Category: Eight Great Textbooks

Cain Was Angry Because His Offering Was Not Accepted

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Leviticus 6

14 When someone offers a sacrifice to give thanks to me, the priests from Aaron’s family must bring it to the front of the bronze altar, 15 where one of them will scoop up a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the incense on it. Then, to show that the whole offering belongs to me, he will lay all of this on the altar and send it up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. 16-17 The rest of it is to be baked without yeast and eaten by the priests in the sacred courtyard of the sacred tent. This bread is very holy, just like the sacrifices for sin or for making things right, and I have given this part to the priests from what is offered to me on the altar.

18 Only the men in Aaron’s family are allowed to eat this bread, and they must go through a ceremony to be made holy before touching it. This law will never change.

1 Kings 4

29 Solomon was brilliant. God had blessed him with insight and understanding. 30-31 He was wiser than anyone else in the world, including the wisest people of the east and of Egypt. He was even wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Mahol’s three sons, Heman, Calcol, and Darda. Solomon became famous in every country around Judah and Israel. 32 Solomon wrote three thousand wise sayings and composed more than one thousand songs. 33 He could talk about all kinds of plants, from large trees to small bushes, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. 34 Kings all over the world heard about Solomon’s wisdom and sent people to listen to him teach.

Cain and Abel

The first murder in human history followed close on the heels of the human fall; indeed, the tension between the brothers can be attributed to the situation they inherited from their parents. the story of Cain and able raises the inescapable human problem of inequality. it asks: how should people cope with differences in wealth, talent, love, fortune, and in this case, blessing.

    The bible regards Abel as one of the righteous; the Qur’an portrays him as a man of peace who refuses to take up a weapon to fight his brother Cain. hence comes the tradition that there are two kinds of people: Abel-type people are good and faithful, while Cain-type people are evil, atheistic and violent. in Father Moon’s teaching, however, Cain and Abel are most essentially brothers. Moreover, both had flaws: Abel’s arrogance over being the favored one contributed to Cain’s hatred, and Cain’s hatred had a history, too.
    Father Moon teaches that God’s purpose in accepting only Abel’s offering was not to express his disdain for Cain, but rather to promote a process of restoration: by Cain yielding to Abel, Cain and Abel were to reverse the mistake of their parents when Adam was wrongly dominated by the archangel. had this restoration been successful, there would have been no murder; instead even Cain’s offering would have been accepted by God.
    Inequality is inevitable; how we deal with it is where choice comes into play. Cain had a choice: to react with violence or to humbly seek his brother’s help. Abel also had a choice: to glory in his favored status or to have compassion on his less favored brother, comfort him and raise him up. the choices we make in these Cain-Abel situations can make the difference between peace and war.
Readings

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock and of their fat portions. And the lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.
    ”Cain said to Abel his brother, “Let us go out into the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He replied, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the lordsaid, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me this day away from the ground; and from your face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me.” Then the lord said to him, “Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
    Genesis 4.3-16

And recite for them the story of the two sons of Adam truthfully, when they offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted of one of them, and not accepted of the other. “I will surely slay you,” said one. “God accepts only of the god-fearing,” said the other.
    “Yet if you stretch out your hand against me, to slay me, I will not stretch out my hand against you, to slay you; I fear God, the Lord of all Beings. I desire that you should be laden with my sin and your sin, and so become an inhabitant of the Fire; that is the recompense of the evildoers.”
    Then his soul prompted him to slay his brother, and he slew him, and became one of the losers.
    Then God sent forth a raven, scratching into the earth, to show him how he might conceal the vile body of his brother. He said, “Woe is me! Am I unable to be as this raven, and so conceal my brother’s vile body?” And he became one of the remorseful.
    Qur’an 5.27-31

