How to Change a Nation

There are many ways to change a nation’s beliefs: Strictly put in place new rules, calmly introduce another variation to their culture, or flat-out force a nation to accept strange, new cultures.  Isobel and Maria have been pushed to accept the last option: Change by Force.

In the book Out of Many Waters, sisters Isobel and Maria have been taken to a monastery, located in Brazil, during the Spanish Inquisition.  The two have been Jewish all their lives, and are confused by the new religion, Christianity, introduced to them abruptly.  Padre Francisco and Diego are cruel and cold-hearted to 12 year old Isobel and 16 year Maria.  They are disciplined severely if they sleep a few minutes overtime, and they both have no understanding of how loving and compassionate God truly is.

When Maria tells Isobel her escape plan, she is ecstatic... and horrified.  She would be sailing to Amsterdam on a different ship than Maria, her beloved sister!  But Isobel knows this is her only chance to escape from their old, cruel life, here at the city of Recife, and she manages to stay hidden on a Dutch boat sailing toward Amsterdam.

Isobel and Maria were merely two of many young children captured and forced to convert to a different religion.  These converts were known as conversos.  The two sisters never developed a full understanding of God, due to the infamous actions of the friars.  They believe that God is a terrible, cruel, war-like being.  At one point in the book, Isobel thinks, “What does God really know about me?”

God knows everything there is to know about his children, and his love is everlasting.  When He sees you sinning, He is not infuriated, but simply sad that you would do this.  He even loves those of all faiths.

Instead of demonstrating God’s love to the two girls, Padre Francisco and Diego have displayed the opposite: Hate.  The sisters now wanted nothing to Christian faith.  The two friars had been hypocrites: preaching one lesson, doing the opposite.  Isobel believed that all “Christians” were evil, treacherous folk who cared not a bit about children like Maria and Isobel.    

In the two girl’s minds, all Christians had been stereotyped as terrible men and women who did a nasty job of mocking God.

But Isobel hadn’t seen pious Christians since she was six, and Maria, ten.  Not all people of this religion were cold, but the sisters had been very young when they had last met a jovial, warm person.

Now, how do YOU believe a nation should change their citizen’s beliefs?  Should they be stern and cruel while enforcing their laws, or gentle, calm, and kind as they slowly introduce a new option?  Should the world still carry the infamous thoughts and actions it has pondered since the creation of human kind?  Or should we let God wipe our chalkboards clean?