36 The Lord has given to Bezalel, Oholiab, and others the skills needed for building a place of worship, and they will follow the Lord’s instructions.
Psalm 145
4 Each generation will announce to the next your wonderful and powerful deeds. 5 I will keep thinking about your marvelous glory and your mighty miracles.[a] 6 Everyone will talk about your fearsome deeds, and I will tell all nations how great you are. 7 They will celebrate and sing about your matchless mercy and your power to save.
World Scripture and the Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 3
The Value of Human Life
3. Murder, Suicide and Abortion: Crimes against Life
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
The preservation of human rights and human dignity must be the measure of all ethics and morality. (168:238, September 21, 1987)
How does the present administration9 handle the issue of human rights? In North Korea, the regime of Kim Il-Sung has exterminated three million people. Mao Zedong is responsible for the deaths of 150 million people. In Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution seven million lost their lives. The New York Times reported that 600,000 people have been killed since the fall of Vietnam… How can we talk about human rights while ignoring communism that tramples on the right to life itself? Which is more important: human rights or the right to life? (91:255, February 23, 1977)
If on the street you met an enemy, a person whom your family hates and even all Americans hate, would it be alright to murder him? How could it be a sin? Yet no matter how vile or detestable that person might be, he has the same cosmic value as you, because he was made by the Creator. Killing him is a crime, a violation of the universal law. (105:92, September 30, 1979)
Why is a human being’s physical life so precious? Without it, the cosmos cannot be brought to perfection, and even God cannot attain perfection. Our physical life is so precious… that it cannot be exchanged for the entire universe. This is the meaning of the Bible verse, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the world and forfeits his life?” (91:19, February 13, 1977)
Your most worthy parents need you. Your spouse needs you. Your brothers need you. Your family needs you. The nation needs you. The world needs you. Even the spirit world and the whole cosmos need you. Even God needs you. How can you think that you are unimportant?… When you say, “No one needs me,” you are doing wrong to all of them. You are doing wrong to your parents, your future spouse, your brothers, your family, the nation, the world, heaven and earth, and God. You are violating their love and the law of love. A person who commits suicide sins in all these ways. So many people commit suicide—how can they do such a thing! You should never even dream of killing yourself. (74:30 November 10, 1974)
Once a baby is conceived, you must not abort it. You never know who that baby could grow up to be: maybe a saint, maybe someone who could save America, maybe even the President of the United States. So how can you destroy it as you wish? What if my mother had exercised her “right to choose” like people do today? I would not have been born.
Therefore, abortion is a sin. Each fetus represents the parents’ love, life and lineage. It is human; how can anyone consider it merely an animal? What is that cell that forms at conception? It is very much a human being! Within that single cell are human beings’ love, life and lineage. Therefore, it represents the parents and has the same value as the parents. The father’s love and mother’s love are contained within that would-be baby.(230:120, April 26, 1992)
Suppose a husband and wife give birth to a child with a deformity. Do they terminate its life and say, “Well, we can try again”? Is that true love? No, of course it is not. (117:292, April 11, 1982)
The person who has embodied true love attains the ability and the right to immediately possess everything God desires to see in the original, ideal world. Such a qualification, however, must be attained on earth. By loving your fellow countrymen, loving the people of the world, and loving all things of creation, you can feel the true love of God. (112-204, 1981.4.12)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1272
In order to enter God’s realm of heart,
your lineage has to be the same. You
can only join that realm of heart after
changing your lineage, which originat-
ed from a different root. The stems are
different. The roots, stems and sprouts
need to be identical. For that to be so, the
great work of the conversion of lineage
is absolutely necessary. This cannot be
carried out alone. You need True Parents
for this task. (172-55, 1988.1.7)
World Scripture and the Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 3
The Value of Human Life
3. Murder, Suicide and Abortion: Crimes against Life
You shall not kill. Exodus 20.13
A man who contributes to the killing of a believer—even with a single word—will meet Allah on the Judgment Day, with the judgment upon his forehead, “excluded from the mercy of his Lord.” Sunnan Ibn Majah 2.2620 (Islam)
Do not take life—which God has made sacred— except for just cause. Qur’an 17.33
