Father

CRITICAL: Korea’s rigorous Confucian filial piety (효, hyo) tradition and ancestor-memorial rites (제사, jesa) historically created the sharpest doctrinal collision in Korean church history — 18th-19th century Korean Catholic converts were persecuted and martyred specifically for refusing to perform jesa rites toward deceased parents/ancestors as idolatrous. ‘Father’ language must be taught with awareness of this history: God the Father is not a venerated ancestor requiring ongoing ritual offerings from descendants (the direction of care in jesa), but a Father who cares for his children, and exclusive loyalty to him does not equate to abandoning filial love, though it does exclude ancestor-rite worship.