Conformity of Standards

A reporter for the Catholic Peace Weekly gives us some thoughts on an issue serious enough to discuss but lacking efforts to resolve. 

We are talking about controversies about standards within  Christianity such as the same dates for feast days and using the same words for important concepts.

In Korea within Christianity, the Chinese word (天主=Lord of Heaven) is translated differently in the Catholic and Protestant churches.  Over forty years ago they published  A Common Bible among the Catholics and Protestants where the Lord of Heaven was translated as "Haneunim" but the Bible never became popular among the Christians. Catholics use the 'Haneunim' and Protestants 'Hananim' (meaning the Lord of Heaven).

The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar. June 9th is May 27th of the Julian calendar. In the lunar calendar, it would be May 4th. The standards that we use bring a change to our thinking.

Therefore, when ‘unity of mind’ is needed, the ‘standards’ are first unified. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which are joining forces in the ecumenical movement without having to go far, are discussing ways to unify the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, which has been celebrated differently due to different calendars.

‘Standards’ are also the point that Korean Christians who strive for unity regret the most. At a forum commemorating the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Christian Faith and Order Council held last month, experts evaluated the past ecumenical movement and expressed their greatest regret over the lack of ‘unification of terminology.’ This is because even the names for God are not the same. Meanwhile, the distance in the hearts of believers is growing further apart. Some believers also oppose the discussion of unity itself. Their logic is: "Because it is against the will of the Lord." Some argue that change is unnecessary because we have lived this way for so long.

Meanwhile, religion itself is facing a crisis. A Protestant clergyman who participated in the forum that day appealed, saying: "Now is the crisis of mutual destruction for everyone", and added, "It is time to urgently gather strength." In fact, according to statistics released at the end of last year, half of the total population is ‘non-religious.’ In particular, 7 out of 10 people in their 20s answered that they had no religion. His appeal: “Because it is a common crisis, we must join forces for greater unity,” this should not be an empty cry.