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking.
    Hebrews 11.4

When Adam and Eve begot children, the first-born was the son of the serpent’s slime. For two beings had intercourse with Eve, and she conceived from both and bore two children. Each followed one of the male parents, and their spirits parted, one to this side and one to the other, and similarly their characters. On the side of Cain are all the haunts of the evil species, from which come evil spirits and demons and necromancers. From the side of Abel come a more merciful class, yet not wholly beneficial—good wine mixed with bad. The right kind was not produced until Seth came, who is the first ancestor of all the generations of the righteous…
    Cain rose up against Abel and killed him because he inherited his nature from the side of Samael, who brought death into the world. He was jealous of Abel on account of his female, as indicated by the words, “and it came to pass when they were in the field (Gen. 4.8),” the word “field” signifying woman. According to the text, Cain was angry because his offering was not accepted, but this is a further reason.
    5Zohar 1.36b (Judaism)

 

Sexual Promiscuity is a Principal Cause of the Downfall of Numerous Heroes

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 856

If you wish to meet with someone who is millions or billions of miles away, that person will immediately appear. Even though the Kingdom of Heaven is vast, when you prepare your heart and say that you would like to meet with some-one you love, he will appear before you. How wonderful that is! Isn’t that great? When he appears in front of you, you will immediately know which level you are on; you will know if you are higher or lower than he. Even if he is your closest friend, if your level of love is higher than his from heaven’s point of view, he will bow to you as soon as he comes to you. Even your own mother or your ancestors who lived on earth long ago will bow to you. Such a place is the spirit world. (206-138, 1990.10.3

Cheon Seong Gyeong 264

What is the local-level breakthrough (tong ban gyeokpa) we are pursuing? We must unite South and North and offer the Republic of Korea to God as the homeland of all humankind. This must be done in God’s name and in True Par-ents’ name, centered on the achievement of victory in all nations. This is why we have been investing everything. It is for this reason that we are now like a group of beggars. Why beggars? Because we already offered everything decades ago. Now we must unite South and North, and in God’s name and in True Parents’ name we must take back all ownership historically claimed by Satan. We must restore the ownership to the throne of God, the Original Parent, so that Korea will emerge from this as the first ancestor nation among all nations through-out history. Working to bring this about is my final purpose of love. (211-126, 1990.12.29)

The Human Fall

3. Corruption of Sexual Love

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Sexual love caused human beings to fall. Therefore, our sexual organs are most fearful things. Religion holds adultery to be the cardinal sin. Is free sex in America and throughout the world the expression of God’s philosophy of the Kingdom or the devil’s philosophy of hell? It is the philosophy of hell run rampant, creating hell both on earth and in heaven. Everyone who follows this trend is doomed. (261:304, July 24, 1994)

How can God’s love be linked to this world? True love coming down from above brings unity by the most direct and shortest path, making a 90-degree angle. Once that direct connection is made with the vertical God, the love of human beings can correspond to it—true love traveling by the most direct and shortest path. Induced by that vertical love, a man and a woman move on the horizontal plane toward the vertical line, creating a right angle: this is love’s final destination. What was the Human Fall? It bent this right angle. (218:219, July 29, 1991)

God’s purpose of creation, described in the blessings “be fruitful and multiply,” (Gen. 1.28) can be achieved only through love. Accordingly, from the viewpoint of God’s purpose of creation, love should be the most precious and sacred act. But because the sexual act was the very cause of the Fall, people often regard it with shame and even contempt. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 1.3.2)

