Category: Eight Great Textbooks

Seek Refuge with the Lord Alone

No Income Tax Reform; Focus on Constitutional Rights Instead

West Virginia Legislative Session-2021 Priorities

Vaccine Choice Bills in the WV Legislature-2021

Urban Life Training Newsletter-March 18, 2021

I will be suspending (closing) my Facebook account after March 31st, due to the censorship imposed by Facebook, and my desire not to support the platform by my presence there. If you would like to stay in touch with me and Stacey on social media, I invite you to join the independent social media platform Friendica, which we run on our own server: https://friendica.visionroot.org/register. Here is one of our public pages, fyi: https://friendica.visionroot.org/profile/visionroot.

Numbers 20

27 Moses did as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28 Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, 29 and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.

Isaiah 66

21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord.

22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

Chapter 8

Religion

The Purpose of Religion

All religions share certain purposes in common, though with different emphases. For Western religions, the primary purpose of religion is salvation. The etymology of the word “religion” derives from a Latin word meaning “to re-bind” with God. Human beings are fallen and broken, and therefore God has established religion as a means of repairing our brokenness, restoring us to our original goodness, and re-connecting us with God. In contrast, the eastern understanding of religion is contained in its Chinese characters, which mean “foundational teaching.” this describes the purpose of religion as the basic teaching for cultivating a good and virtuous character. Father Moon recognizes both meanings, inasmuch as fallen human beings cannot finally cultivate virtuous character without resolving sin and rebinding with God. He distinguishes two valid aspects of religion: first, providential religions (Judaism and Christianity) whose purpose is to welcome the Messiah who comes to solve original sin and restore full communion with God, and second, religions the world over whose purpose is mainly to train people in virtue. The Kingdom of God is built on both of these foundations. Religion also has a social purpose: to cultivate community. Religion teaches the ways of love and reconciliation that enable people to live in peace and harmony. By extension, the ultimate purpose of religion is to establish world peace. That is, because God is the creator and Father of all humankind, religions that take us close to God enable us to feel part of the universal brotherhood and sisterhood that flows from his parental love

1. Religions Provide the Way of Salvation

Men, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
    Acts 16.30-31

Seek refuge with the Lord alone,
with your whole being, Bharata.
By His grace, you will reach
supreme peace, an everlasting estate.
    Bhagavad-Gita 18.62 (Hinduism)

Surely the [true] religion with God is Islam [the Surrender]. Those who formerly received the Scriptures… if they argue with you, [O Muhammad], say, “I have surrendered my pur-pose to God, and so have those who follow me.” And say to those who have received the Scriptures and those who have not read [them], “Have you also surrendered?” If they surrender, then truly they are rightly guided.
    Qur’an 3.19-20

To many a refuge fear-stricken men betake themselves—to hills, woods, groves, trees, and shrines. Nay, no such refuge is safe, no such ref-uge is supreme. Not by resorting to such a refuge is one freed from ill.

He who has gone for refuge to the Buddha [the teacher], the Dhamma [the teaching], and the Sangha [the taught], sees with right knowledge the Four Noble Truths: Sorrow, the Cause of Sorrow, the Transcending of Sorrow and the Noble Eightfold Path which leads to the Cessation of Sorrow. This, indeed, is refuge secure. By seeking such refuge one is released from all sorrow.
    Dhammapada 188-192 (Buddhism)

Surely, the path that leads to worldly gain is one, and the path that leads to Nibbana is another; understanding this, the bhikkhu, the disciple of the Buddha, should not rejoice in wordly favors, but cultivate detachment.
    Dhammapada 75 (Buddhism)

God’s Goal Is to Save Everyone

Urban Life Training Newsletter-March 18, 2021

I will be suspending (closing) my Facebook account after March 31st, due to the censorship imposed by Facebook, and my desire not to support the platform by my presence there. If you would like to stay in touch with me and Stacey on social media, I invite you to join the independent social media platform Friendica, which we run on our own server: https://friendica.visionroot.org/register. Here is one of our public pages, fyi: https://friendica.visionroot.org/profile/visionroot.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 358

In marriage relationships throughout the world, power comes when the husband earns and brings home money. The wife is naturally strengthened upon seeing the money he brings home, and the husband naturally gains strength seeing his wife so empowered. But if they are unable to earn money they become agitated, and their relationship may even break. A true husband and wife, how-ever, should create oneness in love with God at the center. (Blessed Family – 880)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 811

