – we’re a proud people and cannot accept reality, preferring to go around blaming things and people and God for our own screw-ups because we’ve messed things up. Our pride keeps us from seeing things properly and from exercising wisdom and doing what the Good Lord asks us to do.
But here endeth the preaching!
So how am I responsible for the Tsunami that hit Samoa? Of course I’m not, not directly anyway. My ancestors screwed up and things that are all out of kilter are just the way I inherited this world when I arrived. Tsunamis and earthquakes are par for the course.
But that said, God does have a purpose for all things, and uses adversity to achieve His purposes. From a Christian perspective (world view) God is calling all people into relationship with Him. That’s His purpose. I blogged about that recently. He lost that relationship with us when our ancestors screwed up and the whole message of real Christianity is a restored relationship with the Creator. Eternal life and good things are only a byproduct of faith – not the endgame.
With this Christian world view the real question “Why does it happen?” in regards to the Tsunami must have a biblical answer. In my short time in Fusi, Safata last year I experienced a period of revelation. It was an unusual experience and a period in which I thought I was either going mad or the Lord was doing something special by way of revelation and motivation. In this period I began to see how I see the Lord was using Samoa post-Tsunami.
Here is my answer to the tricky question – the deep and meaningful answer to the essentially, philosophical question.
Samoa has always been a giving country. It has given of its people – early emmigration to other Pacific Islands, it’s hospitality to foreigners, it’s population exodus over the last 40 or so years is effectively giving of it’s people and culture. yes I know that there could be a downside to a population of Samoans in pockets of foreign lands, but in the big picture there are more Samoans outside of Samoa than inside, and many of the best have departed and are giving outside of the little islands Paradise. Think sports, business and academia and you’ll find Samoans up at the top.
So with the best of Samoan population gone and now breeding and living happily offshore; with the Samoan tourism industry knocked for six by the Tsunami; and then exports of anything and everything down to miniscule levels what on earth could the Lord engineer Samoa to give?
This next part is going to be a hard part to believe for many, but bear with me please, and keep the laughter down until you’ve heard me out . . .
II believe that the Lord will be using the Samoan Tsunami to export love. God’s love. Nothing else.
I’m a visionary. I find myself constantly around 5 years ahead of the “market”. I am certain that within 5 years of the Tsunami, Samoa will be actively exporting love, and I would not be at all surprised if it is recognised as a nation that is spoken of internationally as a backslidden corrupt and supposedly Christian nation experiencing genuine revival (spoken outside of the mainstream media of course). Think China and the growth of house churches.
How can a man say that, in the natural?
Samoa is as corrupt as it’s possible to be with a veneer of Churchianity. I’ve blogged about my painful journey of discovery extensively. Just last week my own staff argued with me that we MUST bribe the supervisor of the ferry to get on the last sailing of the day (we’d waited on standby for 12 hours!). “You have to understand Dennis, this is how Samoa works!” We didn’t bribe the guy and we did get on the last ferry but it was a major internal fight between corruption and integrity!
I was told last week that the first experience that one Palagi tourist had on arrival to Samoa was a taxi fare of $150.00 per person (totalling $300.00) for a journey that should have been $50.00 for two (or at the most $65.00)! And that experience is common here as most Samoans look at a Palagi as rich dudes to be fleeced.
This is the thing I’ve noticed about God – He loves doing miracles! It seems like He’s right into showing off His talents at doing the impossible in the centre of trouble. If He can take the most arrogant people group in the world and use them to teach the world humility some 2,000 years ago, I KNOW that He can take one of the most churched societies in the world and bring in a purity and simplicity in the name of love.
In a practical sense, here is how I think it might happen.
First, the local context. In Samoan culture it is an honour to have a guest. Foreign owned resorts, and tourism related businesses (such as taxis and tourist vendors) have altered and undermined this culture with one of greed, but in rural Samoa untouched by the temptations of big-money from tourism, villagers will scurry around and move heaven and earth to prepare for the arrival of a Palagi guest. It matters not if they have lost all in the Tsunami, they will give the shirt off their backs to a guest.
Next the foreign context. As I have blogged about starting in October 2009, the international goodwill towards Samoa is in the stratosphere. The Tsunami was the biggest event to occur in the South Pacific since Pearl Harbour. Samoa was front page news from New Zealand to Zimbabwe. Like every other news organisation in the world, Uzbekistan and Georgia probably carried stories about the Tsunami for three days straight as news filtered out. I estimate that a billion dollars worth of negative press occurred over a three week period as a result.
While the Samoa Tsunami killed only 143 people, the 2004 Tsunami killed over 200,000 people. The difference for Samoa was however that goodwill was distributed over three continents and 20 countries. Samoa copped the lot (even though Tonga and others too got the waves). Speak the word Samoa in ten years time, and people the world over will immediately say “Tsunami!”
The point here is that international goodwill towards Samoa is high. Very high. Very VERY high.
People are curious. They want to know about Samoa. They are genuinely interested in many aspects of this country and its culture.
But they won’t want to come and sit on a beach waiting for another big wave.
This then is the situation that I see . . .
We have an island nation where greed, theft, lies, and other unbiblical things occur on a daily basis (it’s almost institutionalised) and where “God’s name is proclaimed every Sunday” but it isn’t in deed. The true culture is to honour a Palagi guest. People outside of the mainstream business circuit are clamouring for some form of income. A Tsunami occurs and the world is interested. God will find a way to engage these two people groups using the Tsunami as a focal point. In time key Palagi will meet with key Samoans. A cross-cultural exchange will occur and bingo – Samoa is in the business of exporting love.
It’s not a pipe dream. It is a vision that is being outworked daily. I can see it evolving around me. Sure people don’t change over night but I see some people starting to “get the picture” and it is exciting.
There’s a couple of points I would like to add here. I do not see the revival occuring as a mass exodus of pubs and brothels into church. Samoans all go to church and leaders who practice the integrity they preach are few and far between in this culture. No, the revival I am talking about will be one in the hearts and minds of people who genuinely want to do the right thing by God. That’s most likely going to be outside of the church business system over here.
I also believe that any enterprise established to facilitate cross-cultural exchange where the Lord wants to export genuine Samoan/Christian love and generosity will be blessed and do very well. A lot of the SWAP Foundation’s resources are currently going into developing our Village Stay programme. This will launch in September 2010.
To be honest it is very hard work and can be totally demoralising surrounded by people out to fleece you and tempt you, even people in your own team, but even though our first ancestors screwed up somewhat, there was once a Good Man who showed us the right way. It’s always best to follow His example, which to put it simply, is to listen to the Father and do what He says.
Why does it happen? Lies . . . thievery . . . greed . . . Tsunamis? I’m not God so I can’t tell you it all, but the basics from a Christian perspective is that mankind screwed up. But like everything else, God has a plan and a purpose, and today is always much more important than yesterday.
Let’s do the right thing by Him now, today eh?
* Tom Rearden has written about the technology involved in high energy (electromagnetics) and has documented events attributed to the use of technology that remains out of the general public’s knowledge. The jury is still out for me on his concepts of free energy, but his knowledge of and description of the politics of science and the difference between Eastern and Western science rings very true for me. I consider it a fact that powerful people who are angling for World Government, buy and hide technologies for reasons of power and money. I also know that to put it politely, their attitude and approach to the use of their power leans more towards what is generally regarded as evil, rather than godliness.
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