True Love Is Sacrificial Love

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1321

Did you know that during the past two or three years the Unification Church has reached an international level? Are you aware of this? Then how did we attain such a level? By earning a lot of money? By witnessing to many people? It was through the Blessing. When was the 360,000 Couples’ Blessing held? It was in 1995. The 30,000 Couples Blessing? It was in 1992. The 30,000 Couples came in 1992 and the 360,000 Couples in 1995. Next came the Blessing of the 3.6 Million Couples. Who would have believed at the time of the 30,000 Couples Blessing, that at the next one we would bless 360,000 couples? It was the same after the Blessing of the 360,000 Couples. After that Blessing, it took us less than three years to hold the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing. We did it in two and a half years. It wasn’t even that long. When I first issued the instructions to prepare for the Blessing of 3.6 million couples, not one person believed that it would actually happen. I can’t speak for God, but even I was in doubt. Think about it. Is one finger the same as ten, or not? How many hills are there? There are ten hills to climb. During the three years I worked in Jardim, Brazil, I declared the era of the Second Generation in which absolute faith is paramount. Now the time has come in which you have no choice but to believe, even if you don’t want to. (291-152, 1998.3.11)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 963

    Now that we have entered the age of liberation, you do not know how much the universe is singing in praise, while focused on this earth. You do not know how joyful they are over this day. From the beginning of this year to this very day, there has been a festive atmosphere.
    Now, heavenly fortune will follow us and assist us in everything we try to do. We used to exert ourselves to catch heavenly fortune but now heavenly for-tune will follow us around and assist us. This means that the time has come for God and the spirit world to mobilize numerous ancestors and countless good spirit persons to assist people on earth. We can establish a realm of liberation. The age of transformation has come. (298-228, 1999.1.8)

Sacrificial Love

True love is sacrificial love. It calls forth self-sacrifice in the service of others. Love prompts us to get involved in the knotty problems of the world, gives us the strength to bear with the failings and weaknesses of others, and moves us to help others regardless of the cost. We have the example of Jesus Christ, who out of love, offered his life to redeem sinful humanity. Moses in his time, and Muhammad as well, endured persecution and exile, risking their lives to enlighten and liberate their people—all for the love of God and humanity. Out of Buddhism comes the figure of the bodhisattva, who vows to devote himself to save all beings. He regards his own happiness as incidental to the happiness of others, and would rather not enjoy the fruits of his own spiritual progress before first liberating others. On this topic, Father Moon describes the root of sacrificial love in God, who invested himself endlessly at the creation to make a beautiful home for his children. God, who ever since the fall, has continuously and sorrowfully devoted himself as would a loving parent to rescue prodigal humanity from the pits of sin and grief. Such divine love is manifested every day in the human love of parents, who willingly sacrifice for their children’s future.

1. Sacrificing Everything—Even Your Life—for the Sake of Those You Love

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
    John 15.13

The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
    Matthew 20.28

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
    Ephesians 5.1-2 Continue reading “True Love Is Sacrificial Love”

We Can Attain Our Ideal Only by Living for the Sake of Our Partner

Cheon Seong Gyeong 701

Since the spirit world and the earth love him, I must establish the standard that his parents also love him. I believe Heung-jin will establish the realm of resurrection of love in the physical and spirit worlds. Through his death, love will be resurrected. Holding on to the spiritual and physical worlds, I will proclaim the realm of the resurrection of love. With that done, we will bid goodbye to the realm of death. For that reason, you should not be sad even at funerals. (130-201, 1984.1.15)

Richard: Heung-jin is the second son of Rev. and Mrs. Moon. He died in a car accident at the age of 17. He turned the car on an icy road so his friend in the passenger seat would not receive direct impact. The Unification tradition of Seungwha, or peaceful ascension originated with Heung-jin’s death.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1099

Even though my mother-in-law passed away, we do not call it a funeral in the Unification Church. What do we call it? A Seunghwa Ceremony! We call it a Seunghwa. It is moving on to the stage of activity in the vertical spirit world, the infinite world, after having lived in the horizontal earthly world. In the satanic world, if you cry aloud, evil spirits will come to you, but evil spirits cannot find their way to a Seunghwa Ceremony. (195-160, 1989.11.15)

Living for Others

3. In Creating the Universe, God Gave Everything for the Sake of His Creations

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

What kind of being is God? God acts according to the law of priority of the universal and public. It requires that every being act to benefit the greater whole ahead of its own existence. Living by that law means to embody the spirit of sacrifice and service. (105:99, September 30, 1979)
 
Love is to invest oneself 100 percent. Out of love, when God created heaven and earth He invested Himself 100 percent. That is why true love starts from living for the sake of others. (189:202, April 6, 1989)
 
When God created humans beings as His partners of love, He was living for their sake. Therefore, human beings are meant to model after God and live for the sake of others. However, due to the Fall, we came to live for ourselves. The philosophy of living for the sake of others is based on the fact that all love comes from one’s partner. (149:273, November 27, 1986)

We Love Because He First Loved Us

A Christmas blog by Andrew Derricutt.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1978

    When you observe the nations sur-rounding Korea today and consider the situation of the world, you will see that it would be unfavorable for the powerful nations if war were to break out on the Korean peninsula. In particular, Communist China needs to revive itself in order to stimulate the development of its science and technology, and to join the ranks of the developed nations. However, if North Korea were to invade the South, it would create considerable problems for China.
    Communist China is thinking of associating with Korea from now. I am fully aware of this. Why not Japan? Because Japan invaded China earlier this century, the Chinese believe Japan will invade their economy. Considering this situation in which Communist China is trying to connect with Korea, an invasion of the South by North Korea is not something China would condone. What about Japan? Likewise, the Japanese do not want this. They want to have exchanges with Korea too. (170-212, 1987.11.15)The Chinese population is about 1.2

