Korean expert: Characteristics of Christian heresy

Preamble

The development of heresy in Korea has spread to China and the world, and this paper aims to study the characteristics of heresy, its development in Korea, and its missionary strategy. The problem of heresy has become a serious social disease because of the damage it causes to the family and society, and it should be a cause for alarm. There are heresies not only in Christianity, but also in Buddhism and Islam, but in view of the length of this article and my field of study, I will limit this article to the study of Christian heresy.

The structure of the paper is as follows: 1) a definition of heresy, 2) a brief description of the reasons for the prevalence of heretical sects, 3) an analysis of the general characteristics of heresy, 4) an introduction to representative heresies that have recently grown rapidly in Korea, 5) a discussion of the missionary strategy of heresy in Korea, and 6) a brief description of countermeasures to prevent heresy.

1. Definition of heresy

"Heresy" is derived from the Greek word "hairesis". It was originally a philosophical term to refer to a school or religion, but it was later extended by the Christian fathers to mean a fallacy that undermines the church, the family, and society, and also refers to an individual or group that spreads evil beliefs.

2. The reasons for the prevalence of heresy

What is the reason for the increasing power of heresy to deceive the people?

1. Preach a powerful faith

Modern life is heavy, and many people are experiencing difficulties and are deeply uneasy about their uncertain future. Heresy uses its demagogic teachings, which are all false, of course, to present people with a beautiful blueprint for their future lives. What is man, where did life begin and where does it end, what does our future hold? Heretics do not hesitate to blurt out their false teachings to such questions, so that people mistakenly think that they have gained the so-called true meaning of life because of the false answers of these heretical sects. It is precisely this so-called false "truth" that the heresy uses to confuse the masses and make people fall into it.

South Korea has the largest number of heretical sects in the world, and this phenomenon is not unrelated to the difficult and tortuous modern history of Korea. South Koreans have experienced Japanese colonial rule, the Korean War, and the military dictatorship, and these twists and turns have made them anxious about the future, and they can only run for life. This modern Korean history has become a fertile ground for the rampant development of heresy.

2. Satisfy the basic desire to be loved and recognized

Due to the hectic and complex daily life, modern people often feel alienated from their family, relatives, friends or colleagues, thus feeling lonely and left out. Everyone longs for the love and recognition of others, and hopes to have a sense of existence in the family or collective, which is the most basic desire of human beings. Heresy expands its power by providing blind love and a sense of security to these unfulfilled desires.

3. Passionate about preaching

Evangelism is a common denominator of most heretics. Heretics are not only keen to get believers to learn their teachings, but are even more zealous in preaching their own denomination. In order to preach, they befriended lonely people, supported the poor financially, provided material help, and even spared erotic lure.

III. The general character of heresy

Heresy has been observed to have some general commonalities, which are briefly described below:

1. Deify its leader as a Messiah, a savior

The deification of its leader as the Messiah, the Messiah, or the Second Coming Jesus is a common feature of all heretical sects.

2. Defrauding believers of their money by advocating new doctrines and false prophecies

The leaders of heretical sects wantonly distort the Bible, advocate new doctrines, justify deification, and prove that their claims are not false, but so-called truths and facts. Most heresies misinterpret the Bible and belittle its value in order to assert that their doctrine is the complete truth beyond the Bible. and to summarize its own doctrine and forge it into a universal "holy text" that overrides the authority of this "holy text" over the Bible. Falsely claiming that you can meet God directly, or that you are God's incarnation, and therefore your words are revelations, prophecies of the future.

