Author: Richard Urban

Man Is Born to Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upward

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2 Corinthians 7

13 And we were greatly encouraged.

Although we were encouraged, we felt even better when we saw how happy Titus was, because you had shown that he had nothing to worry about. 14 We had told him how much we thought of you, and you did not disappoint us. Just as we have always told you the truth, so everything we told him about you has also proved to be true. 15 Titus loves all of you very much, especially when he remembers how you obeyed him and how you trembled with fear when you welcomed him. 16 It makes me really glad to know that I can depend on you.

Ezekiel 21

18 The Lord said:

19 Ezekiel, son of man, mark two roads for the king of Babylonia to follow when he comes with his sword. The roads will begin at the same place, but be sure to put up a signpost where the two roads separate and go in different directions. 20 Clearly mark where the two roads lead. One goes to Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and the other goes to Jerusalem, the fortified capital of Judah. 21 When the Babylonian king stands at that signpost, he will decide which way to go by shaking his arrows, by asking his idols, and by carefully looking at the liver of a sacrificed animal.22 His right hand will pull out the arrow marked “Jerusalem.” Then he will immediately give the signal to shout the battle cry, to build dirt ramps to the top of the city walls, to break down its walls and gates with large wooden poles, and to kill the people. 23 Everyone in Jerusalem had promised to be loyal to Babylonia, and so none of them will believe that this could happen to them. But Babylonia’s king will remind them of their sinful ways and warn them of their coming captivity.

Richard: When Israel did not honor God, and the people sold out to the Babylonian ruler and thought they were safe, they were judged anyway.

Suffering

The first of the Buddha’s four noble truths is that human existence is suffering (pali dukkha). suffering is the pervasive human condition, a sort of illness generated by the self through its false attachments. Buddhist texts—echoed in other scriptures—describe it by the metaphor of a universal fire engulfing the world. in Hinduism, the human lot is to go through an endless cycle of death and rebirth, conditioned by the results of past actions. Ecclesiastes is in many ways the most Buddhist of books in the bible in its theme of the vanity of human works. Few are those who ever fulfill all their desires, yet even those who do are not satisfied, ever wanting more. akin to this is the observation in Chinese texts that even when people begin with the best of intentions, their behavior usually degenerates and ends in acrimony, betrayal, or violence.in Christianity, the doctrine of original sin conveys a similar idea: by their fallen condition people are unable to fulfill their life’s purpose. Father Moon often laments about the interminable misery of the human condition and explains how the human Fall brought this about.

  1. Sorrow Is Everywhere

The Noble Truth of Suffering (Dukkha) is this: Birth is suffering; aging is suffering; sick-ness is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering; association with the unpleasant is suffering; dissociation from the pleasant is suffer-ing; not to get what one wants is suffering—in brief, the five aggregates of attachment are suffering.
    Samyutta Nikaya 56.11 (Buddhism)

Affliction does not come from the dust,
nor does trouble sprout from the ground;
but man is born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward.
    Job 5.6-7

This world, become ablaze, by touch of sense afflicted,
utters its own lament. Whatever conceit one has,
therein is instability. Becoming other,
bound to becoming, yet in becoming it rejoices.
Delight therein is fear, and what it fears is Ill.
    Udana 32 (Buddhism)

Brothers, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning? Brothers, the eye is burning, visible forms are burning, visual consciousness is burning, visual impression is burning, also whatever sensation, pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant, arises on account of the visual impression, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion; I say it is burning with birth, aging, and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.
    The ear is burning, sounds are burning, auditory consciousness is burning… Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion; I say it is burning with birth, aging, and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with
griefs, with despairs.
The nose is burning, odors are burning…
The tongue is burning, flavors are burning…
The body is burning, tangible things are burning, tactile consciousness is burning…
The mind is burning, thoughts are burning…
Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion; I say it is burning with birth, aging, and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.
    Samyutta Nikaya 35.28: The Fire Sermon (Buddhism)