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1512

Why should you give birth to children? It is so that you may experience the inner heart of God the joy and delight He felt at the time of the creation of Adam and Eve. That is why those who have not experienced childbirth may fail to appreciate their parents, their husband or wife. That is how they will end up. They may have loved in the past and in the present, but they cannot expand in the future. The grandparents represent the past, the parents the present, and the children the future. The family is where these three can unite as one. (216-192, 1991.3.31)

Living for Others

3. In Creating the Universe, God Gave Everything for the Sake of His Creations

We love, because he first loved us.
    1 John 4.19
 
Heaven is eternal and Earth everlasting.
They can be eternal and everlasting because they do not exist for themselves,
And for this reason can exist forever.
Therefore the sage places himself in the background,
but finds himself in the foreground.
He puts himself away, and yet he always remains.
Is it not because he has no personal interests?
This is the reason why his personal interests are fulfilled.
    Tao Te Ching 7 (Taoism)
 
At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together. “Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires”: this is the promise of the Creator….

Do Not Think Selfishly that You Should Receive Love

A very happy Christmas to you and your family!

A Christmas blog by Andrew Derricutt.

The recordings of the Dividing Line; Ending the Culture that Causes Sexual Abuse workshop are now available.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1529

4. Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to build the universal fami-ly encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation, and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness, by centering on true love.

Pledge number four says, “Our family… pledges to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation, and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness, by centering on true love.” The phrase “our family … by centering on true love” signifies the same in every part of the Pledge. This is followed by the phrase, “to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation.” No matter how large a family is, it is still one family. When you pass on to the spirit world you will find yourself part of an extended family. The last part of this pledge is, “perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness.” It means that by building the universal extended family, we will realize a world in which universal freedom, universal peace, and universal happiness are present. (260-158, 1994.5.2)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1194

What is the ideology centered upon the Heavenly Parent? Firstly, centered on God, it is the restoration of the right of brotherhood. Secondly, it is the restoration of the right of the parent. Thirdly, it is the restoration of the right of kingship. In the democratic world, there is no real concept of king, is there? The democratic world is based on the concept of brotherhood. Everyone is seen from the horizontal viewpoint. That is the doctrine of brotherhood, but people in the world ruled by this doctrine fight with each other. They compete with each other, saying, this is mine and that is yours. Doesn’t democracy seem to be a concept of struggle? The ruling and opposing parties compete with each other. What is the purpose of this? They are each trying to gain the right of kingship. What is the position of a president? Isn’t it the right of kingship? Presidents come and go so they just exploit their position, so things don’t go well. If an absolute king emerged, there would be no problem. A world of absolute peace would then come. (205-172, 1990.9.1)

2. Serve Others without Demanding Anything in Return

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The blessing of all blessings is to give sacrificial love and service for the sake of others. (43:309, May 2, 1971)

Regardless of sex or age, everyone is longing for love. What kind of love? Love that is for the sake of others, not love that demands others love them. (211:206; December 30, 1990)

Do not think selfishly that you should receive love. A loving heart always seeks to sacrifice and yield to others, and after giving wants to give still more. That is God’s heart.
    For example, if I had one billion dollars and gave it all away to the poor on the streets, my mind would not be at ease. I would regret that I did not have more money to give away to help every human being in need. (133:180, July 10, 1984)

Continue reading “Do Not Think Selfishly that You Should Receive Love”

Goodness Must be Shared to Maintain It

A Christmas blog by Andrew Derricutt.

The recordings of the Dividing Line; Ending the Culture that Causes Sexual Abuse workshop are now available.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1691

According to evolutionary theory, amoebae developed into people. How complicated is development? Development is not about a being of a particular class adapting to its environment as it is. In order for a being to upgrade itself to a higher category, it needs to pass through the love process of plus and minus, that is, male and female. However, this reality is completely disregarded in evolutionary theory. Can a being first be a male, then develop into another male, and then develop into a female, and then another female, and so on? We develop and become higher-level beings only by passing through the gates of love, but evolutionists are oblivious to this fact. In order to evolve, one must pass through the gates of love. (208-235, 1990.11.20)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 482

I have heard that nowadays when brides on Cheju Island receive crop fields at the time of their marriage, they register the fields under their own name, so that they can claim their ownership in case they divorce their husband. This is quite a strange couple, isn’t it? These brides distinguish between their own money and their husband’s money, and also when they have money in their hand, they claim crisp bills as their own and the wrinkled up bills as the man’s… This is not love.
    They should open up the money purse and use the money. When one asks, “What happened to the money?” the other says, “I have used it.” Whereupon the one responds, “You have put it to a good use. Use more; that’s good.” This is how it should be. But if you say in anger, with quivering lips, “Oh no, you have spent more money!” then you are in error. You will be happy when you are able to give without limit, and able to give and take at any time as you please, whether in a deep place, in a low place, whether by night or by day. Hence, you will be miserable if you are unable to give even if you want to give, and unable to receive even if you want to receive. (Blessed Family – 880)

Living for Others

2. Serve Others without Demanding Anything in Return

Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and who-ever would be first among you must be your slave.”
    Matthew 20.25-27

Continue reading “Goodness Must be Shared to Maintain It”