There is ample evidence which helps us recognize that the root of human sin stems from sexual immorality. We know that the original sin has been perpetuated through lineal descent from one generation to the next. This is because the root of sin was solidified by a sexual relationship that binds one in ties of blood. Furthermore, those religions which emphasize the need to purge sin regard fornication as a cardinal sin, and they have taught the virtues of chastity and restraint in order to curb it. This is an indication that the root of sin is found in lustful desires. The Israelites performed the rite of circumcision as a condition for sanctification. They qualified themselves as God’s chosen people by draining blood, because the root of sin lies in having taken in through an unchaste act the evil blood which permeates our being.
Sexual promiscuity is a principal cause of the downfall of numerous heroes, patriots and nations. Even in the most outstanding people, the root of sin—illicit sexual desire—is constantly active in their souls, sometimes without their conscious awareness. We may be able to eradicate all other evils by establishing moral codes through religion, by thoroughly implementing various educational programs, and by reforming the socio-economic systems that foster crime. But no one can prevent the plague of sexual promiscuity, which has become increasingly prevalent as the progress of civilization makes lifestyles more comfortable and indolent. Therefore, the hope of an ideal world is an empty dream as long as this root of all evils has not been eradicated at its source. Christ at his Second Advent must be able to solve this problem once and for all. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 1.5

How Could the Original Sin Arise From Eating a Literal Fruit?

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 265

How will you deeply experience True
Parents’ heart and God’s love and heart?
This is the issue. The question is how
to enter that state. For this you have to
become the Adam and Eve who have not
fallen, free from Satan’s accusation. How,
then, will you become liberated from the
satanic world? You have to win in the bat-
tle with Satan. To achieve this, how hard
will you have to work and how much will
you have to suffer? Jacob and Moses were
each deceived ten times. Jesus Christ was
also deceived in the same manner. It was
the same with me. We must overcome
this. We will come to know God’s heart
through this. We will come to know the
Parents’ heart. Otherwise, we will nev-
er know. Without this experience, Satan
will never leave you alone. As long as you
do not triumph over Satan, you will nev-
er be able to know True Parents’ heart or
God’s heart.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1358

In 1970, the 777 Couples from ten
nations around the world were blessed.
They are the ‘three sevens’ couples; three
times seven equals twenty-one. The 777
Couples represent the whole world and
also formation, growth, and completion;
through their Blessing, any family could
inherit the right to enter heaven freely.
Such is the significance of this number.
Having thus blessed the 777 Cou-
ples, I can now travel anywhere in the
world with my family: Germany, Afri-
ca – anywhere on earth. That is to say,
I can fulfill God’s will wherever I go.
Every place is the same. Since the way is
open for anyone to come to me, it follows
that I can also go to any nation. The 777
Couples Blessing in 1970 made it possi-
ble for my family to go anywhere in the
world. I have laid the foundation upon
which, if Korea continues to oppose me,
I can take my family to any nation of my
choice to realize God’s will; accordingly,
I can now proceed into the global era.
(75-152, 1975.1.2)

The Human Fall

2. Catastrophic Consequences of the Human Fall

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

How could the original sin arise from eating a literal fruit? If the first ancestor committed sin by eating a fruit, what could bequeath that sin to thousands of generations of his descendants? The generations are related through lineage. If the root of sin is planted in the lineage, the sin continues forever by the law of heredity. Only a problem of love could make this happen. Wrongful love was the cause of the Human Fall. (23:167, May 18, 1969)

Love is supposed to bring human beings to perfection. However, when something goes wrong with love, even God steps back. Then it becomes a serious problem. In this respect, we discover that something went wrong with love. Nothing else could become such a serious problem for God, for humankind and for history. The failure of love was the greatest catastrophe in the whole universe. (128:87, June 5, 1983)

Were you to truly know love, you would be well acquainted with everything. You would not only know the facts of the earth plane, but also your spiritual eyes would be open and you would under-stand the cosmos in all its dimensions. You would reach the level where you could experience God directly. God endowed human beings with the potential to develop their senses of love to that degree.
However, Adam and Eve fell before they could reach that level. (137:129, January 1, 1986)

