Month: July 2020

We Are Born to Experience Love With God

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Exodus 20

12 Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.

13 Do not murder.

14 Be faithful in marriage.

15 Do not steal.

16 Do not tell lies about others.

17 Do not want anything that belongs to someone else. Don’t want anyone’s house, wife or husband, slaves, oxen, donkeys or anything else.

Psalm 69

69 Save me, God!
    I am about to drown.
2 I am sinking deep in the mud,
    and my feet are slipping.
    I am about to be swept under
    by a mighty flood.
3 I am worn out from crying,
    and my throat is dry.
    I have waited for you
    till my eyes are blurred.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Joy

  1. Heavenly Joy

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Joy begins in the heart of God, and it is fulfilled in human beings. The heart of the invisible God is manifested in the hearts of visible human beings. (27:29, November 15, 1969)

Why are human beings born? It is to experience love with God and with all creation. Conversely,because human beings exist, God can love and be loved, and love can fill the universe. (81:334,December 29, 1975)

What is God’s purpose of creation? Is it analogous to what we human beings aspire? God created out of the desire to rejoice and be happy. What brings God joy? Money? His creatures? Certainly itis not the material things that people like to own. God created heaven and earth so that He could experience joy through love.
     Then, what do all creatures desire more than anything else? Because God’s purpose of creation is to experience joy through love, all creatures likewise seek a relationship of love with God, toexperience joy. Accordingly, all creatures interact with one another in order to be linked with God’s love. (114:63, May 16, 1981)

The meeting point of the human heart and God’s heart is the starting point of happiness. (Way of God’s Will 1.8)

When people feel good, they want to be with their parents, siblings, and relatives so they can share their joy. Happiness is eternal, and what is eternal is of the heart.
     The center of the universe is the parent-child relationship, that is, between God the Father and each one of us as His sons and daughters. The ultimate purpose of human life is to find our Father,form an unbreakable bond with Him, and experience joy. (12:104, December 16, 1962)

When God sees you loving His creatures, He says, “Wonderful! You are doing something that I cannot do”; and He loves you. God will want to show His love to you. Maybe He will stretch out His arms and hug you from behind, whispering, “Yes, you are great!” This happens. God will hug you out of joy.
     Suppose that while God is embracing you from behind, you turn around and hug Him. Would God say, “You shouldn’t do that”? What do you think? What if you give God a long, long bear hug? God would say, “It’s good! I like it! I like it!” God cannot but like it. He and everyone, everything,will like it. You would be in ecstasy.
     After that experience, what if you just lie around aimlessly, smitten with love-sickness? Would God be displeased? No, He would burst into laughter, saying, “Ah, My love must be really good! Ha,Ha, Ha!” Then He would say, “Amen.”…

What might happen the next time you meet God? God is as smitten with you as you are with Him, so you can do anything together; it doesn’t matter. You and God might hug each other, or ridearound on each other’s back, or wrestle on the floor one on top of the other. If you took God out somewhere, He might attach Himself to your hip like a tail. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate state of bliss? God, humanity and all things of creation want to experience it. (111:170, February 15, 1981)

God Created Human Beings to Lead a Joyous Life

Watch or listen to part 3 of the series on Why Abstinence Matters-3: Fatherlessness and Rage

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2033

I would like to add one more point,
if you go back to work for a company in
the future, when it becomes 5 o’clock
everyone leaves the factory. Center-
ing on the work place, you must have a
Home Church, Gajeong Gyohae, system
in place. Then centering on a foundation
of these separate activities, you must
form a tribe of your spiritual sons and
daughters. Through this basic rule you
can develop. When you raise other peo-
ple, you yourself will grow. You should
cultivate people. (173-335, 1988.2.21)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1861

