Downward Spiritual Spiral in South Korea?
It seems to me that there are SERIOUS spiritual, ethical and moral problems that are taking South Koreans down a path they may come to regret.
The following issues are growing indicators of the weak spiritual condition of this nation:
-Stem Cell Research
Koreans are VERY proud of the so-called progress one of their scientists has made in stem-cell research. The government has offered him extreme benefits including 3 billion won in research grants, UNlimited airline travel worldwide and his own personal group of bodyguards. Hello!? Korea is supposed to be 50% Christian and no one is raising up a storm that this push of national pride is supporting the death of countless "fetuses"?!?! South Korean Christians do not seem concerned at all...
-More liberal views towards sex
parental sex- 66% think it's not correct, 19% think it's ok if "in love", 13% think it's ok if engaged and 2% think it's all out ok
cohabitation (boyfriend/girlfriend living together)-53% think it could be possible
What is shocking about these statistics are they they are only from Handong University students! Moreover, more than 32 girls had abortions last semester. (And they call this "God's University"?!)
How do you think the rest of the population thinks/acts?
-South Korean Youth Warm up to North Korea/Cool Down to US
According to a poll by the Joong-Ang Ilbo, "the younger the respondents the less they expressed the view that North Korea had started the war." The fact that many Handong students were willing to "get in bed" with the Buddhists last weekend to "pray" for the unification of the peninsula puts a huge red flag to the spiritual condition of South Koreans. The truth is that many Korean Christians feel closer to Buddhist Christians than they do with Christians from other nations. This is the danger of nationalism and ethnocentrism. To give you some more insight into this, some of the points discussed by North and South Koreans recently in bringing peace on the peninsula:
1)They will seek to recover the "Bukgwandaechobbi", an ancient stone tablet commemorating a Korean military victory over Japan, now kept at the Yasukuni war shrine.
2)They agreed to jointly pursue the project of recovering the remains of Ahn Jung-Geun, A Korean patriot who assassinated a Japanese statesman in 1909.
By the way, 1/3 of the respondents in their 20s DID NOT KNOW what year the Korean War even started. Talk about shocking!
Interestingly, 48% of the South Korean youth said they HAD NO INTENTION OF GOING INTO BATTLE EVEN IF WAR BROKE OUT!
This leads us to another spiritual problem here:
-Pampering of the Youth
-The newspaper reports that internet addiction plagues South Korea.
2 quick examples of how bad it is:
-One man in his 40s died in a "PC bang" after spending more than 4 days straight and then collapsing.
-A couple allowed their baby to die in their apartment while they were nextdoor in a PC bang and left the child there for many, many hours unattended.
Korean youngsters are SO obsessed with the internet and cell-phones that it has been reported that in a study among 30 countries, South Korea has the lowing reading rate of all. The average South Korean reads 3.1 hours/week, 1/3 of what Thais and Indians read. Koreans read their textbooks before tests and love their comic books, but reading is at an all-time low. With so much web-surfing and text-mesaging on cell phones, it seems few people have time to pick up a book and enjoy a good read. I dare to imagine this bares record on the amount of Bible reading as well. You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to know how important reading is to a person's growth and development. Koreans need to be less entertainment focused and test-oriented and consider what is happening to their youth.
-Gambling is also on the rise here. To make matters worse, Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., a casino company, came to Korea on the 24th to announce an investment plan for the casino and leisure industry in Korea. This is NOT a good thing, despite what the newspaper reporter tried to persuade his readers. I think the leisure industry in Korea needs to decrease, not increase.
The unwillingness of the new generation of Korean soldiers to be properly disciplined in the army after years of pampering from their parents is being felt. Anyone who has spent any time in Korea will admit that most Korean parents do not discipline their children and the children are often spoiled. This has only been brought to light (after many years of denial) due to the recent murder of 8 fellow-soldiers by a South Korean soldier. What do you expect when you take them from having whatever they want to putting young men in what Korean newspapers have themselves described as "concentration camp standard living conditions" in the barracks?!
There is far too much concentration on hobbies/leisure here.
The Christians of South Korea must stop concentrating on the "Kingdom of World Cup and Basketball" and more on "The Kingdom of God".
I pray that instead of being defensive of such comments and facts (and saying "other nations are just as bad!"), that God would raise up a GODLY YOUTH that realizes that this world is not their home and people in this country would look more to God.