In the Bible it says, “What is bound on earth is bound in heaven. What is released on earth will be released in heaven.” This logic can be understood through understanding the unity of the dual structure. Human beings today should know how valuable their physical lifetime truly is. The conclusion is that the period of their life on earth is the only time when they can liberate God, revive this universe, and unite all heaven and earth. God and creation combined together could not equal the value of the physical world. Why is this so? God and this universe combined, without human beings in the flesh, cannot be perfected. Thus, they have to understand how important the human body is, while they are alive on earth. How great this is! (91-191, 1977.2.13)

Universal Salvation

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The sinful world brings humankind sorrow and causes God to grieve. (Gen. 6.6) Would God abandon this world in its present misery? God intended to create a world of goodness and experience from it the utmost joy; yet due to the Human Fall, the world came to be filled with sin and sorrow. If this sinful world were to continue forever in its present state, then God would be an impotent and ineffectual God who failed in His creation. Therefore, God will save this sinful world, by all means…
The Human Fall was undoubtedly the result of human mistakes. Nevertheless, God also assumes some responsibility for the outcome because it was He who created human beings. Therefore, God has felt compelled to conduct the providence to correct this tragic outcome and to restore human beings to their true, original state. Furthermore, God created us to live eternally. This is because God, the eternal subject partner, wanted to share eternal joy with human beings as His object partners. Having endowed human beings with an eternal nature, God could not, by the laws of the Principle, simply annihilate them just because they fell. If He were to do that, He would be violating His own Principle of Creation. The only choice left to God is to save fallen people and restore them to the original, pure state in which He initially created them. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Eschatology 2.1)

The purpose of the providence of salvation, and of religion, is to save the entire world. Since God created humankind as His beloved children, He cannot just beat and kill them and leave them in hell. Therefore the goal of the providence of salvation is to save everyone, not leaving even a single person in the satanic world. God wants to take back every kind of human being. (80:283, November 2, 1975)

God is a God of love. When God looks down from His throne and sees spirits in hell crying out to Him in their misery, “Please, God, save me!” what would He say? Would He say, “You deserve a lot worse”? Or does He have mercy on them? Surely, God will do everything possible to liberate hell. (98:116, May 7, 1978)

Imagine you have a son who committed murder and was sentenced to death. As he is going to his execution, would you say, “You deserve to die. Good-bye. At last we are rid of you!” Would any parent think like that? On the contrary, you would rather want to die in his place.
Imagine now you have many children, and they are dying tragically one after another. Do you think any parent could just watch them die without doing everything possible to rescue them? Loving parents would be desperate to save their children. They would keep on trying, even though it may take an eternity.
This gives you some sense of God’s misery. As He watches His children entering hell and eternal death, God is infinitely sorrowful and anxiously tries to liberate them to eternal life. Only by so doing can He fulfill His responsibility as our Heavenly Father. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that in the end God will liberate every soul in hell. (62:51, September 10, 1972)

To believe, as some do, that all humanity will receive judgment and only 144,000 Christians will be saved at the Rapture is an unusually self-centered way of thinking. (245:97, February 28, 1993)

The Unification Church’s viewpoint of salvation is not for a husband to go to heaven while his wife goes to hell. Both have to go to the Kingdom of Heaven together. It is not for us to enjoy heaven while our father and mother languish in hell. We should dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven with our sons and daughters and parents together. (34:359, September 20, 1970)

God’s providence of salvation is to bring [evil] to voluntary surrender. If God could have used force as He pleased, why has the providence taken thousands of years? He could have finished everything in short time—a few weeks. However, since God does not use force, instead He endures a heart-breaking situation. (394:16, October 6, 2002)

Even fallen parents cannot feel joyful when one of their children is unhappy. How much more so for God, our Heavenly Parent? It is written, “The Lord… is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Pet. 3.9) Accordingly, hell cannot remain forever. No trace of hell will remain in the ideal world, which is the fulfillment of God’s deepest desire. In the Last Days, when the time is ripe, evil spirits will descend to evil people on earth of the same spiritual level and assist them to accomplish God’s Will. Indeed, even the demons testified that Jesus was the Son of God. (Matt. 8.29).(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Resurrection 3.3.3)

Turn to Me to Be Saved, For I Am God

Urban Life Training Newsletter-March 18, 2021

2 Chronicles 25

14 After Amaziah had defeated the Edomite army, he returned to Jerusalem. He took with him the idols of the Edomite gods and set them up. Then he bowed down and offered them sacrifices. 15 This made the Lord very angry, and he sent a prophet to ask Amaziah, “Why would you worship these foreign gods that couldn’t even save their own people from your attack?”