God will restore human beings back
to the world before the Fall. God has to
take care of all the enemies in order to
restore Adam’s perfected world before
the Fall. There were no enemies in that
world. Everybody was like brothers and
had only the concept that they were
one family. It is about swallowing one
another. In the fish world in the Pan-
tanal, the larger fish swallow the small-
er fish without regard, whether there is
something filthy or not. It swallows the
excrements of the internal organs and
everything else. (297-170, 1998.11.19)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Joy

The search for happiness is basic to human life, and to the religious quest as well. Union with Ultimate Reality can bring transcendental joy. It is a state variously characterized as bliss (ananda) Nirvana, or even the mystic marriage with the divine Lover. In the monotheistic faiths, God created human beings for joy. The unity of God and His creatures makes that joy complete.
The section opens with passages that describe heavenly joy, when the human heart and God’s heart beat in unison. Second are passages that contrast the greatness of heavenly joy with the paltry pleasures of the senses. This insight should not be overlooked in discussions of ethics; George Washington once asserted that
there is “an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness.” We conclude with passages describing thes ynergy between a joyous life and heavenly joy. A cheerful and optimistic attitude, accompanied by efforts to spread happiness to others, can attract the joy of the Holy Spirit. This can be experienced in the mystic connection between conjugal love and divine love. (See Chapter 19: Conjugal Love)

1. Heavenly Joy

Thou dost show me the path of life;
in Thy presence there is fullness of joy,
in Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 16.11
I created you human beings because I desired to
see you lead a joyous life.
Ofudesaki 14.25 (Tenrikyo)

Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love.
It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone,
but requires all mankind to share it.
Science and Health, 57 (Christian Science)

No eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love
Him.
1 Corinthians 2.9

No person knows what delights of the eye are
kept hidden for them—as a reward for their
good deeds.
Qur’an 32.17

I am the Tathagata,
The Most Honored among men;
I appear in the world
Like unto a great cloud,
To pour enrichment on all
Parched living beings,
To free them from their misery
To attain the joy of peace,
Joy of the present world,
And joy of Nirvana.
Lotus Sutra 5 (Buddhism)

The soul which is free from the defect of karma
gets to the highest point of the universe, knows
all and perceives all, and obtains the transcen-
dental bliss everlasting.
Kundakunda, Pancastikaya 170 (Jainism)
Without doubt, in the remembrance of God do
hearts find satisfaction.
Qur’an 13.28

Mother mine! Bliss have I attained in union
with the Divine Master:
Spontaneously has union with the Divine
Master come about—
In my mind resounds joyous music.
Fairies of the family of jewel harmony have
descended to sing holy songs;
Sing all ye the Lord’s song, who have lodged it
in heart!

Says Nanak, Bliss have I attained on union
with the Divine Master.
Adi Granth, Ramkali, Anandu, M.3, p. 917 (Sikhism)

And may the sovereign Good be ours!
According as one desires bliss may one receive
bliss
Through Thy most far-seeing Spirit, O Lord,
The wonders of the Good Mind which Thou
wilt give as righteousness,
With the joy of long life all the days!
Avesta, Yasna 43.2 (Zoroastrianism)

A True Person Loves His Enemies

Galatians 6

7 You cannot fool God, so don’t make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. 8 If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. 9 Don’t get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don’t give up. 10 We should help people whenever we can, especially if they are followers of the Lord.

Proverbs 12

23 Be sensible and don’t tell
    everything you know—
    only fools spread
    foolishness everywhere.

24 Work hard, and you
    will be a leader;
    be lazy, and you
    will end up a slave.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Perfection

3. Perfection Is to Love as God Loves

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Love is the standard for perfect character. Character is perfected through the infinite and absolute love of God. (33:79, August 9, 1970)

