Adam Was a Filthy Man & Robert Mugabe Leads Bible Study

Adam Was a Filthy Man Who Stepped on His Wife

The international church I attend in Tokyo did service on Zoom, as usual, but this time the sermon was preached by guest minister, Pastor Urashima.  In the sermon he mentioned Adam’s reaction when God asked him why he had eaten fruit from the forbidden tree   (Genesis 3:11-12).  “What a filthy man!  God asks him a question and he immediately steps on his wife and blames her!”  SO glad I wasn’t listening in person, because, when I heard that part, I hollered!  Maybe it was a combination of his accent and choice of words, but I thought it was hilarious.    

Robert Mugabe Leads an Online Bible Study

My friend posted a Bible study video from her church.  I watched a few minutes of it, then had to stop.  There was nothing wrong with lesson itself, it’s just that the pastor/elder/deacon or whoever the man was leading the lesson was the spitting image of Robert Mugabe.  I was laughing too hard to hear anything he had to say. 

I might be enjoying some of these online church services too much, and for the wrong reasons.  When the COVID-19 crisis finally ends, I won’t know how to act in church.  Sitting here laughing at all the wrong things.  I don’t even feel bad about it, either.  This isolation stuff can be a downer.  And it rained all day today, too.  Might as well get a few laughs in to keep the depression away. 

And one of the people who attended last week’s online service went by the user name”Sexxy M.” I have questions for her...

18 April 2020   

Heritage Mass Choir

Went to a choir fest at Jang Chung Dong Church (near Dongguk Station).  Heard Heritage Mass choir along with a bunch of other groups from children to youth to adults.  Had such a great time.  The music was good, the atmosphere friendly and I was thrilled to be attending my first BSSK event.  It was organized by Taryn.  Other attendees were Janine, Elliot, Alina, Deshay and Jasmine.  I'm  especially grateful to Elliot because, during intermission, he helped me navigate the labyrinth in the lower level so I could find the toilets before I started bleeding into my shoes.

  

August 2012

Brief History of one Hakwon Company

My first job was at one of the oldest hakwon chains in Korea.  At that time it had over 42 branches all over the peninsula and Jeju island.   It is run by a Christian Protestant church.  The idea was to offer high quality English, Japanese and Chinese classes, as well as free Bible-based conversation classes.  For the first four decades, the chain prospered.  It was highly respected and enjoyed the reputation of having honest, dedicated teachers.  That began to erode starting around 2010 when competition exploded.  Language institutes popped up everywhere and some charged lower prices.  Then came the multi-hakwons, where one could study any variety of subjects, not just languages.  Children didn’t have to criss-cross the city going to their various afterschool classes.  They could do it all—music, calligraphy, martial arts, language, math—in one place.  That was the beginning of the end. 

Another major contributing factor to the chain’s decline is that headquarters always appointed pastors to be institute directors, never people with a business or education background.  Since they had no female pastors, this also meant that the directors were also always men.  Many branches have since closed down because of mismanagement. The Incheon branch, which is where I worked is no longer there.  All things considered, that they lasted as long as they did is the real surprise. 

At around the same time that competitors made their appearance, they began having trouble recruiting teachers because they were paying less than the general going rate.  Since many new teachers were recent university graduates, they were looking to earn decent money so they could start making a dent in the mountain of student debt they had amassed. People with E-2 teacher visas were receiving missionary wages.  If they wanted to pay their teachers as if they were missionaries, their visas and benefits should match. 

The institute directors were not the only ones to blame.  There was mismanagement from the top of the organization all the way down.  Important decisions were made, not based on what was best for the schools, but on organizational politics.  There was a lot of petty drama (which I don’t even know the half of) that impeded properly running the hakwon business.  Then again, that was the problem, the chain had not originally been meant to become a money-maker.  It was supposed to be a ministry that also provided a valuable service.  When they started seeing success in the 1990s, the leadership got dollar signs in their eyes and expanded, ignoring the schools’ initial purpose.  Years later, even as they saw things visibly declining, they were hellbent on doing everything the way it had always been done and fully expecting to see different results.  The few changes that were made were mere window dressing.

As mentioned in a previous post, the two main reasons why I did not renew my six-month contract with the company was that the split-schedule was affecting my health, and I did not want to have a roommate.   A third reason that I didn’t mention is that I prefer to keep my religious and work life separate.  Boundaries are important.  It’s easy for boundaries to be trampled when different parts of your life are intertwined.  There is such a thing as too much togetherness.  Familiarity breeds contempt. 

