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The criticism of Koo’s teaching of the Bible

Started on September 22, 2024 at KAMC ABQ. Every Sunday at 1:30 pm.

He’s created his own curriculum based around Bible Panorama by Terry Hall, and another that seems to be in a series related to that. It’s excellent that the church members get to experience a survey of the whole Bible using a rather time-tested book, and I went in just as a personal refresher. Most of the material is supposed to be a direct quote from the book, so I don’t expect to have much beef to pick on except for the echos of Hall’s lean to dispensationalism and Koo’s personal slant towards it. (George Ladd’s works have even put the most dispensational seminaries to the middle, and yet it is still perpetuated as a gospel among some.) Having a personality that analyzes everything in-depth, this is a mere outlet for me, not any negative criticism of the person doing the teaching here. In other words, definitely not an ad hominem argument, but mere response to things that stuck out as ear sores. Echoing Augustine’s dictum of plurality in non-essentials, unity in essentials, and charity in all things, I find myself wanting to be gracious while finding it extremely difficult to see wrong things being taught through this class.

This will be pinned during the duration of this study (possibly 8+ sessions.)

Teaching style

  • As often is the case, he seems to reaffirm the Dunning-Kruger effect. Maybe it comes with the age, but he’s unafraid to be speak as though it is the only interpretation even though there are more in-depth interpretations available. Although it is a commonly held conception, it isn’t a correct interpretation (e.g. “God is more pleased with blood sacrifice than a grain offering.”) given the context, i.e. Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s. It annoys me to no end when someone makes absolute their opinions rather than merely teach what the Bible teaches.

9/22

  • Not much issue came to surface, except for his fascination, and what almost sounds like an adoration of Buddhist monks’ harsh asceticism. It is indeed rather interesting that the famous Korean Buddhist monk Seong-cheol had acknowledged the existence of hell and the intractable nature of sin, however, given the Biblical context in which even demons know Christ and the truth of supernatural beyond the visible, it isn’t anything more than an interesting factoid. (One doesn’t need 40 years of meditation to come up with such notions, even though Koo seems to believe it was somehow an independent discovery?!) Qrn’s writer did it surprisingly well and more simply by observing Jews and Christians around him.)

9/29

  • Instead of offering to the audience, the commonly held opinion of the reason why God accepted Abel’s offering over Cain, he stated it as if it’s the one and only reason, although the biblically informed interpretation would put the scope around the text itself, and not try to go beyond that. This may be a layman’s mistake, and may point to his inexperience of teaching in such context, but rather annoying to me when he added that, “God is not pleased with the grain offering.” He apparently threw out baby with the bath water out of the window the fact that in the Mosaic covenantal law, God does indeed command for grain offering, and there’s no indication in the Bible that God is more pleased with blood sacrifice over grain offering, and yet this is what Koo taught to my dismay.
  • Another sigh of reluctance with his teaching that Catholics removed the second commandment, “Thou shall not make graven images.” He doesn’t seem to know that the groupings of commandments are merely different, and that even Lutherans shares the same grouping with RCC. The commandment of not making graven images is lumped up in the first commandment, and yet treading the footsteps of Catholic bashers, he boldly states as if Catholics had removed the commandment. I’m not sure if he left out Lutherans (i.e. Rev. Brian Earl) intentionally, or if it was out of ignorance. I’m not sure if it was from the Korean version of the book, Bible Panorama, but it commits a sin of omission by misrepresenting the first commandment by leaving out the rest of the text for the first commandment on the Catholic side in the illustration. (At this point, I’m reminded that in religious context, confidence whilst lacking proper education and knowledge can be a rather dangerous thing. I don’t know if I have the energy to deal with a stubborn old man who seems to have made up his mind about a lot of things he has no business about being too confident about.)
  • The third thing that stuck out is his pointed statement that the main theme of the Bible is about territory, while repeatedly saying that the Earth is owned by Satan. It’s increasingly becoming clear as to what kind of horizon of interpretation he’s on. Nowhere in the Bible teaches that Satan owns the Earth, although he’s given power (most of English translation uses the word dominion) over it. The book of Job is clear that the ultimate sovereignty and ownership is with God, not Satan. Koo’s view is that the kingdom of God is about retaking of Satan’s territory.
  • Note: I had to leave exactly at 2:30 pm to help out with Brian’s ministry at Aki Matsuri, and apparently, there were more material he had covered after 2:30 pm. The class won’t be held for next two weeks over his business trip.