To pioneer this path, Jesus emphasized love as never before in history. He taught that we must overcome every difficult situation with patience. He stressed that we must be more faithful to God’s Will than sinners are committed to doing evil. These are the fundamental points of what Christians call the nine fruits of the Spirit. From a life of love arises joy, happiness, and peace. From patience arises mercy and goodness. From a life of faithfulness arises humility and gentleness.
Jesus emphasized the love of heaven, the patience of heaven, and the faithfulness of heaven to remove the evil elements from human beings dwelling in the fallen world. Through this practical philosophy, we can be elevated to the heavenly way of life. Nevertheless, does Christ’s love exist in your hearts today? (2:345, August 4, 1957)

What makes God true?15 God likes both good and bad people on earth. Don’t even condemned criminals cry out, “Oh God, have mercy on me! I love you!” just before their execution? Why would a condemned man pledge to God with a good and sincere heart, hoping for a new start? Why does he yearn to grasp God fully, trust Him, try to be with Him, and share with Him his feelings and difficulties more than he would with his parents or brothers and sisters? It is because God is true.
A true person, then, loves not only those whom he likes, but also the enemies who are trying to kill him. He should be a person whom we can trust fully, with whom we want to share all our problems and through whom we can wish for everything.
Is a person who hates someone a true person or a false person? Definitely, he is a false person. Then, are most people in this world true people or false people? They are false people.
To be a true person, you must be true in all dimensions. If you members love the people who love me and hate the people who hate me, are you good members or bad members? You are bad members.
Therefore, I am teaching you to love those who hate you. If you love them, sooner or later they will come to like you. If you return good three times for every time someone does you wrong, eventually that person will bow his head. Try it yourself and see if I am right or not. Everyone has a conscience. (39:302-04, January 16, 1971)

Is God’s love so deeply rooted in your minds that you cannot pull out no matter how hard you try? Can you say, “I am completely bound by God’s love; I cannot do whatever my body wants to do. Since God’s love is rooted so deeply in my body, I cannot live any way I like. I cannot live without centering on God’s love. When I eat, I eat with God’s love. Whatever I do, both my mind and body are centered on God’s love”? Is it that way for you? (140:24-25, February 1, 1986) ❖

Love Your Enemies and Pray for Those Who Persecute You

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2036

4.2. Home Church is the place
where the providence is finally
settled

The fact I have declared such an event,
is a gigantic leap in providential history.
If you are victorious in Home Church,
what will that make you? When that
time comes, you will be messiahs. You
will become tribal messiahs, and from
there you will be the persons responsible
to face the people and save them.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1444

People without accomplishments
in love are of no use to God. Everyone
must have some accomplishment to his
or her name. That is why you can enter
the Kingdom of Heaven only when you
have your tribes of 36 couples, 72 cou-
ples and 120 couples. Without them you
cannot be registered. Isn’t that how the
Divine Principle works? Is it, or is it not?
The 36 Couples are proud of the fact that
they are one of the elders, but do you
think you have this position for noth-
ing? It is actually a very fearful position.
You do not know which of these couples
Satan will get hold of and attack. (303-166,
1999.8.17

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Perfection

3. Perfection Is to Love as God Loves

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love
your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say
to you, Love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, so that you may be sons of
your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his
sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends
rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you
love those who love you, what reward have you?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you salute only your brethren, what more
are you doing than others? Do not even the
Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be
perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5.43-48

God says, “Resemble me; just as I repay good for
evil so do you also repay good for evil.”
Exodus Rabbah 26.2 (Judaism)

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of
God, and he who loves is born of God and knows
God. He who does not love does not know God;
for God is love… God is love, and he who abides
in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John 4.7-8, 16

That devotee who looks upon friend and foe
with equal regard, who is not buoyed up by praise
nor cast down by blame, alike in heat and cold,
pleasure and pain, free from selfish attachments,
the same in honor and dishonor, quiet, ever full,
in harmony everywhere, firm in faith—such a
one is dear to me.
Bhagavad-Gita 12.18-19 (Hinduism)

The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gen-
tleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
Galatians 5.23

Be universal in your love. You will see the uni-
verse to be the picture of your own being. Com-
plete and total perfection will come about only
when we feel that our perfection is not perfec-
tion as long as the rest of humanity remains

imperfect. If we call ourselves children of God,
then others are also children of God. If we do not
share with them what little we have, then what
right have we to call them our brothers? They
may be traveling a few miles behind us, or they
may be fast asleep. But they must reach the Goal
before perfect perfection can dawn on earth.
Sri Chinmoy (Hinduism)

The Highest Priority Is to Know God With Certainty

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We Have Become Diseased both Spiritually and Physically.

