Through Gates of Splendor in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 18, 2022 Linda Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, disaster, paperback, poverty, memoirs, 2022, families, history, native-americans, christian

I cannot even imagine being a recently widowed woman, working through grief to put together a history/biography/memoir like this one. Elisabeth Elliot did an amazing job of collecting journal entries and personal history of the five men who were martyred on January 8, 1956 while trying to extend friendship in the name of Christ to a jungle tribe they called the Aucas. Now the tribe is known by its actual name, the Huaorani (or Waorani/Waodani/Wao).

The book's subtitle tells us it is about five m I cannot even imagine being a recently widowed woman, working through grief to put together a history/biography/memoir like this one. Elisabeth Elliot did an amazing job of collecting journal entries and personal history of the five men who were martyred on January 8, 1956 while trying to extend friendship in the name of Christ to a jungle tribe they called the Aucas. Now the tribe is known by its actual name, the Huaorani (or Waorani/Waodani/Wao).

The book's subtitle tells us it is about five missionaries who gave their lives in the jungles of Ecuador, so we know from the start that these men are going to die. She gives the backstory for each of the five men. One of them was her husband, Jim Elliot.

Each of the five men were dedicated to serving Jesus and they knew very well that the tribe they were trying to contact was known to kill white people that entered their territory. Nevertheless they felt the calling to extend their friendship in the form of gifts from the sky... dropped from a small airplane. Then they moved into that region for some face to face contact.

It was a hard book to read only because of the tension of knowing where all these kind souls and blessed efforts were going to end up. It is terrible to think that they rushed into something they knew very well could kill them. These were very young married men and they put service to Christ before everything else.

Reactions are mixed, and even I had mixed reactions within. On one side is the great admiration I have for their willingness to give it all to God in their efforts to tell indigenous people about Jesus. On the other is the distress I feel that they endangered their lives and left their families bereft.

The author wrote in her 1996 "Epilogue II" - The massacre was a hard fact . . . . It was interpreted according to the measure of one's faith or faithlessness -- full of meaning or empty. A triumph or a tragedy. An example of brave obedience or a case of fathomless foolishness.

Yes, I can see both sides, but I feel sure that the young men were there at the behest of God, willing to be the sacrifice that led to the salvation of the Huaorani tribal people.

This book has led many people to abandon their comfortable homes and lifestyles, to head out into the missions field. It is a beautiful thing to turn away from the world and be ready to spread the knowledge and beauty of the Word of God. ...more

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