More Thoughts

You know, there are many different steps to trusting God. I think everyone has a different path to that as well. For me it was getting out of my comfort zone. I actually had to fight to do this, as everyone and everything in my life was trying to keep me there. It was like uprooting a tree that had been in the soil for years and years and had a strong root system. It took awhile to finally pull the trigger on this, but I had known in the back of my mind for a good length of time that I needed a change.

I'm not talking about a vacation. I'm not talking about a change of scenery. I'm talking about that I felt my struggle with the flesh, and the battle for my spirit would die if I stayed where I was. I was TOO comfortable. It was TOO easy. I had been given everything I could ever want or need without doing any real work. While I believe most people would read that and starting thinking "what an idiot..." (I think that myself sometimes too, but for different reasons lol) I knew this was something I needed to do.

I'm talking about moving to Korea. To be completely honest it probably could have been anywhere in world and it would have had the same result. Most of you reading this already know why I chose Korea so I'm not going to repeat the super long story (it's not really all that long). If you really want to read it, there's a detailed description in my first post on here.

So much has happened since I came here, and I'm ultimately so grateful for this opportunity. It's been, by far, the best experience of my life to date and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Certainly, there have been positives and negatives - and there will be more of those to come - but it's all leading me to be a stronger man, and more importantly bringing me closer to God.

My last post was rather scathing, and I'll be the first to admit I was a tad bit heated up (actually I was really only a bit heated up). I think my purpose here is starting to be revealed to me. Originally I thought it was to help refugees from North Korea once the Kim regime is overthrown (and of course that may still be God's will), but the more time I spend here the more insight I get into Korean culture.

I'm going to focus on Korean culture here, but bear in mind all of our cultures are pretty messed up. It's just that growing up in American culture it's easy to be blind to a lot of our faults, and being passionate about Korean culture, it's easy to pick out flaws. In fact a lot of what I will talk about will probably be applicable to the world anyway so it's whatever.

First of all, I absolutely love it here. People are extremely hospitable, I honestly haven't detected any anti-foreigner or anti-American sentiments, but that could definitely be due to the way I look or what I'm doing here. Either way the main fabric of the community here is very well knit. People take care of each other naturally day to day, at least compared to what I felt in America. It feels good to be a part of.

A lot of it feels superficial though, while still feeling genuine. Let me explain because that's a silly statement. The culture has a resounding unspoken motto of "do good things and you're a good person". In fact that's exactly what Christianity here feels like. I have a feeling Confucianism has a lot to do with that. I have been told multiple times that the culture here has its roots in Confucianism. (Yes I did just link to wikipedia....twice. Deal with it.)

Briefly Confucianism is more of a school of thought than a religion. The belief is to focus more on family and social harmony than on anything supernatural. It's a very humanistic view. Also a major belief is that humans are innately good, and teachable, and ultimately perfectible with enough practice.

Well if this isn't in direct contradiction to the Bible then I don't know what is. Yet the two exist...together. It's clear which has a stronger hold right now. In my last post I mentioned how the largest megachurch in the world is in Seoul. There are a good amount of Christians here, but I feel that the true teachings of the Bible are being missed.

I've had a lot of time to think about it lately, and due to personal reasons of course I have focused a lot on forgiveness, but even besides that I believe that is a main tenet of the Bible. Love and forgiveness.

I feel that here the main belief is that the Bible is ultimately a book of rules to be a good person. Sure Jesus is great, sure God sounds awesome, but really people are good at heart, and therefore all we have to do is do good deeds and everything will be all good. This is such a popular belief, and I've heard this many times in America as well. Just be good to each other and leave each other alone. Very Confucianistic. Very Humanistic.

This couldn't be more contradictory to the main premise of the Bible. We are all sinners that deserve eternal hellfire. Let me repeat that, we are ALL sinners. Yes that includes the pope, yes that includes saint Mary, yes that includes everyone who has ever lived, or will ever live of course minus Jesus. Logically, what was the point of Jesus coming and dying if that's not the case? As he pointed out in the Gospel of Matthew even our thoughts are sinful.

This brings me to love and forgiveness. Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who wronged him. Jesus answered not 7 times, but 70 times 7 and even more. What a difficult teaching for humans! We are naturally full of vengeance. If someone wrongs us, we want to give them back twice or three times what they did to us! It's only fair right? We are the exactors of justice! Not quite. That is God's job. We should forgive, for "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7) None of us are perfect. We sin all the time. Therefore we should always forgive in love.

Think this is a hard teaching? How about the fact that it's easier to forgive those that you love, and love you. What about those who are unbelievers? How about those heathens and pagans that live in the third world? Surely they don't deserve our forgiveness. Wrong again. This is probably one of the most difficult things to do. I keep thinking back to Steven in scripture who while being stoned to death calls out to God and says "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." (Acts 7:60) 

What an incredible act of faith! He believed so adamantly that A) God could ultimately save them even though they had murdered a disciple of "the way" and B) that if not, God would exact justice as only He can. I can only pray for this kind of faith at the moment. As I said yesterday I feel I am getting closer to this, but my flesh still flares up whenever I feel wronged and I can still lash out in anger rather than teach and forgive in love.

Back to my observations. Things are very Pharisaic here. Pharisee's believed that you would be saved through works. They proved this time and time again by praying in large crowded places to gain notoriety from people. They disfigured their faces when fasting, and ALWAYS gave 10% of everything to the church. They lived life perfectly by the "law" and therefore never really lived at all. Jesus condemned them saying "Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." (Matthew 23:26).

Granted, like I said before this goes for a lot of sectors of Christianity in the world, and unfortunately where Christianity gets most criticized. So many teachings are that you can be saved through "good deeds" and not simply by the grace of Christ coming to die for our sins. It can't be that simple right? Like...all we actually have to do is believe that we are sinners and doomed for destruction, and that Jesus came down from heaven to die on the cross to cover those sins.

Thinking about this simple fact never fails to blow my mind. As I've said in previous posts to the point of tears while looking at the cross. What an incredible love. Can you imagine loving someone so much that you would die for them? How about people that sin against you literally all day everyday? I can maybe imagine dying for a friend or family member, but for someone who hates me and sins against me? Truly amazing.

There's so much else to say but this should suffice for now. Truly love is all encompassing, and can change people. It certainly has done that for me. I have felt Christ's love, and I am changed forever. I now strive to love others with the same love that He has shown me. 

Thanks for reading!