Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vaticanhotline]

From what I've read, Lee Man Hee believes that he is Jesus, that we are dead, and that this is the time of judgement as predicted in the book of Revelations. He also believes that once his church reaches 144,000 all of the members will be taken up into heaven. He also argues that he is the only person who can correctly interpret the Book of Revelations, and that only the members of his church can be saved. That's historically, by which I mean nobody else in history who ever read the Bible can have the possibility of salvation because they weren't part of Shincheonji.

This is a good link that picks their theology apart: http://shinchonjiandthebible.blogspot.kr/
This one is a refutation of their status as a cult, but it's been taken down since I first looked at it: http://healingallnations.shinchonji.kr/content/shinchonji-church-jesus-really-cult-0

But no, Shincheonji is no worse than any other religion. There's nothing odd at all in what they're preaching, or in Lee's self-deification. There's certainly nothing sinister in the methods by which they use events that are supposed to be non-denominational as propaganda for the religion.

Mannam, on the other hand, which is in no way connected to Shincheonji except that it's funded and headed by the founder of Shincheonji, shares a slogan and held this World Peace Festival on the same day as Shincheonji had their own festival, is even more blameless, if such a thing is possible. They clothe and feed the hungry waygooks at their festivals (free t-shirts and kimbap), and give people an opportunity to do some volunteering work-which, even though it seems to be limited to going to events in order to have your picture taken, with no actual benefit to anyone, is still volunteering, so it has to be good.

I'm proud to live in a world like this, where all the religious are tarred with the same brush, especially if it's from the lunatic fringe, and where apathy and relativism have taken such deep root that even if the behaviour of a certain sect was deeply suspicious, to suggest that would be to invite criticism from other people, whom, knowing nothing about the sect in question, would merely argue that such talk is divisive.

[liveinkorea316]

Bearofbundung you are not asking all the right questions. You are correct that their beliefs are not any worse than the myriad of other crackpot religions out there.

However you neglected to ask whether their PRACTICES as a church were in anyway dangerous.

The answer to that is yes. Shincheonji has been around for 15 years in Korea and is considered by Koreans to be a cult-like church for the way it bullies people to join and then stops them leaving and cuts them off from families. If you can understand Korean there is a ton of info and docos online that you can watch (in Korean only though).

[Hugo85]

Their beliefs are fairly standard. Their practices are different though.

They infiltrate other churches and lie to members of those churches to get them to switch over little by little to Shincheonji. Churches warn their members against member of Shincheonji. So there is obviously a lying issue at hand.

Now, they run a group that is totally independant of their cult. Sounds fine looked at it this way. But a few things are totally off mark... If it is independent, why share the same hand sign with the cult, why share a slogan that uses words similar to those from the church, why do so many members spend more time doing recruiting rather than doing charity related activities, etc.

Then there was the event, which was largely a SCJ event with a layer of make-up. Half the people saw groups of people representing 12 countries, the others saw the 12 tribes that founded Shincheonji with a flag to pretend this is unrelated to the religion. Furthermore, a lot of people were lied into going (read the blogs).

Then there is the constant pushing away of non-related Koreans that is pointed out by many people. If this organization was truly neutral then Koreans would be as welcome as the FOB English teacher.

Then there is the inordinate amount of effort put into tracking members' info. Ever thought of why every Mannam volunteer talks to hundreds of people a day and knows exactly where they met you? They often say "Do you know I am?" "No? We met at XXX". They probably have collected the info of hundreds of people and have collected it as a database to call as if you were friends rather than someone you met randomly.

Also, what they do with their Korean members which is pretty much unknown. We know what happens with foreigners and it's creepy... but Koreans not a clue.

[hogwonguy1979]

hoping that this discussion doesn't get killed because of the rules on religion here. there is a ton of good info and links here on what happened and what is likely to be true about mannam based on lots of solid evidence.

what people (especially newbies) need to know is to be very careful about who they volunteer for as what it appears to be may not be in reality what it is. there are tons of opportunities to have a positive impact here and several good expat groups doing good work. Mannam though may not be one of them though. Just like giving to a charity back home or checking out a potential employer here, do your homework before jumping in

[Steelrails]

If it's too good to be true, it probably is.