Missionary Ethics

This morning I opened the San Francisco Chronicle and found a story called "An 'underground railway' rolling to freedom or death" in the Insight section. It was written by Josh Chin who is a student at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. He was given the rare opportunity to enter a safe house in China and meet a dozen North Korean refugees who sought protection there. The safe house is part of a loose network of Christian missionaries who do what they can to help North Korean refugees escape to South Korea. The Chinese government does not recognize North Koreans as refugees and will forcibly repatriate them back to North Korea where they are often tortured and sometimes killed. As Josh says in his article "the missionaries are virtually their only protectors."

As an opinion piece this article was much more personal than a typical news story. Josh shares his own struggle to define whether the missionaries are bringing life or death to these refugees. Josh is quick to point out the courage of the missionaries who face imprisonment or worse if caught aiding the North Koreans. He also points out that they seek no recognition and earn no payoff for their work other than remaining true to their beliefs. Many North Korean refugees do make it to freedom because of the work of these missionary networks.

So why the struggle? Two of the North Korean women that Josh meets at the safe house, 16-year old Esther and 17-year old Grace, declare that they plan to return to North Korea "to spread the Gospel". Josh notices that Grace seems hesitant. Proselytizing in North Korea is a crime punishable by death. Why would the women choose this fate? Josh wonders if the women, taught from birth in North Korea to worship Kim Sung Il, Kim Jong Il and juche (the national philosophy of Korean self-reliance) have merely substituted the object of their faith with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of Christianity. Are North Korea refugees easy targets for missionaries? Is this ethical? Are the young women better off? These are the questions I struggled with as I drove to church this morning after reading the paper.

I have more questions than answers and Josh's article does not attempt to give any answers. He shares his struggle and asks his readers to draw their own conclusions. Here are a few of my thoughts.

In the final class on his book, The Dangerous Act of Worship, Living God's Call to Justice, Pastor Mark Labberton engaged in an extended discussion with a woman in the class who wanted to make sure that in our discussions of justice we did not forget that our main calling as Christians is to spread the gospel. Pastor Mark, while agreeing that sharing the good news of Jesus Christ is important, argued that loving our neighbors and working for justice are inherently valuable to God - because of the nature and character of God - and that value is not dependent on our sharing the Gospel.

I asked myself why proselytizing is punishable by death in North Korea? (Josh writes that these days North Koreans caught illegally crossing the border are no longer put to death unless they return to proselytize) Another way to ask the question is: what does Kim Jong Il have to fear from the spread of the gospel in North Korea? In 2001 Edward Kim, editor of Chosun Journal, wrote Kim Jung Il "knows that once the missionaries and refugees were to bear witness to the world of their unbreakable courage and undying love strong enough to move the whole world's conscience, that his freedom to abuse would be lost forever." There lies hope - and yet that quote comes from a conversation that Edward had with one of these missionaries and it leaves me with much concern.

Learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:17

Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
Isaiah 58: 6

Living As In the Day

Notes from David Gill's Ethics class - Week 1 on "Living as in the day -- when it is still night". See this previous post for the class overview.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2

"Spiritual worship" in this passage could also be translated "logical response" or "reasonable service". The Greek words that are used are logikon latreia. Paul is presenting an argument about how we should live our lives and he appeals to us on the basis of logic.

"Do not be conformed to this world". There are two words for world in Greek. aeon meaning age or a period of existence; and kosmos meaning the spacial universe. The word used in this text is "aeon". The call is to not let ourselves be shaped or defined by the age or culture that we live in. Rather we should "be transformed by the renewing of our minds". And the purpose is the discernment of the will of God which is:
good [Greek: agathos, meaning good for us]
acceptable [Greek: euarestos, meaning well-pleasing, beautiful]
perfect [Greek: teleios, meaning end, complete]

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:11-14

"you know what time it is". The Greek word for time in this case is kairos which means a period or point in time, not chronicle of time. Right now, at this moment, it is time for us to wake up.

"the night is far gone, the day is near". The image below is meant to give us a better picture of what "living as in the day" looks like. While we are not able to look into the coming age to determine how we should live, Jesus who is the "bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16) left the Day and came to us, in the Night, and gave us a perfect example of what "living honorably as in the day" looks like. So we look to Jesus.

Justice = Righteousness

Last Sunday I learned something fascinating (to me at least). In the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, in both Hebrew and Greek, the word for justice is the same word for righteousness. Justice = Righteousness. In Hebrew the word is tsedeq and in Greek the word is dikaios. The first time I heard it was the last day of David Gill's Ethics class at 9am, the second time I heard it was in Pastor Mark's sermon at First Pres at 5pm. I'm not sure if I've heard this before but if I did it certainly didn't sink in. This time, twice in one day - it woke me up.

I've always associated justice with the law and with standing up for other people's rights. Righteousness on the other hand is something personal, something individual, it involves how good of a person I am. These two things are the same? Or at least two sides of the same coin?

In the ethics class David Gill said justice involves what is "right", doing the "right thing", doing what we "ought" or "owe" and involves our debts and obligations. Doing what is right encompasses both an inward and an outward expression of following the will of God. I found this definition by Paul Marshall on Andrew Basden's website:

"Justice is: right relationships among all things in the created order of things."

This evening I attended the first class Pastor Mark is offering on his new book, The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God's Call to Justice. Again, this connection between righteousness and justice was mentioned. Righteousness is being right with God (a vertical relationship) and justice is being right with our neighbor (a horizontal relationship).

The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
-- Mark 12:28-31

The more I think about this the more I appreciate the connectedness of these two words and the more depth each of them holds for me.