Cheon Seong Gyeong 263
God is the greatest teacher for fallen people. Among teachers, He is the great King of teachers, because there is nothing God does not know. Among parents, God is the First, in other words, the True Parent. As a king, He is the King of all kings. God is the best teacher and the first parent. If He is the First Parent, would He be a false parent or a true parent? He is the True Parent. This True Parent was unable to be a True Parent because of the Fall. In the Unification Church we close our prayers by saying “I pray in the name of the True Parents.” God is the first True Parent.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1722
All of us are seeking after God’s world of love, the source of His love. All beings are on their way to possess the male and female organs. People are on their way to become God’s partners in love. Isn’t this the flawless view of the Principle? This is not some theory I thought up arbitrarily. It refers to the principles of the great way of heaven and earth. (288-334, 1998.1.1)
Leadership and Government
Prophets and Messengers
2. Speaking Truth to Power
The most excellent jihad is the uttering of truth in the presence of an unjust ruler.
Hadith of Tirmidhi (Islam)
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his morsel, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
Nathan said to David, “You are the man. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul; and I gave you your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’”
2 Samuel 12.1-10
Mencius went to P’ing Lu. “Would you or would you not,” said he to the governor, “dismiss a lancer who has failed three times in one day to report for duty?”
“I would not wait for the third time.”
“But you yourself have failed to report for duty many times. In years of famine close to a thousand of your people suffered, the old and the young being abandoned in the gutter, the able-bodied scattered in all directions.”
“It was not within my power to do anything about this.”
“Supposing a man were entrusted with the care of cattle and sheep. Surely he ought to seek pasturage and fodder for the animals. If he found that this could not be done, should he return his charge to the owner or should he stand by and watch the animals die?”
“In this I am at fault.”
Mencius II.B.4 (Confucianism)
Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said
, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’”
And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor one of the sons of the prophets; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
““Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Therefore thus says the Lord:
‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city,
and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”
Amos 7.10-17
Has not the history of those before you reached you: the folk of Noah, and ‘Ad and Thamud, and those after them? None save God knows them. Their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they thrust their hands into their mouths, and said, “Lo! we disbelieve in that with which you have been sent, and lo! we are in grave doubt concerning that to which you call us.” Their messengers said, “Can there be doubt concerning God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth? He calls you that He may forgive you your sins and reprieve you until an appointed term.” They said, “You are but mortals like us, who would fain turn us away from what our fathers used to worship. Then bring us some clear warrant.” Their messengers said to them, “We are but mortals like you, but God gives grace to whom He will of His slaves. It is not ours to bring you a warrant unless by the permission of God. In God let believers put their trust! How should we not put our trust in God when He has shown us His ways? We surely will endure that hurt you do to us. In God let the trusting put their trust!” And those who disbelieved said to their messengers, “Verily we will drive you out from our land, unless you return to our religion.” Then their Lord inspired them, “Verily we shall destroy the wrongdoers, and verily We shall make you to dwell in the land after them. This is for him who fears My Majesty and fears My threats.” And they sought help from their Lord, and every froward potentate was brought to naught.
Qur’an 14.9-15
A king who does what is not righteous
and not suitable is mostly praised
by his subjects, for it is hard to know
what he will or will not tolerate;
therefore it is hard to know
what is useful or not to say.
If useful but unpleasant words
are hard to speak to someone else,
what could I, a monk, say to a king
who is a lord of the great earth?
But because of my affection for you
and through my compassion for all beings,
I tell you without hesitation
that which is useful but unpleasant.
O steadfast one, if true words
are spoken without anger,
one should take them as fit to be
heard, like water fit for bathing.
Realize that I am telling you
what is useful here and later.
Act on it so as to help
yourself and also others.
Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 301-6 (Buddhism)