Category: 1 Corinthians

It Is the Most Blameworthy Ignorance to Believe that One Knows What One Does Not Know

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1 Corinthians 16

9 Greetings from the churches in Asia.

Aquila and Priscilla, together with the church that meets in their house, send greetings in the name of the Lord.

20 All of the Lord’s followers send their greetings.

Give each other a warm greeting.

Richard: House churches, or as Rev. Moon calls them, Home Churches should greet each other and work together. A Home Church is not just a particular house but 360 contiguous homes that are ministered to. Those who are doing community ministry are welcome to join the Tribal Messiah Association.

Isaiah 66

22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth
    which I will make
shall remain before me, says the Lord;
    so shall your descendants and your name remain.
23 From new moon to new moon,
    and from sabbath to sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says the Lord.

Life After Death and the Spirit World

The Spirit World

What is the spirit World? invisible to earthly eyes, it is not easily fathomed, yet it is a vital part of our existence and a place to which we will all journey one day. Father Moon teaches that knowing about the spirit world is second in importance only to knowing God. three definite notions about the spirit world are represented here: First, knowing the spirit world is essential to finding and keeping the proper direction in our earthly life. second, the spirit world corresponds by analogy to the earthly world. it maintains the quality of life and love cultivated on earth. its harmony or lack of harmony is the result of the love, or lack of love, of its citizens, who cultivated various tendencies and prejudices while on earth. third, the spirit world is composed of a multiplicity of societies and realms—though today these are in the process of being unified into one universal heaven

1. The Spirit World Corresponds to the Physical World

I [Paul] know a man in Christ who fourteen
years ago was caught up to the third heaven—
whether in the body or out of the body I do not
know, God knows. And I know that this man
was caught up into Paradise—whether in the
body or out of the body I do not know, God
knows—and he heard things that cannot be
told, which man may not utter.
2 Corinthians 12.2-4

No one in heaven or on the earth knows the
Unseen save God; and they know not when they
will be raised. Does [human] knowledge extend
to the Hereafter? No, for they are in doubt con-
cerning it. No, for they cannot see it.
Qur’an 27.65-66

To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to
think oneself wise when one is not, to think one
knows what one does not know. No one knows
whether death may not be the greatest of all
blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they
knew that it is the greatest of evils. And surely
it is the most blameworthy ignorance to believe
that one knows what one does not know.
Socrates, in Plato, Apology 29 (Hellenism)

God created the seven heavens in harmony.
Qur’an 71.15

What is here [the phenomenal world], the same
is there [in Brahman]; and what is there, the
same is here.
Katha Upanishad 2.1.10 (Hinduism)

Thou who exists beyond the wide firmament,
mighty in Thine own splendor and strong of
mind,
hast made, for our help, the earth a replica of
Thy glory.
Rig Veda 1.52.12 (Hinduism)

We have such a high priest, one who is seated
at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in
heaven, a minister in the sanctuary and the true
tabernacle which is set up not by man but by the
Lord… There are priests who offer gifts accord-
ing to the law. They serve a copy and shadow
of the heavenly sanctuary; for when Moses was
about to erect the tabernacle, he was instructed
by God, saying, “See that you make everything
according to the pattern which was shown to
you on the mountain.”
Hebrews 8.1-5

The system of Change is tantamount to Heaven
and Earth, and therefore can always handle and
adjust the way of Heaven and Earth. Looking
up, we observe the pattern of the heavens; look-
ing down, we examine the order of the earth.
Thus we know the causes of what is hidden and
what is manifest. If we investigate the cycle of
things, we shall understand the concepts of life
and death.
Essence and material force are combined
to become things. The wandering away of Spirit
becomes change. From this we know that the
characteristics and conditions of spiritual beings
are similar to those of Heaven and Earth and
therefore there is no disagreement between
them. The knowledge [of Spirit] embraces all
things and its way helps all under heaven, and
therefore there is no mistake. It operates freely
and does not go off course. It rejoices in Nature
and understands destiny. Therefore there is
no worry. As [things] are contented in their
stations and earnest in practicing kindness,
there can be love. It molds and encompasses all
transformations of Heaven and Earth without
mistake, and it stoops to bring things into
completion without missing any.
I Ching, Great Commentary 1.4.1-4 (Confucianism)


The End Aim Should Be God’s Glory and the Recreation of the Mind

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1 Corinthians 16

19 Greetings from the churches in Asia.

Aquila and Priscilla, together with the church that meets in their house, send greetings in the name of the Lord.

