One of the blessings of using Tapestry of Grace as our core curriculum is the number of options involved. It covers history and literature at its core, but one of the other options is Christian world view studies. Lately, as we're in the 1950s, we've studied the five martyred missionaries of Ecuador in that time period.
The men were sent by a few different groups, but all wished to reach the Waorani Tribe, then called the Aucas. Since the middle children were reading a book on Nate Saint, I checked out
Through the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s widow, for me. It was beautiful and hard, exactly what you would expect from a young wife and mother, knowing she was sending her husband off to meet a group of people hitherto known for killing outsiders. It was written quite soon after the men died, so it did not contain the events following the deaths, aside from the immediate actions of those who were involved in the attempt to rescue, which became the men who buried the missionaries, and their families' first steps to regroup.
We followed up by watching the movie
End of the Spear. This was written largely from the perspective of Nate Saint's son. Here, while greatly condensed for time, we could see more if the time after the missionaries died. We see a wife and sister make their way to join the tribe.
While personally the idea of sending a husband into so much potential danger seemed difficult, the fact that Elisabeth Elliot could take her young child amongst the people who had killed her husband is beyond my understanding. While I know the safest place is in the place God has marked for you, that is a place I clearly was not called to.
There was fruit there, beyond all one could hope for. The man who reports that he killed both Nate Saint and Jim Elliot became a Christian.
There is much to chew on there. Beautiful thoughts, such as, that the men refused to use any weapons in violence (only to scare the on comers away) because they were ready for heaven, but knew those in this tribe did not yet have knowledge of Jesus. There is bravery, joy, understanding.
As I looked a bit further though, I found some people felt there were mistakes made. Of course, second guessing is always easier on the other side of history, but I found the article
After Jim Elliot—the Good, Bad and the Ugly to be a pretty balanced view, as far as I can tell. It discusses how the lives of the tribe members were disrupted, but allows that disruption may have occurred in a much less peaceable way, as the companies were seeking oil in their lands; as well as interpersonal issues of missionaries, who are people, after all. It also led me to wonder if the men might have, given more time and guidance from older leaders, (Their Operation Auca was kept entirely secret, even from their superiors) found a safer way to reach out.
I suppose it is always good to look at all mankind, remembering that even the most pious are fatally flawed. There may have been a better way to reach the Waorani, or maybe not. Perhaps the jarring-ness of those deaths was imperative to the future of the tribe. Our world is messy and full of gray. Thankfully, God works all
for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
My sources:
Through the Gates of Splendor
End of the Spear
After Jim Elliot—the Good, Bad and the Ugly