A man once came before Raba and said to him, “The ruler of my city has ordered me to kill a certain person, and if I refuse he will kill me.” Raba told him, “Be killed and do not kill; do you think that your blood is redder than his? Perhaps his is redder than yours.” Talmud, Pesahim 25b (Judaism)
All tremble at the rod. All fear death. Comparing others with oneself, one should neither strike nor cause to strike. All tremble at the rod. Life is dear to all. Comparing others with oneself, one should neither strike nor cause to strike. Whoever, seeking his own happiness, harms with the rod other pleasure-loving beings, experiences no happiness hereafter. Whoever, seeking his own happiness, harms not with the rod other pleasure-loving beings, experiences happiness hereafter. Dhammapada 129-32 (Buddhism)
And do not kill yourselves, for verily God has been to you Most Merciful. Qur’an 4.29
“Surely your blood of your lives will I require” [Genesis 9.5]. This includes suicide, except in a case like that of Saul. Genesis Rabbah 34.13 (Judaism)
A monk who intentionally deprives a human being of his life, or provides the means for sui- cide, or praises death, or incites one to commit suicide, saying, “Of what use to you is this evil, difficult life? Death is better for you than life”… commits an offense entailing loss of monkhood. Vinaya Pitaka (Buddhism)
Slay not your children, fearing a fall to poverty. We shall provide for them and for you. Truly, the slaying of them is a great sin. Qur’an 17.31
A bhikkhu who intentionally kills a human being, down to procuring abortion, is no ascetic and no follower of the Fraternity of the Buddha. Vinaya, Mahavagga 1.78.4 (Buddhism)
When the sacredness of life before birth is attacked, we still stand up and proclaim that no one ever has the authority to destroy unborn life. Pope John Paul II 8 (Christianity)
Indeed for us murder is forbidden once and for all, so it is not permitted even to destroy what is conceived in the womb. To prohibit the birth of a child is only a faster way to murder; it makes little difference whether one destroys a life already born or prevents it from coming to birth. It is a human being, who is to be a human being, for the whole fruit is already present in the seed. Tertullian, Apology 9.8 (Christianity)
22 You obeyed the truth,and your souls were made pure. Now you sincerely love each other. But you must keep on loving with all your heart. 23 Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever. 24 The Scriptures say,
“Humans wither like grass, and their glory fades like wild flowers. Grass dries up, and flowers fall to the ground. 25 But what the Lord has said will stand forever.”
Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.
Richard: Here we see the importance of our Daily Study of Scripture. And in this age that is the Eight Sacred Textbooks.
Isaiah 39
39 Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia. And when he learned that Hezekiah was well, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him. 2 Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them all the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oils that were in his storehouse. He even showed them where he kept his weapons. Nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom was kept hidden from them.
3 I asked Hezekiah, “Where did these men come from? What did they want?”
“They came all the way from Babylonia,” Hezekiah answered.
4 “What did you show them?” I asked.
Hezekiah answered, “I showed them everything in my kingdom.”
5 Then I told Hezekiah:
I have a message for you from the Lord All-Powerful. 6 One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The Lord has promised that nothing will be left. 7 Some of your own sons will be taken to Babylonia, where they will be disgraced and made to serve in the king’s palace.
8 Hezekiah thought, “At least our nation will be at peace for a while.” So he told me, “The message you brought from the Lord is good.”
Richard: Wow! This is a very interesting passage. The King was very trusting and vain. But perhaps he should have looked at the long term picture and the fact that the Babylonians, even though friendly now, were not centered on God, but on other nefarious or demonic goals. Much of what passes for discurse today comports with a standard that is not centered on God’s Word. See theRheama above.
Commentary from the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5. Hear the word of the Lord] Isaiah’s tone is threatening, because he sees in this thing a sin against Jehovah. It was not necessary to specify wherein the offence consisted; king and prophet understood each other perfectly. The reception of an embassy from the sworn enemy of the king of Assyria was in itself an act of rebellion likely to precipitate a conflict which Isaiah strove to avert; and the childish vanity displayed by Hezekiah, his pride in earthly resources, and his readiness to enter into friendly relations with the powers of this world, were tendencies against which Isaiah’s ministry had been a continuous protest. All these tendencies sprang from a single root, the lack of that absolute faith in Jehovah as the all-sufficient guide and protector of the nation which was the fundamental article of Isaiah’s political programme.
