Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No religion 46.5%
Buddhism 22.8%
Protestantism 18.3%
Roman Catholic Church 10.9%
Other religions 0.7%
Won Buddhism 0.3%
Jehovah's Witnesses 0.3%
Confucianism 0.2%
Cheondoism 0.1%
Islam 0.1%
In Vietnam, the spread of Christianity was a direct result of French colonialism, in Korea it was more of a reaction against Chinese and Japanese dominance. And while the majority of Korean-Americans are Christian only about 30% of Vietnamese-Americans are. So they are really totally different cases. Unfortunately, the dominant flavor of Christianity in South Korea is intolerant and fundamentalist (which is ironic since Christian missionaries were no doubt quite grateful for the religious tolerance of Korean society when they were working to establish a beachhead in the country).
They're embracing it for the same reasons anybody does: Redemption, forgiveness and eternal life. Those things transcend boundries, ethnicities, races, cultures and even religions. The Gospel message is for all mankind, so it should come as no surprise when anyone responds to it's message.
By the way, South Korea has the second largest number of Southern Baptist's in the world. Only the USA has more. And, those Korean Baptist's are now sending missionaries HERE!
And, if you think the Gospel is catching fire among Koreans and Vietnamese, you oughta see what's going on in China!
Of course an evangelical Christian would see it that way. But putting aside the merits of Christianity vs Buddhism vs. atheism it would be a very boring world if everybody had the same religious (or lack of) beliefs.
Of course an evangelical Christian would see it that way. But putting aside the merits of Christianity vs Buddhism vs. atheism it would be a very boring world if everybody had the same religious (or lack of) beliefs.
While I agree with your general point, why shouldn't an evangelical Christian see it that way? Those Asians who have become Christians must have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeekerSA
"Korea has one of the highest % of Christians of any country in the world."
That is behind many counties including mine, just an appeal to awesomeness
It would not rank as even one of the highest.
Maybe a better way to put it is that Korea has one of the highest % of Christians in the non-Western world.
Also, I would argue that most Korean Christians are reasonably devout (the zeal of the newly converted and all that) compared to western countries where there are a lot of registered church members who are actually atheist and never go to church or pray and all of the C&E Christians.
The Korean home cell stuff, the church I was in tried to adopt it and it failed. The reason, we do not have the same community culture that affords it to work.
They are likely more community orientated seeing they have a common culture older than most western nations who like the USA, AUS and SA are displaced foreigners/settlers. The natives culture has all but been destroyed, again in SA, the biggest church here is the Zion Christian Church and the members are all black. It is a merging of xian and traditional cultural stuff.
Any cultural identity whites may have had in the said countries are long gone and replaced by a more "you're on your own" culture.
Back to the home cell stuff, it was heavily community orientated and as such failed as a tool to increase the church size. In fact the adamant pastor saw a decline in the congregation and then decided to toss it. By then the home cells that were working just fine before, no longer existed and no amount of trying to revive them was successful.
The Korean model works pretty much like a pyramid scheme.
While I agree with your general point, why shouldn't an evangelical Christian see it that way? Those Asians who have become Christians must have.
Sure, that's the natural viewpoint of anybody who believes that their religion is the only path to salvation. But it makes it impossible for them to dispassionately examine the effects of aggressive missionary activity. It boils down to: vigorous proselytizing of my religion = good; of other religions = bad.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
