1 Corinthians 10
10 My dear friends, as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you to get along with each other. Don’t take sides. Always try to agree in what you think. 11 Several people from Chloe’s family[a] have already reported to me that you keep arguing with each other. 12 They have said that some of you claim to follow me, while others claim to follow Apollos or Peter[b] or Christ.
13 Has Christ been divided up? Was I nailed to a cross for you? Were you baptized in my name? 14 I thank God[c] that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15 Not one of you can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize the family[d] of Stephanas, but I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else. 17 Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the good news without using big words that would make the cross of Christ lose its power.
Richard: People of good will should focus on the commonality of the message of Christ at the Second Advent: follow your conscience centered on the Eight Sacred Textbooks and promote and spread the good news about the message of absolutely good sexual ethics and the Holy Wedding Blessing Ceremony.
Amos 9
If they escape to the peaks
of Mount Carmel,
I’ll search and find them.
And if they hide from me
at the bottom of the ocean,
I’ll command a sea monster
to bite them.
4 I’ll send a sword to kill them,
wherever their enemies
drag them off as captives.
I’m determined to hurt them,
not to help them.”
Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part
Chapter 3
Eschatology and Human History
We dwell in ignorance of history, uncertain about its origin, the
direction in which it is heading, and its final destination. To address this issue, we should first understand such fundamental matters as the purpose of God’s creation, the meaning of the human Fall, and the goal of the providence of restoration.
THE COMPLETION OF GOD’S PURPOSE OF CREATION AND THE HUMAN FALL
1.1 THE COMPLETION OF GOD’S PURPOSE OF CREATION
Human beings are endowed with emotional sensitivity to the Heart of God, intuition and reason to comprehend
His Will, and the requisite abilities to practice it. A person who relates
with God in this manner will attain perfection of his individual character. Had Adam and Eve reached perfection, being thereafter insusceptible to sin, they would have borne good children and founded a sin less family and society in complete concordance with God’s blessings. They would have founded the Kingdom of Heaven, which consists of one great family with the same parents. God gave us the mandate to have dominion over all things. Hence, to realize the ideal of creation, people of perfected character
should advance science, harness the natural world, and create an
extremely pleasant social and living environment. This will be the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth. God’s primary purpose of
creation is to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
1.2 CONSEQUENCES OF THE HUMAN FALL
Due to the Fall, human beings could not
become temples of God; instead, they united with Satan and became
his dwelling places. They failed to cultivate the divine nature; instead,
they acquired an evil nature. People with evil nature have propagated
evil through their children, constituting evil families, evil societies and
an evil world. This is the hell on earth in which we have been living. We have not built the Kingdom of God, but instead established the sovereignty of Satan.
GOD’S WORK OF SALVATION
2.1 GOD’S WORK OF SALVATION IS THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
God intended to create a world of goodness and experience from it the
utmost joy; yet due to the human Fall, the world came to be filled with
sin and sorrow. If this sinful world were to continue forever in its pres-
ent state, then God would be an impotent and ineffectual God who
failed in His creation. Therefore, God will save this sinful world, by all
means. to save a person suffering under the yoke of sin means to restore him to his original, sinless state. In other words, God’s work of salvation is the providence of restoration.
2.2 THE GOAL OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
What is the goal of the providence of restoration? It is the estab-
lishment of the Kingdom of Heaven, which in its totality is God’s good
object partner and the fulfillment of His purpose of creation.
2.3 HUMAN HISTORY IS THE HISTORY
OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
Human history can be seen as the history of the providence
through which God has been trying to save fallen people and work
through them to restore the original, good world.
View slides 1 to 20 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:
2007p1-CHAPT-3-Escatology_revised-4-28-2014