3. Reveal the reality and look forward to the future life

Believers feel uncertain and uneasy about the present and the future, and the leaders of heretical sects use their new doctrines and false prophecies to provide them with stability and assurance. In this way, heresy provides believers with a definite sense of belonging, not only by informing them concretely about how to live their religious life, but also by taking complete control over their daily lives, kinship, friendships, interpersonal interactions, ways of thinking, etc. This kind of control gives believers the illusion that their lives are settled and assured, that they feel loved and recognized, and that the use of this "control mechanism" is a common feature of heresy. This is how heresies deceive believers of their physical, mental, and material possessions. As the infiltration of heretical ideas into believers deepens, many people are not only unable to adapt to orthodox Christianity, but also feel more and more uncomfortable with family life, social life, work, etc. As a result, conflicts between husband and wife, parent-child conflicts, etc., led to the breakdown of families, the abandonment of jobs, and even the destruction of lives.

4. Secret gatherings

Heresy opposes the doctrine and order of the existing Christian church and therefore has the character of a private assembly. The place of assembly is changed at any time, and the activities of believers are hidden. Nowadays, mobile communication social networking sites are easy to build, so heretics are good at making use of major social networking sites. Meetings are held in secret, and when they preach, they hide their affiliation, disguising themselves as ordinary Christians and approaching people.

5. The end is near, and only those who belong to their community and a specific place can be saved

Heresy almost invariably advocates apocalypticism. Inform the people that the end of the world is approaching, that their Sect Master is in charge of the judgment, and that heretics claim that only they have the only truth and that only they can save the world. Therefore they are to believe their leaders as if they were God, and to take as truth the doctrines preached by their leaders, and if they do not belong to their community, or do not remain in their designated place, they will not be saved. If they are infected by such apocalyptic ideas, they must dedicate themselves to this heretical sect, so that young people run away from home or abandon their studies to join the heretical community and live a collective life. If one of the spouses falls into such heretical ideas, they will abandon the family and live together with and die for the heretical community, which will eventually lead to the family being torn apart.

6. Strong nationalism

Most heretics absolutize the nationality, ethnicity, ancestry, and place of birth of their leaders. Many of the Korean heretics claim to be the resurrection of Jesus, and what they have in common is that they must be Korean in order to prove that Jesus will return to the resurrection. Therefore, Korean heretical sects such as the "Unification Church", "Church of God", "Heavenly Father's Church", "Elijah Evangelical Church", and "Regents" wantonly misinterpret the East in the Bible (Matthew 2:1-9) as Korea according to the nationality of their leaders, and advocate that the Messiah (Messiah) and the resurrected Jesus all appeared in Korea. Heresies in China, the United States, and Japan also tend to absolutize the nationality and place of birth of the leader.

4. Representative heresy in Korea

Korean heresy is broadly divided into three categories. The first group comes from the United States, and the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)" and "Jehovah's Witnesses" fall into this category. The second category is the heresy of Korea itself, such as the "Heavenly Father's Church", the "Unification Church", the "Salvationists", and the "Korean Christian Heavenly Curtain Temple". The third category is the heresy of the above two types of heresy formed by the influence of other sects. Among them, the "Joyful Message Mission" was influenced by the "Salvationists", the "Regents" was influenced by the "Unification Church", and the "World Mission Church of God" was formed under the influence of the "Sabbath". It is impossible to elaborate on these heretical characteristics due to the limited space of this article, but fortunately, the general characteristics of heresy mentioned above cover almost all heresies in Korea.

5. The missionary strategy of the Korean heresy

In the past, heretical missionaries used to have believers directly promote their religion, which was inefficient, but now they have become more sophisticated and sophisticated. Here are some examples:

1. Various questionnaire surveys and public opinion surveys

Heretical groups disguise themselves as questionnaires or opinion surveys to reach out to the population. For example, many heretics disguise themselves as psychometric testing agencies, administer psychological tests such as personality tests (MBTI) or personality tests (MMPT) for free, and then try to proselytize in the form of counseling and try to direct the testers to their meeting places. Either in the name of helping the poor, or in the guise of an international organization such as the United Nations or a UNESCO agency to obtain signatures, in this way to obtain people's contact information. Once they have the means to contact them, they use phone calls, social networking sites, personal emails, etc., to invite people to various gatherings or events to get close to them, and then try to proselytize.