16 But before the prophet finished speaking, Amaziah interrupted and said, “You’re not one of my advisors! Don’t say another word, or I’ll have you killed.”

The prophet stopped. But then he added, “First you sinned and now you’ve ignored my warning. It’s clear that God has decided to punish you!”

Ezekiel 20

39 Go ahead and worship your idols for now, you Israelites, because soon I will no longer let you dishonor me by offering gifts to them. You will have no choice but to obey me!40 When that day comes, everyone in Israel will worship me on Mount Zion, my holy mountain in Jerusalem. I will once again call you my own, and I will accept your sacred offerings and sacrifices. 41 When I bring you home from the places where you are now scattered, I will be pleased with you, just as I am pleased with the smell of the smoke from your sacrifices. Every nation on earth will see that I am holy, 42 and you will know that I, the Lord, am the one who brought you back to Israel, the land I promised your ancestors. 43 Then you will remember your wicked sins, and you will hate yourselves for doing such horrible things. They have made you unacceptable to me, 44 so you deserve to be punished. But I will treat you in a way that will bring honor to my name, and you will know that I am the Lord God.

Richard: We are currently in a period of separation of good and evil and of judgement. The core teaching of this age is absolute sexual ethics . All the things that are an affront to God and His ideal have to be cleaned up. This will happen, for sure. As always, our own response and and responsibility is key.

Universal Salvation

The compassion and grace of God knows no bounds. The heavenly Father’s heart yearns to save all his children. These passages from scripture praise the extent of God’s saving work and predict it eventually to embrace all humankind. In Buddhist terms, the essential purpose of absolute truth is to liberate all sentient beings, and Mahayana Buddhist scriptures express the universality of grace in the bodhisattva vow of the Buddha Amitabh to save all beings.
Salvation may come to all people through one central point: thus in Abraham “shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12.3). For those who believe in one religion as the only way, the divine mandate to save all humankind is a powerful impetus to missionary activity. On the other hand, God may express his saving will by sending multiple prophets and sages to all nations, warning each to return to God using the means suitable to their different cultures.
If salvation is to be available universally, to every soul who has ever lived regardless of his or her earthly life, the doctrine may appear at odds with beliefs about hell and the Last Judgment. If God is most essentially just, how can the wicked ever receive salvation? On the other hand, if God is most essentially gracious and compassionate, how can he permit any creature to suffer in hell eternally? To understand the heart of God our heavenly Father, Father Moon asks us to imagine how we would feel if one of our children were a condemned criminal. We would want to save our child, even take his place at the gallows.
Father Moon also discusses the difficulty of the path of salvation in terms of the methods which God is constrained to use, because he created human beings with the sovereign freedom to live and mold our lives as each sees fit. Nevertheless, ultimately God’s purpose shall be done: all people will be saved and even hell will be emptied of its occupants.

The daily concern of the Parent is single-heartedly how best I can advance arrangements to save all of you.
    Ofudesaki 14.35 (Tenrikyo)

The Dharma of the Buddhas
by the constant use of a single flavor
causes the several worlds
universally to attain perfection.
By gradual practice
all obtain the Fruit of the Way.
    Lotus Sutra 5 (Buddhism)

The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
    2 Peter 3.9

God is on the watch for the nations of the world to repent, so that He may bring them under His wings.
Numbers Rabbah 10.1 (Judaism)

I testify that Thou art the Lord of all creation, and the Educator of all beings, visible and invisible. I bear witness that Thy power hath encompassed the entire universe, and that the hosts of the earth can never dismay Thee, nor can the dominion of all peoples and nations deter Thee from executing Thy purpose. I confess that Thou hast no desire except the regeneration of the whole world, and the establishment of the unity of its peoples, and the salvation of all them that dwell therein.
    Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 115 (Baha’i Faith)

We will make offering unto You with worship,
O Lord, and to the Right,
That you may achieve through Good Mind the
destiny of all creatures in the Dominion.
For the salvation of the man of insight among such as you,
O Wise One, will hold good for everyone. 
    Avesta, Yasna 34.3 (Zoroastrianism)

“As I live,” says the Lord God, “I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked.”
    Ezekiel 33.11

Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
for I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn,
from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
an irrevocable decree:
“To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.”
    Isaiah 45.22-23

God it is who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the Religion of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all [false] religion, however much the idolators may be averse.   
    Qur’an 9.33

The Lordsaid to Abram… “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
    Genesis 12.3

And there never was a people, without a warner having lived among them.
    Qur’an 35.24

Are you not like the Ethiopians to me,
O people of Israel?” says the l ord .
“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Caphtor and the
Syrians from Kir?” 
    Amos 9.7

The Tathagatas do not enter ultimate liberation until all living beings have entered ultimate liberation.
    Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 4 (Buddhism)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him,
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not fail or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law. 
    Isaiah 42.1-4

I establish the Vows unexcelled,
And reach the highest path, Bodhi.

