Cheon Seong Gyeong | Daily Inspiration

God Will Raise Up Black People for a Great Mission

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Open Letter to President Trump

Cheon Seong Gyeong 81

If there is one subject partner in this universe who can fill every per-son’s heart, what kind of subject partner would that be? The one absolute cen-ter. We need an absolute being who will completely fill any heart with love. This subject partner has to be an infinite and absolute being. How much love do you think God – who has to fill the hearts of the bil-lions of people today – has? It has to be unconditional. This is why we need the expressions omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. They are the words God needs. (116-240, 1982.1.1)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1207

The way of restoration requires you to cut your way through in the direction opposite to that of the Fall. Walking the way of indemnity is a basic rule for fallen people. Unless you surmount this path, you cannot restore your original status. Therefore, you must clean up yourselves. You must possess a sound theoretical system explaining how to restore the individual, family, tribe, ethnic people, nation, and world. (God’s Will – 354)

Collective and Historical Sin

Individuals are also inextricably bound to the collectives to which they belong: nation, race, tribe and religion. Whether guilty or blameless in their personal lives, individuals prosper or suffer with the for-tunes of these collectives. the evils descend on the community—war, famine, epidemic diseases and rampant drug use—bring hardships to everyone in the community. Father Moon terms this collective sin. people are responsible to recognize collective sin and atone for it. they can atone by first making efforts to understand the grievances of those populations that have been oppressed and mistreated by their nation. they can then work to resolve them through sacrifice and love.

Even those who are pious and innocent suffer for the misdeeds of others through their con-tact, as fish in a snake-infested lake.

Ramayana, Aranya Kanda 38 (Hinduism)

When God causes punishment to descend on a people, those righteous ones among them will be smitten by the punishment, but afterwards they will be resurrected according to their deeds.

Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)

All of you are pledges for the other: all of you, aye the world, exist through the merit of a single righteous man among you, and if but one man sins, the whole generation suffers.

Tanhuma (Judaism)

Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands afar off;
for truth has fallen in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
Isaiah 59.14-15

I am full of the wrath of the Lord ;
I am weary of holding it in.
“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the old folk and the very aged.
Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord .
“For from the least to the greatest of them,
every one is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
every one deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord .
Jeremiah 6.11-15

Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Sin—it is intertwined like a gigantic steel net, woven through this person and that person, this organization and that organization, this society and that society, this nation and that nation. (1:167, July 11, 1956)

What should America do to indemnify all her historical sin? Americans massacred the Indians and enslaved Black people. Since the Indians are of the Oriental race, one way for America to indemnify her sin is to live for the sake of Oriental people. (101:336, November 12, 1978)

In sports these days, more and more blacks are the prominent world champions. Every year more blacks are emerging at the top, replacing whites. If blacks are equipped with God’s teaching, then, coupled with their sense of physical power, I think they have a glorious future surpassing that of white people.

Hence, the more that the whites oppose black people, the more they will lose God’s blessings and the more blacks shall receive them. God does not lose in the end.

When Jesus stumbled while carrying his cross to Calvary, a black person, Simon of Cyrene, took up Jesus’ burden. That act was very significant; when the Last Days come, God will raise up black people for a great mission. Yet, they should be equipped with Heaven’s teaching.

(91:219, February 20, 1977)

Richard: Heaven’s teaching means the Original Root Substance of the Principle and the Eight Sacred Textbooks.

The Fundamental Motive for the Motion of the Universe is Love

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 2045

While carrying out this activity, you should expect to go through several pairs of shoes. For you to reach the leaders of tong and ban, driving a car won’t do. You have to walk. Even if you go through a few pairs of shoes, work on foot. See what happens if you sweat and try knocking on doors three or four times a day. Most of the time you have probably only knocked once, right? If you go to the tong and ban and give a few lectures within one day and get soaked with sweat, then you’ll have to take a shower. Try it and see! Try it and see if heaven helps you or not. See if you still feel on fire or not. Try it and see if my words are true or false. (167-40, 1987.6.14)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1653

On what would the fundamental motive for the motion of the universe be based? It would not move centered on man or woman, or even God Himself. The motive that can move God and the universe is none other than love. There-fore, love is said to be the beginning and the end. In 1 Corinthians 13 it is written, “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Why would this be so? This has never been fully explained. (185-157, 1989.1.8)

Inherited Sin and Karma

2. Breaking the Chain of Demerit

The wise priest knows he now must reap
The fruits of deeds of former births.
For be they many or but few,
Deeds done in covetousness or hate,
Or through infatuation’s power,
Must bear their needful consequence.
Hence not to covetousness, nor hate,
Nor to infatuation’s power
The wise priest yields, but knowledge seeks
And leaves the way to punishment.
Anguttara Nikaya 3.33 (Buddhism)

If it be that good men and good women are downtrodden, their evil destiny is the inevitable retributive result of sins committed in their past mortal lives. By virtue of their present misfortunes the reacting effects of their past will be thereby worked out, and they will be in a position to attain the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment.

