Listen to the Richard Urban Show Installment #31
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1919
We are now in the era of the Pacific civilization. At the same time, this leads to the space age. All the waters of the world merge with the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The rivers and the waters from the Atlantic Ocean and even water from the Mediterranean Sea all join with the Pacific. There is a flow of water called the Black Current that is about four to five thousand miles long. As it circulates it influences all five of the great oceans of the world.
For this reason, when the era of the Pacific civilization draws near, every-body must become one. Then we can explore outer space. Unless people become one, they would even fight over the ownership of the sun, with everyone claiming that right. They would ask who the master of the starry realm is and they would all claim to be the one. They are bound to fight among each other. Our sun is about 1.3 million times larger than the earth. How could human beings, who don’t even amount to a tiny speck, claim to own this vast entity? The universe would roar with laughter. A unified world is bound to appear in the era of the Pacific civilization. That is why everything must be overhauled. Democracy in America does not work, and neither does communism. That is why the head-wing ideology, known as Godism, must appear in this age. (207-46, 1990.10.28)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1191
Instead of beating His enemy to death God must set the condition of having loved him. In the same way the person standing in the position of Adam has to set up a condition of having loved the enemy Satan. If you endure over and over again while being persecuted, and prevail over all the tears, blood and sweat, until the enemy naturally surrenders to you, and return embracing God’s love, then you can receive the blessing. That is when Satan will let you go. You must receive this public approval; “You can now become a child qualified to go to the heavenly kingdom.” Who must sign this approval? Satan must. After Satan signs this, you will sign it, and then True Parents must sign it. You can only stand before God only after getting this signature from True Parents. That is the heavenly kingdom. (141-202, 1986.2.22)
Individual Responsibility
Responsibility is central to what it means to be human. Other creatures have life, consciousness, and even intelligence, but only human beings are responsible to choose their manner of life and hence their destiny. individual responsibility implies an attitude of self-criticism. We should not blame others for our own difficulties, but rather look for the cause within ourselves.
All the religions of the world emphasize, in one way or another, individual responsibility in matters of faith and practice, although the definition and limits differ. Buddhism and other non-theistic traditions regard the journey on the path to liberation as entirely the responsibility of the individual. each individual is “a lamp unto himself ”; each works out his own salvation alone and by himself. There is explicit rejection of reliance upon a savior from without, as both Buddha and Muhammad rejected characterizations of themselves as saviors.
On the other hand, in the monotheistic faiths, the context of individual responsibility is prevenient grace. As a person works out his own salvation, at the same time God is at work within. Salvation is a gift, yet it is our responsibility to receive it and not reject it. Father Moon characterizes this joint responsibility in numerical terms: 95 percent is God’s responsibility and 5 percent is the human portion. In this view, responsibility ennobles human beings. It means that each of us has a role to play in our own perfection, and even an indispensable-able role in completing God’s work of creation. This responsibility contains the gift of freedom. Several passages explore this teaching in light of the human Fall and divine forbearance in not intervening to prevent it.
Many religions hold that an individual’s destiny is at least partly determined by factors beyond his or her control: God’s predestination, past karma, or the burden of inherited sin. Nevertheless, several texts reject the notion that such conditions impinge in any way on one’s individual responsibility. Arguing against fatalism, they maintain that with every situation comes the opportunity to improve our lot by the exercise of responsibility. Father Moon goes one step further: he teaches that inasmuch as our individual selves are the results of many generations, fulfilling our responsibility benefits not only ourselves but countless ancestors as well.
1. Each Person Is Responsible for His or Her Own Self