Epistle of Pahanism, Chapter 1 - The Basic Doctrine of Pahanism

The original Korean version is available at here.

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The religion discussed in this text is an imaginary DIY religion created as an homage to Christianity. The name of the religion is Pahanism, and the name of its God is Yaho.

The Bible of Pahanism consists of the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles from the Christian Bible, with every single word being identical except for the names of God and the Messiah.

Beyond the biblical text, Pahanism adopts the doctrines of the Trinity and Free Will.

This text is a foundational epistle written by an authority of Pahanism to preach its unique doctrine, which seeks to minimize the internal contradictions of the religion.

Preface: To my precious friends agonizing on the journey of faith.

I am aware that lately, among our congregation—especially those with a deep thirst for the truth—voices of confusion and agony regarding the path of faith have been heard. Discovering unresolved questions within our scriptures and doctrines, and pondering the true will of Lord Yaho, is not something to be ashamed of. Rather, it is a holy process leading to deeper enlightenment.

Therefore, as one who has sought to understand the Lord’s will before you, I write this letter to serve as a small lantern for those seeking the way in the dark. The contents of this text may cause misunderstandings for those with shallow faith, or resentment from those with hardened hearts; thus, I address it only to you who truly seek to know His will.

Under Pahanism’s core doctrine of ‘minimizing internal contradictions,’ this epistle is an honest examination of the deeds of Lord Yaho and the ministry of His son, Pahan. I pray in the name of Pahan that this text will become a stepping stone to firmly establish your individual faith, so that you may find true joy within the free will the Lord has bestowed upon us.

1. The Basic Doctrine of Pahanism

1) The Glory of God and the Arrogance of Man

Beloved saints. To understand even a fraction of the Lord’s wisdom, we must first utterly shatter the arrogance of us finite humans and approach Him with an attitude of absolute humility. If we do not examine in advance the misunderstandings we are prone to make when looking at the infinite Lord through our finite perspective, we will never be able to comprehend His true intentions.

Misunderstandings about the Infinite Lord

There is a misunderstanding regarding the reason our Lord Yaho created the world and humanity: that He did so to elevate His own glory. However, this is inherently contradictory.

Lord Yaho is an infinite being. On the other hand, the world and humanity are merely finite existences. Even if you combine every human and living creature in the world, the sum is finite. Furthermore, everything in the world is simply finite.

Compare a human to a single E. coli bacterium. The two show an incomparably vast difference in scale, but it is still merely a comparison between the finite and the finite. Conversely, the comparison between Lord Yaho and the world is one between the infinite and the finite. Therefore, from Lord Yaho’s perspective, the world is even less significant than a single E. coli bacterium is to a human.

Imagine, saints, that you were receiving the praises of ten billion E. coli bacteria living inside your own intestines. Would that have even the slightest impact on your daily life? Perhaps, when observing that scene of praise under a microscope, you might find it somewhat amusing and cute. Likewise, could receiving praise from finite beings like us possibly affect the glory of the infinite Lord even the slightest bit?

The Lord demands nothing from us humans. No human action has any external influence on the Lord. The Lord simply finds internal satisfaction by watching the actions of us humans.

The Perfection of God

Some might point out a logical contradiction: that a perfect God seeking ‘amusement’ from the external world (creation) implies a lack. That is, if He is perfect, He should need nothing, so doesn’t pursuing amusement imply some sort of deficiency or need?

However, this criticism stems from a misunderstanding of the concept of ‘perfection.’ The ‘perfection’ of God discussed in theology does not mean ‘Totality’—the idea that God must encompass every possible existence within Himself. If perfection meant that, the moment any creation existed outside of God, His perfection would be broken, leading to the conclusion that creation itself is impossible.

In theology, God’s ‘perfection’ is a term that implicitly expresses the supremacy and flawlessness of the attributes possessed by the independent entity called God. To use an analogy, a ‘perfect equilateral triangle’ does not need to contain all concepts or existences in the world. Its perfection means its geometric properties are flawless. Similarly, God’s perfection means His inherent nature and power are at the absolute highest level, which does not preclude Him from creating an external world or experiencing internal sensations (e.g., amusement, love) derived from it. Therefore, it does not fundamentally contradict the perfection of God for the Lord, who possesses perfect attributes, to create and observe a finite world for His own pleasure. Rather, it can be understood as an entirely natural act that only a being with perfect power and freedom could perform.