내 뒷마당은 안되유~

오랜 정치 파벌 싸움에 이용되어 지역갈등이 더 커진 것 처럼 정치화된 THAAD 때문에 주위에 신경이 쓰이는 사람들이 많고 또 세계적 NIMBY 운동 확장세라 조용할 날이 없을 것 같다.

나는 미국 연방 군사무기 연구소 바로 옆에서 산다. 도시를 남북으로 딱 잘라 남쪽 1/2의 크기가 다 공군기지와 함께한 연구소 땅이다. 동쪽으로 백두산 높이의 산자락이 있다. 동쪽에 있는 산자락 남쪽으로 등산을 하다 보면 가끔씩 무기 연구소 쪽의 황량한 벌판 지대에서 쿵 하는 저음의 소리와 함께 큰 하얀 연기가 땅 위로 올라온 후 검은 연기로 바뀌어 올라오는 것을 본다. 보통 도시에서는 들은 적은 없는 소리인데 많은 건물 때문에 자동 방음이 되는 것 같다. 산위에서는 들려왔던 소리. 등산하다 가끔씩 봐왔던 것은 지하 실험으로 인한 것들이다.

이렇게 대낮에도 아무렇지도 않게 지하 실험하고 있는 연구소이지만 여기 지역 사람들은 그것에 대해 아무런 반항도 없고 인체에 대한 어떤 위험이 있는지 따지는 사람도 없다. 물론 같이 일하는 분들 중에 부모가 과거에 북쪽에 있는 핵무기 연구 중 방사능 노출로 인해 암유발과 함께 돌아가신 분들도 몇 만났지만 여기 같은 동네에 있는 연구소에서 일하면서 어떤 시민 항의가 있던 적은 없었던 것 같다. 물론 군사용 무기라서 특단의 비밀리 진행되는 연구가 대부분이라 그런 것도 있겠지만 산 남쪽에 올라가면 쉽게 발견할 수 있는 지하 실험들… 핵무기와 관련된 연구도 진행된다는 것도 직접 연구하고 있는 친구가 있어서 잘 알고 있는 사실이다.

아무튼, THAAD 가 문제라면 대한민국 국민들이 사용하는 전화기를 먼저 문제삼아 없애야 할 것이다. 왜냐면 전화기에서 나오는 EMF 가 THAAD 100배가 넘기 때문이고 더 강력한 EMF 라서 (지속적이지는 않음) 몸 옆에서 신호가 떨어질 때마다 세포의 유전자를 붕괴한다는 사실은 이미 입증된 사실이다. THAAD 수준의 EMF가 문제라면 왜 TV, 라디오, 그리고 무수하게 많은 더 심각할 수 있는 다른 종류의 EMF를 문제삼고 있지 않을까?? 정치인들의 유치하고 거짓된 선동과 그것을 대응하며 소비되는 신경, 돈, 시간, 인력이 낭비되고 있는게 아쉬울 뿐이다. ㅡ.ㅡ

Warning against anchoring on experiential faith

If Jesus solely promoted experiential faith and pushed for the type of anti-intellectualism the liberals have been cramming on for several decades now, Christianity would have disappeared by the Diocletianic persecution of early 4th century. Nothing Jesus taught, nor Paul, vectors to a conviction where spiritual experience becomes as important as the anchor of faith. Yes, all of the disciples, except Paul, had spent a lot of time walking, eating, and living with Jesus. And if experience is truly the anchor of faith, no one should have denied Jesus. Even in the OT, David’s delight was in the law of the Lord, not his subjective joy. Even the joy — an experience — itself is treated as a byproduct, but never as an end. If marriages were merely based only on emotional experiences, all marriages should result in divorces. Volition, a determined and directed effort, is what drives a human life. (Let me take a quick pause here to say that I’m usually more inclined to a holistic approach to human personhoold, and don’t subscribe to a strict Platonic tripartite theory, but since what sparked this seemed to be based on that theory, I have no choice but to stand near that level ground. If I can get around to it, I may write more about the holistic view of human personality, which I think is more biblical.)

