This was the reply one of our PNG friends recently gave Adam when asked why he was wiping off his seemingly clean fishing canoe with a fistful of leaves. This man truly believes that if he doesn't properly "clean" his canoe, he will not only be unsuccessful at catching fish, but the masalai (or sea monsters) will tip his canoe when he's out on the ocean.
We realize this is only one small story, but it captures so well the essence of the mindset of many PNGers. Many of these people here in the town of Hoskins are even "religious" in the sense that they attend any one of the number of churches here in the area. But this is simply what they do on Sunday morning. Come Monday, you'll find them going to clean the spirits off of their canoes or using special beads to ward off rain storms, as blind as they ever were to the reality of Who God truly is.
Daily we see sober reminders like this one of why we are here. This truly is a land of spiritual darkness, and sadly that darkness is often intensified, rather than lessened, by the facade of western Christianity. With no true understanding of what the Bible teaches, these people are left to blend what they are taught on Sundays with the deeply ingrained beliefs that their ancestors have passed down from generation to generation.