The Reason the Lord Gave Us Free Will

From this perspective, we can deduce why the Lord gave us free will. The purpose of creation was the internal satisfaction the Lord feels—simply put, amusement. Without the unpredictability of unforeseen events, it is hard to find amusement. Beloved brothers and sisters, place a puppet on each of your hands. Make the mouth of the left puppet move and say:

“Our Master is such a wonderful person.”

Now, make the right puppet agree:

“That’s right. Every time I think of our Master, I am so happy because I can’t help but love Him.”

If you are of sound mind, you would find zero amusement in such a childish act. But what if those puppets left your hands and spontaneously voiced those words? It is self-evident that you would not want to look deep into the puppet’s mind to know exactly what it will say or do in advance. This is the very reason why the Lord, having given us free will, chooses not to peer into our shallow, narrow minds or foreknow our actions.

2) A God Worshipped, Not Respected

The most distinctive feature of our Pahanism is the escape from the baseless confirmation bias that ‘God is an inherently good being.’ This is our core doctrine, which new believers often find intuitively difficult to accept. I will explain this simply so that you, my beloved brothers and sisters, may understand it more easily.

The declaration, “God is omniscient and omnipotent,” is a factual proposition. Its truth value can be tested, and if proven true, no one can deny it. On the other hand, the declaration, “God is a good being,” is not a factual proposition but a subjective value proposition. Judging whether God is good is up to each individual. Through the diverse deeds of the Lord shown in the Bible, we have established our own independent doctrine that refuses to blindly agree with the belief that the Lord is entirely good.

Beloved brothers and sisters in the truth. Some try to deceive us by saying, ‘God’s goodness is on a different dimension from human goodness, so we must not dare to judge the Lord’s deeds by our shallow human standards.’ Yet, in the face of this empty teaching, our faith in Pahanism remains unshaken.

Think with wisdom. When we call something ‘good,’ is there not a clear meaning and expectation naturally associated with that word? If the meaning of this word inexplicably changes only when applied to the Lord, it is no longer the ‘goodness’ we know. It is merely an empty shell that shares the same pronunciation.

Ultimately, their argument is nothing more than repeating the empty phrase, ‘God simply has the attributes of God.’ It is a hollow tautology that provides no truth and no new enlightenment.

My precious friends, imagine trying to explain a polar bear to a jungle native who has been blind since birth. If someone teaches the native, ‘A polar bear has fur the color of a polar bear, is the size of a polar bear, and has the strength of a polar bear,’ what on earth could he learn? He would see no truth other than the name of the beast.

The foolishness of those who force blind faith by claiming God’s goodness is different from humans’ is exactly like this. We must not be fooled by such shallow, blinding excuses, and we must look straight into the true essence of the Lord.

The Essence of Worship: Not Goodness, but ‘Overwhelming Power’

What commands people’s worship is ability; what commands respect is goodness. Think of an acquaintance who is incompetent, earns no money, and lacks tact, but dedicates his whole life to volunteering for neighbors in need. We cannot lightly dismiss him; instead, we harbor deep respect for him. However, we do not go so far as to ‘worship’ him, given his objectively lacking abilities.

Historically, objects of worship have been far from good. The Israelites feared and served foreign gods like Baal, Asherah, and Molech, who were far from benevolent. Absolute gods of other cultures, like Zeus or Odin, were also heavily flawed beings morally. Tyrants far removed from goodness were worshipped by the people of their time. The tigers worshipped by pre-modern Koreans are the same. Even though they were man-eating beasts, because they were so difficult to defeat, they were called ‘San-gun’ (Mountain Lord) or deified as incarnations of mountain spirits and worshipped.

However, a tiger is merely a strong and difficult beast to confront. Unlike Lord Yaho, it is not omnipotent, so people, while revering the tiger as a spiritual entity, also hunted it. They even established a special military unit called ‘Chakhogapsa’ to hunt tigers. If Lord Yaho were not omnipotent and could be effectively targeted by humans, wouldn’t people have tried to eliminate the fear-inducing Lord for their own safety, just like the tiger?

If a non-omnipotent human arbitrarily crushed and killed ants far weaker than himself, and occasionally sprinkled sugar and breadcrumbs while demanding they believe in and follow him, the ants would consider him a terrifying god to be worshipped. But from the perspective of another equal human, he is just a pathetic figure. Thus, there is no inevitable causal relationship between goodness and worship. The most powerful cause of worship is not morality, but ‘overwhelming power.’