Both Jesus and Paul emphasize the importance of faith and actions, rather than experience in the way we commonly understand it today. The prioritization of personal, subjective experience over belief, commitment, and proper behavior, seems to be found in the book of Acts when Paul asks Ephesians if they had received the Holy Spirit. However, in the context, the Holy Spirit isn’t treated like a medium of subjective experience like how it is often described today, but rather as a mere Person of Trinity. The subjectiveness comes at the point of baptism. Therefore, the passage should be understood as primarily an encounter with a Person of the Trinity, and byproduct of that encounter is a subjective experience. The experience is secondary, not primary. A bit of wider context here for the interpretative lense — which is the one I find an issue with — that may have been used. The commonly shared, historical experience of Korean (collective) church, albeit a short history, is one that is deeply grounded in spiritual experiences. But such emphasis in experience is not uncommon in Korean version of Buddhism, animism (aka shamanism), and even in Bible-based heretical groups. The emphasis on the subjective experiential aspect of faith seems to be deeply ingrained in Korean psyche, and in this context, it is not surprising that God would use such temperament to bring revival to the Korean church. Many Koreans who had lived through that era, including myself, were part of that collective experience and they make up a large portion of the Korean church today. We were blessed, or lucky, to have been a part of that spiritual wind. However, an encounter with the Spirit should not only result in a hyped experience, but it should be followed by the transformation of the total person, including the mind. This is exactly what we see after the Pentecost, and also what we saw with our own lives during that part of Korean history. Therefore, over-emphasis solely on the experiential aspect as THE anchor of faith is misleading. If the word experience is actually meant as an encounter, or at least imply an encounter, or the beginning of a relationship with God, such use of the word in that context should be fine. But again, without such explanation, the hearer is liable to hear it in a simpler meaning without a learned context. The experience is to be under the service of knowing God to the fullest. In simpler terms, when one encounters God, whether through the direct workings of the Spirit, or through the study of the Word, or through the sermon from the Word, our emotions (if healthy) should react appropriately as a response. Luther, Augustine, Wesley, C.S. Lewis, and so many effective Christians all had an emotional experience, but that was because they were diligent students of the Word, and came to encounter God Himself in the Word of God. Our churches today are depriving people of that with wrong messages.

This is why the anti-intellectualism is one of the biggest sources of the decay of the Church, because without a proper version of biblical literacy, instead of having people’s lives transformed and grow towards a mature faith, it’s easy to have people gather only to have a dopaminergic experience without any resulting growth. This is exactly what we’re seeing with the churches in Korea. Instead of mature Christians who are effective catalysts in the society, we see Christians cloistered inside the safety of church walls, self-satisfied with their tribal experiences and relationships. Vineyard movement, and countless experience-oriented heretical movements, all have people remain in a trance-like state where they feel like they are experiencing the Spirit of God, and feel like they have done something worthwhile, when their own lifestyle remains unchanged and completely unaffected. It’s a passive form of social hysteria. I’m not suggesting that the worship is unimportant, but there is a need for stern warning to be spoken against a version of Christianity that promotes only experiential aspect over intentional obedience to the Word of God.

Knowing that the speaker was educated at an elite, extremely liberal institution, he was exposed to the higher textual criticism which claims to be the most intellectual form of study you could do when it comes to a biblical scholarship, and he probably takes a pride in that. Unbeknownst to him, he seems to be blind to the fact that there is a form of hermeneutics that takes a humble approach to the Bible, where you literally try to stand under the Scripture to understand, not stand above the Scripture to impose your own or even the world’s horizon on the Word of God. But, again, it’s not his fault that he grew up in such and such location, and went to such and such school, resulting in such and such intellectual horizon which is marked by a form of sadistic self-hatred.

Experience, by its very nature, is a part of past. Churches do not need to induce some type of subjective emotional experiences to be revived. In this post-modern world, we need biblically literate churches that know the difference between God’s will and Satan’s schemes, and be able to defend their faith, and carry not only action but their words to the public squares. When there’s a talk of eugenics, homosexual (2SLBGTQIABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ+) activism, malignant form of social justice, artificial intelligence, CRISPR gene editing, human cloning, Christians are mute, because churches have been working overtime to make the Bible irrelevant to the world outside of the church walls. BIBLE IS MEANT TO BE INTEGRATIVE TO OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW, not compartmentalized for some type of religious experience. Post-modernism brings fragmentation, and look where the society is now. True Christian faith brings coherence, based on the Word of God. As soon as you make the Bible irrelevant to the history of the universe, to the history of Earth, to the history of humanity, and to the history of nations, and to the history of individual, you no longer have a Christianity. It starts from the largest scope that the Bible touches on from the very beginning, and how could you make it relevant when the teacher of the Bible himself doesn’t have the faith to believe the word as it is presented. Coherence doesn’t come cheap. When did Jesus ever say that the world will embrace you for your faith? Don’t try to fit in so hard. Some try so hard to a point where the Word of God is mangled to be powerless, safe so that it requires practically no faith — it’s enough if you can come to church with it. The world is probably right to ridicule it, not because the Word of God is not credible, but people who teach it have mangled to a point where it is no longer the Word of God and they don’t believe it themselves. As soon as you compromise on one thing, you introduce noise that disrupts the whole framework, and it’s bifurcated from there. This is why we have too many apathetic, and impotent Christians who don’t even understand the basics of their own faith, and that’s sadly reflected in their lives. Leaders should not be quick to appease, and quick to pacify, rather face the lies inside (including one’s private ones) and outside manly. During a war, we don’t need more gardeners; we need more warriors who can also tend to gardens. I’m so weary of pastors still clinging to their personal experience back in Korea. Good for them, but let’s grow up for the Church. Let’s please understand the world as it is now, know the word of God inside and out, and think hard to look towards the future.