World Scripture and the Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 3
The Value of Human Life
2. A Human Being Has the Value of the Universe
In heaven and on earth, I alone am the Honored One. Ch’ang A-han Ching (Buddhism)
When I look at Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast established; What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou dost care for him? Yet Thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Psalm 8.3-5
Surely We have honored the children of Adam, and We carry them on land and sea, and We provide them with good things, and We make them to excel highly most of those whom We have created. Qur’an 17.70
The whole world was created only for the sake of the righteous man. He weighs as much as the whole world. The whole world was created only to be united to him. Talmud, Shabbat 30b (Judaism)
We prescribed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a human being, except to retaliate for manslaughter or for corruption done in the land, it shall be as if he had killed all of human- kind; and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the lives of all humankind. Qur’an 5.32
Only one single man [Adam] was created in the world, to teach that, if any man has caused a single soul to perish, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had caused the whole world to perish, and if any man saves alive a single soul, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had saved the whole world. Also, man [was created singly] to show the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, for if a man strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the King of Kings, the Holy One, made each man in the image of Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow. Therefore every single person is obligated to say, “The world was created for my sake.” Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4.5 (Judaism)
Teachings of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon
An individual human being is more precious than the universe. Each person’s value is infinite, because he or she is created as God’s partner of love. (262:145, July 23, 1994)
One human being, although seemingly an insignificant individual, has the potential to represent all of human history and all relationships with the future. Therefore, he or she has cosmic value. (4:268, August 3, 1958)
What value does God bestow on human beings? God created us to be His partners of love. Therefore, human beings are meant to share God’s absolute, unique value. Yet people are ignorant of this amazing truth. These days, what is a human life worth? Yet, God created men and women as His partners of love, with a precious value that cannot be exchanged even for the whole universe! (142:143, March 8, 1986)
Even God cannot have true love, peace and happiness, or attain His ideal, apart from His object partners. What would be the use of peace or happiness to God if He were alone?… Please understand that each of you is indispensable for completing God’s true love, God’s peace, God’s happiness and God’s ideal. We have been unaware of our value. When you experience your precious, awesome and lofty value, which can bring love, peace, happiness and the ideal even to God, you can praise yourself and feel reverence for yourself. (77:314, April 30, 1975)
When you marry, you want your spouse to be better than you. You hope that your sons and daughters will marry spouses who are better than them. Whose trait does this resemble? It is God’s! Heavenly Father wishes for His partners and objects of love to be better than Him. Can we deny this? Human value is supreme. From the viewpoint of love, it can be even greater than God! For this reason, your mind desires what is highest. This is not inconceivable. All human beings could have attained this value, had there been no fall. Dwelling in that supreme, heavenly state, they were to manage and lead the universe. (211:272, December 30, 1990)
Every human being possesses a unique individuality. No matter how many billions of people are born on the earth, no two will ever have exactly the same personality. Each person is God’s substantial object partner who manifests a distinctive aspect of God’s dual characteristics. Hence, that person is the only one in the entire universe who can stimulate that distinctive aspect of God’s nature to bring Him joy. Every person who has completed the purpose of creation is thus a unique existence in the cosmos. We can thus affirm the Buddha’s saying, “In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one.” (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Christology 1)
Above and below, front and rear, and right and left—everyone is related to me. These relationships are not temporary but life-long. They extend from the beginning of human history, and connect me to my posterity thousands of generations into the future. If I were to be broken, my relationship with God would also be broken. My family would be damaged, as would my clan and the whole world. That is why I am a microcosm, representing heaven and earth. My heart desires to embrace Heaven, and my body to possess the earth. I want to be enraptured by the heart of the Sovereign Lord. I want to be His representative, who cannot be defeated by anyone or anything in heaven and earth. If I deeply analyze myself in the context of these relationships, I can understand that I am the greatest being, with infinite value. (8:10-11, October 25, 1959)
The question, however, is whether we are in a condition to receive the value that God intends to give. If we were beautiful both internally and externally, we would illuminate heaven and earth like a diamond or a brilliant gem. (352:25-26, September 16, 2001)
