“But your iniquities have separated
you from your God.”
-Isaiah 59:2
John Muir went to Alaska in 1879.
While exploring glaciers, he met native Indians who had embraced Christianity
before the gold rush. In his book Travels in Alaska, Muir explains how one
tribe, the Stickeens, were able to understand the doctrine of atonement.
The Stickeen tribe and the Sitkas had
been at war with each other. After fighting all summer in a desultory,
squabbling way none of the women dared venture to the salmon streams or
berry-fields to procure their winter food. Then one of the Sticken chiefs went
into an open space between their fortified camps, and shouted that he wished to
speak to the leader of Sitkas.
The Stickeen chief said that it was
foolish for both tribes to continue warring. But the Sitka chief replied, “You
say let us stop fighting. You have killed ten more of my tribe than we have
killed of yours. Give us ten men to balance our blood-account; not til then,
will we make peace and go home.”
“You know that I am worth ten common
men and more. Take me and make peace,” replied the noble chief. He stepped
forward and boldly stood before his enemy. He fell to the ground as bullets
found their mark. Peace was established that chief literally gave himself a
sacrifice for his people.”
When missionaries explained that
Christ stepped forward and said, “I will pay the price of mankind’s separation
from the Father. I will bear the burden of guilt and sin, “the Indians quickly
understood. They replied, “Yes, your words are good. The Son of God, the Chief
of chiefs, the Maker of all the world, must be worth more than all mankind put
together.”
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