When Adam and Eve were in adolescence, at the age of 16, 17 or 18, their eyes were not supposed to wander about. They were supposed to look into each other’s eyes and say, “You are the one I have been looking for! It was you all along!” Gazing into each other’s eyes filled with mystery and touching each other’s noses, they would have felt a spark of electricity. Would their minds and body have been completely united at that moment? Yes they would have been.
    When a man and a woman become one in the mind and the body and establish goodness in the universe, they are like flowers in full bloom. The fragrance of their love fills the entire universe, enthralling all its creatures. Every creature stretches its body and perks up its nose to smell the alluring scent. What about God? He would exclaim, “Wow! This is awesome!” Even God is captivated. He is naturally drawn to them. He gives them all His attention. He urges them on.
    Up to the moment when God joined Adam and Eve, they were not prepared to experience the electricity of love. They would have felt clumsy around each other; their physical touch would have come as a shock. But once their minds and bodies would be totally united in God’s love, once the three—God, Adam and Eve—would be united as one, they would have experienced love like a flash of lightening. At that moment, they would have become the nucleus of the universe. They would have orbited about each other in love, forming the nucleus for governing all things by love. Yet Adam and Eve were derailed from this orbit…
    Had Adam and Eve become the nucleus, God would have nestled them in His bosom. He would have been with them always. Even if His body tried to leave, His feet would have stayed with them. The couple would have been inseparable, ever embracing each other. Their sons and daughters would have been connected to them by cords of love, and wherever they went they would come together again… The families, tribes, peoples, nations, and world descended from them were supposed to be established from that nucleus. As descendants of a man and woman in complete oneness, they too would have embraced one another in true love as they built their own families, tribes, peoples, nations and world. What a wonderful world it would be! Everything would be marvelous. It would be the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Don’t you think so?
    Am I a dreamer, or do I speak truth? My elucidation of the Human Fall as the reason for the [corruption] of love is logical and correct, based upon a proper assessment of history. Knowing it, we can resolve all human problems. Even so, it is not an easy task.
    Because the nucleus of love was not established, and instead the Fall occurred, the whole world became contrary to God’s ideal, its unity shattered into pieces. Stemming from that initial disorder, all human beings became separated from one another. We cannot deny that the world today is beset by divisions. That is to say, we are all fallen. It is only appropriate to conclude that we are living in the world that resulted from the Fall.
    Since people live in a condition of separation, they deny that God exists. Moreover, they deny their parents, their brothers and sisters, their husband and wives. The world is in chaos. In such a state, human beings can never achieve oneness by their own efforts. Although there are always people who seek for the ideal, they cannot possibly attain it… Meanwhile, others despair, saying that humanity is facing destruction, that there is no hope, and that utopian ideals are merely vain figments of the human imagination. (128:88, June 5, 1983)

If the first human beings did not fall, they would have received God’s vertical love, and they would have become, as it were, the bodies of God. It would be as if God were the bones, and Adam and Eve the flesh.
    God would be the internal Parent in the internal position, and Adam and Eve the external parents in the external position. The internal and the external would become one through love… Without the union of vertical and horizontal love, no one can be perfected.
    Our first ancestors should have become the human beings whom God intended to create according to His original Will. We should have descended from such persons. We should have been born from persons with a divine nature. Then we would possess both God’s divine nature and our parents’ human nature.
    Adam and Eve could become perfect and bear perfect fruit only when connected to the love of God. Without that connection, it is not possible. The connecting point of God’s vertical love and Adam and Eve’s horizontal physical love was to be the very root of our ancestors’ lineage. All of humanity was supposed to have arisen from that beginning point.
    The Fall, however, severed man’s love, woman’s love and God’s love. Because of the Fall, man’s love, woman’s love and God’s love were not connected. If there had been no Fall, man and woman would be tied together by God’s love—without doubt.
    Why do a man and a woman try to become one? They do it for love. What do they want after uniting in love? They want to receive God’s blessing. That is the purpose. (184:71, November 13, 1988)


Zeus Devised the Worst Punishment He Could Think of and Invented Woman

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1 Peter 1

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.

Mark 14

22 During the meal Jesus took some bread in his hands. He blessed the bread and broke it. Then he gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this. It is my body.”