Farid, I thought I alone had sorrow;
Sorrow is spread all over the whole world.
From my roof-top I saw
Every home engulfed in sorrow’s flames.
    Adi Granth, Shalok, Farid, p. 1382 (Sikhism)

What is Idolatry? It Is to Abandon God and Worship Something Else

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 163

In the past, I saw right through those people who came to the Unification Church with the motivation to use it for their own purposes; those people did all sorts of things. I knew who they were, yet I let them deceive me. Why did I do so? It is because God has been doing so to this day. When people betrayed me and turned their backs, I could have exploded in indignation and resentment saying, “Those reprobates should be struck by lightning.” Yet when I thought about the heart of God who longs for their return, I could not do that. Each time I grasped that suffering heart of God, and had the heart to forgive, a new segment, like that of a bamboo shoot, was created. Do you understand? A segment of the Unification Church was made. That is how we are making family segments, tribal segments and national segments. (197-312, 1990.1.20)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1352

Do you know how important the 430 Couples are? Originally, their Blessing should have taken place last year in 1967. Instead, it was held this year on February 22, which was the twentieth anniversary of my entry into Heungnam prison. Accordingly, there is great significance in completing twenty years of my course of restoration both spiritually and physically; you therefore stand in such a significant position in commemorating that important day with me. You should realize what an honor it is to have such a right of participation. That day is not a sad one. It is also George Washington’s birthday. Knowing this, all of you should work hard to form wonderful families of your own. (159-43, 1968.3.1)

Idolatry and Materialism

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

What is idolatry? It is to abandon God and worship something else, to revere it more than God. Today numerous people are worshipping the idol called “civilization” without being aware of it… They take as their idols material things; they become slaves of civilization. Hence, they do not know where to find the center of their life. Without seeking Heaven they make frantic efforts, yet they do not know what direction to go or what goal to aim for. They are no different than the benighted Israelites in the days of Ahab and Jezebel. (6:31, March 15, 1959)
 
The world should center on the mind, but instead it is devoted to matter… Look at the reality of education, focused as it is on the needs and values of material civilization. The precious and invisible mind is being neglected for the sake of money that is visible to the eyes. (19:287, March 10, 1968)
 
First theism appeared; it emerged as a spin-off of history. Next, humanism emerged as a spin-off of history, and then materialism. They each appeared as separate and incompatible ways of thinking. Thus separated, each in turn perished.
    Human beings consist of body, mind and spirit. Our body consists of matter, our mind consists of character, and with our spirit we are to unite with God. When we try to become one with God without considering the material world and human beings we do not succeed, because that way does not fit our nature. We need God, but we also need human beings and the material world. For this reason, theism, humanism and materialism should not be separate. We need them all. Therefore, religion in the future should be equipped in all three areas, guiding us to fulfill the whole of human life in all its aspects.
    Human beings, having a complex culture, are higher than matter. God is higher than human beings. Therefore, God should govern human beings and all things; that is in keeping with the Principle.
    In earlier times, when people placed religion at the center of their life, they tended to deny the value of human beings. As a result, humanism emerged, putting human beings at the center and denying the importance of God. More recently, humanism has declined as people value material above all else. For materialists, money is everything. Nothing is as valuable as money, not even human beings. They see everything in terms of money.
    Yet after living materialistic lives, people find that material things are not everything. They begin to reexamine the human being to discover their original nature. They are faced with the limitations of materialism and realize that they need to recover human beings… They begin asking questions,  “What is a human being? Is there something about human beings that needs to be restored? Do we need to once again consider the question of God?” We are living in a transitional period when these trends are evident. American young people, hippies and yippies, do all sorts of things, and many are in search of religion. (103:226, March 1, 1979)
 
 

Jesus Prayed So Sincerely That His Sweat Fell to the Ground Like Drops of Blood

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Luke 22

43 Then an angel from heaven came to help him. 44 Jesus was in great pain and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood.[g]

45 Jesus got up from praying and went over to his disciples. They were asleep and worn out from being so sad. 46 He said to them, “Why are you asleep? Wake up and pray that you won’t be tested.”

