Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Another Mystery

Ok, this foreign language thing is creating some confusion. I have recently discovered that Myung Sung Pres. Church is not the largest church in the world after all. The Church in question is a Pentecostal Church, or as we call it in the US, Assemblies of God.

Now herein lies another difficulty. How many people are said to be attending said church. Getting the correct # I have discovered is a bit tricky. See, are they saying thousands or hundred thousands? Which brings in to question the numbers of people attending the Church in Bogota that I was at in 2003.

In Bogota, I believe it was being said that 250,000 people attend this Church, with an additional youth group of 85,000. Now I think the #'s that I'm getting for the largest Church here in Korea is 55,000. If this is the case, and all my data is accurate, (doubtful), than Bogota would have the largest church in the world. I can't remember the name of it though.

What I have discovered is, that even though you think the person has understood what you were asking, and said person thinks they understand what you've asked, no body really knows what's going on. Sound like any conversations you've had lately. Thought so. But it's even worse when you don't speak the language.

So now this is really bugging me. It has been since last Sunday when I was talking with a US Pastor at Myung Sung. He told me about the other Church and the name rang a bell. Pastor Kim, from Myung Sung, is very famous though, and that's why I had heard his name before. His Church is the largest Presbyterian Church in the world.

When I get this thing figured out, I'll be sure to pass the information on. Why does it matter you ask? Well, it really doesn't except that ever since I was at Bogota, I've been wondering about # discrepancies. I thought, if what they are saying here in Bogota was accurate, then this is the largest church in the world. But even they were saying that they weren't. ??????????????????????

I have a feeling that #'s were messed up in translation. I've noticed with my students that thousands can become tens of thousands really easily. This only strengthened my suspicions as it was my theory for the discrepancies noted earlier. But the translators were so sure in their statements, and the expenses that were being funded could only have been so in that economy with #'s like they were saying, that I have to believer that they were accurate in what they were saying. AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you can enjoy this puzzlement (which has been going on for 2 yrs now!) that just doesn't go away, always sitting in the back of your mind, wondering to yourself, nagging at your conscious mind, no peace with no answers, with me. :-) Your welcome.

I'm Out

2 Comments:

At 10:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've enjoyed your postings, Ken. They are like a trip to the wacky world of Schrockmind. A little scary sometimes, but you always want to go back for more. :)

 
At 5:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks :-)

 

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