In 1992, we announced the Messiah and True Parents to the world. Focusing on America, we announced the True Par- ents and the Completed Testament Age starting on May 13, 1993. I have made all the necessary conditions. As you know, America represents the entire world. It is the final settling place in terms of the Christian cultural sphere. This is the time of transition into the new age cen- tering on True Parents. We are enter- ing the Completed Testament Age. Our proclamation was the first time in histo- ry for such an event. How long God must have been waiting for this time! How miserable God has been throughout his- tory! Now the age of hope is approach- ing. We are entering into the age when we can proclaim the True Parents. It is a historical and universal event. Noth- ing like this has ever happened before in human history. (248-175, 1993.8.3)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1186
Since the vertical and horizontal indemnity, the indemnity of the eight stages was completed, last year, on August 31, 1989, I went to Alaska, the northern- most place in the western world, and conducted the “Ceremony of the Settle- ment of the Eight Stages.” It was con- ducted at the northernmost place. Then on September 1, I announced the “ideol- ogy centered on the Heavenly Father.” It is the ideology of salvation through love, which we know as the parent-centered ideology. This ideology urges us to love everyone. Satan cannot oppose love. If Satan does not oppose the Unification Church on its way, it will spread world- wide in a flash. (199-157, 1990.2.16)
Richard: This Rheama is special to me and Stacey. August 31, 1989 is the very day that we moved from northeast DC to Capitol Hill. The purpose of our move was so we could do Home Church in the Capitol Hill area.
World Scripture and the Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 3
The Value of Human Life
Human beings have priceless value. Although in many fallen societies life is regarded as cheap, and despite the worldly illusion that a person’s value is determined by wealth, status, education or beauty, God endows every person with the absolute value of His love. He created us as His beloved children, infinitely precious—even equal to God. The texts gathered here express this exalted value of a human being. A single person has the value of the whole world. Unique in all creation, he or she is irreplaceable. Moreover, the love of God, family, nation and all creation embrace each individual. Each individual is needed by all existence. The death of any individual brings loss to all existence. For this reason, taking life by murder, suicide and abortion has no place in God’s world. Furthermore, since physical life provides the opportunity for growth (See Chapter 5: Preparation for Eternity), taking a life robs the individual and the universe of a way to attain perfection. Still, in a world fixated on materialism, few people have realized their exalted potential value, which derives from the capacity to love God and humanity. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us all to cultivate the true wellsprings of value and become the children of God who are esteemed by the world and God.
More Precious than Gold
For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Matthew 16.26
Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me, men who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches? Truly no man can ransom himself, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of his life is costly, and can never suffice. Psalm 49.5-8
“I got me slaves and slave-girls.” For what price, tell me? What in the world is worth as much as a human being? What price can you put on a rational intellect? How many drachmas do you reckon equals the value of one made in the likeness of God? How many gold pieces should you be able to get for selling a being shaped by God? God said, “Let us make man in our own image and likeness.” (Gen. 1.26) Since man is in the likeness of God, and is ruler over the whole earth, and has been granted this author- ity over everything from God who is his Buyer, tell me, who is his seller? To God alone belongs this power. Gregory of Nyssa, Homily on Ecclesiastes 4 (Christianity)
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
People in this world believe that the good life is to live in comfortable surroundings, wear good clothes, drive a fancy car, and fly to any destination anytime they wish. You should know that their standard of judging what is the good life is a bad habit of worldly people. (131:171, May 1, 1984)
Americans may love material things, but I love people more. The winners are people who love people. Even if you lose all you possess, if you keep your human relations intact, the things will return. Though we lose money, through people we will be able to obtain money. But if we break our connection to people, we will lose everything. (February 17, 2001)
What is exceedingly valuable in the world? It is not treasure such as gold or silver, nor is it worldly fame or power. The most valuable thing in all heaven and earth is you. Nevertheless, when people are asked what certification they have that they are valuable, they cannot answer. Still, despite their many deficiencies, people want to put themselves before heaven and earth as the most valuable existence. It is our original human nature to do so. Maybe you think you are already living for the sake of the nation and the world. However, have you considered whether other people regard you as a valuable person? If they do not, then you need to make a new determination and a new beginning. Ask yourself, “What do others see as valuable about me?” Can you become a jewel, one of a kind in the universe, a true treasure that God and Jesus would long to possess? The myriads of saints who formerly lived on earth, and all the philosophers who planted their thought in the world, no matter how important they may have been during their earthly lives, would long for your treasure. All humanity presently living, and even people of the future, would also want it. They would adore its value. Yet who has believed that they could be such a jewel? (17:13-14, November 6, 1966)
20 On Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran to Simon Peter and to Jesus’ favorite disciple and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him.”