Obadiah 1

19 The people of Israel
who live in the Southern Desert
    will take the land of Edom.
Those who live in the hills
will capture Philistia,
    Ephraim, and Samaria.
And the tribe of Benjamin
    will conquer Gilead.

Idolatry and Materialism

Literally the worship of images, idolatry in the broader sense means allegiance to false values that substitute for God. in the Qur’an idols are regarded as evil spirits and Satan; those who worship them are therefore enemies to God. the bible views idols as human artifacts, not as representations of deity. hence idol worship is regarded as a form of materialism, and, conversely, any false reliance on human power or wealth is a form of idolatry. a more spiritual conception of idolatry is to identify it with egoism and human craving, since attachment to these false realities separates us from our true nature. the biblical story of the golden calf describes the worship of the idol as accompanied by orgiastic rites. in the twentieth century, the idols of nationalism, racism, and especially materialism have captivated millions, with horrible results. Father Moon explicitly calls materialism modern-day idolatry and regards it as one of Gods’ biggest “headaches.” his passages on this topic are a contemporary counterpoint to the classic texts.

Lo, Abraham said to his father Azar, “Do you take idols for gods? For I see you and your people are in manifest error.”
    Qur’an 6.74

Shun the abomination of idols, and shun the word that is false—being true in faith to Allah, and never assigning partners to Him: if anyone assigns partners to God, he is as if he had fallen from heaven and been snatched up by birds, or the wind had swooped down and thrown him to a distant land.
    Qur’an 22.30-31

Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them are like them;so are all who trust in them.
    Psalm 115.3-8

For many… live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
    Philippians 3.18-19

“There shall be in you no strange god and you shall not worship a foreign god” [Psalm 81.10]. What is the “foreign god” within a man’s body? It is the evil impulse.
    Talmud, Shabbat 105b (Judaism)

Have you seen him who makes his desire his god, and God sends him astray purposely, and seals up his hearing and his heart, and sets on his sight a covering? Who, then, will lead him after God [has condemned him]? Will you not then heed?
    Qur’an 45.23

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” And Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the lord.” And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
    Exodus 32.1-6

Human Beings Cannot Escape Hell by Their Efforts Alone

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1650

What is the formula for re-creation? The universe is made up of plus and minus elements. If we look at the molecule it tells us as much with its positive and negative ions. Everything exists on a reciprocal basis. The atom contains protons and electrons. Everything is like that, for that is the basis upon which the universe was formed: stamen and pistil in plants, male and female in animals, and man and woman in the case of human beings. Everything functions reciprocally. As such, they must be brought into one principled order. Since God is the Subject, they must be brought under His control. Unless a unified realm of reciprocal relationships has been established within creation according to His will, there can be no joy for God through the creation. (247-183, 1993.5.9)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 729

Those who deny God are more pitiful than people who are starving to death. The latter will be granted a certain level in the other world according to the merits of their good faith, but atheists will have no foothold because they deny the spirit world. They drift about in the spirit world like a mass of clouds. They become wandering spirits. Just as clouds gather and produce rain, they congregate and exert an evil influence. They all go to hell and inflict pain there. Although I know this all too clearly, I must save them, and this is why I am doing this work.

Ignorance and Atheism

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Are any among you caught in the abyss of despair? You have no connection whatsoever to the ideal world. Are you in such darkness that you cannot distinguish front from back, left from right, up from down? Amidst your confused, turbulent and disorderly lives, you have forgotten the center and continue to violate Heaven’s laws and principles. As long as this is the case, you cannot make any connection with God’s ideal Garden. (2:246, June 9, 1957)

The world has become a wretched place, far from God’s presence. Yet humanity to this day lives in ignorance of this. People are deluded into believing that the lineage of the enemy is the lifeline upon which the world depends. This is the wretched truth about humanity descended from the Fall. That is why we refer to this world as hell on earth. God views humanity’s tragic situation with a heart full of pain. (September 12, 2005)

