Even though it's a Saturday night, I just had to blog about this news article I just read in the Washington Post concerning the release of the South Korean hostages. But first, let me preface this post with the old saying, "No good deed goes unpunished." Let us all remember the reason these Christian missionaries went into Afghanistan in the first place, was to HELP those in need that the Afghanstan government couldn't.
Yet here in the latest article from the Washington Post we not only see the VICTIMS in this whole mess continue to be persecuted, but we also don't see a whole lot of condemnation for the murderous terrorist Taliban. Is it just me, or is this a little ridiculous!
SEOUL, Sept. 2 -- Looking wan and exhausted, and apologizing for the trouble they had caused their nation, South Korean missionaries held hostage for six weeks in Afghanistan arrived home early Sunday morning.
The 19 young Christians released last week by Taliban captors returned to a country thankful for their safe return but angered by what has been widely portrayed as the recklessness of the missionaries and the church that sent them into a war zone.
Work with me here as we take these paragraphs apart. It is totally understandable that the South Korean Christians are feeling bad about what has happened with them and their nation. God only knows, and I mean that in the literal sense, what these precious saints have undergone under the Taliban. So I think it's polite of them to apologize if they feel the need. However, I don't believe they need to apologize in the first place. These South Korean Christians are the VICTIMS in this whole mess, and yet they are being portrayed as though they were reckless and out to intentionally get kidnapped by the Taliban. Give me a break!
But the article gets even more disgusting as you read through it. Read this...
In response to public anger over this seeming recklessness, the South Korean government, which negotiated the hostages' release and was reported by the Reuters news agency to have paid a $20 million ransom, is demanding that the church and families of the hostages repay some of the costs of bringing them home, including airfare, medical treatment and the transport of the bodies of two missionaries slain by their captors.
The South Korean government said it has not yet decided whether to demand that the church and families shoulder the entire cost of its negotiations with the kidnappers. That effort, according to media reports here, included the use of agents from South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service.
Keep in mind that both the Taliban and the South Korean government are denying that any ransom was paid, and again consider how this is being played out in the press. We have a group of missionaries who went to Afghanistan to help the people over there. They were kidnapped by the terrorist Taliban - not because of anything they did, but simply because the pure evil of the Taliban is just who they are.
Yet, it is amazing to me how these poor Christians are being made out to be some horrible people because they simply went over to serve. This is an outrage and if anyone needs to apologize it's the Taliban and the South Korean government to their people. The missionaries are completely innocent and they lost a few of their friends to this terrorism that they all went through.
Let's remember WHO the victims are and WHO the terrorists are. In case the Washington Post needs to be reminded, the terrorists are the Taliban who kidnapped, and murdered. The victims are the Christians who were doing good works. Got it.