23 Jesus picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He gave it to his disciples, and they all drank some. 24 Then he said, “This is my blood, which is poured out for many people, and with it God makes his agreement. 25 From now on I will not drink any wine, until I drink new wine in God’s kingdom.” 26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Richard: We are standing on the foundation of Jesus’ sacrifice, and on the successful foundation of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the True Parent (see Peace Message 10). Righteousness will prevail, but we must fulfill our own responsibility, not the least of which is to understand the New Expression of Truth and act accordingly.

The Human Fall

2. Catastrophic Consequences of the Human Fall

When Zeus was angry with mankind, he devised the worst punishment he could think of, and invented Woman. Hephaestus, the smith of the gods, was instructed to form her from the earth and make her irresistibly beautiful. Each of the gods gave her his own special gift of skill, and from this she was called Pandora, “all gifted.”
    When she was perfected with every gift and arrayed in all her loveliness, this treacherous treasure was taken down to earth by Hermes, the messenger god, and given to Prometheus’ foolish brother Epimetheus. Now Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept anything from Zeus, even if it looked like a gift sent in friendship; but Epimetheus as usual acted first and thought afterwards. He accepted the maiden from Hermes and led her into his house, and with her a great jar—some say a box or chest—which the gods had sent with her, telling her to keep it safely but never open.
    This was too much for Pandora, who among her gifts was endowed with feminine curiosity. After restraining it for a little while, she at last gave in and lifted the lid from the jar, and from that moment began the sorrows of mankind. For each of the gods had stored in it the worst thing he was able to give, and wonderful as had been the gifts with which they endowed her, just as dreadful were the evils that rushed eagerly from the jar in a black stinking cloud like pestilent insects—sickness and suffering, hatred and jealousy and greed, and all the other cruel things that freeze the heart and bring on old age.
    Pandora tried to clap the lid on the jar again, but it was too late. The happy childhood of mankind had gone forever, and with it the Golden Age when life was easy. From then on man had to wrest a hard living by his own labor from the unfriendly ground.
    Only one good thing came to man in the jar and remains to comfort him in his distress, and that is the spirit of Hope.
    Myth of Pandora’s Box (Hellenism)
 
In the olden days, when God still lived among men, Death did not live among men. Whenever he happened to stray onto the earth, God (Imana) would chase it away with his hunting dogs. One day during such a chase, Death was forced into a narrow space and would have been caught and destroyed. But in his straits he found a woman, and promised her that if she hid him he would spare her and her family. The woman opened her mouth and Death jumped inside.2When God came to her and asked her if she had seen Death, she denied ever seeing him. But God, the All-Seeing One, knew what happened, and told the woman that since she had hidden Death, in the future Death would destroy her and all her children. From that moment death spread all over the world.           Hutu tradition (African Traditional Religions)
 
If Adam had not sinned, he would not have begotten children from the side of the evil incli-nation, but he would have borne offspring from the side of the Holy Spirit. But now, since all the children of men are born from the side of the evil inclination, they have no permanence and are but short-lived, because there is in them an element of the ‘other side.’ But if Adam had not sinned and had not been driven from the Garden of Eden, he would have begotten progeny from the side of the Holy Spirit—a progeny holy as the celestial angels, who would have endured for eternity, after the supernal pattern. Since, how-ever, he sinned and begat children outside the Garden of Eden, these did not take root.
    Zohar, Genesis 61a (Judaism)
 
After [they fell] God clothed Adam and Eve in garments soothing to the skin, as it is written, “He made them coats of skin (עוֹר, ‘or) [Gen. 3.21]. At first they had coats of light (אוֹר, or), which procured them the service of the high-est of the high, for the celestial angels used to come to enjoy that light; so it is written, “For you made him but little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor” [Psalm 8.5]. But after their sins they had only coats of skin, good for the body but not for the soul.
    Zohar 1.36b (Judaism)
 