We had enough status quo. There’s no understanding. There is no knowledge of the Word of God. And instead of encouraging people to think on their feet (once grounded in the Word of God), the last thing we should be doing is to tell people not to use their minds that God has given them to use to the maximum. We are to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, with all of our minds, and with all of our strengths. Don’t ever leave any part of that out, and say only one thing is needed. Most of partial truths are worse than lies, and this happens to be right at the vicinity.

천지창조하신 하나님이 빠진 교회들

하나님은 없다라고 가르치고 있는 세상속에서 교회도 같이 창조주 하나님은 없다라고 합창을 하면서 하나님의 말씀을 가르친다고 행세질만 하니 사람들이 교회를 나오긴 나오는데 예수님께서 보여주시고 가르쳐주신 신앙이 아닌 인본주의적인 사람들이 안전한 공간에서 다른 사람들을 만날 수 있는 공간이라 생각되서 교회에 나오게 된다. 계속해서 위대하신 하나님보다 과학이 더 위대하다고 과학을 찬양하라. 아이들도 진화론에 내포된 무신론주의에 빼앗긴 상황에서 어른들만 구원받으면 너무 불평등한건 아닌가? 더 나가 사람의 선조되신 원숭이님도 예배에 참석하게 해서 말씀을 들어야 하게 하는 것이 新無神論 목사들의 도리가 아닌가?

Hiking: Pino trail

4 hours. 20 lbs. backpack. 1 liter of water consumed. With Eric.

A panoramic view

Tried out 500 ml of water that was flowing across the trail. Water tasted sweet! 약수물~!

Update: I realized in the US you aren’t supposed to be drinking from natural sources. My childhood experience of drinking water from local mountain has me unafraid to drink mountain water.

奇貨可居

原: 史記, 呂不韋傳; 資治通鑑, 等等

奇貨可居 (기화가거,qíhuòkějū,きか-かきょ) special item [is of a] good purchase
Something that deserves an investment. A good opportunity. A worthy item to purchase for future.

During the Warring States period, even though the country of Jo (趙) was in a decline, the capital city of Handan (邯鄲) was still flourishing with a lot of trade with other countries. Yeobulwi (呂不韋), a grand merchant (豪商) of the country of Han (韓), also frequented Handan for business. One day, by chance, he found out Jacho (子楚: 異人), who was a bastard son of Prince An-guk (安國君) of Jin (秦), was being held as a hostage in that city.  At the time, Jin often invaded Jo so Jacho was despised, and he was treated badly. Yeobulwi saw this situation as an opportunity, and decided to help Jacho by first visiting his residence, which was a shabby place. Yeobulwi said, “King Soyang (昭襄王) is of old age, and your father is set to become the next king of Jin. But Queen Consort (正妃), Lady Hwa-yang (華陽夫人), has no sons, and there are over twenty sons born through concubines. Among them, who do you think would be the next Crown Prince? Surely, the confidence isn’t on your side.” Jacho wasn’t sure of the intent of this conversation and replied, “There isn’t anything anyone can do about that, is there?” Yeobulwi suggested that he would help Jacho with money, so he could send gifts to the Queen Consort to win her favor, while recruiting talented people around him. Yeobulwi promised that he would also go to the country of Jin and try to help appoint Jacho as the Crown Prince. At this, Jacho held Yeobulwi’s hands in gratitude and said, “If things work out as you’ve said, then let us rule Jin together.”

Finally, Jacho was installed as the Crown Prince with the help of Yeobulwi’s wealth and scheme. And, as Yeobulwi had strategized, Jacho succeeded as King Jangyang (莊襄王, 250-247 BC) of Jin in year 250 BC. As he had promised, Yeobulwi was appointed a minister as soon as he was enthroned, and Yeobulwi was able to gain unprecedented power and wealth.

