We must go beyond fundamentalism.
With this incident as an opportunity, it seems that we need to reflect deeply on Korean Christianity and the current world flow from various aspects. In the meantime, looking at some public opinion (via the Internet) on this case,
First, many people pointed out that the mission policy of Korean Christianity should be changed. He criticized the mission as being centered and sporadic in the local church, and being very self-centered without having a proper understanding of the culture and language of the destination without serious reflection on the mission.
Second, the missionary attitudes of Korean Christians are very arrogant, causing them to hurt, reject, and instill hostility. It was criticized for being immersed in cultural supremacy, especially in Southeast Asian missions, for ignoring the other region and carrying out missions that implanted Korean Christianity.
This is similar to the form of tyranny that Korean companies have committed as they spread to Southeast Asia over the past few decades, and it not only caused considerable resistance from the target region, but also caused great disgrace internationally. It was also critically pointed out that they are committing tyranny by inflicting a quantitative threat by mass-producing them. (On the Internet, over 1,000 Korean Christians held a “peace march” in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, last year.
Third, the dispatch of troops to Korea could be the cause of the rejection of Korean Christianity. Conservative Christian groups in Korea held a large rally in front of Gwanghwamun to promote the dispatch of troops for the sake of national interest and greatly agreed with the US dispatch request. He said that he had to reflect on the fact that sympathy for the dispatch of troops was one of the causes of the rejection of Korean Christianity.
I thought that all these points were valid, and that the Korean church should thoroughly examine itself and reflect on its wrong missionary practices and change direction.
However, if we look at the problem more fundamentally, we believe that the root of this situation is the sharp confrontation between the Afghan Taliban and the US, which defines them as terrorists and evil forces. This is a struggle between powers based on fundamentalist ideology, which is gaining influence around the world, and Korean Christian fundamentalists are riding on it. It would not be an exaggeration to say that now is the time when the world suffers from the tyranny of this fundamentalist thought. Therefore, efforts to build a world beyond this fundamentalist thinking are urgently required of all of us. I remember the late teacher Ahn Byung-moo who always said during his lifetime that the lifelong task of Korean Christianity is to overcome fundamentalism.
The characteristics of fundamentalism that are now prevalent around the world are
― They have a strong desire for reform, thinking that the only way to solve the problems of the present crisis is to thoroughly reform by the fundamental truth they believe is the absolute truth.
― Fundamentalists are very active and aggressive, and if the morals and ideal norms they have set are challenged, they are anti-religious, and they condemn it as evil, the power of Satan, and the work of Satan. That's the way Bush describes some countries as "axis of evil."
With these characteristics, Islamic fundamentalism now forms an exclusive nationalist discourse under the banner of anti-Western, anti-imperialist, and anti-American hegemony. There is no compromise between them, and they have extreme exclusivity that stands firm in simple convictions.
Christian fundamentalism is believed to have begun in the United States in the late 1800s, and as the world rapidly shifted to an industrial society, the previous value base was shaken and a new social and cultural change occurred. It was developed while solidifying the belief that the fundamentals of Christianity must be absolutely adhered to.
Protestant fundamentalism solidifies adherence to the Five Points as a fundamental belief.
① The Bible is infallible. ② We believe in the virgin birth. ③ We believe in the Atonement of Jesus. ④ We believe in the resurrection and return of Jesus. ⑤ We believe in the authenticity of miracles.
In particular, he takes the biblical inerrancy as the most important weapon and judges everything based on the literal interpretation of the Bible.
Fundamentalists have a strong sense of choice and have extreme exclusivity of compromise, dialogue, and intolerance, asserts religious purity and legitimacy and regards everything else as evil. Above all, because he interprets the Bible literally and judges and stipulates everything based on it, he does not care about making many errors in life. When Professor Kim Kyung-jae was invited to the Saegil Christian Social and Cultural Center forum to diagnose the Korean church, he pointed out that the biggest problem is the literalistic interpretation based on the biblical inerrancy and the exclusivity of Korean Christianity, which is really the problem.