Diamond Sutra 16 (Buddhism)

My father was a merchant in Ujjeni, and I was his only daughter, dear, charming and beloved. Then a wealthy merchant from Saketa sent men to woo me; to him my father gave me as a daughter-in-law…

I myself adorned my lord like a servant-girl. I myself prepared the rice gruel; I myself washed the bowl; as a mother to her only son, so I looked after my husband. Yet my husband was offended by me, who in this way had shown him devotion, an affectionate servant, with humbled pride, an early riser, not lazy, virtuous. He said to his parents, “I shall not be able to live together with Isidasi in one house… She does me no harm, but to me she is odious. I have had enough; I am leaving her.” Hearing this utterance my father-in-law and mother-in-law asked me, “What offense has been committed by you? Speak confidently how it really was.” “I have not offended at all; I have not harmed; I have not said any evil utterance; what can be done when my husband hates me?” I said. Downcast, overcome by pain, they led me back to my father’s house, saying, “While keeping our son safe, we have lost the goddess of beauty incarnate.”

Then my father gave me to the household of a second rich man for half the bride price for which the merchant had taken me. In his house too I lived a month, then he too rejected me, although I served him like a slave girl, virtuously. Then my father spoke to one wandering for alms, a tamer of others and self-tamed, “Be my son-in-law; throw down your cloth and pot.” He too, having lived with me for a fortnight, returned me to my father…

I begged my father, “Evil indeed was the action done by me [the karma leading to my misfortune]; I shall destroy it.” Then my father said, “Attain enlightenment and the foremost doctrine and obtain quenching, which the best of men have realized.” Saluting my parents and relatives, I went forth [as a nun]. In seven days I attained the Three Knowledges.

I know now my own last seven births; I shall relate to you the actions of which this misfortune is the fruit and result; listen to it attentively. In the city of Erakaccha I was a wealthy goldsmith. Intoxicated by pride in my youth, I had sexual intercourse with another’s wife. Having fallen from there, I was cooked in hell; I cooked for a long time; and rising up from there I entered the womb of a female monkey. A great monkey, leader of the herd, castrated me when I was seven days old; this was the fruit of the action of having seduced another’s wife. I died in the Sindhava forest and entered the womb of a one-eyed, lame she-goat. As a goat I was castrated, worm-eaten, tail-less, unfit, because of having seduced another’s wife. Next I was born of a cow belonging to a cattle-dealer; a lac-red calf. I was castrated after twelve months and drew the plough, pulled the cart, and became blind, tail-less, unfit, because of having seduced another’s wife. Then I was born of a household slave in the street, neither as a woman or a man, because of having seduced another’s wife. In my thirtieth year I died; I was born as a girl in a carter’s family which was poor and much in debt. To satisfy the creditors, I was sold to a caravan leader and dragged off, wailing, from my home. Then in my sixteenth year when I had arrived at marriageable age, his son, Giridasa by name, took me as a wife. But he had another wife, virtuous and possessed of good qualities, who was affectionate towards her husband; with her I stirred up enmity. These [my misfortunes] were fruit of that last action, that men rejected me though I served like a slave girl. Even of that I have now made an end.

Therigatha 400-447, Isidasi Sutta (Buddhism)

If you have fulfilled a command, do not seek its reward from God straightaway, lest you not be acquitted of sin, but be regarded as wicked because you have not sought to cause your children to inherit anything. For if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had sought the reward of the good deeds which they performed, how could the seed of these righteous men [e.g., Israel] have been delivered?

Exodus Rabbah 44.3 (Judaism)

Happy Are the Righteous; They Bestow Merit Upon Their Children

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 399

My view is that in the love-centered family, the parents are the representatives of the nation and of God. The fam-ily is where all phases of training begin. The first stage of education and change is the family, and the second stage is the nation. There, a patriot is needed. Next, the third stage of education and change is the world. There we need a saint. The spirit world is the fourth stage of education and change. After that, we become God’s sons and daughters. Just because one is a saint does not mean that he or she is God’s son or daughter. So everyone should become God’s son or daughter. Finally, we attain the status of a divine son or daughter, become one with God’s love, and reach the point where we can possess God eternally. (141-300, 1986.3.2)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1566

