“I think people are more drawn to the eyewitness videos than the doctrine. Videos carry more currency with kids these days than anything else.”
Episode 3
“Why do people sin? Those who supposedly care for others, people who claim that humans are the basis of our values cite all kinds of reasons. They grew up in a bad environment. Or that it’s a problem with the structure of our society. A psychological illness. Or that they were drunk or on drugs. Where is the individual in these excuses? It’s as if they view humans as nothing but empty vessels to be filled with external factors. Sin exists because people want to sin. By denying that fact, we’ve forgotten shame, guilt, atonement, and repentance. And some even dare to call that ‘civilized society.’ God is now showing us what hell looks like. Clear as day. And God’s intent is also just as clear. He wants us to live righteously.”
“But religion is something people need when they’ve been cut off from God. Just like how our traditional ancestral rites are performed for our ancestors, not for the living. What we do is track down the intervening acts of God and attempt to understand His will.”
Episode 4
Wanting to find God because something shook him out of his own despair
“What else but fear can make humans repent?”
Burden of sin carried by the good
Jeong Jin-su
Episode 6
“When a judge sentences a criminal to death, is the judge investigated?”
Who gets to decide who lives or dies, who’s good or bad, what is just and what is evil?
“Detectives that chase God… it’s almost mythical, don’t you think?”
Episode 10
Kid bursts out, upset by indignity of Jinsu’s line of questioning. When the victim’s past is dug out, what of the survivors?
Episode 11
“Humans will destroy themselves if they are left without meaning”
Detective as Believer 38
Episode 12
“The laws we humans prop up are ultimately futile.”
Episode 15
Jin-su manipulating the detective’s son into invitation rite of violence, using his past as leverage, twisting his beliefs to his benefit
As cult leader, so deep in his beliefs that he takes imitation punishment of sinners into his own hands
Does he believe it, or is it a manipulation tactic?
Episode 20
Live-streamed incident of Park Jeong-ja
Jin-su appears on the news, idolized
Episode 21
“Around the turn of the 20th century, rational thought came to dominate human values.”
Extrapolation of doctrine based on the sins of those slain
Unethical means of obtaining information
{Do absolute morals exist?}
He says God gave us the ability to know right from wrong; but a lot of the followers’ actions, and his own, are morally dubious
“In reality, the freedom to choose is nothing more than a form of punishment.”
{Who defines righteousness? Who does righteousness serve?}
Arrowhead: cult of a cult
Episode 23
Hyejin and her mom get beat
Jinsu also received a prophecy about going to hell
Episode 24
Nurse and everyone in the hospital waiting room is cold to her
Ostracization due to status and dissenting against cult
Care is not prioritized, leading to her mom’s death
{Doesn’t that make the nurse a sinner?}
Episode 26
“Do you really think someone who is innocent can be sentenced to hell?”
He’s like a kid—“Because I went through life believing that if I was good, my mother would come back”
Looking for evidence to support his prophecy, started a cult to crowd source
Episode 27
“It appears that some transcendental being is just playing a sick game with us.” (see Episode 11)
Allegory for authoritarianism?
“To give meaning to God’s name?”
“They must know fear! The fear of sin! The fear that they might sin! The fear that they might let others sin! Fear of excruciating pain! Fear without a moment’s rest! Fear will save humanity!”
Doing good because of this
Paranoia
“Are you going to take responsibility for your son’s sin? For the murder of the monster that killed your wife? Just to prove to the world that God has absolutely no interest in our righteousness?! That it’s all just rules made up by humans?”
Episode 29
“You may report a demonstration or notice at anytime through the New Truth Society app.”
Episode 30
“You can see too much of her emotion in the close-up. And the music is very sentimental. Some viewers might feel sorry for the sinner. We’ve made it clear several times that the sinner should look like a sinner.”
What does a sinner look like? So fabricated. If everyone’s a sinner, are there really sinners?
Decrease in crime rates, but Arrowheads crimes not reported. “Crime has probably skyrocketed if you count them.”
“Make the world a better place by terrifying and punishing people. A place like that already exists. It’s called ‘Hell.‘”
Episode 31
Child gets notice
Episode 35
“Well, a murder is a sin against another human being. But hiding a notice is sinning against God himself. Of course the cases are gonna be bigger.”
Irony (see Episode 27)
Episode 36
“Deacons, you must take the sinner away from here. Quickly. We can’t have the sinner receive his demonstration within our jurisdiction. Our finances won’t hold up if we turn any more places into sacred sites!”
Episode 37
“From the moment you received your notice, you were no longer an individual. You became a part of God’s message!”
Theatrical cult leader
Episode 39
“They are more like supernatural disasters.”
Advisors in on his act
Arrowhead like KGB or KCIA
Episode 40
“The New Truth Society has a monopoly on the interpretation of these phenomena.”
Monopoly on information
“A worldly organization that protects people from religious authority.”
“I think we should overhaul our reform programs for surviving family members of sinners.”
Episode 41
“This creates an environment where everyone keeps an eye on everyone else.”
“She sinned through her ignorance.”
Episode 44
“Stay here. We don’t want to get mixed up with the Arrowhead in this kind of business.”