Isaiah 61
21 Your people will live right
    and always own the land;
they are the trees I planted
    to bring praise to me.
22 Even the smallest family
    will be a powerful nation.
I am the Lord,
and when the time comes,
    I will quickly do all this.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Creativity and Art

Artists, scientists and inventors take after the creativity of God. The universe was created beginning with an idea in the divine Mind, followed by the expenditure of energy to make that idea a reality. Likewise, artists and scientists give all their heart and effort to create a new existence that manifests the images and thoughts in their mind.
This section focuses on the arts, and so includes alongside scripture some selected passages from famous artists reflecting on the meaning of their art. Yet, creativity is not the sole possession of these elite personages; we find creativity in the athlete who plays exuberantly for the love of sport, in the merchant who finds better ways to market his wares, and in children as they dance and sing. Father Moon, who has established ballet companies and art schools and who himself loves to sing duets with his wife, is cognizant of the role the arts can play in creating a God-centered culture.
Topics include: art as harmony of opposites, art’s emotional core and emotional power; the muse, or spirituality of art; and the problem of art and values.

1. The Spirituality of Art

All art is concerned with coming into being.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 6.4 (Hellenism)

Life is art.
The whole life of man is Self-Expression.
The individual is an expression of God.
We suffer if we do not express ourselves.
Precepts 1-4 (Perfect Liberty Kyodan)

We composers are projectors of the infinite into
the finite.
Edvard Grieg

The sole and end aim of figured bass should be
Nothing else than God’s glory and the recreation
of the mind.
Johann Sebastian Bach

True art is made noble and religious by the
mind producing it… the endeavor to create
something perfect; for God is perfection, and
whoever strives after perfection is striving for
something divine.
Michelangelo

Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody to the Lord with all your heart.
Ephesians 5.18-19

And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon
Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his
hand; so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and
the evil spirit departed from him.
1 Samuel 16.23

Men can be evil—more evil than their animal
brothers can ever be—but they can also rise
in the ecstasy of creation. The cathedrals of
England stand as monuments to man’s worship
of what is above himself.
One does feel proud to belong to the human
race when one sees the wonderful things human
beings have fashioned with their hands. They
have been creators—they must share a little the
holiness of the Creator, who made the world
and all that was in it, and saw that it was good.
But He left more to be made.
Agatha Cristie

In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge
ignorance;
in poetry wisdom, and in speech weariness.
Hadith of Abu Dawud (Islam)

If I create from the heart, nearly everything
works; if from the head, almost nothing.
Marc Chagall

Let our artists be those who are gifted to discern
the true nature of the beautiful and graceful; then
will our youth dwell in a land of health, amid fair
sights and sounds, and receive the good in every-
thing; and beauty, the effluence of fair works,
shall flow into the eye and ear, like a health-giv-
ing breeze from a purer region, and insensibly
draw the soul from earliest years into likeness and
sympathy with the beauty of reason.
Musical training is a more potent instrument
than any other, because rhythm and harmony
find their way into the inward places of the
soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting
grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly
educated graceful.
Plato, The Republic (Hellenism)

Nature Has Much to Teach Us

I Corinthians 12

12 My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. 2 I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. 3 Now I want you to know that if you are led by God’s Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.

Daniel 5

8 All of King Belshazzar’s highest officials came in, but not one of them could read the writing or tell what it meant, 9 and they were completely puzzled. Now the king was more afraid than ever before, and his face turned white as a ghost.

Richard: When you know God with certainty, there is no need to live in fear.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Nature as Teacher

Nature has much to teach us. From ants industriously storing food to birds sweetly calling for their mates, observing the ways of nature’s creatures provides lessons about the basic morality of life. cultivating the earth and caring for animals teaches about patience, sacrifice, and God’s dependable grace when the harvest yields its abundance. Father Moon teaches that through plants and animals God provided even the earliest humans with sufficient instruction to live a life of love and value.