Now that the vertical and horizontal eight-stage indemnity has all been completed, the Ceremony of the Settlement of the Eight Stages could be per-formed on August 31, 1989, in Alaska, the most northerly location in the West. It is the northernmost place. On the first day of September, I declared “the ideology centered on the Heavenly Father” at the same place. The ideology centered on the Heavenly Father is simultaneously the ideology of salvation by love as well as the ideology of parental love. This parent-centered ideology is all about a life lived by giving love. Satan cannot oppose anything based on love. If he cannot oppose the path taken by the Unification Church, we can rapidly expand worldwide. (199-157, 1990.2.16)

Inherited Sin and Karma

Religions often explain differences in people’s fortunes and native endowments as the consequence of an inheritance from the past. it is conceived in two ways, either as karma from past lives or as the sins of the fathers visited on their descendants. these doctrines encourage people to accept their lot in life and suffer it patiently, in order to expiate past deeds and earn merit for the benefit of future generations.
Karma means action, specifically one’s own actions committed either in this life or in past lives. in Hinduism and Buddhism, religions that hold to a belief in reincarnation, it is taught that people are bound to reap the fruit of their actions in another lifetime. however, these religions part company over whether a person’s situation is fated by karma. For Hinduism indeed it is. Karma determines one’s present circumstances. hence inequalities of wealth, race, gender or caste are only apparent; in fact the universe is absolutely just and fair. Buddhism, on the other hand, denies that karma is a deterministic principle. as but one of the twenty-four factors (paccaya) that condition a person’s life, karma need not be actualized when other conditions are ful-filled. through spiritual discipline and meditative practice, a Buddhist aspirant seeks to attain liberation and be released from the bonds of karma.
Most other religions, in both the east and the West, recognize sin to be inherited through the lineage. an individual is burdened by the sins of his or her ancestors, who also bequeath their traditions, attitudes and personality traits, not to mention physical traits. their lives leave an impression that can endure through the centuries, coloring the experiences of many generations to come. a wise person, therefore, seeks to resolve these inherited problems, so they will not plague his offspring. he would rather leave merit for his children’s benefit. Father Moon teaches many insights about inherited sin, how it comes to pass and how it can be resolved.

1. The Legacy of Past Deeds

For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Exodus 20.5-6

Loose us from the yoke of the sins of our fathers

and also of those which we ourselves have committed.

Rig Veda 7.86.5 (Hinduism)

If at death there remains guilt unpunished, judgment extends to the posterity… When par-ties by wrong and violence take the money of others, an account is taken, and set against its amount, of their wives and children and all the members of their families, when these gradually die. If they do not die, there are disasters from water, fire, thieves, and robbers, from losses of property, illnesses, and evil tongues to balance the value of their wicked appropriations.

Treatise on Response and Retribution 4-5 (Taoism)

You who are so powerful as to enter inside the small medicine gourd to shelter yourself from danger,

Have you forgotten your children?

Have you forgotten your wife?

The evil seeds a man sows

Shall be reaped by his offspring.

Cruelty is never without repayment.

However late it is,

The repayment will come when it will.

Yoruba Song (African Traditional Religions)

In this world the fate of every posterity is similar to that of its ancestors. Neither death leaves of the work of destruction, nor the survivors give up their sinful activities. Human beings follow in each others’ footsteps; groups after groups and nations after nations end their days without mending their ways.

Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 86 (Shiite Islam)

Happy are the righteous! Not only do they acquire merit, but they bestow merit upon their children and children’s children to the end of all generations, for Aaron had several sons who deserved to be burned like Nadab and Abihu, but the merit of their father helped them.

Woe unto the wicked! Not alone that they render themselves guilty, but they bestow guilt upon their children and children’s children unto the end of all generations. Many sons did Canaan have, who were worthy to be ordained like Tabi the slave of Rabbi Gamaliel, but the guilt of their ancestor caused them [to lose their chance].

Talmud, Yoma 87a (Judaism)

Subha, the son of Toddeya, asked the Exalted One, “What is the cause and what is the reason, O Gotama, for which among men and the beings who have been born as men there is found to be lowness and excellence? For some people are of short life span and some of long life span; some suffer from many illnesses and some are free from illness; some are ugly and some beautiful; some are of little account and some have great power; some are poor and some are wealthy; some are born into lowly families and others into high families; some are devoid of intelligence and some possess great wisdom. What is the cause, what is the reason for which among men and the beings who have been born as men there is to be found lowness and excellence?”

“Men have, O young man, deeds as their very own, they are inheritors of deeds, deeds are their matrix, deeds are their kith and kin, and deeds are their support. It is deeds that classify men into high or low status.