...All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own...they were longing for a better country- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." (Hebrews 11:13-16)
The following issues are growing indicators of the weak spiritual condition of this nation:
-Stem Cell Research
Koreans are VERY proud of the so-called progress one of their scientists has made in stem-cell research. The government has offered him extreme benefits including 3 billion won in research grants, UNlimited airline travel worldwide and his own personal group of bodyguards. Hello!? Korea is supposed to be 50% Christian and no one is raising up a storm that this push of national pride is supporting the death of countless "fetuses"?!?! South Korean Christians do not seem concerned at all...
-More liberal views towards sex
parental sex- 66% think it's not correct, 19% think it's ok if "in love", 13% think it's ok if engaged and 2% think it's all out ok
cohabitation (boyfriend/girlfriend living together)-53% think it could be possible
What is shocking about these statistics are they they are only from Handong University students! Moreover, more than 32 girls had abortions last semester. (And they call this "God's University"?!)
How do you think the rest of the population thinks/acts?
-South Korean Youth Warm up to North Korea/Cool Down to US
According to a poll by the Joong-Ang Ilbo, "the younger the respondents the less they expressed the view that North Korea had started the war." The fact that many Handong students were willing to "get in bed" with the Buddhists last weekend to "pray" for the unification of the peninsula puts a huge red flag to the spiritual condition of South Koreans. The truth is that many Korean Christians feel closer to Buddhist Christians than they do with Christians from other nations. This is the danger of nationalism and ethnocentrism. To give you some more insight into this, some of the points discussed by North and South Koreans recently in bringing peace on the peninsula:
1)They will seek to recover the "Bukgwandaechobbi", an ancient stone tablet commemorating a Korean military victory over Japan, now kept at the Yasukuni war shrine.
2)They agreed to jointly pursue the project of recovering the remains of Ahn Jung-Geun, A Korean patriot who assassinated a Japanese statesman in 1909.
By the way, 1/3 of the respondents in their 20s DID NOT KNOW what year the Korean War even started. Talk about shocking!
Interestingly, 48% of the South Korean youth said they HAD NO INTENTION OF GOING INTO BATTLE EVEN IF WAR BROKE OUT!
This leads us to another spiritual problem here:
-Pampering of the Youth
-The newspaper reports that internet addiction plagues South Korea.
2 quick examples of how bad it is:
-One man in his 40s died in a "PC bang" after spending more than 4 days straight and then collapsing.
-A couple allowed their baby to die in their apartment while they were nextdoor in a PC bang and left the child there for many, many hours unattended.
Korean youngsters are SO obsessed with the internet and cell-phones that it has been reported that in a study among 30 countries, South Korea has the lowing reading rate of all. The average South Korean reads 3.1 hours/week, 1/3 of what Thais and Indians read. Koreans read their textbooks before tests and love their comic books, but reading is at an all-time low. With so much web-surfing and text-mesaging on cell phones, it seems few people have time to pick up a book and enjoy a good read. I dare to imagine this bares record on the amount of Bible reading as well. You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to know how important reading is to a person's growth and development. Koreans need to be less entertainment focused and test-oriented and consider what is happening to their youth.
-Gambling is also on the rise here. To make matters worse, Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., a casino company, came to Korea on the 24th to announce an investment plan for the casino and leisure industry in Korea. This is NOT a good thing, despite what the newspaper reporter tried to persuade his readers. I think the leisure industry in Korea needs to decrease, not increase.
The unwillingness of the new generation of Korean soldiers to be properly disciplined in the army after years of pampering from their parents is being felt. Anyone who has spent any time in Korea will admit that most Korean parents do not discipline their children and the children are often spoiled. This has only been brought to light (after many years of denial) due to the recent murder of 8 fellow-soldiers by a South Korean soldier. What do you expect when you take them from having whatever they want to putting young men in what Korean newspapers have themselves described as "concentration camp standard living conditions" in the barracks?!
There is far too much concentration on hobbies/leisure here.
The Christians of South Korea must stop concentrating on the "Kingdom of World Cup and Basketball" and more on "The Kingdom of God".
I pray that instead of being defensive of such comments and facts (and saying "other nations are just as bad!"), that God would raise up a GODLY YOUTH that realizes that this world is not their home and people in this country would look more to God.
...All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own...they were longing for a better country- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." (Hebrews 11:13-16)
posted by Andrew Brown at 10:10 PM
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