2. Language education, volunteer service, cultural and artistic activities

Heresy does not directly appear denominational in color, but is preached in a non-religious way. For example, to confuse people by offering language education, volunteering, or cultural or artistic activities. This method is primarily a strategy used to infiltrate heretical sects into universities. The first is language education: lectures in English, Japanese, and Chinese are offered free of charge or at low prices to attract university students to come and carry out missionary activities. The second is to form volunteer service groups: Gather college students to form volunteer groups at home and abroad to try to preach in the process of volunteer activities. The third is a variety of cultural activities: art exhibitions, concerts, drama performances, cheering groups, fashion shows and other activities to gather college students, trying to get in touch with them and continue to proselytize for a long time.

3. Join a club (student council)

Heresy infiltrates the university, attracts college students to establish volunteer clubs, foreign language clubs, art and literature clubs, etc., formally joins the university club federation to carry out activities, and makes friends with college students who participate in club activities, and continues to preach to them. Infiltrating universities by joining societies is a common method of proselytizing heretics, and it is a method of proselytizing legally and formally. By forming and joining a community, you can get more opportunities to communicate with other communities, so that you can not only naturally expand your missionary audience, but also make your missionary activities public and legal through community activities.

6. Countermeasures to prevent heresy

Heresy is not an unattainable topic, it may become a problem of "me" or "my nation", it may become a problem of "my school" or "my workplace", and it is not a problem of Koreans, but also a problem of Chinese, Japanese, Asians, the whole world, this is a fact that we must face. So what should be done to deal with heresy today? Here are a few of the countermeasures.

1. Be wary of heretics

If people fall into heresy, not only their religious life, but also their family life and professional life will be greatly hindered. Most heretics deify their leaders and advocate apocalypticism, forcing their followers to be loyal to their leaders and heretics if they want to avoid catastrophe when the end of the world comes. Falling into heresy can lead to a deterioration in the relationship between husband and wife, abandonment of work, family breakdown, etc., and if children fall into heresy, they often run away from home and drop out of school. Recently, most of the people who have fallen into heresy in Korea are highly educated, and when you think about this, you will find that heresy is not a problem of other people, nor is it a problem of other countries, and we should be wary of heresy.

2. It is necessary to collect credible information about heretical sects and build a shared network

It is necessary for orthodox Christian groups or religious institutions of higher learning to organize and operate information-sharing research institutes to conduct research on the entity and current status of heretical sects, collect credible information, and disclose examples of their victims. The UK government, in conjunction with the Church and relevant academia, has joined forces to run an organisation called INFORM: Information Network Focus On Religious Movement, which is a good example for us. If such research institutes can provide prompt and accurate information to state agencies, educational institutions, religious groups such as churches, social groups, and individuals, it will help to minimize the harm of heresy.

3. Cooperation with the judiciary must be strengthened

In Korea, many heretics who are victims of heresy and church experts who want to help them criticize or oppose heretical leaders or sects will take legal action to court for defamation or spreading false facts. In this way, although the fact of victimization due to heresy is clear and unambiguous, many people will take a negative stance in order to deal with such a problem. In order to effectively respond to and criticize heresy, it is important for judicial officers to actively engage in dialogue and communication with them, and to provide them with legal advice.

4. Victims of heresy should be viewed with warmth

Most people who fall victim to heresy are psychologically or financially deficient. Almost without exception, those who have fallen into heresy have suffered from the breakdown of their families and their unemployment. We should not treat these victims of heresy as "condemned" or "judged" because they are in heresy and delirium, but should treat them as victims who have suffered as a result of falling into heresy, treat them lovingly and warmly, communicate with them frequently, and take care of and help them.

(Author: Lee Dong-yeong, Professor, Graduate School of Biblical Theological University, Seoul)