“Here, O young man, some woman or man is a taker of life, fierce, with hands stained by blood, engaged in killing and beating, without mercy for living creatures. As a result of deeds thus accomplished, thus undertaken, he is reborn on the breakup of the body, after death, into a state of woe, of ill plight, of purgatory or hell, or if he comes to be born as a man, wherever he may be reborn he is of a short life span. This course—that he is a taker of life, fierce, with hands stained by blood, engaged in killing and beating, without mercy for living creatures, leads to shortness of life.

“Here, on the other hand, O young man, some woman or man gives up killing, totally refraining from taking life… This course… leads to longevity.

“Here some woman or man is by nature a tormentor of living creatures… As a result of the deeds thus accomplished… wherever he is reborn he suffers much from sickness… But here some woman or man is not by nature a tormentor of living beings… wherever he may be reborn he is free from sickness.

“Here some woman or man is wrathful… wherever he is reborn he is ugly… But here some woman or man is not wrathful… wherever he may be reborn he is handsome.

“Here some woman or man is jealous-minded… wherever he is born he is of little account… But here some woman or man is not jealous-minded… wherever he may be reborn he has great power.

“Here some woman or man is not a giver to ascetic or brahmin… wherever he is born he is poor… Here some woman or man is a giver… wherever he may be reborn he is wealthy.

“Thus men have, O young man, deeds as their very own, they are inheritors of their deeds, their deeds are their kith and kin, and their deeds their support. It is their deeds that classify men into this low or high status.”

Majjhima Nikaya 3.202-206 (Buddhism)

The Reactive Mind is a portion of a person’s mind which works on a totally stimulus-response basis, which is not under his volitional control, and which exerts force and the power of command over his awareness, purposes, thoughts, body, and actions. Stored in the Reactive Mind are engrams, and here we find the single source of aberrations and psychosomatic ills.

L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology 0-8 (Scientology)

If We Say We Have No Sin We Deceive Ourselves

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 2418

“Our family…attending God and True Parents…by centering on true love.” You must attend God and True Parents. However, because Eve fell, God and True Parents were driven out of Adam’s family. You must attend God and True Parents. God is the vertical Parent and perfected Adam and Eve are the horizontal parents. On the foundation of these two parents having become one, you achieve unity and are connected to God and to heaven. For this reason, nothing can be accomplished unless you attend God and True Parents. So, through becoming one with God and True Parents, you can create a family representing heaven and earth. That family holds a higher position than that held by Adam and Eve before the Fall. (260-189, 1994.5.8)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1202

When I came out of Danbury prison, I prepared a situation where black and white, united through Jerry Falwell, centered on me. The thief on the right and the thief on the left were fighting with each other, but I united them. This is all restoration through indemnity. That is why during the 120 days (three times four is twelve) following my release from Danbury, all of the world media had to determine their direction. During this period I had to slap the American media on the cheek using the Washington Times. That is why I founded the magazine Insight and another monthly magazine [World and I] . This latter magazine was made to involve professors from all over the world. I think people from the intellectual circles have already made their judgment concerning the Washington Post and the Washington Times. (138-305, 1986.1.24)

Richard: Media has played a major role in this election. Rev. Sun Myung Moon was way ahead of his time, founding the Washington Times in 1982, and before that the News World in New York City. Also the World and I magazine in 1986, plus Insight magazine. Unfortunately, the Washington Times has slipped from its unbiased news coverage, in my opinion, and the World and I is no longer published or online, nor Insight magazine. However, the need for unbiased media continues. The New World Encyclopedia, another project initiated by Father Moon is still online here. I do currently enjoy the Epoch Times as an alternative. You can currently get a four month subscription for $1 . World Tribune is also a good alternative news source.
Another issue is the lack of integrity, or a God-centered worldview to unite left and right. Elected officials of all stripes should be up in arms over the current election fraud. It matters not whether they label themselves Democrat, Republican, Independent or other. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Where are the brave officials of all stipes who will speak up and do the right thing? The God-centered worldview that can unite right and left has been proffered by Rev. Moon, but most did not listen. See my series on The Family Rooted in Absolute Sexual Ethics.

