Singer-producer delivers sermon on religious YouTube channel

Park Jin-young. [YouTube channel 'Cheotyeolmaedeur']
Park Jin-young. [YouTube channel 'Cheotyeolmaedeur']

Singer and producer Park Jin-young, chief creative officer of JYP Entertainment, has been drawing attention for his deepening public engagement with religion.

According to the YouTube channel Cheotyeolmaedeur, Park delivered a lecture Sunday in a video titled "The Greatness of Complexity," arguing that human notions of unfairness and justice look different from a divine perspective.

"People say a picture frame is crooked, but it turns out the room we are standing in may be the one that is tilted," Park said. "The frame may actually be hanging perfectly straight — if the space we occupy is slanted, a straight frame will appear crooked." Park said human beings should not apply their imperfect standards to judge divine fairness.

Park also cited biblical passages from Romans and Psalms, noting that scripture calls on people to look to nature and the universe. "God assigns each person different conditions and judges each one perfectly according to those conditions," he said.

Cheotyeolmaedeur is a religious gathering led by Park.

In a video released Tuesday, Park said the group had begun facing accusations of being a cult or heretical sect and was coming under increasing pressure. "Resolving this is not something we do in our own way," he said. "It will be resolved at the right moment, in the right way."

He added that the response would not involve arguing doctrine whenever someone asked whether Cheotyeolmaedeur was a cult, or organizing followers to flood comment sections under critics' videos. "The way to escape persecution as a cult or heretical sect is not through our own efforts — it is something God does," he said.

Park also spoke about what led him to faith. "For the first time at age 40, something did not go the way I wanted," he said. "Before that, even when I failed, I could just keep trying. It was the first time I had hit a truly desperate situation and had no idea what to do. I lost my confidence."


jshan@heraldcorp.com