The “Tar-op tim”

Spiritual Thought Given by Jim Hartley, Elders Quorum President, at the Hidden Village Ward Council, December 13, 2020

 I would like to relate a true story about cannibals. It’s even kind of a Christmas story.

 

In 1962, a Canadian couple, Don and Carol Richardson, were assigned to translate the Bible into a language called Sawi. The 3,000 people who spoke Sawi lived in the jungles of New Guinea, a large island north of Australia. The Sawi’s were an illiterate, primitive people … and cannibals!

 

Culturally, the Sawi people gloried in lies, dishonesty, and treachery. Their greatest accomplishment in life was to befriend someone from another village or tribe, trick them into trusting them, then kill them … and eat them! The Sawi’s called this: “Two-ee ah-sah-nee mahn.”  It means, “fatten with friendship for the kill.” 

 

As the Richardson’s learned to speak the language, they tried to teach the people Bible stories about Jesus Christ. But the Sawi’s were bored with the stories … that is, until they heard about Judas Iscariot. They learned that Judas had spent three years with the Savior as a trusted friend. Then, one dark night, Judas betrayed Jesus and Jesus was brutally murdered. When the Sawi’s heard this, they suddenly whistled and thumped their chests in excitement. Judas had performed “Two-ee ah-sah-nee mahn”— “fatten with friendship for the kill.” Judas was like a Sawi warrior. Judas was a hero!

 

Nothing the Richardson’s did changed the Sawi’s. They remained a violent, deceitful people. It wasn’t unusual for their battles to rage surrounding the Richardson’s hut. During one of them, Don ran out into the thick of the conflict waving his arms and demanded that they stop. When the battle halted, Don announced that because of their constant fighting, he and his family were leaving New Guinea.

 

The Sawi’s thought the tall, pale-skinned Richardson’s—with their miraculous tools and powerful medicines—were gods, and they did not want them to leave. The chiefs counseled together for many hours. Finally, they announced to the Richardson’s that they would stop fighting if the Richardson’s would stay. To prove their commitment, the Sawi chiefs performed the “Tar-op tim,” the “Peace Child” agreement. That day, the chiefs exchanged their own infant sons, and every male member of each feuding village placed a hand on each child as a promise that they would have peace. As long as the “Tar-op tim” were alive and well, the villages would never go to war or attempt “Two-ee ah-sah-nee mahn.”  This turned out to be the highest value in Sawi society. To violate the “Tar-op tim”—the Peace Child agreement—was absolutely unthinkable. 

 

And there it was, the cultural bridge the Richardson’s needed, the Peace Child.  The Richardson’s taught the Sawi’s that God had sent His son, Jesus Christ, as a “Tar-op tim,” a Peace Child, to all the people of the Earth. Judas had violated the Peace Child agreement. Suddenly the Sawi’s understood. Instead of being a hero, Judas Iscariot was viewed with revulsion and disgust.

 

The Richardson’s lived among the Sawi’s for 15 years. As they worked on the Bible translation, they taught the Sawi’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, more than half of the Sawi people are Christians. They have given up their deceitful, violent, cannibal ways, and they know the love and peace that come from the Lord—Heavenly Father’s “Peace Child.”

 

The Sawi’s are an amazing example of what happens when we let God prevail in our lives and let His Holy Spirit guide us. Our perspectives and purposes change. Our relationships with others deepen. Faith, hope, and love take root and blossom. God truly becomes our Heavenly Father. If deceitful, murderous Sawi cannibals can change because of God’s divine Peace Child, so can we.

 

May we always remember and honor our own “Peace Child” covenants with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. May we truly take Christ’s name upon us … that we may always have His spirit to be with us.