Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CBP]

I'm looking to meet local English-speaking Christians (and non-Christians, too, of course). Do you know of any prayer and worship gatherings within a reasonable train/bus ride of Jinju? I'm protestant/non-denominational, but would love to attend a multi-denominational gathering of Christians. There's a popular Italian restaurant in downtown Jinju where I hear many foreigners meet for live music and beer. During the day not much seems to be going on there. It might be a nice place (comfy chairs upstairs, good food) to meet for church on Sundays. My only request is that this be a smoke-free, alchohol-free bible study. Any interest?

Thanks!

[RACETRAITOR]

You want to meet Christians in Korea? Here's a tip. Throw a rock. You'll hit at least two.

[CBP]

Christians from English speaking countries. New friends who want to study the Gospel with me and who also teach English.

[laogaiguk]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Korea is a country of extremes and Christians are no exception. Apart from the RCs, you're choices are basically Presbyterians and Methodists, neither of which are anything like how they are in the US. Think Jehovah's Witnesses who believe in the Trinity. The seriously religious western people I've met over here have, for the most part, been abysmal failures and crackpots. If you want to do something useful and Christlike try to find a Salvation Army volunteer who speaks English and ask if he / she knows of anything (they run a lot of orphanages / group homes here). Christians of any colour in this country are a big red flag 98% of the time.

[Cohiba]

"Religion is poison" - Mao Tse Tung

"Religion is the opiate of the masses." - Karl Marx

"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God." - Lenny Bruce

I'm totally in. Can we chat about any gods? I'm into Odin and Ahura Mazda. But no booze? Even that Jesus dude, or whatever his name was, splashed back the vino at the last brunch!

[andrew]

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[andrew]

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[laogaiguk]

[VanIslander]

Bless that stylish kitty hat the puppy is wearing in laogaiguk's avatar.

[philipjames]

If you are interested in bible study I would recommend that you begin with the following book: Who Wrote the Bible? It's fascinating and available at Kyobo Book Store. If, after reading this book, you still believe that the Bible is the revealed word of God then carry on with your Bible 'studies' and ignore the facts.

The Hebrew scriptures must be examined like any other historical document. Talking snakes. Pillars of fire. Guys getting up from the dead and walking around Jerusalem. A dude living for three days in the stomach of a whale. The world being 5,600 years old. Some Jewish fella dying on the cross after a mere three hours (it takes three to six days to die on a cross). Moses parting the Red Sea with his cane. The species reproducing although Adam and Eve only had two children (both sons). A God getting angry, jealous and tired. The sun revolving around the earth. The earth is flat. etc etc. Remember the scriptures were written before we knew anything about science. The fact that millions of people in the third millenium still believe in ancient deities (Thor, Zeus, Jehovah, etc.) is the most astonishing fact ever. Sorry for the sarcastic tone, but Hebrew mythology is just that. Mythology. Please don't insult yourself by taking any of it as fact. Instead of looking for a church you'd be better off looking for a good bookstore.

After reading this book look up some websites dealing with historical criticism of the Bible.

Good luck with your studies.

[CBP]

And then there are Christians like me who studied math and physics in college, won a math scholarship, edited technical papers on nuclear physics that my father wrote. Christians who view this notion of raising people from the dead as metaphors/allegories. Christians who recognize the influence of human polictics that may have influenced some of the writings in the bible, but who - after years of study and working through numerous doubts - have come to recognize the bible as a complete and solid treaty/meditation on human psychology. Yes, there are a lot of interesting books out there that find their way to shredding biblical teachings, but Jesus speaks to me. He makes sense. I loved reading the Davinci Code (and Dan Brown's other books), and it did shake my faith a bit. But there are just some things we will never be able to explain about the bible. All I know is that I'm this tiny little speck in the universe, that before Jesus my meager efforts at finding love and hope in my life came from other people rather than the God Head or Universal Source or whatever the heck you prefer to call it. I have yet to read an original argument on this board about why Christianity is tragically flawed. It's all been said before.

Anyway, I got some nice private messages from people who are interested in meeting with me, so this thread accomplished what I intended it to. Thanks.

Cheers.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[CBP]

[philipjames]

Here's the thing. You talk about having a connection with Jesus (or something to that effect.) The hard truth is that you (and I) don't know the first thing about him. Incredibly, for the messiah, he left no writings. Youd think that if he was taking off for a few millenia he would have left some written instructions. The gospels you say. They were all written 30 - 60 years of Yeshua ben Joseph's death. Not a single eye-witness to any of the events. All hearsay that wouldn't stand up in any court of law (or the most elementary logic.) Paul never met Jesus at all, unless you believe the silliness of the mirage in the dessert story.

My point is that we know nothing about Jesus other than that he was a first century Jew who taught non-violence (although he reportedly whipped those guys in the temple and promised hellfire for sinners). You wouldn't know him if you bumped into him. And you probably wouldn't want to either. Imagine first century hygeine, attitudes towards women, table manners, treatment of animals, ignorance etc. Why anyome would want to meet the historical Yeshua I have no idea. The first thing you'd probably say to hi was, "Take a bath man.'

And he was a racist to boot. When a non-Jewish woman asked for his assistance he replied "I have come only to the Jews. Who throws jewels to swine." Nice guy.

No wonder the mytholigized Jesus seems so much more attractive.