The deities Izanagi and Izanami descended from Heaven to the island Ono-goro and erected a heavenly pillar and a spacious palace.
    At this time Izanagi asked his wife Izanami, “How is your body formed?” She replied, “My body, though it be formed, has one place which is formed insufficiently.” Then Izanagi said, “My body, though it be formed, has one place which is formed to excess. Therefore, I would like to take that place in my body which is formed to excess and insert it into that place in your body which is formed insufficiently, and thus give birth to the land. How would this be?” “That will be good,” said Izanami. “Then let us, you and me, walk in a circle around this heavenly pillar and meet and have conjugal intercourse,” said Izanagi. “You walk around from the right, and I will walk around from the left and meet you.”
    After having agreed to this, they circled around; then Izanami said first, “How delightful! I have met a lovely lad!” Afterwards, Izanagi said, “How delightful! I have met a lovely maiden!” After each had spoken, Izanagi said to his wife, “It was not proper that the woman should speak first.” Nevertheless, they commenced procreation and gave birth to a leech-child. They placed this child into a boat made of reeds and floated it away.
    Then the two deities consulted together, “The child which we have just borne is not good. It is best to report this before the heavenly gods.” So they ascended together and sought the will of the heavenly gods. The gods thereupon performed a grand divination, and said, “Because the woman spoke first, the child was not good. Descend once more and say it again.
    Kojiki 4.1-6.1 (Shinto)
 
 

Could the Human Fall Have Been the Result of Eating a Fruit of a Tree?

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 483

When you look at the conversa-
tion of a loving couple, their words are
more beautiful than any poem or paint-
ing in the world. Moreover, how beau-
tiful and splendid are the words, “just
between two people in love,” and “just
by ourselves,” and “just the two of us”!
(Blessed Family – 887)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1065

You have to be more altruistic. What
does that mean? The one who is most
altruistic will become the leader. Out
of ten people, the one who becomes the
center is the one who lives and loves most
for the sake of the others. All those peo-
ple will come seeking him. In general,
people think that living for others is not
good. Yet, this is the real way to reach
the center, achieving ownership and
receiving everything. This is a universal
principle. Therefore, you should under-
stand this concept of living for others. It
is not something bad that brings losses.
There is no better business than this. (132-
276, 1984.6.20)

The Human Fall

  1. Adam and Eve’s Trangression

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Could the Human Fall have been the result of eating a fruit of a tree? Adam and Eve fell by the sin of illicit love, a transgression that violated God’s ideal of true love. Prior to the fall, when they were constrained by the commandment [not to eat the fruit], Adam and Eve were in an imperfect state, that is, in their growing period. The archangel Lucifer, symbolized by the serpent, tempted Eve, and she spiritually fell with him. She then tempted Adam to eat the fruit before the time was ripe, and they fell physically.
    Adam and Eve had been living in joy in the Garden of Eden and conversing with God. The only possible sin that they would be tempted to commit at the risk of their lives was a sin involving wrongful love.
    The consummation of human ancestors’ first love was also to be God’s own completion. Therefore, it naturally should have been the moment of joy and jubilation for God, Adam and Eve, and all creation. They were to have rejoiced together in continuous festivities of love and blessing. On that joyous occasion, God’s love, life and lineage was to be firmly settled in the first human ancestors.
    Instead, Adam and Eve covered their lower parts and hid in the bushes, trembling with fear. By their illicit act, they had violated the Way of Heaven, forming a relationship that was the origin of false love, false life and false lineage. Consequently all humankind ever since, as descendants of fallen Adam and Eve, came to be born with original sin, from generation to generation.
    The reason why every person experiences inner conflict between the mind and the body is due to the Fall. The reason why human beings act against their original mind, and form societies where the order of love is corrupted, is also due to the Fall. (277:200, April 16, 1996)
 
