Don Richardson changed this barbaric, primitive culture that was prevalent in the Sawi tribe. What stroke me the most was "how come does this primitive culture accept the idea of Christianity so easily?" And I found that the answer was so not too complicated; since they were primitive, they could not find how to gain peace and love within their community. God, who represents love Himself, was the ultimate answer of their struggle, and that was how they accepted it so readily.
However, the extent to which Christianity changed the Sawi culture was not very noticeable. Although spiritual tranformation is a big part of their lives, not everything became perfect after Don Richardson visitied the Sawi. For instance, if Sawi people, who used to eat human flesh and assualt on other tribe for fun, are suddenly kept from doing those, how would they survive? Their perception of their lives is probably much more optimistic than it used to be, but what about the reality? Christianity cannot feed them and protect them physically from other tribes.
For this reason, although Christianity gave Sawi people a meaning of their lives and opened their eyes to God, it failed to change the whole culture, as it fails to change their lifestyle all of a sudden.
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James what evidence do you have that the Sawi have not benefited from Christianity and that this change has not been sustained and enabled them to survive what would have been certain death were they to continue in their cannibalistic traditions? You say Christianity failed but do not substantiate this claim. The fact that Christianity has provided the Sawi tribes with a school and education where children from previously warring factions can peacefully learn in unity is astounding and miraculous. (And that is only one small aspect.) Mrs.Mc.
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