Sin

2. The Pervasiveness of Sin

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1.8

Nor do I absolve my own self of blame; the human soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His mercy.
Qur’an 12.53

All men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written,
None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands, no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;
no one does good, not even one.
Romans 3.9-12

No creature, whether born on earth or among the gods in heaven, is free from the conditioning of the three states of matter (gunas).
Bhagavad-Gita 18.40 (Hinduism)

Confucius said, “I for my part have never yet seen one who really cared for Goodness, nor one who really abhorred wickedness. One who really cared for Goodness would never let any other consideration come first. One who abhorred wickedness would be so constantly doing Good that wickedness would never have a chance to get at him. Has anyone ever managed to do Good with his whole might even as long as the space of a single day? I think not. Yet I for my part have never seen anyone give up such an attempt because he had not the strength to go on.”
Analects 4.6 (Confucianism)

As sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.
Romans 5.12

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psalm 51.5

When the first couple were punished by the judgment of God, the whole human race, which was to become Adam’s posterity through the first woman, was present in the first man. And what was born was not human nature as it was originally created but as it became after the first parents’ sin and punishment… so changed and vitiated that it suffers from the recalcitrance of a rebellious concupiscence and is bound by the law of death.
Saint Augustine, City of God 13.3 (Christianity)

Do You Not Know that the Unrighteous Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God?

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1709

No one knows the difficulties I had to go through in order to find this path, which was unknown by anyone. You cannot even begin to fathom the hard-ships I went through in my youth, groping blindly in the dark in my quest for an answer to life’s problems. I realized that the fundamental problems in our lives could be resolved only after history, the universe, and God’s anguish were solved. However, I was triumphant in the end, and built up an organization that can perform this task, not only in word but also in deed, and now the whole world testifies to it. Now the era has come, in which anyone who comes running to us and holds fast to the banner and turns around to stand with us, can enter God’s Kingdom. (209-292, 1990.11.30)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1682

The differentiation between species is very strict. Suppose a bird that is similar in appearance to a frog goes to the world of frogs and suggests to one of them, “Will you mate with me?” Would that frog answer, “By all means!”? Wouldn’t it run away or fight? Such a thing could not happen. Evolutionary theory denies the fact that it is impossible for a new species to be born without passing through the gates of love in going from the amoeba to the monkey. In other words, if what it insists is true, then the amoeba must have passed through several thousands of gates of love. Can it do that? They are completely out of their minds. That is why communism disintegrated before me. I am curious to know how they will answer the question: “What comes first, reason or being?” Does mind come first or matter? You learnt about evolutionary theory at school, didn’t you? It is wrong. Evolutionary theory is wrong. Now I will start a revolution. (274-67, 1995.10.29)

Sin

The Biblical meaning of sin is to “miss the mark.” Thus, sin denotes how human beings deviate from the true standard of life. there are many ways to conceive of sin; here we present four. the first is evil deeds, which typically comprise murder, stealing, sexual immorality, lying and drunkenness. the world’s religions are unanimous in condemning these sins. the second meaning of sin is a self-centered mindset, by which we do harm to others whether intentionally or unintentionally. this is a more subtle understanding; it invites introspection about the motives behind our behavior and the way our daily life impinges on others. sin has power: it binds us and blocks our approach to God. a third way to understand sin is to see it as all-pervasive imperfection and fallenness, a universal condition of humankind. in this light, Father Moon explains that all sin is the result of human Fall, which severed our original relationship with God and left us in a state of alienation and strife.

The Meaning of Sin

Whoso in this world destroys life, tells lies, takes what is not given, goes to others’ wives, and is addicted to intoxicating drinks, such a one digs up his own root in this world.

Dhammapada 246-47

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6.9-10

The plunderer of gold, the liquor-drinker, the invader of a teacher’s bed, the brahmin-killer:

These four sink downward in the scale—

And, fifth, he who consorts with them.

Chandogya Upanishad 5.10.9

The Prophet said, “When a man commits forni-cation he is not a believer, when a man steals he is not a believer; when a man drinks wine he is not a believer; when he takes plunder on account of which others raise their eyes at him he is not a believer; and when a man defrauds his neighbor he is not a believer; so beware, beware!”

Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)

If you, Rahula, are desirous of doing a deed with the body, you should reflect on that deed of your body, thus: “That deed that I am desir-ous of doing with the body is a deed of my body that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of body is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.” If you, Rahula, reflecting thus, should find it so, a deed of body like this, Rahula, is cer-tainly not to be done by you.

Majjhima Nikaya 1.415 (Buddhism)

Behold, the lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,

and your sins have hid his face from you so that he does not hear.

Isaiah 59.1-2

Bound by the fetters of the fruits of good and evil, like a cripple;

without freedom, like a man in prison.

Maitri Upanishad 4.2 (Hinduism)

When we choose to sin, what we want is to get some good or get rid of something bad. The lie is in this, that what is done for our good ends in something bad, or what is done to make things better ends by making them worse. Why this paradox, except that the happiness of man can come not from himself but only from God, and that to live according to oneself is to sin, and to sin is to lose God?

Saint Augustine, City of God 14.4 (Christianity)