Cheon Seong Gyeong 198
The Bible says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Rev. 22:13) Due to the Fall, God could not fulfill His purpose at the time of creation. He will complete it as in the Book of Revelation. Then, as what kind of person did Jesus come? Adam fell, so Jesus came as a perfected Adam who could be united with God’s love without falling. This is why First Corinthians 15:45 teaches that “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, became a life-giving spirit.” The Bible designates Jesus as the second Adam. Since the family planned by God cannot be found if the God-given true positions of the son, husband and wife, and parents are not established, they must appear on earth.
There are many religions on earth, but among them, only Christianity has the concept of following God’s four basic requirements: to become God’s child, to become one body with God, to meet as bride and bridegroom in accordance with God’s will, and to form a new family. Since Jesus came with this thinking, Christianity, centering on Jesus, inevitably became a global religion. (54-108, 1972.03.20)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 186
Human beings must prepare a holy ground that can be praised for all eternity in the world, even if they have to go through endless suffering. If that happens, the results of their endeavors will appear. Therefore, the issue is about who will be the first to begin making that effort. Should it begin from the father or from the mother? When the father stands up, does he go around the mother’s side, or does the mother go around the father? The mother goes around the father. As a nation, Japan must preserve the holy ground and extol its name. That is why the Japanese national messiahs are taking responsibility for the management of the Pantanal. (304-110, 1999.9.10)
Living for Others
The spiritual life that begins with faith and devotion to God finds its completion in deeds of loving-kindness and service to others: “We love, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4.19) Living for the sake of others is love’s fundamental ethic.
Living for others is a natural expression of a loving heart that flows spontaneously from a person’s inner being. This is because human beings take after God, who from the moment of creation has continually been living for the sake of his creatures. Nevertheless, due to the fall, human nature became corrupted. Misunderstanding love as a matter of personal pleasure disconnected from the divine source, our minds, attitudes and habits became self-centered. Hence many people find it quite an effort to serve others without the expectation of some sort of payback. We have created a society of takers, not givers, leading inevitably to inequality, resentment and crime.
Passages from all the world’s faiths recommend service and living to benefit others as the supreme way of life in this world. Jesus identifies service as the most authentic way of leadership, and exemplified it in his own life as one who came “not to be served, but to serve.” Moreover, some texts, notably the Bhagavad-Gita and the Tao Te Ching, identify it as the fundamental principle by which God creates and sustains the universe. Every selfless act in the service of others is an act born of God. Father Moon has much to say on this topic, affirming the life of living for the sake of others as the lifestyle of the Kingdom.
1. Helping Others and Caring for Others Is the Fundamental Ethic of Human Life
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6.2
Rendering help to another is the function of all human beings.
Tattvarthasutra 5.21 (Jainism)