The Paradox of Infinity: Grace Without Sacrifice, Evil Without Deprivation

Respected saints, what is the source of respect? It is the ‘practice of love through sacrifice.’ Someone with 1 trillion dollars donating 100 million dollars, and someone with 1 billion dollars donating 100 million dollars may be giving the same objective amount, but there is a vast difference in the weight of their good intentions. The aforementioned incompetent but good acquaintance willingly sacrificed his scarce resources of time and money for others.

In contrast, the Lord is an infinite being. No matter what the Lord gives us, absolutely nothing is emptied from what He possesses. Therefore, weighing what an infinite being has given us cannot be an indicator of His goodness.

Likewise, we must consider the origin of ‘evil,’ the opposite of good. The fundamental reason humans commit evil is mostly due to the ‘deprivation’ and ‘desire’ felt when others have what I do not. However, the Lord is a fulfilled being who possesses everything. A being who possesses everything has no motive to covet what others have. Furthermore, ‘pure malice’—committing evil solely to enjoy seeing others suffer—is a sadism suited for flawed beings rather than the Almighty. In other words, the Lord is absolute power itself, transcending morality; because He is infinite, He does not need to make bone-crushing sacrifices (good), and because He has no deprivation, He has no reason to harbor petty greed (evil). Look at the mass massacres the Lord committed in the Bible. Was there any room for hatred or sadism toward individual humans? He was simply acting like a master indifferently spraying herbicide on the weeds sprouting in His garden, without any malice.

Human Defense Mechanisms and Projected Hope

In the Bible, we see many humans unilaterally declaring the Lord to be good, but surprisingly, scenes where the Lord objectively proves His own goodness are rare. The passage that at least describes His character is Exodus 34:7:

“Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (NIV)

The frequent collective punishments and mass killings unfolding in the Bible mostly stem from this verse. Countless psalms of praise, like Psalm 136, are vivid, real-time records of humans who, after witnessing the overwhelming violence of their neighbors’ firstborns being killed and armies being drowned, redefine that military power as ‘goodness’ for their own survival, crying, “Thank you for letting us live. You are truly good.” When faced with overwhelming terror, people desperately hope that the one holding that power will be ‘good’ rather than ‘evil.’

Therefore, the blind doctrines of traditional religions declaring the Lord ‘good’ are not objective facts, but mere desperate ‘projections of hope’ by humans wishing that such a powerful being will be friendly to us.

3) The Possibility of God’s Internal Change

In Malachi 3:6, Lord Yaho declared Himself to be an “unchanging being.” However, looking closely at the scriptures, Lord Yaho actually showed a constantly changing nature. In the past, He easily judged humanity with floods and hellfire, but by the era of the prophets, He minimized such physical interventions. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed without even a chance to repent, but He gave Nineveh a chance to repent and willingly accepted their reflection. Up until the time of the Judges, He seemed obsessively ravenous for sacrifices like cows, sheep, and pigeons, but later, He began to value the sincere heart of humans far more than material sacrifices. To Moses, He showed terrifying vindictiveness, vowing to punish sins down to the third and fourth generations, but to the prophet Ezekiel, He changed His stance, emphasizing individual responsibility by rejecting the proverb, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

In other words, the ‘immutability’ of God mentioned here does not mean a state of complete stasis, like a stone enduring no internal or external changes. It should be interpreted as a declaration emphasizing that some of God’s essential attributes are eternal. What, then, is unchanging?

First is His faithfulness to His covenants. The promises Lord Yaho makes will absolutely be kept. Second is Lord Yaho’s ontological attribute of being omnipotent and infinite. Lastly, the motive of pursuing ‘amusement’ underlying all His actions also remains unchanged.

Meanwhile, apart from these unchanging attributes, there clearly existed attributes of the Lord that changed according to the era and the subject. The most prominent is His way of relating to humans. The Lord communicated directly face-to-face with Adam, Cain, and Job, but in Abraham’s time, He mainly used revelations. After Moses, indirect communication through angels or prophets became the norm.

His attitude toward humans is the same. Up until the monarchic period, He dealt out direct and harsh punishments, but later, He pivoted to reducing physical intervention and urging spiritual awakening. He also moved the location of punishment for sin from this present life to Hell.

In this way, Lord Yaho is a being who simultaneously possesses an unchanging essence and a changing mode of relationship. Therefore, our Pahanism understands Lord Yaho not simply as an absolute being, but as a God capable of ‘internal growth’ who learns and changes within relationships.

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The original Korean version is available at here.