Before all of these happened, Yeolbulwi had given one of his dancers to Jacho as a wife, and a son, named Jung (政), born to her became the Crown Prince, and later, he would become the Emperor Si (始皇帝). However, there was a report that this dancer who was wed to Jacho was already pregnant with Yeobulwi’s child, and the child who later became the Emperor Si was actually Yeobulwi’s son. 

Anyway, King Jangyang reigned only for 3 years and died. Crown Prince Jung succeeded him, and Yeobulwi was entrusted with even more power as the Chief Councillor, and he was even called uncle (仲父: next in line to one’s father) by the king. He enjoyed fame and held in one hand the power over Jin, and this was all because he discovered a precious gem in a pitiful place and paid dearly for it (奇貨可居). 

We often are affected by myopia, and miss the future opportunities that could be returned to us. A wise person knows to sacrifice little now for a greater return later. And, to do so with boldness as well. Such force of volition in decision making isn’t common among people, especially in this day and age of information overflow. So, it may take a lifetime of practice to learn to see what is not apparent in our daily transactions

狡兎三窟

原: 史記, 孟嘗君列傳; 經濟類編, 卷三十二/19 中
…狡兎有三窟僅得免其死耳…

狡兎三窟 (교토삼굴,jiǎotù sān kū, こうと-さんくつ), smart rabbit [has] three holes
Semper paratus (“always be prepared.”) Always have a back-up plan.

During the Warring States period (戰國時代) a retainer (食客) of Lord Maeng-sang (孟嘗君), named Pung-hweon (馮愋, 馮驩) received an order to collect the loan payments from the state of Seol (薛). He went and gathered everyone who were in debt to Lord Maeng-sang and then to the joy of everyone gathered there, he proceeded burn all of their documents of obligation. Pung-hweon came back and explained that by burning all those loan contracts he had gained gratitude and indebtedness (恩義) from people.

A year later, Lord Maeng-sang had angered King Min (泯王) of the country of Je (齊), and then he was driven out from his post to the outer parts of the kingdom. At this time, the people of Seol came out to be with Lord Maeng-sang to comfort him for 100 miles. This was the first help by Pung-hweon.

Then Pung-hweon went to the capital city of Wi (魏) and persuaded King Hye (惠王) that his country will made stronger by receiving Lord Maeng-sang. King Hye was convinced, and sent 1,000 pounds of gold and cartloads of gifts. Such gifts were sent to him three times, but following Pung-hweon’s advice, Lord Maeng-sang denied the offer, and did not receive those gifts. King Min, hearing of this, became fearful, and sent a servant with an apology, and reinstated Lord Maeng-sang to his post as a local sovereign. This was the second help provided by Pung-hweon.

As a third help, Pung-hweon advised Lord Maeng-sang to build an ancestral shrine of Je in the land of Seol. As long as the shrine existed, King Min would not be a threat to him, so Lord Maeng-sang’s authority was reaffirmed this way.

The world has always been in chaos and it is full of difficulties, so one must overcome a lot of difficulties in order to succeed in the world. People often say it is now the world of infinite competitions. Once must be well equipped in order to compete with others, and that also means one must also be prepared sufficiently for overcoming difficulties in life. And it can also produce anxiety if you have all your eggs in one basket. If one thing fails, there has to be another ready in place. This is true not only individually, but at the national level as well. There has to be some protective measures in place in case of emergencies.

Fake mask-selling sites; scammers

https://enstadia.com

https://sunflowerwishstore.com

https://familywellness.shop

It’s probably a small team operating these. They will even call you (on Saturday night) if you file a complaint. They’re well-versed in technology, and apt at avoiding detection. If you file a complaint with Facebook, it will be ignored, and any posts mentioning them will be taken down. They will hoard money as long as possible, and run before getting caught. I wonder when the law enforcement will catch these retromingent mofos.

Notes on [brain] fatigue

Self-diagnosis. 2 points if yes, 1 point if somewhat yes, and 0 if no. And then sum it up at the end.

  1. I have a problem with sleeping at night, and I wake up in the middle of night.
  2. I have lost appetite.
  3. I feel tired all the time even though I haven’t used my body that much
  4. I don’t feel like going to work or go outside.
  5. I’m anxious and feel nervous all the time.
  6. I can’t organize my thoughts well.
  7. I have a headache.
  8. My neck and shoulders feel stiff.
  9. I can’t concentrate well.
  10. My eyes feel tired.

Healthy: 0-5, Light: 6-9, Intermediate: 10-15, Danger: more than 15

In the intermediate level, you can potentially experience skin issues.

If it’s over 15, you should go see a doctor — especially if you’re over 40 years-old.