No Greater Love
November 27, 2018 - FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL
It's been almost two weeks since John Allen Chau climbed in a kayak halfway around the world, determined to reach the shore of a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. His whole life he'd been determined to live out the words of Jesus in the Great Commission -- to go and make disciples of all nations. He died on North Sentinel Island trying.
Losing John, so full of life and potential at 26, would be a tragedy in any circumstance. But in this young missionary's case, the world didn't just lose a warm and engaging soul. It also lost sight of the kind of conviction that drives Christians to take risks like his. In the days since John was killed by the Sentinelese tribe -- so isolated that Indian law makes it a crime to visit -- the chasm between the evangelical worldview and the rest of the country has never been clearer.
Sixty-two years ago, when five missionaries were speared to death in Ecuador, Americans were shocked and saddened. Sympathetic stories were written in high-profile magazines like Life. People may not have agreed with Jim Elliot's decision to try to reach the violent tribe, but they understood what compelled him. Now, more than a half a century later, we seem to have lost even a basic appreciation for what drove John to sacrifice his life. Instead of compassion, his death has been met by contempt. In places like the Wall Street Journal, John's life vision is smeared as reckless, foolish, and futile.
"Given the symbolism, and the obvious tragedy of his death, there will be those who ascribe nobility to Chau, and courage... But go easy on the romance of Chau and his messy, martyred end. He broke Indian law by entering the country on a tourist visa while pursuing an evangelical mission." Yes, he broke the law -- an ill-advised, isolationist policy that keeps the Sentinelese trapped in a world of hostility and fear. A law that's become a barrier to anyone reaching them. But, as John knew, there was a higher law than man's -- God's. And while the culture may reject it, our mandate is to the take the name of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, whether that's on a remote island or in a cubicle at work.
"You guys might think I'm crazy in all this," he wrote to his family before he died, "but I think it's worthwhile to declare Jesus to these people. Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed." This wasn't the rash decision of a publicity-seeking adventurer. "Every decision he has made in the last eight, nine years has been to equip him to love and to care for the North Sentinelese," said Dr. Mary Ho of All Nations. "He was extremely well-prepared in every way. So that is why we supported him."
"Leave the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island alone," fumed Tunku Varadarajan. But that's one thing true evangelism cannot do. "'Leave North Sentinel Island alone' makes perfect sense if what you believe about God has nothing to do with your eternal fate," Thomas Kidd tried to explain. "If there is no afterlife (or if we can't know anything about the afterlife) then what Chau was doing was the height of foolishness..." But, the Federalist's Stephen Roberts writes, "To protect a dying people in the name of culture is not only no protection, it is the height of cruelty and barbarism... It is better to die at the sharp edge of truth and in the bitter throes of compassion than to live in such a malaise."
The transcendent truth and love of Christ belongs to everyone. John believed that with his life. That may make him radical to some, but it doesn't make him reckless. This is a young person who sacrificed himself for the highest purpose. He was a son, uncle, brother, and friend who left the most important legacy of all: taking up his cross and following Jesus -- wherever that may be.
Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
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