Their actions have further harmed the interests of their country and the efforts of the international community, that is seeking to deal with the criminals that hide under the guise of being “Islamic”, in that country.

Wrong. The church group acted ill-advisedly. But it didn’t—it couldn’t—do what you claimed. At most, their actions placed the Korean government in the position of making a choice. The government had to choose between acting like a real nation-state (with the power and responsibility attendant thereto), or acting like a weak impotent client state. As the whole world is painfully aware, the Roh administration chose the latter.

It’s the Korean government’s response to this situation—paying ransom to the Taliban and dealing with them as a legitimate quasi-state actor rather than as the criminal thugs they are—that has harmed the interests of Korea and the efforts of the international community. And that’s why the international community is condemning the Korean government, not the church group. (In marked contrast to what’s happened on the Hole, where “blame the victim” has been the overwhelming sentiment.)

“[C]uckoos with the Neon Crosses,” indeed. Dda, I think you finally said what’s really on your mind. Your motivations seem to have nothing to do with the news. Since you hate Christian’s, I’m sure you would bad-mouth these missionaries no matter what the situation, even if they were hostages of the Taliban. Oops! That’s exactly what happened. Why don’t you get your own AK-47.

Sooner than expected, but the word is out.

Still a miracle to me, but not to others as expected.

Hostages and the church should pay back the government as much as reasonable.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....koreans_dc

According to the story, the Taliban is already making a shopping list:

A Taliban commander, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday: “We got more than $20 million dollars from them (the Seoul government). With it we will purchase arms, get our communication network renewed and buy vehicles for carrying out more suicide attacks.”

But since the Korean government is denying the report, either the Taliban informant is lying or something got lost in translation.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” describes it all nicely.

Then, something happenned in an interval of several months, and I subjectively am quite certain of my faith.

the word is all nonsense without the spirit.

that is my conclusion.

the transition I experienced is unfortunately, not universallly experienced.

then, I turn to the predestination theology for explanations. Which in itself makes no sense and sounds like injustice, but who is man to tell a god is unjust? If you believe in a god, that is.

value the freedom of religion you have in the free world. Even God believes in free will.

There’s really nothing altruistic about missionary proselytizing, it’s extremely egotistical and self-serving… only Christians and Muslims seem to feel this great compulsion to do so, fueled by their own inner doubt

Glad to see you and Ut patched up your differences, Sanshinseon, but I do wish to take issue with this statement. We can observe and describe behaviors, but as we are not mind-readers, we cannot be certain of motives. Buddhism teaches its followers to observe without judgment.

People may have different motives for doing the same action and it is impossible to generalize about people who proselytize. Some may push their religious beliefs to affirm them and inflate their sense of self-importance. Others may witness out of a sincere and compassionate belief that they are saving souls by bringing them to God. We can acknowledge different possible motives, but I don’t think we can presume or generalize about what inspired these particular adults to participate in this missionary trip.

I read OT and NT approximately 10 times or more, and read it everyday.

What a tremendous waste of time.

by my guess, 80% of Christians do not do this.

Offtopic, indeed. But on a somewhat personal note, I wonder who’s more brainwashed devout these days. Korean Christians or White American Bible-Belt Christians? Is it still the latter? Same, same? True, I’ve known many cool Korean Christians, those well educated ‘pomo’ guys who would go out to clubs after the Bible study. But sometimes I wonder. The lives of Korean Christians are usually quite wrapped around Christianity. To the point that it’s not unusual to hear a Korean girl expressing her dreams to marry a/the pastor. It’s like reading a 19th century novel of some kind where “pastor” = playa or love interest of the female protagonist. Kind of like Jane Eyre and St John Rivers or something. It’s really strange, and totally antiquated. Those Protestatant missionaries who had gone to Korea did a tremendously effective job.