God’s love is the love of a vertical parent, and True Parents’ love is the love of horizontal parents. Since you are the people that have inherited these, your minds are the fruit of the tradition that has received the love of the vertical God and parents. Likewise your bodies are the fruit of the tradition that have received the love of horizontal True Parents. In order for these fruits to form the horizontal basis of a family and form a sphere with a vertical center you need to be a husband or a wife and have children. So it is a sin not to bear children. You should not be a childless person. Is there flesh without bone? No, because it would have nowhere to attach itself. (184-309, 1989.1.1)
Even if a person reached the standard of perfection, his lineage is still not completely clean. Since humankind inherited Satan’s lineage, our lineage is not pure yet. In order to purify it, humankind certainly needs the Messiah. There-fore, the foundation of faith, the foundation of substance, and the foundation for the Messiah are absolutely necessary for fallen people. The ultimate question is how to create the foundation for the Messiah and change the lineage through the Messiah. (55-135, 1972.5.7)
The word “religion” in Chinese characters is 宗敎 (chongkyo in Korean). It means a floor-like teaching, in other words, the foundational teaching for human beings. (92:309, April 24, 1977)
The church is the place where you cultivate your character and become a person of integrity. Due to the Fall we came to be in need of the church. The family and society are not sufficient to nurture a mature character; it doesn’t happen automatically. Nor does school: even if you attend a good college and then go on to earn a doctor’s degree, it will not restore your character. That is where the church has a role. (25:126, September 30, 1969)
Through religions, God has been teaching people how to strengthen a God-centered spirit and reverse the body’s control over the mind; these further our character development. This is the reason why religions recommend that we fast, sacrifice and serve, be meek and humble, and so on. It is to weaken the power of the body and to have the body submit to the spirit. It normally takes three to five years for a person leading a life of faith to free him or herself from a body-centered, habitual lifestyle and establish a spirit-centered lifestyle. (201:208-09, April 9, 1990)
Each religion that has appeared on this earth emerged from the deep will of God’s providence to teach the nature of love. (Way of Unification 1.1.4.1)
Heaven is our original homeland, where we are meant to go. We fallen human beings are exiles from our original homeland, and hence our destiny is to return there. We cannot, however, enter heaven by ourselves, so through the course of history God has to set up paths to enable us to return. This is why God created the various religions: to be training grounds for heaven, illuminating paths for every people, culture and tradition. Religions are meant to train and polish people to be qualified to enter the region of the original homeland. To cope with humankind’s many different cultures, God set up paths in many directions, yet with each path related to the one standard. In this way, God is leading these various paths toward one unified religious world.
What do all religions teach to guide people to the original homeland? They promote the path of living for the sake of others. The higher the religion, the more strongly it emphasizes the importance of living for others. For example, religions teach us to be humble. Why? Because to live for others, we should be able to lift other people above ourselves. Religions also teach us to sacrifice and serve. Why? Through these ways, religions train people to fit the rules of the Kingdom of Heaven. (78:117, May 6, 1975)
