Peaceful Families; Peaceful World Workshop-May 27 to May 29
Peace Kingdom Center, Harpers Ferry , WV and online
May 27- Abstinence-Centered Curriculum Training
May 28- Unification Principle Study
May 29- Strengthening Families and Communities Forum
Register by May 24th in-person attendance, May 26th-online attendance
Cheon Seong Gyeong 2160
We need to recognize that when Jesus said of the Roman soldiers, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” he was expressing this kind of amazing philosophy. Because Jesus made this plea, he became a model and archetype for all nations of the world to transcend the way they see each other as enemies, and also a model for transcending the borders between any two nations.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 561
The average lifespan does not exceed eighty years. Within that short space of time allotted to us, we must get a grip on all the historically intertwined realms of goodness that were entangled in history. Realizing the vastness of the realm of goodness with which we are to forge a bond during our brief stay on earth, our mind and conscience must surge urgently forward. If we die we cannot do it. While we yet live, let us find our original homeland and restore the sovereignty of our homeland. Only by serving the heavenly sovereign and living in his nation can we enter God’s Kingdom in heaven. (155-25, 1964.10.6)
Purity of Intention
SINCE THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP is the disposition of the heart, the intention we bring to an act of worship determines its value. Even when the outward form of an act expresses faith and obedience, a person’s inner intentions become manifest in the end. Progress on the path to God requires purity of heart and sincerity of mind.
Intention begins our life in the world. When the Israelites approached the Temple and sung the psalm, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?” they were declaring that in their daily lives they had been obedient to God’s commandments to live ethically and justly. From that pure starting-point, we can cultivate a mind conducive to worship by placing our practical concerns in second place to the affairs of Heaven. As we glorify God in our minds and dedicate our bodies to His service, our sincere intention opens the door to an authentic relationship. For the antithesis of sincerity, see Chapter 15: Hypocrisy. For more on the role of sincerity in everyday life, see Chapter 12: Sincerity and Authenticity.
1.Purity and Sincerity of Heart
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5.8A man becomes pure through sincerity of intellect; thereupon, in meditation, he beholds Him who is without parts.
Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.8 (Hinduism)
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
and who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false,
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord,
and vindication from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek thee,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.35
Psalm 24.3-6
All you who come before me, hoping to attain the accomplishment of your desires, pray with hearts pure from falsehood, clean within and without, reflecting the truth like a mirror.
Oracle of Temmangu (Shinto)
Though I had nothing to eat but a red-hot ball of iron, I will never accept even the most savory food offered by a person with an impure mind. Though I were sitting upon a blazing fire hot enough to melt copper, I will never go to visit the place of a person with a polluted mind.
Oracle of the Kami Hachiman (Shinto)
O my brother! A pure heart is as a mirror; cleanse it with the burnish of love and severance from all save God, that the true sun may shine within it and the eternal morning dawn.
Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys
(Baha’i Faith)
Sincerity (ihsan): You should worship God as if you saw Him; for although you do not see Him, He sees you.
Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 2 (Islam)
Sincerity (makoto) is the mind of the kami. Accordingly, when serving the kami in worship, if one has a mind of sincerity, the kami will surely respond.
Ekken Kiabara, Divine Injunctions (Shinto)
A man who makes efforts to cleave to God has no time to think of unimportant matters; when he constantly serves the Creator he has no time to be vain.
Israel Baal Shem Tov (Judaism)
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
Revelation 3.15-16