Romans 8:26
Artist: George Cadell
Although many Native American Indians had become Christians they still held to their beliefs that God had sent them power through His Creations, such as the great buffalo. It helps to understand their beliefs by knowing that through the buffalo they obtained their homes, clothes, tools, weapons, and most important their food.
Many of the plains Indians believed that since they were unable to defend their great herds from the white man’s slaughter that God would be displeased. They feared that with the slaughter of the buffalo that God was sure to remove His blessings, thus taking their power and eventually the existence of freedom as they had known for years.
This Sculpture is an attempt to depict the Indians belief in the Great Spirit, as he pleads to God on their behalf.
It is sad that the Indians, with such a limited knowledge of God’s word, placed so much emphasis on the powers of the creation instead of the Creator. But, their failure to fully understand and to place faith in God any worse than those who taught them? When we consider how much emphasis we have in the past and continue to place on the power of material objects, can we condemn them for their beliefs?