대한민국에서의 선교 사업

Having lived in Korea for thirteen years has been an experience (to say the least), and for the last five years, I have been on the path of faith and believe after coming back into the fold and walking among the sheep again. Letting Christ into my life helped all the cognitive dissonance shed away and a new light helped me grow each day. 

This adventure in Korea with Christ has been more interesting, because I am blessed to have a complete lack of shame and I feel that Missionary Work is the most important duty for the believer. Some say Temple Work and others Geneologic (I can never spell that word) and....well, there are a multitude of works to be done, and all of them are very important. But, I feel Missionary Work is king. 

And, in Korea, there is no shortage of Missionary Moments. More often than not, I have come across people reading what seems to be, at first glance, a Bible, like this guy. 

This guy was really focused on the chanting part of the 

Scriptures he was reading

But, he is not reading the Bible. His focus is all about the Buddhist Scriptures (보경) that he is holding. And, yes, Buddhism does have Scriptures (mostly Sutras), which are printed and bound in the same fashion as Korean Bibles, making it hard to tell (sometimes) if someone is reading the Bible or Buddhist Scriptures. Look at the next picture:

The binding and overall appearance of the two books

look exactly the same, don't they?

One of the old ladies is reading the Bible and the other is reading Buddhist Scriptures. Can you tell which one is which? (NOTE: The one on the left is reading the Bible). 

I've gotten to talk to Buddhist Monks and believers. My wife is even a Won Buddhist (a Korean sect of Buddhism), so I have read some of the Buddhist Scriptures.

And, oh, reading the Korean Bible is very difficult, because it is written in a hundred year old Chosun Dynasty form of Korean that is even difficult for Koreans to fully understand sometimes. But, regardless, I found a misprint in one Bible some years back. 

We're only human. We try but 

we make mistakes

I contacted the publisher and they gave me a thanks and a big gift certificate for their products (SCORE!).  

But, mostly, I read the Catholic version of the Korean Bible, because the language is much more simple, which is optimal for a non-native speaker like myself. 

I came to find out later about the vast difference in translation between the Korean Protestant Bible and the Korean Catholic Bible. They even use a different name for God. The Protestants call Him "하나님/Ha-na-nim," which translates as "The One and Only Respected One." This is opposed to the Catholic term "하느님/Ha-neu-nim," which comes out in English as "Respected Sky Being."

I took this picture during the Cherry Blossom season. 

This is the Korean Catholic Bible

Plus, I worked at a Catholic university for about ten years, so my view of religion was heavily shaped by the Korean Catholics; most notably, because I found Christ during that employment time, despite the massive presence of the J-Doves (I don't like the word "J-Dub," so I say "J-Dove) everywhere. 

Sometimes, they just leave displays of reading material. 

But, despite the Catholic school employment and the ever-present J-Doves, I went the LDS route. And, in my view, the LDS are just as weird as the J-Doves and Buddhists. Even the Korean Protestants are pretty extreme at times. 

They paint and letter their calls, play hymns loudly, and give free beverages:

I got a free Pepsi from these people. I saw them pretty 

near where I worked. They would stop and give out drinks

There is the trendy thing to do with the current coffee culture of Korea and build cafes in churches:

Churches even open up religious themed cafes near 

churches, too. 

Some will use bullhorns, signs, banners, and loud voices to get people's attention:

And, there are many of the doomsday churches who claim the end is near:

This guy was part of a large group

in downtown Daegu, all talking about

the RFID chip and how it is part of

Satan's plan

There are all kinds, and there are many faiths and beliefs and denominations around Korea. With this being said, with all the Buddhists, J-Doves, Protestants of many denominations, Missionary Work is very important, at least for the reason of giving people a better understanding of the LDS church. And, there are many strange ideas, misconceptions, and falsehoods about the LDS church running around the different groups.

I've talked with many from different belief systems and life philosophies. I've learned from them and I hope that they learned some from me (which seemed to be the case pretty often).