Acts 17

29 Since we are God’s children, we must not think that he is like an idol made out of gold or silver or stone. He isn’t like anything that humans have thought up and made. 30 In the past, God forgave all this because people did not know what they were doing. But now he says that everyone everywhere must turn to him. 31 He has set a day when he will judge the world’s people with fairness. And he has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death.

Ezra 7

13-14 Any of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom may go with you to Jerusalem if they want to. My seven advisors and I agree that you may go to Jerusalem and Judah to find out if[e] the laws of your God are being obeyed. 15 When you go, take the silver and gold that I and my advisors are freely giving to the God of Israel, whose temple is in Jerusalem. 16 Take the silver and gold that you collect from everywhere in Babylonia. Also take the gifts that your own people and priests have so willingly contributed for the temple of your God in Jerusalem.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Perfection

2. Perfection Is Unity with God

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Jesus taught his disciples, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5.48) According to the Principle of Creation, a person who has realized the purpose of creation does not commit sin, because he is in full harmony with God and possesses a divine nature. With respect to the purpose of creation, such a person is perfect as Heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus gave this teaching to his disciples with the hope that they could be restored as people who had realized the purpose of creation and become citizens of the Kingdom…
What will people be like once they have been restored as those who have realized the purpose of creation and become perfect as Heavenly Father is perfect? Such people are fully attuned to God and experience God’s heart within their innermost self. They possess a divine nature and live their life with God, inseparable from Him. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Messiah 1.1)

For a person to realize his or her true nature, he or she must have a relationship with God, the cause of everything—life and death, fortune and misfortune. Without a relationship with God, a true pattern cannot be formed within the self. To become true,14 we must be centered upon God. People can realize their true selves only when God has established the foundation to lead them and reign over all aspects of their lives…
God is the origin of everything true. Only in God can we become true. Should God leave us, we cannot remain true. There then comes into existence something untrue—the origin of evil.
People cannot comprehend their true nature by themselves. Fallen people are in no position to judge whether they are true; rather the truth of our being should determine us. Therefore, we should always be obedient to our true self. We should prize it and follow it. (24:315, September 14, 1969)

We can truly say that we know God only when we experience the reality of His existence in our daily life through our five senses. That is, we should know His real being through experience. Then we will naturally be able to sense what God’s will is from moment to moment, and we will be able to act in accordance with His will in every matter. In that state of perfection, even though we sometimes may feel an urge to sin, we cannot do it. Then, God will be able to take on the physical form of human beings who are equipped with the character and qualities of lords of creation. Thus we will enable the incorporeal God to exercise dominion over all things on earth—the corporeal world—as well as over the spirit world. This is why the highest priority and most important element in human life is to know God with certainty… Once we come to know God with certainty, and know not just the concept of the spirit world but also its reality, our life can move forward as smoothly as a car on an expressway. Just as the car reaches its destination safely as long as the driver follows the rules of the road, keeps his hands on the steering wheel and doesn’t fall asleep, so too we only need to live in line with the direction from our conscience, which is given by Heaven. This is where our mind and body become one. This is where the flower of human perfection blooms and bears fruit. (May 1, 2004)

What is a true human being? Playing with God, resting with God, sleeping with God and living with God: whoever wishes to do all these with God is the supreme, true human being. God is looking for such true human beings. By the same token, we human beings are searching for what is true, and for a true world. A world where everyone lives with God is a world of true love and true happiness. (60:284, August 18, 1972) ❖