Title: Duty to Redeem this Age
Contents
I hope God's great blessings be with you and your families this Christmas. From the point of view of the Western church that our Korean church follows, today, the 26th, the day after Christmas, is also the first Sunday after Christmas. It is also officially the last service of the year at Saegil Church.
At the first Christmas, angels appeared to the shepherds and delivered the first Christmas message. But what is it? Ever since I was little, I've always been like, 'Glory in heaven, peace on earth!' I have understood it so simply. However, if you look closely at these words, it says, “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among men with whom God is pleased.”
Verse 16 of today's text of Ephesians is a famous verse that is usually taken as a aphorism, but it is usually translated as 'Save the time, for the times are evil' (KJV). What a wonderful word. But how are we to understand this statement? The new translation we read is 'Save the time. The times are evil.’, and the Common Translation Bible says, ‘This age is evil. So make good use of the opportunity that has been given to you.’ But this is “save time. It can be said to be the same kind of translation as the words of the King James Version, “The days are evil.” However, the original saying was, ‘Redemption this age. I think the old English translation of ‘the days are evil’ is correct. Even in the most academically authoritative 'Jerusalem Bible' as a modern translation, 'This age is evil. So, your life must redeem it. It is translated as ‘1)’.
In my opinion, the words of redemption because this age is evil, and the content of the first Christmas carol, 'Peace to those whom God loves,' are not words given to Korean society as it is today and to us Christians living in it. I think. The current Korean society, which believes that evil has reached its peak, must be reformed. Have you ever come up with the word 'tearing'? If expressed biblically, Korean society can be seen as 'not a single place has a healthy body from the soles of the feet to the top of the head'. Next, therefore, we Christians must redeem this Korean society and this age. This means that peace should be extended to those who are loved by God. What is the specific meaning of this word?
First, I think it is about transforming Korean society. Now, Korean society is going the wrong way. Therefore, this should be pointed out, and it should be put into practice. It is said that someone deeply involved in this regime lamented, seeing that the Ministry of National Defense and prosecutors, especially the National Intelligence Service, had not changed and said, 'Only the president has changed, virtually all politics is controlled by the United States!' If this is true, then it is grossly wrong and needs to be changed.
The 'National Treasure Act' is not a 'law to become a national treasure' without any other explanation, but a 'national law' in the sense of 'rolling up the country' ' I think. Whatever it is, these national language laws and national network laws should be abolished as soon as possible.
You may be well aware of the hunger strike and the candlelight struggle in Gwanghwamun to abolish the National Treasure Act on New Year's Eve. On December 18th, a crowd of 20,000 came out and held a candlelight vigil.
It is likewise impossible to send troops to the unjust war of Iraq or to extend the period of deployment. In fact, on December 23, the day before yesterday, it was a fuss that we received a threat intelligence from the Gurts that there would be a bomb attack in the Jema unit. This is a fact that even Samcheok children know. I don't agree with this government going in that direction.
And I think that the agreement that South Korea should bear all of the huge costs while relocating the Yongsan US base to Pyeongtaek is not strengthening the ROK-US alliance but destroying the ROK-US relationship.
Second, I think that redeeming this age and extending peace to God's loved ones is to present a new direction in this age. The issue of clearing up the past, which we are talking about a lot today, is also a question of the direction of change in our society today. This should have been done in the past, but it did not and has been put on hold to this day. However, many opposing people say that when the law was about to be enacted, they interfered and prevented it from being enacted, but they say that it is past-oriented and retrospective, saying, what are you going to do with the people who have died and the history that has already passed? However, this is a question about the legitimacy of the nation and a question about the future direction of the nation. I believe that without solving this problem, a new direction for a new era cannot be presented.
And now the so-called people's livelihood reform bills are piled up, but the women and the women are divided on the side and are busy with the political struggle. Although the four-party talks have been successful and the National Assembly is said to be in operation, there seem to be many problems with the four-party talks. So many people lament about politics and say that it is the most backward thing in our society. Our people believe that this is all about saving people's livelihoods from this disaster and suggesting a new direction for ordinary people's lives, but politicians don't seem to be interested in this at all.
The preservation of the National Security Act, the extension of the dispatch of troops to Iraq, the full burden of the Korean side in the transfer of the Yongsin base, and the reservation of reform legislation such as the People's Livelihood Act, etc. Obviously you will have to.
We Christians, who worship and serve the humble and humble infant Jesus, who was born in a manger and grew up into adults just like us, as our Savior, believe it is our duty to redeem this age and extend the peace of God to people. As seen above, transforming the age, suggesting the direction of a new age, and finally filling the content of this age, I believe that this is peace among God's loved ones and it is the duty to expand this peace.
This is God's good, pleasing, and perfect will to redeem this age,' and I think it is the only way to extend God's peace to others. At least, if we are Christians, we should not neglect this mission.