Were these Vows unfulfilled,
I would never attain Enlightenment.

I will be the great provider
Throughout innumerable ages.
Should I fail to save all in need,
I would never attain Enlightenment.

Upon my attaining Enlightenment,
If my Name were not heard anywhere
In the ten quarters of the universe,
I would never attain Enlightenment.

Practicing the Holy Way—selflessness,
Depth in right reflection and pure wisdom,
Aspiring toward the highest path,
I will be the teacher of devas and men.

My wondrous power by its great light
Brightens countless lands throughout,
Removes the darkness of the three defilements
And delivers all from suffering and pain. 
    Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra 9.1-5: Juseige (Buddhism)

He Who Does Not Love Abides In Death


Urban Life Training Newsletter-March 18, 2021

Cheon Seong Gyeong 615

What should you do to reach this state? You need to cultivate your mind. Some religions have expanded in step with God’s providence and others in step with Satan. Since these religions are all mixed up, it is extremely difficult to differentiate the good and bad. The same is true within the realm of our mind. There are good minds and at the same time evil minds. Your mind may think, “Yes, I am good,” but that thought itself is not good. Our minds were formed as a result of the Fall. Consequently, there are some whose minds are influenced by evil and the evil realm of Satan, and others by goodness. There are all types of minds. Then what is of utmost importance? The way you set the gate to your mind is the most important matter in your life of faith. Therefore, in your life of faith, always be alert to those times when the gate of your mind opens and how to tune it to the gate of God’s mind. Always be prepared for this. You always need to have a mindset in your daily life of seeking and adjusting your mind to God at any given time.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1643

Within the elements of the mineral world may be found pairs of positive and negative ions. The 107 chemical elements identified in the Periodic Table will not react with just anything, however hard you may try to fuse them in the laboratory. Yet with the appropriate object, there is nothing you could do – not even God – to prevent them from fusing together. You already know about this, don’t you? Everything is incorporated within the pair system, whether mineral, plant or animal. All things exist in pairs, in accordance with the principle of positive and negative. (203-295, 1990.6.27)

Richard: There is no confusion in God’s creation about male and female. There are two genders, and that is what always has and always will ‘make the world go round’.

Eternal Life

2. Love: The Basis of Eternal Life

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he [Jesus] laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.1 John 3.14-16

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Eternity does not exist apart from true love. (August 18, 1988)

When you are united with your beloved, you do not care if the world is perishing. Even if your parents demanded that you separate, threatening you with a knife, you would not be afraid of that knife. You would be determined to stay together, even if you died and went to the next world. You are not concerned about your earthly life, because you believe that you will be together in the spirit world. You actually prefer life in eternity to finite earthly life. (380:88, June 5, 2002)

May we discover by ourselves and prove by ourselves,
not only by faith or conviction but also from experience,
that Thou and I have a relationship extending front and back, right and left.
Thou and I were living, are living and shall ever live
in a relationship eternal and unchanging. (40:350, February 11, 1971)

Leave the Dead to Bury Their Own Dead

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2121

If this is true with parents in the fallen world, how can we ever grow tired of giving and receiving God’s love in the essential world? When we establish the realm of God’s true objective partner in our own lives and understand the unchanging glory of true love for the first time, we will then be able to validate the logic of eternal life. In 1984, I was lying in bed alone unjustly incarcerated in prison in the United States, when God came and told me that I was the only person He could trust and that He wanted me to resolve the situation in Nicaragua. Am I really the only person God can come to with such a command? The United States is said to be a great country standing at the forefront of all developed countries. It has a population of 240 million and innumerable religious leaders. How wretched God must have been that He could not go to any of those people but had to come to me. Yet as God knows how to find people who have a great love for humanity, He came to me, who had been worrying about the world day and night. Had I not already established the Washington Times, and extended help at that time, South America would have fallen into ideological chaos

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1086

As buds, you have not yet bloomed. Do not become wicked like those who write love letters and have illicit love relationships. You should blossom naturally. When God sees you, He should be able to exclaim, “Oh! You have blossomed purely and naturally. Since I can smell the fragrance, I can tell that you are a virgin.” In this case, God feels so much hope. Does God want something pure or something damaged? What about you, then? Do you want something pure or something damaged? Even fallen men want to have something pure. Would God not value that even more?

