K-Pop Idols - The New Gods

K-pop idols, famous for their looks and moves, have become a worldwide model for worship. How have they become so famous, and why are so many people dedicated to following them?

Modern uncertainty fills us with anxiety. Students worry about grades, colleges, and clouded futures; adults worry about credit card payments, physical health, and their children’s prospects that we become restless seekers of certainty. We worry because we have expectations that never seem to be met and achievements that compare well to some but pale to others. Within this tumultuous pursuit, however, we lost all purposes of life. Kpop provides a world far away from all that stress.

The solution is a worship of beauty. Beauty is tangible; it provides a purpose in life that has standards one can seek to fit. A certain eye color, lip shape, height, weight… Through social media, the worship of beauty is only further amplified.

Beauty is easy. After all, how can doing makeup for two hours compared to reading Dostoevsky for the same amount of time? Hence, many people turn to beauty for comfort, and following K-pop idols is the manifestation of such. K-pop idols are the embodiment of beauty - human beings who fit perfectly into one’s standards of beauty that it almost feels like there is a holy aura surrounding them. In this sense, K-pop idols are like gods. The Christian God is the god of truth, and K-pop idols are the gods of beauty. Hence some follow kpop idols, just like how Christians follow God.

In Christianity, no matter how emotionally connected to God, one can never see Him in real life. K-pop idols are like God in this sense. Most people follow their idols through a screen, whether through watching online performances or checking out selfies. Yet many feel much closer to the idols than to the Christian God. Idols exist as human beings. Jesus, the only human representation of God, did not reincarnate in the 21st century. In desolate situations, Christians doubt their God's existence, but K-pop followers stand firm-their convictions fortified by lnstagram posts several times a month.

The idol in K-pop idol began as a Japanese concept that referred to singers who were trained in dances and performances. Yet the Greek roots of the term—idolatry—means the worship of idols. In Greek, idolatry comes from Eidōlon (images) and latria (adoration). Idolatry was initially used to refer to the action of worshiping literal images of God and praying to the images instead of praying to God. Is following K-pop idols idolatry then?