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
or the plants of the earth, and they will teach
you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the l ord has done this?
Job 12.7-9

After the sacred volumes of God and the
Scriptures, study, in the second place, that great
volume of the works and the creatures of God.
Francis Bacon 5

Have you considered the soil you till?
Do you yourselves sow it, or are We the
Sowers?
Did We will, We would make it broken orts,
and you will remain bitterly jesting—
“We are debt-loaded; nay, we have been
robbed.”
Have you considered the water you drink?
Did you send it down from the clouds, or did
We send it?
Did We will, We would make it bitter; so why
are you not thankful?
Have you considered the fire you kindle?
Did you make its timber to grow, or did We
make it?
We ourselves made it for a reminder,
and a boon to the desert-dwellers.
Qur’an 56.63-73

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12.24

Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord ;
his going forth is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.
Hosea 6.3

Heaven Allows Evil Spirits to Torment Us as Punishment for Sin

1 Corinthians 16

13 Keep alert. Be firm in your faith. Stay brave and strong. 14 Show love in everything you do.

Jeremiah 34

-10 King Zedekiah, his officials, and everyone else in Jerusalem made an agreement to free all Hebrew men and women who were slaves. No Jew would keep another as a slave. And so, all the Jewish slaves were given their freedom.

11 But those slave owners changed their minds and forced their former slaves back into slavery.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

Chapter 6
Resurrection

THE PROVIDENCE OF RESURRECTION

2.1 HOW DOES GOD CARRY OUT HIS WORK OF RESURRECTION?

 Resurrection means the process through which a fallen person is restored to the original state as intended by God. The providence of resurrection thus means the providence of restoration. Since the providence of restoration is God’s work of re-creation, resurrection is a work of re-creation. Thus, the providence of resurrection is carried out in accordance with the Principle of Creation, in the following manner.

 The merit of the age in the providence of restoration has increased in proportion to the foundation of heart laid by the prophets, sages and righteous people who came before us. Therefore, resurrection is carried out based on the merit of the age. Second, according to the Principle of Creation, in conducting the providence of resurrection, God’s responsibility is to give us His Word and guidance, and our responsibility is to believe and practice it in order to fulfill the providence. Third, according to the Principle of Creation, the resurrection of a spirit can be achieved only through earthly life. Fourth, according to the Principle of Creation, the providence of resurrection for fallen people is also to be completed through three ordered stages, manifested as three ages in the providence of restoration.

2.2 THE PROVIDENCE OF RESURRECTION FOR PEOPLE ON EARTH

2.2.1 THE PROVIDENCE TO LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR RESURRECTION

The two thousand years from Adam to Abraham resulted in the establishment of the foundation upon which God could begin His providence of resurrection in the following age. For this reason, we may call this period the age of the providence to lay the foundation for resurrection.

2.2.2 THE PROVIDENCE OF FORMATION-STAGE RESURRECTION

During the two thousand years from Abraham to Jesus, God worked to raise people to the formation stage of resurrection. Hence, this era may be called the age of the providence of formation-stage resurrection. This era has been called the age of justification by works. The people of this era who practiced the Law in their daily life were resurrected in spirit to the formation stage and became form spirits.

2.2.3 THE PROVIDENCE OF GROWTH-STAGE RESURRECTION

 Due to the crucifixion of Jesus, resurrection was left incomplete, and its completion has been delayed until the time of his return. The two thousand years since then have been a time of prolongation, during which God has worked the providence to resurrect people to the growth stage through spiritual salvation. Hence, this era may be called the age of the providence of growth-stage resurrection. This era has been called the age of justification by faith. Upon their death, those who became life spirits while on earth enter and abide in Paradise, the life-spirit level of the spirit world.

