Christianity and [Insert Religion Here]

[Pard]

In some countries Christianity is tied in with the local lore or religion. I was watching a TV show and there is a country in Africa that brought the question to my mind. Now the more industrialized areas of this country (whose name I cannot recall!) have your mainstream Christian denominations and I think the majority of them are Pentecostal. However there are tribes in the middle of nowhere that are also Christian. They are separate from the rest of the country by jungle and such stuff. There are no roads to this tribe and the only way to get there is either walking for many days or taking an airplane ride and then a helicopter ride.

Now the tribe they visited (just so you know, it was a food show, um Anthony Bordaine) was very Christian, but they did not know how to read the Bible, since their written language does not have a translation as of yet. They only know of Christianity what they were told. Now they really, and I cannot stress how strong their conviction is, believe that Christ Jesus came to give them a means to rid themselves of sin and such.

They have tied their previous religion into Christianity. I would not call it devil worship or demon worship but i is close. They believe that there is a good demon (angel) and a bad demon (demon/devil) and each rules part of the day. The angel rules the day while the demon rules the night.

Now they have sacrifices to the two guys and all.

So, are these guys gonna be saved? They are obviously breaking the commandment of idol worship, but beyond that they are good Christian folk, and truly I doubt they even know about idol worship, because they way they talked and feared God I think if someone instructed them properly they would cast aside all these demons and such. Doesn't God judge the heart? Wouldn't He know that these people only do as they do because they never knew otherwise, and thus save them?

 

[Oats]

When problems like this arise and no one can help it is in the hands of God

You have cases of people here in the USA who have good translations and no one preaches to them...for the I feel bad too.

I'll be praying

 

[Tina]

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This is called "Christianized" paganism, or "Paganized" Christianity. They are no different from many Hindus who have no problems embracing Christianity ... just don't tell them to give up their idols !
After all, they worship millions of gods and almost everyday marks a holy festival in their calendar, sometimes a couple of festivals per day, so to them, adding another statue of Jesus or Mary to their collection is no big deal to them. The more gods, the merrier ! ....

Some missionaries must have gone into the middle of Africa to preach to the tribes, but once they left, they could have "paganized" their new found Christian faith. It is still Cult. And I don't think they can be saved if they remain that way ..... We can only pray for them.

 

[Mike]

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This is called "Christianized" paganism, or "Paganized" Christianity. They are no different from many Hindus who have no problems embracing Christianity ... just don't tell them to give up their idols !
After all, they worship millions of gods and almost everyday marks a holy festival in their calendar, sometimes a couple of festivals per day, so to them, adding another statue of Jesus or Mary to their collection is no big deal to them. The more gods, the merrier ! ....

Some missionaries must have gone into the middle of Africa to preach to the tribes, but once they left, they could have "paganized" their new found Christian faith. It is still Cult. And I don't think they can be saved if they remain that way ..... We can only pray for them.

Yup! I've been to a few parts of the world to witness this. They include Jesus but hang on to other gods in order to cover all their bases. If that's their motive, they're no closer to Him than if they never acknowledged Christ at all. The people in the OP appear to be much closer to the truth and are having difficulty eliminating traces of their former beliefs. How many of us who are steep in Christianity can't completely let go of things in our lives that were ingrained in us before we were brought to faith. Matters of this world can constantly creep into our walks. We know "the old is gone, the new has come" and we are "new creations", but it's a constant battle to stem the tide of the influence of the world.

 

[l'Chante]

In some countries Christianity is tied in with the local lore or religion.

This is very common in Africa. And I’m not referring to people living in the bushes. I’m talking about colleagues who still go to see sangomas (witch doctors) and believe in their forefather spirits and will go to church on Sundays.

 

[MaryBernard]

I would say that it will be up to God to judge them.

 

[sparrow]

not sure what happened to my earlier answer, but I would say that yes, they are saved.
After all, they have accepted Jesus as their Saviour.
Fortunately, doctrinal purity is not a requirement.
It would be good if they can get a copy of the Bible though, that way they can understand
more clearly what God wants of them.