After all, where fundamentalism reigns, events such as violence, confrontation, war, conflict, terrorism, and kidnapping are inevitable. Because there can be no dialogue or compromise in a world dominated by the one truth attitude, where everything but its own rules is regarded as evil.
Korean Christianity is largely dominated by fundamentalist beliefs. In particular, denominations with strong fundamentalism are Presbyterian Church (non-mainstream), Yesung, Gosin, and God's Assemblage. The following characteristics of Korean Christian belief have generally existed.
① Orthodox faith ― This was transmitted by American missionaries in the early days of Christian missions, and strict doctrinalism and exclusive doctrinalism were combined with Korean Confucianism to form a traditional belief, which was later naturally combined with fundamentalist ideology.
② Pietism, a form of revival experience, is a type of Methodism that started in opposition to fossilized beliefs in the 18th century and emphasizes experiential and experiential beliefs. As a revival awakening movement, under the influence of the Great Revival Holy Spirit movement at Jangdaehyeon Church in Pyongyang in 1907, it is still established as a type of orthodox religion in Korean Protestantism.
③ The growth-oriented faith type was combined with the church growth theory in the 1970s and the three-factor blessing theory in Korea, which is why the logic of capital management came to dominate the church. Preaching is also religious propaganda, and the church organization is an achievement lunch (Amway style), and everything is concluded with achievements and achievements (this is called a blessing). They pursue wealth and materialism, and the logic of competition, expansion, and success dominates, and they seek to expand.
In the Korean church, all of the above three (four up to fundamentalism) types of faith are mixed. Therefore, it has a form of faith that is passionate, experiential, exclusive, self-righteous, achievement-oriented, and mystical experience-oriented. Thoroughly adhere to the doctrine of inerrancy of the Bible and hang on to literal interpretation. In addition, he has a strong sense of choice and is faithful to Jesus' great command to preach the gospel to the end of the world, and has devoted himself to world missions. Currently, about 16,000 missionaries are being dispatched. Having a strong sense of chosen people and absolute truth, believing that it is only this Christianity, and carrying out missions with the belief that Korean Christianity was chosen by God, we transplant Korean-style Christianity and ignore the traditions and culture of the target area.
Again, in a situation where fundamentalism is dominant, confrontation, conflict, war, and violence are inevitable. That is why we must go beyond this fundamentalism. To open a world where we live together.
The present age is a world that demands a life of coexistence and ethics above all else. It is a time when we need to live together. How serious is the ecological crisis! We feel the threat of global warming and desertification every moment. And how deep are the scars left by the 20th century? The time to heal those wounds is the 21st century. At a time when the threat of violence is serious, we desperately need wisdom to live together. Even now, the aspects of human life are expanding into various dimensions, and it is time for humankind to fully communicate, cooperate, and pursue peace in order to survive.
Now, we looked back on the existence of the faith of Korean Christians who were bound by fundamentalist beliefs. We need to realize that now is not the time for Korean Christianity to expand Christianity in its own way and self-centeredness only with the passion of faith, but a time to reflect on the mistakes it has made and to deepen self-examination and practice. Even now, Christianity is not a world where I can say that I am the only way to the truth. The world is open to many truths and all come together to communicate and cooperate with one another. This is not the time to be caught up in the sense of choice, but the time to seek peace together.
Whether I was a pagan or a Gentile at that time, when I entered the early Christian community, I confessed that I would live in a new order in this community. This is a confession statement that promises to live with a new attitude and behavior that has been changed by throwing away and revising all the value standards I had in the everyday world and social roles I have lived in so far. It is a confession that I now accept the rules of an equal world without discrimination of all races, classes, and genders as the basis of my life. Scholars say that Galatians 3:28 is understood as a self-definition of the early Christian community rather than a statement of individuals. The early Christian community defined the self as a non-discriminatory community of equality of all baptized and oneness in Christ.