A martyr and a madman

TThe premise of Christianity is a little crazy.

The basic idea is that the son of God is actually an unemployed carpenter who wandered into the wilderness 2,000 years ago with a dozen random dudes. According to the converts, this man with sandal hair called Jesus and was crucified, died and was buried. Three days later, he rose from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God, Father Almighty.

Offer him your eternal soul: receive eternal life. Abandon the world: make disciples of all nations. This is about the essence of the most populous religion, the one that makes the world.

Do not get me wrong, there is plenty of evidence to support the argument that Jesus was the Lord and not the fool. The historical record. Multiple witnesses first hand. But perhaps one of the strongest arguments in favor of the truth of Christianity are the martyrs who continue to die. Stephen was stoned. John Huss was burned at the stake. Nate Saint died at the end of the spear of a member of a tribe.

All are martyrs of Christ and their death, a testimony of the truth of Christianity. Add to wishlist John Allen Chau.

This 27-year-old missionary attempted to contact tribal members of North Sentinel Island and convert them to Christianity. The tribe is primitive, cut off from the rest of the world and hostile. He did not succeed.

According to the writings found, Chau tried to make contact several times before retiring in a kayak anchored off the coast. A member of the tribe attacked with a knife. Another shot an arrow on his Bible crossing the pages of the book of Isaiah. Chau has not been dissuaded. He writes in an entry that "the eternal lives of this tribe are [sic] in another, that his parents "might think I'm crazy".

Chau was last seen on November 17th. His lifeless body at the end of a rope is dragged into the sand by a member of the Sentinel tribes. In the end, he was right. Chau was crazy and that made him a martyr. It also makes him a little crazy.

Chau's body molds somewhere on a tropical island as a result of his efforts. He did not do much of a plan. He did not have a support team. He could not even speak the language, shouting instead some lines of Xhosa, a South African dialect spoken thousands of miles away. In short, he needed a miracle that never came.

Sentinels have a reputation for being hostile to strangers. A fisherman was killed in 2006 when his boat accidentally landed. For nearly a century, foreigners have suffered the same fate. Chau is only the last.

Of course, it did not have to be like that. Chau could have followed the example of Saint and company, for example, as the book says Through the doors of splendor. These more rational missionaries gradually and gradually made contact with the Waodani tribe of Ecuador, learning the language before sharing the Gospel. They ended up becoming martyrs, yes, but they did not throw their lives. Chau, on his side, was dead by the time he arrived on the shore.

Now, the international community is wondering whether or not to recover the remains. The first efforts were faced with resistance on and off the island. The tribesmen rejected a recovery team and the experts warned that any further contact could actually condemn them, as their immune system is not equipped to repress modern microbes.

The example of Chau is always inspiring. He was wrong to risk everything imprudently. He was right to love the Sentinel tribe, the men and women he had never met. Chau believed the scriptures. In a way, he was crazy. His body should perhaps stay on the island to testify.