Strengthening Families and Communities Forum
#116 – Michael Marshall – The Radical Change in Family Relationships and Marriage from being Centered on Child Welfare to being Centered on Self Pleasure
Senator Ron Johnson Hearing on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety-Dec 7, 2022; What they are, how they work and possible causes of injury.
Related Video: Stew Peters presents Died Suddenly.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 2189
If you protest, you will not be able to fulfill your filial duty. If parents behave in a strange way, their children also must behave likewise. If parents give an order, then the children must follow accordingly, even if it is means behaving strangely. Acting in a strange manner in itself is not good. You may think that your parents are doing things unknowingly, but actually they know what they are doing. Therefore, you should follow.
Richard: We should not be afraid to be different, even if it means that we will not have a lot of “friends”.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1514
At the time of Creation, God created man and woman with the sexual organs as their emblem. As result, that which controls the sexual organs is connected to all structural elements of the human body. For this reason, a man and woman unite as one in the act of making love and give birth to a child. What would happen during childbirth? Whom would the baby take after? The baby becomes attached to the mother’s nervous system so its own develops in a similar way. Can branches grow if there are no roots? The logic in this cannot be denied.
When a man and a woman become excited during love-making, it is a principle that the mind and body unite into one. That is logical. Then through which organ can love, life and lineage can be connected continually through the generations? It is the sexual organs. What comes first, love or life? In this question lies the problem. Similar to the problems of the world today, which are caused by materialistic philosophy, and the questioning of whether it is the mind or the body that comes first, we also need to ask ourselves: What is more precious, love or life? This is the problem. What comes first? The order of importance must be determined. The answer is that love comes first.
When God first established the ideal of creation, He did not do so centering upon Himself. Instead, it was centered upon love, and that is why He created the world of reciprocal relationships. This is logically correct. (193-145, 1989.10.3)
Society
World Citizenship
THE WORLD SEEMS TO BE MOVING INEXORABLY towards unity, yet centrifugal forces threaten to blow it apart. Trends towards globalization in communications, education, transportation and trade are tying nations together into an interdependent network of mutual benefit. Nevertheless, the path to world unity cannot be forged only on the basis of trade. As long as the world agenda is dictated by the dominant economic powers, there will be peoples in the developing world who feel the juggernaut of globalization as a mortal threat. Proud peoples with a glorious history will seek alternative ways to assert their pride of place—the rise of Islamicism being one example. Therefore, economics does not hold the key to world unity. That key, that central element, is religion.
Certainly, religious teachings can be divisive. Yet each religion contains teachings that lift up the ideal of world unity, rooted in God who is the Parent of all humankind. God sees all human beings as His children; therefore the world is destined to be one family. Religious teachings demarcate the path to make this unity a reality, for example Father Moon’s promotion of international, interracial and interfaith marriage.
Consider the family of humankind one.
Jinasena, Adipurana (Jainism)
O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that you might know each other [not that you might despise each other]. Verily the most honored among you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous.
Qur’an 49.13
All the people of the whole world are equally brothers and sisters. There is no one who is an utter stranger. There is no one who has known the truth of this origin. It is the very cause of the regret of Tsukihi (God).
Ofudesaki 13.43-44 (Tenrikyo)
Let all mankind be thy sect.
Adi Granth, Japuji 28, M.1, p. 6 (Sikhism)
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
Socrates (Hellenism)
You are a citizen of the world, and a part of it; not a subservient but a principal part. You are capable of comprehending the divine order, and of considering the connections of things. What then does the character of a citizen promise? To hold no private interest, to deliberate about nothing as a separate individual but, like the hand and foot, which, if they had reason and understood the constitution of nature, would never pursue or desire anything without reference to the whole being.
Epictetus, Discourses 2.10 (Hellenism)
When you see the Earth from space, you don’t see any divisions of nation-states there. This may be the symbol of the new mythology to come; this is the country we will celebrate, and these are the people we are one with.
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
From the viewpoint of absolute truth, what we feel and experience in our ordinary daily life is all delusion. Of all the various delusions, the sense of discrimination between oneself and others is the worst form, as it creates nothing but unpleasantness for both sides. If we can realize and meditate on ultimate truth, it will cleanse our impurities of mind and thus eradicate the sense of discrimination. This will help to create true love for one another.
Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (Buddhism)
O contending peoples and kindreds of the earth! Set your faces towards unity, and let the radiance of its light shine upon you. Gather ye together, and for the sake of God resolve to root out whatever is the source of contention among you. Then will the effulgence of the world’s great Luminary envelop the whole earth, and its inhabitants become the citizens of one city, and the occupants of one and the same throne.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah 111 (Baha’i Faith)
If love and agreement are manifest in a single family, that family will advance, become illumined and spiritual; but if enmity and hatred exist within it, destruction and dispersion are inevitable. This is likewise true of a city. If those who dwell within it manifest a spirit of accord and fellowship, it will progress steadily and human conditions become brighter, whereas through enmity and strife it will be degraded and its inhabitants scattered. In the same way the people of a nation develop and advance toward civilization and enlightenment through love and accord, and are disintegrated by war and strife. Finally, this is true of humanity itself in the aggregate. When love is realized and the ideal spiritual bonds unite the hearts of men, the whole human race will be uplifted, the world will continually grow more spiritual and radiant, and the happiness and tranquility of mankind be immeasurably increased. Warfare and strife will be uprooted, disagreement and dissension pass away, and Universal Peace unite the nations and peoples of the world. All mankind will dwell together as one family, blend as the waves of one sea, shine as stars of one firmament, and appear as fruits of the same tree. This is the happiness and felicity of humankind. This is the illumination of man, the glory eternal and life everlasting; this is the divine bestowal.
‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace (Baha’i Faith)