Cheon Seong Gyeong 2184
In front of God what must you long to become? First, you must become devoted children. Second, you must become loyal subjects and patriots. Is there anyone above loyal subjects and patriots? Saints are higher. Devoted children in the family are absolutely loyal to their parents. Patriots are absolutely loyal to their nation. Then, what kind of people are saints? They are people like Jesus, Buddha and Confucius – people who assert God’s existence, not people who assert themselves. They lead God-centered lives and do not cause any harm, but instead try to benefit humankind. Moreover, they are not nationalists, but rather globalists. (54-214, 1972.3.24)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1188
How difficult this it is to restore the rights of the firstborn son! Because of this, everybody suffered incredible hardships. Countless religious people were sacrificed, Christianity underwent dreadful persecution under the Roman Empire for four hundred years, and much blood was shed in order to get out of the domain of the satanic world. Have you ever been to Rome and been inside the catacombs? The early Christians created altars, buried the bodies of their ancestors under the altars, and continued to live there, inhaling those odors. They did so because God had told them to do so, otherwise who would have done such a thing? By normal standards, this would not be done by human beings. Imagine how much God suffered! You have no idea of the efforts that have been made in history. You need to be aware of these things. (140-203, 1986.2.9)
Society
Freedom
THE ASPIRATION FOR FREEDOM HAS BEEN A POWERFUL FORCE in human history. God signaled His love of freedom to a band of Israelite slaves in Egypt, and by liberating them set the example for freedom-loving people everywhere. People everywhere aspire for freedom because God created us to be free. God respects human freedom to the degree that He does not interfere with our wrong choices, even when they lead to sin and misery. Nevertheless, God grants human beings freedom for a purpose—that we might attain our full perfection as His ideal partners. Hence, freedom is not an end in itself, but a means to greater ends: true love, true community, the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, freedom is only meaningful and efficacious when it is conducive to God’s plan for human life. Freedom when used wrongly as an occasion to sin can lead to bondage. Therefore, God created us with a conscience as the inner compass to guide our free will in a good direction, and wants to provide every child with loving parents to educate them in the proper use of freedom.
The issues surrounding freedom are basic to democracy; hence we include several passages by its seminal political theorists. Critiques of secular democratic notions of freedom, particularly from the Catholic Church, are echoed in some of Father Moon’s negative judgments on the excessive value given to freedom and its widespread abuse in Western democracies.
Finally, we include several passages describing Father Moon’s unique teaching that God is not free, and that He is in need of liberation more than anyone.
1. The Basis for Freedom in God and God’s Creation
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3.17
I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Exodus 3.7-8
Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.
Leviticus 25.10
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good tidings to the afflicted;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are
bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.17
Isaiah 61.1-2
O ye who believe! You have charge over your own souls.
Qur’an 5.105
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The U.S. Declaration of Independence
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
John 8.32 O
ur quest for self-determination, justice, freedom and peace in our Homelands and our Territories… is a renewal of what we enjoyed before the coming of our White Brothers from across the sea. We lived contentedly under the Gai Eneshah Go’ Nah, The Great Law of Peace. We were instructed to create societies based on the principles of Peace, Equity, Justice, and the Power of Good Minds.
Our societies are based upon great democratic principles of the authority of the people and equal responsibilities for the men and the women. This was a great way of life across this Great Turtle Island and freedom with respect was everywhere. Our leaders were instructed to be men of vision and to make every decision on behalf of the seventh generation to come; to have compassion and love for those generations yet unborn.
We were instructed to give thanks for All That Sustains Us. Thus, we created great ceremonies of Thanksgiving for the life-giving forces of the Natural World, as long as we carried out our ceremonies, life would continue. We were told that “The Seed is the Law.” Indeed, it is The Law of Life. It is The Law of Regeneration. Within the seed is the mysterious force of life and creation. Our mothers nurture and guard that seed and we respect and love them for that. Just as we love our Mother Earth, for the same spiritual work and mystery.
Chief Oren Lyons (Native American Religion)
The denial or limitation of human rights—as for example the right to religious freedom, the right to share in the building of society, the freedom to organize and to form unions, or to take initiatives in economic matters—do these not impoverish the human person as much as, if not more than, the deprivation of material goods?
Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (Christianity)