Cheon Seong Gyeong 1031
Today, what would you call the way of collecting donations in most Christian churches? They circulate bags for the donations. In the Unification Church, do you receive donations in that fashion? Do you collect using some kind of mesh strainer? Before people leave, you should place the donation boxes at the entrance. People will donate as an act of devotion and expression of your gratitude for having received grace from God. Those who do not want to donate will avoid those boxes. Heaven does not want such trifling sums of money. It must be money offered with devotion. You should not just donate the money you find in your mother’s or father’s pocket. You should keep the donation money for three days as sanctification and then offer it. Why are you thinking of donating an amount that is not even worth a meal for lunch? You should be offering your entire life’s assets…. (166-319, 1987.6.14)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1145
What comes first: love or self-awareness? Love comes first. If that had actually happened, we would have been successful in everything. If that occurred, there would have been no walls or ravines on the path of life. Our life would have meshed with the gears of the heavenly principle and rotated smoothly. The great heavenly principle would have made this possible. However the woman abandoned this principle and started out from self-awareness. According to the Bible what did she want to eat? When she looked at the fruit it was good for food and it was said to make her eyes open; at that moment Eve realized her ego. This became the problem. Please understand that once you become aware of your own “self” and begin to assert yourself, you are already in the realm apt to be invaded by the cunning Satan, by your fallen nature! You must understand this clearly. (171-109, 1987.12.13)
Cheon Seong Gyeong
Selections from the Speeches of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Book 5
EARTHLY LIFE AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
Chapter 1
The Existence of Human Beings in the Physical and Spirit Worlds
Section 5. Blessing and Eternal Life
5.1. Why we need to know about the issue of eternal life
Why are families in this world being destroyed? Why are mothers, fathers and children becoming enemies? It is because there is no true love. The most important thing is eternal life, but people do not know that the spirit world exists. If you knew clearly that you live for eternity, you would not commit a crime even if others told you to. You would not live for yourself even if others told you to. Without knowing this, whether you believe in Christianity or any other religion, you could never go to heaven, God’s ideal world. You cannot go there without investing true love and life. (205-261, 1990.9.9)
If our church is armed with the Principle, the issue of eternal life will become clear. If it were not connected to this issue, even a social revolution would be impossible. Nobody would want to fall into circumstances of greater poverty and ruin than those he or she currently lives in.
If we approach things from the perspective of eternal life, however, we can overcome all environmental conditions. That’s why religion is so great. The issue of eternal life hinges upon this. All you have to do is firmly establish the concept of eternal life. Until now, religions could not digest or overcome their cultural backgrounds that were intertwined with habituality. Why not? It was because they could not establish the concept of eternal life.
Why are Christians shaken as their circumstances change? It is because of their concept of eternal life. They have no confidence regarding that issue. As to the question of whether they can lay down their lives in order to overcome their circumstances, we see them backsliding into living mostly to satisfy their present needs and meet their social obligations, all the while experiencing distractions coming from all directions. Unless the proper concept of eternal life is implanted in these people, they will fall away in midcourse. What can do this? Love alone can do this. Only the Unification Church can completely accomplish this.
The path of faith is not preparation for life on earth but for that in the eternal world. People having this conviction can take care of themselves. As people pass the ages of forty and fifty, and the day of their death draws closer, the more serious they become about the issue of eternal life. The older they get, the more serious they become.
Our thinking dims as we grow older, but when the concept of eternal life is implanted, we become more serious with age. Consequently, in the future, only a religious ideology can lead this world. Regardless of the frequently changing circumstances and ups and downs we face in life, as long as we maintain an absolute concept of eternal life, nothing would be a problem.
Therefore, the point is how you can implant the concept of eternal life. God created Adam and Eve as the objects of His love. There’s no doubt about that. Consequently, we should live as objects of God’s love. You have to not only talk about it but also actually feel it, and experience it deeply.
Once you come to know how great the power of true love is, you would go this way even if someone told you not to. Therefore, if you can only implant the concept of eternal life, everything will be complete. In doing so, when it makes logical sense, it will reverberate in your mind and your body will be resonating in harmony with it to the same level. Adolescence is when such things happen.
The standard of original nature, as it was before the Fall applies fully before the age of sixteen. Since the years leading up to the age at which Adam and Eve fell were unaffected, the standard of original nature remains intact. Therefore, you should acquaint yourselves with God in your adolescence. In so doing, you will realize your inseparable relationship with Him. For this to happen, the concept of eternal life needs to be implanted. If only this were done, our second generation in the Unification Church would go no other way, even if we told them to. Therefore we must save the world quickly and bring everybody to the heavenly nation. The result becomes your possession. Your rank in the other world will be determined according to the number of people you bring in there. That is why heaven is completely empty now. (230-22, 1992.4.15)
pgs. 564-565