Mannam/Shincheonji: The First Cult to Court Me

One of my co-workers received an invitation to an international festival.  She already had plans for that Sunday, so she passed the information on to me.  I made plans to go.  A few days later, when we were at Bupyeong underground mall, two older women saw and made a beeline for me, all smiles.  They invited me to the same international festival.  

August 19.  In the morning I went to the meeting point by the McDonald’s outside of Bupyeong Station to take a free bus to the event.  When I arrived, Seokbin, a university student volunteer, took my name and had me stand in line.  A couple minutes later he brought a foreigner to stand next to me.  We introduced ourselves.  He was Lukas, a 19-year-old German metalhead.  In Germany young men were expected to either do one year of military service or, for conscientious objectors, one year of voluntary service.  Although that system had just recently been discontinued, Lukas had decided to come to Korea to do a year of voluntary service.  He was helping out at a community center that organized day programs for disabled people.  Cool. 

We chatted as buses filled up and the line moved forward.  When we finally got on a bus, we were given name tags and asked for our phone numbers.  I didn’t have a phone, so they said Lukas and I had to stay together throughout the festival so that if anything happened, I could use his phone.  Okay…  He seemed cool, so I didn’t mind, but if something were to happen, couldn’t I ask anybody for their phone?  I felt like they were treating us like little kids paired up on a field trip.  We must take care of the helpless foreigners.     

It was organized by Mannam Volunteer Association.  The venue was huge and admission was free.  Almost all the games and activities were free.  The only thing you really had to pay for was food.  And even then, we were given ₩3000 worth of food vouchers to use at the food vendors.  Lukas wondered where all the money was coming from to fund this.  Their literature was heavy on photos and light on print.  I wondered what sorts of volunteer activities they did.  You know I’m all for volunteerism. 

The festival was fun.  There were demonstration tents, tables to try out crafts, traditional Korean games, activities for children and adults, a booth where you could try on hanbok.  A mini-parade with a brass band that marched through the main area (why were they playing John Philip Souza’s Stars & Stripes Forever, though?).  Lukas even got free acupuncture on his bad knee.  He and I were not the only foreigners.  There were many others from all over, especially southern Asians.  Tons of photographers were everywhere and whenever they pointed their cameras at people, instead of the customary peace sign, they raised their hands in the Mannam salute.

Two things struck me as weird.  First, everyone at the festival was super-smiley and friendly.  This was unusual because Koreans usually don’t smile and chat with people they don’t know.  Second, the closing ceremony struck me as churchy.  A bunch of people marched onto the amphitheater’s stage waving flags of the world.  Then everyone sang a song that sounded like a hymn about happiness and unity.  Afterward, several staff members individually asked me if I’d enjoyed myself.  They gave me a flyer and said that their next event was a peace festival with sports tournaments, almost like a mini-Olympics and that I mustn’t miss it.     

In the following weeks, Seokbin, invited me to several smaller group events:  to miniature land, to a beer festival, dancing and to eat pizza.  For whatever reasons, I was unable to go to any of them.    Actually, I was free for the dancing, but I’d feel a plum fool going to the club with a bunch of kids half my age, so I didn’t.  I think Lukas went to one or two events.  It wasn’t until much later that I realized that it was a deliberate effort to maintain contact during the weeks between the international festival and the peace festival (after which the invitations dried up).

September 11. Was stopped on the street by two women who wanted to tell me about Mannam.  Despite the fact that neither spoke English, they were still trying.  I showed them a flyer for the peace festival, and once I let them know that I’m a friend of Seokbin’s they hugged me, smiled and went on their way.  I wondered again what motivates older people to have such zeal for Mannam. 

September 12. I discovered through BSSK that Mannam had recently suffered a blow to their reputation because it was revealed that their major contributor is a questionable religious group rumored to be a cult.  I also read Mannam’s response letter to the allegations.  Maybe I won’t go. 

I watched a couple YouTube videos about the organization.  One by Michael Aronson.  More damning evidence against them.    

September 15. During our Facebook chat Lukas said that he won’t be going to the peace festival either because he heard about Mannam’s issues.  He’s particularly sensitive to this because he lost a close friend to a cult in Germany.

As far as I understand it, Mannam is a group that does all the run-of-the-mill cult things like alienate its members from their families and friends, pressure members to do endless fundraising for the organization, et cetera.  Korean members are the most at risk.  The reasons why they like to have lots of foreigners at their events (and take tons of photos of and with them) is to lend credibility to the organization. 

Later, Mannam changed its name to Shincheonji.  Same group, new name.  

