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#105-Strengthening Families and Communities Forum: Michael Marshall
Cheon Seong Gyeong 451
What do you think is the cause of human existence? The cause of human existence is love. Then where do you think the purpose of human existence lies? The purpose of human existence lies in completing the ideal of love. Human beings came into being through love, and so their purpose is to perfect love by forming a foundation of love and expanding and connecting it. In other words, since the beginning is love, the purpose has to be reached through love as well. For this, a man and a woman in partnership must become one in love and connect front and back, left and right, and above and below. (Blessed Family -1062)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1578
God lost His house of the Sabbath. Therefore, the ideal family raised in the fallen world would restore His house of the Sabbath. Then, centering on what would this house be built? It would be built centering on true love, true parents, true children and true family. The family is the center. Centering on the family you need to form a tribe, and on that basis become tribal messiahs for that tribe. The family gives rise to familylevel messiahs, tribal messiahs, national messiahs for the nations and the global messiah. The global messiah is also the King of kings. From there the Kingdom of Heaven is established. God should be able to reside wherever He goes, from within the individual to any place in the world and even in the spirit world. That is to say, if He chose to dwell within a family, the individuals in that family, husband and wife, and sons and daughters would all be happy to serve Him. (286-114, 1997.8.9)
Self-Sacrifice
2. Taking up the Cross—Sacrifice unto Death
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Jesus sacrificed himself in order to make the people worthy of receiving God’s love, that the world might be lovable to God. Even in death, he remained completely faithful to his mission. If a religion arises that inspires its believers to voluntarily walk the path of death that Jesus walked, that religion will build the final foundation to defeat Satan’s realm and save the world. Jesus willingly bore the cross to his death, out of love for the world. A worldwide religion that is willing to walk the same path of sacrifice will become God’s hope and Jesus’ hope. (124:299, March 1, 1983)
A complaining person cannot go this way;
a person who makes excuses cannot go this way;
a person who puffs himself up will retreat from this way.
It is the way of the cross that Jesus trod, shedding blood;
the prolongation of Golgotha. (6:125, April 12, 1959) What is a religious life? Religious people base their lives on a different philosophy from other people. They approach life with the attitude: “Regardless of my circumstances, I will not take the road to hell by acting for my personal benefit, for that is the devil Satan’s foundation. Instead, I will take the public road to heaven, no matter what sacrifices it may entail.”
We seek to act as God acts and live for the sake of the public good. For the sake of the public good, God sacrifices His own family, sacrifices His own nation, and even sacrifices His own world. Although God has all authority, He has endured immeasurable sorrow and suffering as He journeyed through history alone, ever seeking the public good—the welfare of humanity. Yet He accepted it all, never blaming anyone else or making excuses for Himself. We need to understand that God stands in such a position because He is absolutely public-minded. He does not boast about what He has done. He does not boast that He has worked to benefit others. Working quietly to the end, God devotes Himself entirely to public tasks until the day the public world is completed. (101:146-47, October 29, 1978)
The more difficult the task, the more blessings come. Right now what I miss the most is being tortured in prison and vomiting blood.
Your bodies should resonate with God’s vibration, but they cannot because they are stuck to Satan’s stony rock. You must be shaken loose from that rock if you are to be free to resonate with God. That is why religion teaches us to sacrifice. Practice asceticism and do penance! Why? It is to cut off all satanic attachment and become God’s resonant counterpart. (102:35, November 19, 1978)
So far the basic error of religious teaching has been this: though religion has taught the basic value of sacrifice and service, it has valued sacrifice mainly for the purpose of receiving salvation. The purpose of self-sacrifice ought to be to liberate God and humankind; people have been ignorant of this truth. Instead of sacrificing for the selfish purpose of attaining a high place in heaven, we should sacrifice for God and humankind. The purpose of sacrifice determines whether a believer’s religious path ends up being good or evil. (102:234, January 1, 1979)
Richard: Wow! This is so true. Is not most all of today’s Christianity focused on personal salvation, or “My heaven”. This is not the way God and Jesus think.
This is our motto: “Let us go forth with the heart of a parent in the shoes of a servant, shedding sweat for the earth, tears for humankind, and blood for heaven.” Why do we need this motto?… The eternal God has been weeping countless tears as He seeks to eradicate the path of pain, path of sorrows, and the path of death. As God has shed His sweat, tears, and blood first, today we should take up that task in His place. (14:244, January 1, 1965)
I worked to accomplish this task oblivious to rain and snow. Nightfall was like dawn, and I would even forget to eat. I could not take things lightly because I knew God and felt the serious responsibility that comes with knowing God. More than anybody else, I knew how sorrowful God was. Thus, even if my body were torn apart, crumbled into dust and blown away, all those scattered cells could still cry out as God’s cells. I grappled with this path of death, accepting it as a worthy death for a man. (137:178, January 1, 1986)