Is this quote a rare moment of honesty from a Christian minister?

Question

There is a story, which is fairly well known, about when the missionaries came to Africa. They had the Bible and we, the natives, had the land. They said "Let us pray," and we dutifully shut our eyes. When we opened them, why, they now had the land and we had the Bible.
Source(s):

Desmond M. Tutu

Answer 1

Well when you step out of your beliefs and take an honest objective look at the things around you, you begin to see the true nature of things.

Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion –- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven.

Answer 2

I remmember Bishop Tutu as he was an honored speaker at the Urbana missionary IVCF conference Declare His Glory in 1976
I know he is in favor of world evangelism as he was a speaker at one of the premier conferences

as far as this quote, I think it might be an example of where you shouldnt take one quote out of context and I think its not a wise thing to say alone, but I wonder what the broader context was...The Bible is frankly the better deal, but it also isnt an either or one or the other situaltion

you would have to know the quote in context but in South Africa the liberal churches who tend to follow the norms of society not the Bible, tended to lean in the direction of apatrheid and he may have been encouraging Christians not to buy into everythign that goes on in the name of religon and wisely know that fallible people will use reliigon for their own selfish purpose sometimes


Knowing his support for world mission, Bishop Tutu is probably encouraging poeple to believe the Bible but be street smart in not being used and abused. Bishop Tutu is not infallibe but one thing for sure he;s not naive about things that go on in the name of Christianity that may bot be Biblical at all

Answer 3

I'm sure that missionaries did not take their land. Missionaries may have been after their souls but not their land.

Desmond Tutu has probably never been called a good Christian minister before.

Answer 4

It wasn't the missionaries who took the land away from the people there --- do more research and see for yourself who has their land.... they are the ones who have the diamond mines and gold mines....and the rest of the rich resources of Africa.

Answer 5

For thirty years Israel has maintained strong economic, military, nuclear, scientific, academic, energy, tourist, cultural, sports, transportation, agricultural and intelligence ties with South Africa - and thereby prolonged Black oppression there. Jews were the only group in this country who arrogantly threatened to protest the visit of revered African National Congress Chairman and now President Nelson Mandela to the United States in 1990. They have labeled Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu "anti-Semites" while the 110,000 Jewish South Africans are, in fact, the richest single community in the world.

The late Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan asserted that the quality of American military forces had deteriorated because they were composed of Blacks "who have low intelligence and low education." He urged America to ensure that "fresh blood and better brains go to their forces." He is a hero in Israel.

Jewish talk show host Howard Stern was quoted in the November 1st issue of Time magazine as stating that, "they didn't beat this idiot (Rodney King) enough." In March, he played Ku Klux Klan songs on his broadcast and used the term "******" 55 times in 10 minutes. He offered the term "porch monkey" and "yard ape" as labels for Blacks.

Furthermore, during the week of March 7, 1994, Jewish comedian Jackie Mason was quoted by news broadcasts as having said: "The susceptibility to violence happens to be more among Blacks than whites - a hundred times more."

In 1991, Judge Joyce A. Karlin sentenced Korean merchant Soon Ja Du to five years of probation, 400 hours of community service and a fine of five hundred dollars for killing Black teenager Latasha Harlins. Judge Stanley M. Weisberg transferred the Rodney King case to Simi Valley and thereby virtually assured an unfair trial for the Black victim. Superior Court Judge Roosevelt I. Dorn, a Black jurist who had been hand-picked to hear the case of three men charged with beating Reginald Denny during the early hours of the L.A. Civil unrest, was removed from the case by District Attorney Ira Reiner. Karlin, Weisberg and Reiner are all Jews. Jewish leaders did not repudiate them for their "racism" or "unfairness;" there were no newspaper advertisements taken out to condemn them, nor were their names dragged before congress to be censured.

Answer 6

The Bible gets them further than the land. Their faith makes them winners in the end.
People are doing wrong things in the name of the God. God is not to blame.

Answer 7

God works in mysterious ways. How grateful they should be that God found a way to reach them with the truth and provide a country were they could prosper(America). Are'nt the Africans to this day STILL starving to death and dying of disease???

Answer 8

LOL
I like what Pres. Reagan said when asked about his meeting with Tutu. He said so so

Answer 9

really do you believe every thing you hear, you should try sticking to one thing that does not change like the Bible

Answer 10

I'm just glad that most black people have a brain. Maybe you should pray for one.