Check out what Wikipedia has to say:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shincheonji_Church_of_Jesus

Also, check out Michael Aronson's video.  It's from 2012, but it's still relevant.  

2012 

Aronson recently made more videos about Shincheonji when the cult was back in the news in early 2020 because Patient 31, who was responsible with spreading COVID-19 all over Daegu, is a Shincheonji member.    

Journal Excerpts From 09/2012, part 1

September 4:  A Religious Cult Tries to Recruit Me

Two women from the Worldwide Church of God who believe in God the Mother, caught up with me when I was on my way to the community center to get a class schedule.  Neither spoke English, but they were relentless in trying to communicate.  They asked for my telephone number, but when I told them that I had no phone, they wanted to know where I lived.  Wasn’t giving that info so they could start popping up at my door.  Finally, they gave a tract in English and gave up.  Got the schedule, but none of the classes I was interested in were given at a time convenient to me.  :/   I’ll have to keep looking for an exercise class. 

Edited to add:  check them out on Wikipedia.  I wonder what makes Korea so susceptible to religious cults.  They have way more than the average country. 

September 5:  Disco Hair

I wore an afro in the afternoon because I had washed my hair during the mid-day break.  When ten-year-old ‘Ben’ saw me, he exclaimed, “Teacher is disco hair!”  He’s so fat and cute. 

September 14:  “You have Friends?!” 

Jongsu, and adult student, and I were talking about Hongdae.  I mentioned that I’d gone to a café there with some friends.  His response was utter surprise “You have friends?!”  I laughed and said “Yes, three or four.  How long should I be here before I make friends?”  Embarrassed reply:  “I don’t know.”

September 15:   An Innocent Man

At church I lead out an informal class where we read and discussed a short, inspirational article.  ‘Paul’ was stuck on the name of the article’s author, McLarty, because ‘Mc’ doesn’t make a sound.  He said that it’s very irregular.  I explained that it’s an Irish name, and in Ireland names beginning with ‘Mc’ are very common.  His Bible is from Central Prison in North Carolina.  Said he was not guilty of what he was sent there for.   Good to know?  If he WAS guilty, I hope it wasn’t for a violent crime.

After lunch I went to Yeonan Pier on bus 33.  It turned out to be a warm and sunny day, not cool and cloudy like I’d expected.  There was an open air trot concert.  Trot sounds very similar to Japanese enka.

Why I Go All the Way to Seoul for Church: Reason #228

It was Pastor Kim’s week to preach.  When the time came, he introduced his sermon, put on a video of himself preaching and sat down.  What?  It’s bad enough Sabbath School is watched on video every week (no discussion or anything, just watching), but this is too ridiculous.  #Bootleg

August 16, 2014

The Nail That Sticks Out Gets Hammered Down

Ai-chan tries really hard in school. She does well too. While most girls at the junior high school wear their hair in ponytails or short bobs she wears hers in two thick braids. Eight months into my time in Gunma, she started missing school. Through the other teachers’ bizarre explanations, I came to realize that she was suffering from anxiety and depression (“She doesn’t want to get out of bed. She cries too much at home. She afraid to go outside.”). I prayed that her parents could find qualified people to help her through this. In many ways, the field of psychiatry is still in its infancy in Japan because general attitudes toward mental health issues are stuck in the 1940s.

By the time I left Gunma, she had just started coming back to school a few days per week. Most Japanese people don’t understand mental illness and treat it like weakness of character or lack of willpower. Therefore, some of her teachers saw her absenteeism as bothersome. Whenever I saw her, I always greeted her and told her that I was happy to see her. Apparently this meant a lot to her and she wrote me a letter saying so.

She is also a Jehovah’s Witness in a school full of non-religious or barely Buddhist people, so that also added to her reputation as a wierdo. One teacher said, “Her family goes to church three or four times every week. Can you believe it??” I told him, yes, I can. Jehovah’s Witnesses are common in the West and I’ve had JW classmates, friends and colleagues. He was shocked. He thought they were rare. 

Many Japanese traditions are rooted in Shintoism and/or Buddhism, so when there were school events she couldn’t participate in for religious reasons, I’d keep her company. It was just the decent thing to do. I didn’t want her to feel ostracized or punished for being different (which, in the land where conformity is king, it is the modus operandi).  

An often-repeated Japanese proverb says that “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down…” That’s all well and good if you’re literally referring to nails, but people aren’t nails and diversity shouldn’t be punished. Especially when it’s things outside of our control.  

December 27, 2019