Most of the six billion people in the world are blind. Though they appear normal, they cannot see even an inch in front of themselves. But this does not keep people from acting as though they are philosophers and theologians who understand the truth of Heaven. It has been this way throughout history, and it has caused God much grief. (May 1, 2004)

With the Fall of the first human ancestors, human beings were cast into a hopeless hell from which they cannot escape by their efforts alone. They should have become true owners, true parents and true kings and queens, who communicate directly with God through their five spiritual senses and freely exercise dominion over all things through their five physical senses; thus they were to be God’s representatives to both the spirit world and the physical world. But due to the Fall their five spiritual senses became largely paralyzed. They fell into a state similar to that of a blind man whose sightless eyes appear normal to an observer. Forced to live mainly by their five physical senses, they became only half human. They could not see God, or see Him only dimly. They could barely hear His voice or feel His touch. So how could they experience His love as their own Parent or know His suffering heart? (January 27, 2004)

The greatest sorrows of humankind are:
our inability to form a relationship with Thy love,
the loss of our original conscience,
which could communicate with Thy heart,
and our inability to harmonize our minds and bodies,
which would enable us to live in accordance with our conscience and Thy heart.
Because of the Fall, the sensibility by which we could communicate with Thy heart left us, and the mind which could love all things through experiencing Thy heart is no longer with us.
(6:298-99, June 14, 1959)

The god of this World Has Blinded the Minds of the Unbelievers


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1 Samuel 2

30 I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I promised to always let your family serve me as priests, but now I tell you that I cannot do this any longer! I honor anyone who honors me, but I put a curse on anyone who hates me. 31 The time will come when I will kill you and everyone else in your family. Not one of you will live to an old age.

Matthew 3

13 Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John kept objecting and said, “I ought to be baptized by you. Why have you come to me?”

15 Jesus answered, “For now this is how it should be, because we must do all that God wants us to do.” Then John agreed.

Ignorance and Atheism

3. Spiritual Blindness and Delusion

The unbelievers… are like the depths of
darkness
In a vast deep ocean,
Overwhelmed with billow,
Topped by billow,
Topped by dark clouds:
Depths of darkness,
One above another:
If a man stretches out his hand, he can hardly
see it!
For any to whom God gives not light,
There is no light!
    Qur’an 24.40

Blind is this world. Few are those who clearly see.
As birds escape from a net, few go to a blissful state.
    Dhammapada 174 (Buddhism)

This vast universe is a wheel, the wheel of Brahman. Upon it are all creatures that are subject to birth, death, and rebirth. Round and round it turns, and never stops. As long as the individual self thinks it is separate from the Lord, it revolves upon the wheel in bondage to the laws of birth, death, and rebirth…
    The Lord supports this universe, which is made up of the perishable and the imperishable, the manifest and the unmanifest. The individual soul, forgetful of the Lord, attaches itself to pleasure and thus is bound.
    Svetasvatara Upanishad 1.6-8 (Hinduism)

On a certain occasion the Exalted One was seated in the open air, on a night of inky darkness, and oil lamps were burning. Swarms of winged insects kept falling into these oil lamps and thereby met their end, came to destruction and utter ruin. Seeing this, the Exalted One saw the meaning in it and uttered this verse of uplift,
    They hasten up and past, but miss the real;
    a bondage ever new they cause to grow.
    Just as the flutterers fall into the lamp,
    so some are bent on what they see and hear.
        Udana 72 (Buddhism)

To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted.
    Titus 1.15
 
The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.
    2 Corinthians 4.4 
 
Fools dwelling in darkness, but thinking them-selves wise and erudite, go round and round, by various tortuous paths, like the blind led by the blind.
    Katha Upanishad 1.2.5 (Hinduism)
 
The soul is only able to view existence through the bars of a prison, and not in her own nature; she is wallowing in the mire of all ignorance. Philosophy sees the terrible nature of her confinement, and that the captive through desire is led to conspire in her own captivity.
    Plato, Phaedo (Hellenism)