Eternal Life

For many the goal of religion is immortality or eternal life. People have always chafed under the limitations of mortality, and have found in religion the means to transcend the death which seems to proscribe the possibilities of human existence. As with resurrection, eternal life is not simply about the survival of the soul at death and its journey into the afterlife. Eternal life is not about eternal existence per se, but rather about the quality of that existence.
We find that the scriptures of many religions give two meanings to the terms “life” and “death.” there is physical life—existence on this earthly plane, and there is spiritual life—the state of blessedness which endures from life to life and transcends death. There is physical death—the dropping of the body which is an event in the voyage of every soul, and spiritual death—the condition of distance from God, ignorance, and a hellish existence in the hereafter.
“Eternal life” and “immortality” are thus ciphers to describe the condition of blessedness. this condition is present already in the physical life of the person who realizes truth or lives in God’s grace, and it will continue, unabated, in the hereafter. The person who gains eternal life has accomplished the goal of life, and hence death is not to be feared as a limitation, as it is for a worldly person who has tied all hopes to his possessions and pleasures in the world. We note, however, that Buddhist scriptures generally avoid speaking of this state of blessedness as eternal life, for Buddhism views the desire for life as a kind of grasping, and hence a fetter to liberation. instead, they speak of Nirvana.
Father Moon’s teaches that eternal life is rooted in our relationship with the eternal God, based upon God’s love for us and our love for God. “eternity does not exist apart from true love,” he states. Then he expands upon this concept to describe the relationship between human lovers as aspiring for the eternal. this is so because we human beings are designed for eternal life, eternal love with God, and eternal community with the ones we love under God.

1. Eternal Life in God

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
    John 3.16
 
He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
    John 11.25-26
 
Those who have faith and do righteous deeds, they are the best of creatures. Their reward is with God: Gardens of Eternity, beneath which rivers flow; they will dwell therein for ever; God well pleased with them, and they with Him; all this for such as fear their Lord and Cherisher.
    Qur’an 98.7-8
 
The Supreme Being does not die; I will there-fore not die.
    Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
 
Being in accord with Tao, he is everlasting.
    Tao Te Ching 16 (Taoism)
 
Where one sees nothing but the One, hears nothing but the One, knows nothing but the One—there is the Infinite. Where one sees another, hears another, knows another—there is the finite. The Infinite is immortal; the finite is mortal.
 
It is written, He who has realized eternal Truth does not see death, nor illness, nor pain; he sees everything as the Self, and obtains all.
    Chandogya Upanishad 7.23, 27 (Hindusm)
 
Those who are free from desire are free because all their desires have found fulfillment in the Self. They do not die like the others; but realizing Brahman, they merge in Brahman. So it is said: When all the desires that surge in the heart
Are renounced, the mortal becomes immortal.
When all the knots that strangle the heart
Are loosened, the mortal becomes immortal,
Here in this very life.
    Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.6-7 (Hinduism)
 
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
    Romans 6.23
 
From the unreal lead me to the Real!
From darkness lead me to light!
From death lead me to immortality!
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28 (Hinduism)
 
Higher than this is Brahman, the Supreme, the
Great.
Hidden in all things, body by body,
The One embracer of the universe—
By knowing Him as Lord men become
immortal.
I know this mighty Person
Of the color of the sun, beyond darkness.
Only by knowing Him does one pass over
death.
There is no other path for going there.
Than whom there is nothing else higher,
Than whom there is nothing smaller, nothing
greater,
The One stands like a tree established in
heaven.
By Him, the Person, this whole world is filled.
That which is beyond this world
Is without form and without ill.
They who know That, become immortal;
But others go only to sorrow.
    Svetasvatara Upanishad 3.7-10 (Hindusm)
 
The supreme stage of the Soul is free from birth, old age and death; he is supreme, pure, and devoid of eight karmas; he possesses infnite knowledge, intuition, bliss, and potency; he is indivisible, indestructible, and inexhaustible. Besides, he is supersensuous and unparalleled, is free from obstructions, merit, demerit, and rebirth, and is eternal, steady, and independent.
    Kundakunda, Niyamasara 176-77 (Jainism)
 
“For the living know that they shall die” (Ecc. 9.5): these are the righteous who in their death are called living… “but the dead know nothing”: these are the wicked who in their lifetime are called dead.
    Talmud, Berakot 18ab (Judaism)
 
Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.
    Luke 9.60