Register now for the USA 250th Anniversary Celebration-America and God’s Will.
July 7, 2026 at 3:30 p.m. eastern time.
Expert panelists will discuss the relevance of key points from the speech America and God’s Will, delivered by Rev. Sun Myung Moon at the Bicentennial God Bless America Festival at the Washington Monument.
Attend in person at the Peace Kingdom Center in Harpers Ferry, WV, or online by Zoom.
Free-Registration Required
Details and Registration
Cheon Seong Gyeong 583
All things of this world will pass away. Our families, nations, and even the world itself will pass away. Ideologies and philosophies will pass away. What will remain? It is the hope with which we can fight and win over death. Without such a hope, we might as well call ourselves failures in life.
On the other hand, there is a group of people who, from their birth, reject all hopes that secular people desire and all humanistic things, and live embracing the heavenly hope, an eternal hope.
Heaven made limitless efforts to enable humanity, living with their earthly, humanistic hopes, to go over the peak of death with a new hope and to live with regard to the eternal world. Therefore, people who live a life of faith should not live embracing earthly hope, but should live dreaming of the eternal world of hope that can even conquer death. (6-43, 1959.3.22)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1095
There is some element of truth in Christianity’s ban on the performance of ancestral rites up until the present day. This rite should be offered to God and the True Parent of all humankind. The ancestors in the spirit world should originally have been served by us. However, due to the Fall, this has been prohibited until the present time. In the age of restoration, because you have received the Blessing, you should attend your ancestors from now on. (223-210, 1991.11.10)
Cheon Seong Gyeong
Selections from the Speeches of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Book 7
Etiquette and Ceremonies
Chapter 4
Section 13. Ancestral Rituals for Blessed Families
13.1. Laws on ancestor worship were originally part of heavenly law.
Summary:
If you deviate from the true meaning of love, your ancestors will personally return to reprimand you, making it essential to honor them with proper order and deep respect. In traditional Korean culture, the firstborn son of the eldest son holds the ultimate authority; he stands at the head of all ancestral rites above all other relatives, and he alone dictates the exact time of the memorial service. The deceased ancestors must adjust to this designated time on earth to receive their offering table, reflecting Jesus’s principle that what is unbound on earth is unbound in heaven. Furthermore, if you were genuinely pious to your parents while they were alive, you do not need to perform elaborate ceremonies or visit faraway burial grounds after their passing; instead, you can simply keep their picture in your home, celebrating and attending to them as if they were alive. While Christianity historically banned ancestral rites because humanity was disconnected from God due to the Fall, the current age of restoration and the Blessing empowers families to freely attend and elevate their ancestors once again.
On the day of the memorial service, the firstborn son of the eldest son decides the time of the service. That is why you can hold the service at five o’clock in the morning, even if previously it was done at one o’clock. Depending on the circumstances, the time can be changed again from five to seven o’clock in the morning or even sometime during the day. The person who decides this is not your grandfather or ancestor who has passed away but the firstborn son. The offering table can be presented to the grandparents who passed away only when they come at the time designated by the firstborn son of the eldest son. If the grandparents do not like that time, they will not be served. The earth is the center. It is the same logic as Jesus said “What is unbound on earth is unbound in heaven.” That is why the two must become one. (231-168, 1992.6.2)
When you perform ancestral rites, you have the firstborn son of the eldest son stand at the head even before his uncle, cousin, third-cousin, and even his great-uncle. In reverence to the ancestors in traditional Korean culture, the firstborn son is at the front. Thus, we can see that it is a race that attaches importance to the right of the eldest son. (197-340, 1990.1.20)
If you were pious toward your parents, you do not have to offer ceremonial rites for them after their death. You should just place their picture before you and commemorate that day as if your mother and father were alive. What boundary lines are there in the spirit world? Now instead of going to the burial ground, you can attend your parents in your house, as if they were alive, and you can feast and celebrate. Even though you do not go to their graves, it will still be a celebration. You should make your parents’ gravesite on a hill near where you live. In the West, do you not bury your dead in a churchyard? You should not behave shamefully in front of your parents’ graves; your deceased mother and father would admonish you. If you do anything that deviates from the right meaning of love, your ancestors will personally come after you and reprimand you. (206-294, 1990.10.14)
There is some element of truth in Christianity’s ban on the performance of ancestral rites up until the present day. This rite should be offered to God and the True Parent of all humankind. The ancestors in the spirit world should originally have been served by us. However, due to the Fall, this has been prohibited until the present time. In the age of restoration, because you have received the Blessing, you should attend your ancestors from now on. (223-210, 1991.11.10)
pgs. 1094-1095
Daily Inspiration Discussion Forum
How could westerners benefit from the Korean idea of honoring your genealogy and carrying on the lineage?
Share you answer here to discuss with and help others.