Current Shincheonji member’s reaction to Lee Man-hee being detained
I’m an ex-Shincheonji member, and due to certain circumstances I’m still in occasional contact with one current member.
I brought up the recent situation involving Lee Man-hee because I assumed his detention and the allegations against him would be a significant topic inside Shincheonji. I was curious whether it might make her question him, or at least reconsider some things.
Instead, her response was essentially:
“Yeah, he is in prison now, but to be honest, I'm not so worried, because I know why it's happening, and it makes a lot of sense actually. There is a bigger goal regarding this...
Logically, from a human-rights perspective, what they are doing is absolutely insane. In any other country, it would not be allowed to put somebody who is 95 years old, has had back problems and an operation, into a detention center.There are human-rights activists and experts from around the world who came to Korea to hold a conference and bring this to the UN, because what is happening is not according to law.
People in Korea at the moment have absolutely no sense; they are going insane. Everything is also connected with politics.
What’s happening is really not right, but this will come out more and more, and everything is according to Scripture.
It’s one thing to be in prison, and another thing to go against the law by putting someone in prison. This is really discrimination and being actively blind to the law, but this is not unexpected in this time...”
To say the least, I was baffled. They are hopeless at this point...
What struck me most was that his imprisonment seemed to have caused zero doubt about him being the Promised Pastor. Instead, the entire situation was simply incorporated into the existing narrative: he is being unjustly persecuted, there is a “bigger goal” behind it, and “everything is according to Scripture.”
I genuinely expected at least some reaction along the lines of: “If he really is righteous, why is this happening? Maybe we should seriously consider whether he actually did something wrong.”
But apparently not.
It makes me wonder: What would actually have to happen for a committed Shincheonji member to seriously question the Promised Pastor? If even this can be interpreted as persecution and confirmation of Scripture, what could possibly make someone stop and think, “Maybe we got this wrong”?
For anyone currently inside Shincheonji: Is this actually the general sentiment in SCJ right now?