Ah, God
Ah, religion. The answer to a question when you don't know all the facts. A bunch of primitive tribesmen made it up, so we should just trust them. After all, in their ignorance and superstition they somehow knew better than we do now.

A lot of people come to South Korea curious about religion. Well, I've got news for you. It's dominated by Presbytarians with Confucianist values. Korean Christianity is, in every way, worse than any form of Christianity you're probably familiar with. Basically, it entered this country by converting the wives of rich businessmen, telling them their husbands would lose all their money if they didn't give money to God (who really cares what some Asian jagoff's wife does in her spare time). From there the big churches became temples of opulence and conspicuous consumption. I know that probably describes nearly every church, but it's worse here than I've seen elsewhere.

I could (and will) tell some pretty horrible stories about Christianity here. The church that sends missionaries into war zones, and then when they get captured, forces the government to pay their ransoms. The minister who told female followers that the only way to erase Eve's sin was to get raped by him (currently starting a ten-year sentence, woohoo!) The religious fanatic president who announces "Let the Buddhist temples burn to the ground!" The countless girls who shoot me down because "I want to marry a man who is kind and Christian." But I'm going to tell you the one that makes me angriest.

My wife really dislikes most of her inlaws, but there's one family in particular. The father wasn't religious, but the mother and daughter were both hopeless Christians who believe God rewards faith with cold hard cash and top grades. There also used to be a son, but well...

He had a very serious disease. I don't know the name, in English or Korean, but something leukemia-serious. Fortunately, there was a cure. It was expensive, and not 100% guaranteed to work, but it could save his life, and they had just the right amount of money saved up. The mother knew what she had to do. She took all that money, and donated it to her church. God would cure him. Rather than pay for the actual medical cure, the only thing that had a remote chance of working, she gave it all up hoping for a miracle.

You probably think you know what will happen next. Yes, the boy passed away. But what elevates this from sad tragedy (and in a rational society possibly warranting criminal charges of child abuse), to sick twisted tale possibly eligible for a Darwin Award, is the non-religious father. What did he do next, after his wife signed away the money for the fucking cure? He joined their church.

This god they worship, if real, is clearly less advanced than modern humanity. Today we know more about life, more about the universe, and we still don't know why there's something from nothing, but we're closer to the truth. The god who instructed Joshua when to slaughter his neighbours probably didn't even know there was a Korea.
(racetraitor has an alibi for, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 16:20, 3 replies)

This is an awesome (as in, give me awe...and shock... not in a good way) story.
Have you posted it before? It does sound familiar.
(Angie the Redneck Wonder, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 14:22, closed)

I don't know.
I don't think so.
(racetraitor has an alibi for, Thu 26 Mar 2009, 2:01, closed)

This gets my vote.
I despise the poison they plant in the minds on otherwise modern human beings. If a greater power exists, and desires our respect, he/she better start earning it. If there is some mystery game going on, than I for one, am not playing dice.
(AndyC4m Eject Eject [><], Tue 24 Mar 2009, 16:02, closed)