Psalm 68
28 Our God, show your strength! Show us once again. 29 Then kings will bring gifts to your temple in Jerusalem.[e]
30 Punish that animal that lives in the swamp! Punish that nation whose leaders and people are like wild bulls. Make them come crawling with gifts of silver. Scatter those nations that enjoy making war. 31 Force the Egyptians to bring gifts of bronze; make the Ethiopians hurry to offer presents.
World Scripture and the Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 3
The Purpose of Human Life
Sons and Daughters of God
2. Recovering the Dignity of Sons and Daughters of God
Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. Isaiah 1.2
The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have dealt corruptly with him, they are no longer his children because of their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus requite the l ord , you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your Father, who created you, who made you and established you? Deuteronomy 32.4-6
We are all as the Buddha’s sons. The Buddha has always declared that we are his sons. But because of the three sufferings, in the midst of births-and-deaths we have borne all kinds of torments, being deluded and ignorant and enjoying our attachment to trifles. Today the World-honored One has caused us to ponder over and remove the dirt of all diverting discus- sions of inferior things. In these we have hith- erto been diligent to make progress and have got, as it were, a day’s pay for our effort to reach Nirvana. Obtaining this, we greatly rejoiced and were contented… but still we did not perceive that we are really Buddha’s sons. Lotus Sutra 4 (Buddhism)
For since in prayer we call God our Father, it is our duty always to deport and demean ourselves as godly children, that He may not receive shame, but honor and praise from us. Martin Luther, The Large Catechism (Christianity)
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
The original relationship between God and human beings is that of eternal Parent and child. Restoration, therefore, means recovering that relationship. (316:236, February 13, 2000)
Since God is the King of faith, He seeks a prince of faith, and since He is the King of love, He looks for a prince of love. (Way of God’s Will 2.2)
In relating to God, we should follow the way of children of filial piety. God is serious about the world situation. Is there someone who, with even greater seriousness, is desperate to experience God’s heart, and who forgets himself and spends sleepless nights in the struggle to become God’s child? This is what the question comes down to. (62:35, September 10, 1972)
God is your Father and you are your Father’s daughters. How much God has longed to embrace His daughters in His bosom? For that reason, you should become God’s filial daughters… If each of you becomes a filial daughter, all your family members will follow suit. By the same token, the entire nation, world and cosmos will unite with you. You will become God’s number one victorious daughter, a saint to the world, a holy daughter to the cosmos. That is how you become a mistress in the realm of the royal family. (293:208, May 26, 1998)
Mayest we become Thy simple and pure children who can penetrate to Thy heart of longing and love which desires to embrace us… Father! Although we called Thee “Father,” our voice did not flow out of a sincere mind and heart springing forth from our flesh and bones. There was never a time when we could rush to Thee and cling to Thee out of such an emotion. (20:199, June 9, 1968)
Only after climbing over hills of sorrow, hills of suffering and hills of resentment… can we hold on to Thy heart and say: “Father, Thy sorrow is my sorrow, thy suffering is my suffering, and Thy troubles are my troubles. Please entrust all Thy suffering to me, while Thou dost dwell in joy.” (4:294, September 14, 1958)
