Unity

 

OK, this could be sensitive...

An imaginary conversation between a Christian and a supporter of the John Frum Movement.

Christian: John Frum is dead and buried. If he ever existed at all. I mean, what is the evidence?

John: Well, what is the evidence that Jesus ever existed?

Christian: The Bible of course. And an unbroken chain of Church tradition going back almost 2000 years!

John: Well, there is a tradition going back to John Frum´s first appearance in 1940. The White man came and interviewed the two eyewitnesses who founded our movement. The interview is available on something called “TV” (a special form of blessed cargo). Due to this cargo, we don´t need no scripture or “tradition”. It´s all on TV, bro!

Christian: TV is fake news. The apostles died for something they knew was true. They wouldn´t lie!

John: Our apostles spent 17 years in jail, bro. They suffered for what they knew was true.

Christian: Wait just a moment. You´ve been awaiting the return of John Frum for 100 years. Well, where is he? How long are you prepared to wait?

John: You´ve been waiting for the return of Jesus for 2,000 years. That´s 20 times longer than we´ve been waiting for John Frum. So how long are you prepared to wait?

Christian: We are awaiting a spiritual millennium. You are just waiting for cargo…

John: Maybe so, but many of *your* followers are Natives who just want cargo. You know, they join your Church and in return the British missionaries give them food, build shelters, dig wells, or fix them voting rights in UK by-elections. Sounds like cargo, dude. Fake cargo, obviously, but it seems to be working…

Christian: Absurd. Jesus was resurrected from the dead! John Frum was never resurrected!

John: That´s because Frum never died in the first place. So he didn´t have to resurrect. John Frum is a life-giving spirit. He lives in a volcano at the island of Tanna.

Christian: But how are you going to get your sins forgiven?

John: By following the injunctions of John Frum: grow your own potatoes, raise your own pigs, drink kava under ecstatic forms, raise the Star-Spangled banner next to the Australian Aboriginal flag, paint “U.S.A.” on our chests, that kind of stuff.

Christian: Sounds like work-based salvation!

John: Yeah, a bit like the Catholic Church. You know, the largest Christian grouping in the world. They came with the French. I suppose you are Anglican or Methodist, then?

Christian: Christianity is obviously true, since it changed the hearts and lives of millions, and has spread around the world. Your cargo cult only exists in one village!

John: We are the faithful remnant. If you search your scriptures diligently, it says that the Church in the last days will also be very small. Besides, what makes you think our lives haven´t changed after we returned to the customs of our ancestors?

Christian: No, your cargo cult can be empirically disproven. The United States exists and don´t want to help you. I mean, I can call Donald Trump or Kamala Harris right this moment, they will confirm it. No American soldiers will ever land here and give you “cargo”, whatever that even means. Refrigerators? Maybe gas stoves?

John: Ha ha ha, what makes you think they will never land? Are you even reading the newspapers? The geopolitical tensions are heating up and our volcano is right at that fault line…

Christian: Let´s just say the geopolitical tensions around Jerusalem are heating up too…