Title: Eyes of Hope
world of creation
When people are young, they live without thinking, but as they get older, they tend to think deeply about themselves and the world around them little by little. For example, parents begin to appear as separate persons, rather than absolute or natural beings. Adolescents are mentally disturbed because the whole world, not just their parents, approaches them in a completely different way than previously thought. People who can't stand this anxiety, despite their old age, settle in the small, familiar world they were previously in. If this happens to an extreme, you will become a ‘mamaboy’.
In a way, I believe that there is a ‘mama boy’ who can’t leave his mother Chima-pok even in the Christian faith. It means that there are many people who are afraid to go into the depths of the Christian faith simply by clinging to the proposition that they are saved by believing in Jesus. So these people are unconditionally trying to get cheap comfort in church life. The zealous beliefs produced by these people seem to burn themselves or move mountains, but in the end they have no content. It is just like Mama Boy's passion for his mother's arms has no content of life, and no content of love beyond that.
He says: “In the light of the glory that is to be revealed in us, the suffering we are experiencing now is nothing” (verse 18). What is the 'glory' that Paul is presenting here? Already in verse 17 Paul mentioned this word. “Since we are suffering with Christ, do we not also receive glory with him?” We do not yet know what glory will be revealed to us, or what condition it will be in. Perhaps some people think that we are a world where we are treated like kings. But no one can live like a king, and even if he does, that is not an honor.
Around the end of July, I went to Seoul with my family. To dine with my brothers and to ‘look around Seoul’. I slept for half the night at a luxury hotel in Yangjae-dong, and in the morning took a taxi to the Han River cruise ship pier. Along the way, the driver explained the geography of the area to make sure we were completely rural. One of them was ‘Tower Palace’. It is said that a large pyeong is priced at 230 billion won. He said that he could not even go inside himself and only heard the words, and said that the apartment was like a royal palace with everything perfectly equipped. Good apartments are being built in Daegu too. Perhaps this trend will increase in the future. It seems that everyone has a very natural desire to live like a king in such a pleasant place.
This desire will manifest itself not only in residence, but also in health and longevity. Seoul National University Professor Hwang Amugae is drawing attention from around the world for his great achievements in embryonic stem cell research. Aside from its bioethical dimension, it seems that this genetic engineering will continue to develop in that humans constantly dream of perfect health and longevity. Although it is packed with the humanism of curing incurable diseases, there are many people who think that it has a high possibility of being used for beauty in the end. Perhaps in the future, even when I turn 80, I may be able to maintain the skin of a 20-year-old. Maybe we can keep that young man healthy until he runs out of breath.
Will that be the “serpent” (glory) that will appear to us? Currently, humans dream of such a future, but we can never call it a life of glory. This is also true beyond the religious level. No scientist believes that indefinitely extending youth and lifespan through genetic engineering is the salvation of mankind. Because we do not know this and other life that we experience on Earth, we are merely claiming that it is salvation. Let's listen to Paul to see why.
You may not have expected the development of civilization like today, but Paul is seeing precisely the fate of this world, this creature. Right now, everyone, including us, is experiencing 'pain'. Such suffering is also the “suffering of Christ” mentioned in verse 17. That suffering is the cross of Christ. This world, this history, and the life that has been given to all human beings living here is what it is. If so, some may ask, ‘Is the Christian faith pessimism?’ Partly yes, but now Paul is talking about reality, not optimism or pessimism.
This issue needs to be explained a little more. What it means to suffer, and why it is connected to the cross of Christ. The cross is the bitterness of history created by religious and political powers. No matter how prosperous this world is, it will still produce crosses. Even if the aforementioned genetic engineering guarantees health and longevity, people will constantly struggle to secure it. The result of such a struggle is inevitably manifested in the cross. But the reason lies in something more fundamental.
Paul refers to this situation as “the creation has ceased to function” (verse 20). The New Standard Version translates the creation as yielding to 'emptiness', and Martin Luther translates this void into 'Verg