What was the forbidden fruit? What sort of fruit could cause countless generations of humanity to groan in misery? Why would God create a fruit that could cause misery, destruction and war? My teaching is logical: the fruit is a symbol for love. So many evils spring from love. From love can spring either good or evil fruit, therefore it is called “the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.” (128:86, June 5, 1983)
 
We read that before the Fall, Adam and Eve were both naked, and were not ashamed. (Gen. 2.25) After the fall, however, they felt ashamed of their nakedness and sewed fig leaves together into aprons to cover their lower parts. If they had committed a crime by eating some actual fruit from a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then they certainly would have covered their hands or mouths instead. It is human nature to conceal one’s faults. Thus, the act of covering their lower parts shows that these parts, and not their mouths, were the source of their shame.
    In Job 31.33-34, it is written, “If I have concealed my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom.” Adam concealed his lower parts after the Fall; this indicates that his blemish was in his lower parts. Adam and Eve’s sexual parts were the source of their shame because those were the instruments of their sinful deed.
    In the world before the Human Fall, what act would one be willing to carry out even clearly at the risk of one’s life? It could be nothing else but the act of love. God’s purpose of creation, described in the blessing “be fruitful and multiply,” (Gen. 1.28) can be achieved only through love. Accordingly, from the viewpoint of God’s purpose of creation, love should be the most precious and sacred act. But because the sexual act was the very cause of the Fall, people often regard it with shame and even contempt. In conclusion, human beings fell through an act of illicit sexual intercourse. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 1.3.2)
 
Everything in the universe is created to be governed by God through love. Thus, love is the source of life, the key to happiness, and the essence of the ideal to which all beings aspire. The more one receives love, the more beautiful one appears to others. When the angel, created as God’s servant, beheld Eve, the daughter of God, it was only natural that she looked beautiful in his eyes. Moreover, when Lucifer saw that Eve was responding to his temptation, the angel felt the stimulation of her love to be deliciously enticing. At this point, Lucifer was seducing Eve with the mind to have her, regardless of the consequences. Lucifer, who left his proper position due to his excessive desire, and Eve, who wanted to open her eyes and become like God before the time was ripe, formed a common base and began give and take action. The power of the unprincipled love generated by their give and take led them to consummate an illicit sexual relationship on the spiritual plane.
    All beings are created based on the principle that when they become one in love, they exchange elements with each other. Accordingly, when Eve became one with Lucifer through love, she received certain elements from him. First, she received feelings of dread arising from the pangs of a guilty conscience, stemming from her violation of the purpose of creation. Second, she received from Lucifer the wisdom which enabled her to discern that her originally intended spouse was to be Adam, not the angel. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 2.2.1)
 
How did Eve feel while the archangel Lucifer was raping her? She felt pangs of conscience. She dis-liked what was happening, but let herself be pulled along as he seduced her. When we make love, we are supposed to feel joy with every cell in our body. Our passion should be like a flower at the height of spring. Eve, however, grimaced as she made love, her heart shriveling and her every cell withering. (33:330, August 23, 1970)
 
Eve was to become the future wife of God. This is because Adam was to be one body with God—that is, God Himself… From this perspective, the Fall was Satan violating God’s wife. (22:208, February 4, 1969)
 
Once Eve had united with the Archangel through their illicit sexual relationship, she stood in the position of the Archangel with respect to Adam. Thus, Adam, who was still receiving God’s love, appeared very attractive to her. Seeing Adam as her only hope of returning to God, Eve turned to Adam and tempted him, playing the same role as the Archangel had played when he had tempted her. Adam responded and formed a common base with Eve, and they began give and take action with each other. The power of the unprincipled love generated in their relationship induced Adam to abandon his original position and brought them together in an illicit physical relationship of sexual love.
    When Adam united in oneness with Eve, he inherited all the elements Eve had received from the Archangel. These elements in turn have been passed down to all subsequent generations without interruption… and humanity has multiplied in sin to the present day, perpetuating the lineage of Satan. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 2.2.2)