Sentinels Against the Apocalypse

[Jack the Bodiless]

Christians often seek to blame the ongoing no-show of Jesus (and his imminent arrival) on the claim that he will return "when the gospel has been preached to all the world": allegedly this hasn't happened yet, but will be complete very soon.

But the supply of "lost tribes" in places like the Amazon and New Guinea appears to have dried up (at least, I haven't heard of any more being announced in the last decade or so). There is, however, one group of people which the "Word of God" has definitely not reached yet: the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island in the Andamans. The warlike Sentinelese kill or drive off all who approach their island. From genetic tests done on other Andaman islanders, they appear to have been there in near-total isolation from the rest of the human gene pool for tens of thousands of years.

So, according to the beliefs of many Christians: these guys are holding off the Second Coming and the Apocalypse, right?

[Ab_Normal]

So, according to the beliefs of many Christians: these guys are holding off the Second Coming and the Apocalypse, right?

Cool! Do they take contributions? :D

[Bible Humper]

Ugh, if the christians start to believe that these islanders are what is delaying the magical return of Jesus with all the halleluljahs and gnashing of teeth, it won't take long before a foreign disease, against which these people have no resistance, "somehow" gets introduced to the island.

[Jack the Bodiless]

Update: I've found a rather good online book (http://www.andaman.org/book/text.htm) about the Andaman Islanders. I was concerned when I read about the attempts to "befriend" the Sentineli, and relieved to read that such attempts had been discontinued (no, not because I'm afraid of Jesus coming back...)

Chapter 34, "What does Related mean?" begins with the following disclaimer:
CAUTION: Readers who cannot accept homo sapiens' evolutionary lineage and scientific classification within the Kingdom Animalia read this chapter at their own risk.
...Is it really necessary to warn crackpots that they might read something that offends them?

[Garnet]

Very interesting reading. Thanks for posting it Jack. Looks like the Sentinels are dying out on their own, though. :(

[doubtingthomas]

So, according to the beliefs of many Christians: these guys are holding off the Second Coming and the Apocalypse, right?

Apparently the second coming was supposed to occur around 2000 years go.


Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

[Jack the Bodiless]

Update: Apparently they survived the tsunami, even though the Andamans were hit hard. I suppose they must have experienced quite a few tsunamis in the last 60,000 years or whatever.

From TSUNAMI IMPACT: Andaman Tribes Have Lessons to Teach Survivors (http://twm.co.nz/andamanteach.htm):
Confirmation of their safety came from the Indian coast guard which carried out surveys over the 60 square kilometer Sentinel island last week on low-flying helicopters which were greeted with arrows and spears by the hostile Sentinalese.

The director general of the coast guard, Vice-Admiral A.K. Singh, said on Monday that he was relieved to see the hostility because it was sure sign that the Sentinalese were fighting fit and not interested in receiving outside help following the tsunami. He had pictures of Sentinalese aiming arrows at his chopper to prove the point.

Apart from the four Negrito groups, the southern part of the archipelago (Nicobar group) is home to tribes of Mongoloid origin like the reclusive Shompens numbering 300 and the more sophisticated, Nicobarese who may have migrated from Indonesia's Sumatra island nearby.

Most of the tribal victims of the tsunami were Nicobarese and as many as a quarter of their population of 20,000 people, who are mostly coastal farmers and followers of the Christian faith, may have perished when the killer waves struck.
...Now that's something to tell those Christians who say that the tsunami was God's punishment...

[Anat]

While the Sentinalese may be preventing the Christian Apocalypse, I have taken upon myself to hold back the Jewish Messiah. At least according to Chabad Hassidim, if a single Shabbat is observed by all Jews the Messiah will come at once. So whenever you see a post made by me on Shabbat, you can rest assured that he has been delayed by at least one more week.

[Jobar]

Damn, what a neat plot for a science fiction short story- doctors trying to save the last dying Sentinelese fail, and the last trump immediately sounds. :D

Don't think I'll write it, though; it might give some nutball fundie ideas...

[Columbus]

Damn, what a neat plot for a science fiction short story- doctors trying to save the last dying Sentinelese fail, and the last trump immediately sounds. :D

Don't think I'll write it, though; it might give some nutball fundie ideas...

It's been done. Look up A C Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names Of God".

Tom

~ps It ends with a line that still gives me shivers. "and one by one, all the stars were going out....."

[Jobar]

It's been done. Look up A C Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names Of God".

Tom

~ps It ends with a line that still gives me shivers. "and one by one, all the stars were going out....."

Yeah, I've read it. And I thought of it before I posted- but this could be a topical and consistent application of the same plot to the Christian mythos instead of the Buddhist.

It's damn rare to see a science fiction plot that wasn't done before 1970...

[Columbus]

It's damn rare to see a science fiction plot that wasn't done before 1970...

Ahhhh, the good old days. When popular fiction stretched your mind until it hurt from growing pains.

Tom

[American Humanist]

So these tribes have essentallly remained isolated from the rest of the world? Can anyone post more information on the tribes and their isolated stataus? Thanx in advance.

[Vortex]

There are tribes on remote islands between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Is. that believe an American, Jon Frum, will come one day with all the cargo and supplies they've always wished for; Jon Frum also happens to own the United States. He's kind of god, without having created everything — a capitalist god, maybe.

According to Paul Theroux's The Happy Isles of Oceania (a must-read for his brilliant tales of discourse with missionaries alone), they were around in 1991, and had been since at least 1938.

So the fundies still have them standing in the way of their precious apocalypse.

[Jack the Bodiless]

So these tribes have essentallly remained isolated from the rest of the world? Can anyone post more information on the tribes and their isolated stataus? Thanx in advance.
The link in post #4 is still the best I've found so far, even though some of the chapters haven't been written/posted yet.