Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mix1]

...figuratively speaking of course.

Yesterday, I went to my first (and possibly last) church service in Korea. The service was in English and featured a Christian rock band (half white, half Asian) and a guest speaker from England. Her message was a little convoluted as she would pick and choose passages from the Bible to support her own anecdotes, then finally her message could be summed up as "...just follow God."

Later, as the band was playing many of the audience members (95% Korean) were raising their arms in some sort of praise gesture as though recieving some sort of devine energy. The lyrics were projected onto a large screen for all to see. Some of the phrases I remember were "We're desperate for you" , and "We're lost without you". I couldn't help thinking something is definitely wrong here.

I tried to relax, closed my eyes, and pictured Jesus. You know what? I felt something, I felt a little sympathy for him in his story, much as I would feel sympathy for any character in any story (fictional or non-fictional...do we really know?) who suffers hardships. But I apparently was not feeling what the other audience members were. Did I forget to drink the Kool Aid on the way in?

I've gone through periods of believing in God, to taking it with a grain of salt, to not believing, to seeing religion as a nice opiate of comfort for the masses. On the bright side, the followers sure seemed happy enough, but in a blind-folded, ignorant, sheep-like way. I know humans have a natural tendency to want to relinquish responsibility and be led by an authority figure, but does it really feel that good? So I'm left wondering, just because the cult has a large following, does that make it any less wacko?

And on another note... while this sort of hand raising, swooning behavior may seem a bit more natural to me when the participants are western or white, it really seemed odd when it was a bunch of Koreans yelling "Amen". Yes, I'm sure that's just my cultural bias coming through, and of course anyone has the right to any religion regardless of race or culture. But I couldn't help but think that this sort of movement had to have a lot of energy and resources behind it to push it this far East.
That is to say, Christianity here in Korea was not just established via local tradition and native cultural momentum, but rather it was pushed in from outside rather abruptly within modern times. This movement and change can likely be traced to a particular group of people (i.e. predominately white Christians from USA I'm assuming) and historically documented.

And when seen in this context, it tends to come off as brainwashing on a massive scale done by humans to other humans. Am I the only one who sees this as odd? This could apply to all religions I suppose, not just Christianity.

[RACETRAITOR]

Of course I wasn't there but it sounds like the Koreans involved saw a video of an American church sermon and are trying to copy it without quite getting why everything is done.

Every church service I've ever gone to in my life was an old guy at the front talking about stuff too boring to listen to to a room of mostly 50+es.

[Scotticus]

[K-in-C]

There is an International Lutheran church in Itaewon. The pastor is from the USA. It is a traditional service. You might want to check it out. You'll find the address in the FAQ forum.

[djsmnc]

I never understood the hand raising thing. It bugs the crap out of me.

[Saxiif]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Well I went a bit further than you - I went to a second church service which was even worse than the first one and left me resolved never to set foot in a Korean Protestant church again unless it was for a wedding. The second time I went was Christmas 2004 and the minister began his sermon by talking about hell. He had about 2 minutes of material for a 20-25-minute sermon. I don't know how the rest of it turned out because I went outside for a smoke. Anti-intellectual doesn't even begin to describe the atmosphere of either church service I visited.


I'd feel more than a little sympathy for someone being continually sought out, invoked, and scramed at by those idiots, too.

[Mix1]

[Scotticus]

[jinju]

I once went to a presbyterian church...by mistake actually. Its the huge cathedral looking church near Yeoksam station. The preacher spent the whole mass talking about money. Give money, give money, give more money.

[Bingo]

You can avoid all that nonsense by simply not going to church. There is no justification whatsoever for a university graduate buying into all that medieval nonsense. Leave hand waving and talking to invisible friends to the stupid and the uneducated. There is plenty of stuff posted on other threads that, if read, will deter you from setting foot in a church again.
Life's too short to be wasted in the pursuit of the absurd.

Good luck in your journey from superstition. It's one of the most important journeys of anyone's life.

[Harpeau]

I completely sympathise with you. Though I am a christian (a sort of vulgar beer drinking, cigar smoking baptist), I really have difficulty stomaching churches~ for the most part. It would seem that much of the church community "objectifies" people and sees them as "one's who need to get in the door n' get saved". Yet, from my understanding of the life of Jesus, it would seem that the christian community needs to be less judgemental and rather express forgiveness and love. Buber's "I/Thou" relationship is much healthier IMHO. These days, I get a nautious feelinging whenever I step into a church in Seoul.

FWIW, it's interesting to look at Protestant Christianity during the Japanese occupation as being an anti-Japanese movement. The Japanese embraced Buddhism and many Koreans went the other way in protest. Very fascinating to look into.

BTW, the Min Joong Movement (Liberation theology) in Korea has always touched me in a profound way.

[philipjames]

Jinju, did you really just refer to a Presbyterian "mass"?

[Mix1]

[tzechuk]

Go to the Seoul Anglican Church foreigners' mission. They have just got themselves a new Irish priest.