2.2.4 THE PROVIDENCE OF COMPLETION-STAGE RESURRECTION

 The era when people are to be resurrected both spiritually and physically through the returning Christ and complete the providence of resurrection is called the age of the providence of completion-stage resurrection. Christ at the Second Advent brings the new truth. This era is called the age of justification by attendance. When they shed their physical bodies, as spirits they will enter and abide in the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven, which is the divine-spirit level of the spirit world.

2.3 THE PROVIDENCE OF RESURRECTION FOR SPIRITS

2.3.1 THE PURPOSE AND THE WAY OF RETURNING RESURRECTION

The spirits of people who died before they could reach perfection during their earthly life can be resurrected only by returning to earth and completing their unaccomplished responsibility through cooperation with earthly people. By assisting people of faith living on the earth to fulfill their missions, the spirits may complete their missions at the same time.

2.3.2 THE RETURNING RESURRECTION OF THE SPIRITS OF ISRAELITES AND CHRISTIANS

2.3.2.1 GROWTH-STAGE RETURNING RESURRECTION Spirits of those who kept the Mosaic Law and worshipped God sincerely while living on earth during the Old Testament Age came to abide at the form-spirit level of the spirit world. After the advent of Jesus, these spirits all returned to earth and assisted faithful people on earth to accomplish the Will of God. By thus helping the people to attain the level of life spirit, they too received the same benefit: namely, they became life spirits and entered Paradise. We call this dispensation growth-stage returning resurrection.

2.3.2.2 COMPLETION-STAGE RETURNING RESURRECTION

 The spirits of people who believed in Jesus while they lived on earth during the New Testament Age became life spirits and entered Paradise after death. After the Second Advent, these spirits will all return to the earth to help faithful people believe in and attend the returning Christ. By thus helping people on earth to attain the level of divine spirit, they too will receive the same benefit and become divine spirits. When the earthly saints pass over to the next world and enter the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven, the returning spirits will also enter the Kingdom. This dispensation is called completion-stage returning resurrection.

 2.3.3 THE RETURNING RESURRECTION OF SPIRITS WHO ABIDE OUTSIDE PARADISE

 First, let us examine the returning resurrection of spirits who believed in religions other than Christianity during their lifetime. A spirit who returns to the earth for his resurrection seeks a counterpart among the earthly people of the religion in which he believed during his earthly life. A spirit descends to the person of his choice and guides him. When he helps that person fulfill the purpose of the providence of restoration, they both receive the same benefit. Second, let us examine the returning resurrection of spirits who lived a conscientious life even though they did not believe in a religion. These good spirits descend to good people on earth and cooperate with them in order to help them fulfill the purpose of God’s providence of restoration. In the process, the spirits receive the same benefits as the people they have helped. Third, let us examine the returning resurrection of evil spirits.

 The works of evil spirits do not always bear fruit and result in their receiving the benefit of returning resurrection. To receive such benefit, their works must have the effect of punishing earthly people, thereby enlisting their help in making indemnity conditions in accordance with God’s plan to cleanse evil spirits through punishment. [Blue Part] How, then, can the works of evil spirits result in casting judgment on behalf of Heaven? Let us take an example. Suppose there is a person living on earth who, based on the merit of the age, is about to graduate from his current sphere of benefit to a higher sphere of benefit. He cannot graduate to the new sphere of benefit unless he first makes some condition of indemnity to remove the sins of the past. In the case of graduating from the family sphere to the clan sphere, a person must pay the debt of sin both for himself and for the ancestors of his clan. Heaven allows evil spirits to torment him as punishment for this sin. If he willingly endures the suffering given by the evil spirits and overcomes it, he will have successfully paid the indemnity through this condition and thus be entitled to enter the higher sphere of benefit at the clan level. The evil spirits who have tormented him receive a corresponding benefit [End Blue Part]

View slides 22 to 44 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p1-CHAPT-5-Resurrection_revised-4-28-2014

Has Christ Been Divided Up?

1 Corinthians 10

10 My dear friends, as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you to get along with each other. Don’t take sides. Always try to agree in what you think. 11 Several people from Chloe’s family[a] have already reported to me that you keep arguing with each other. 12 They have said that some of you claim to follow me, while others claim to follow Apollos or Peter[b] or Christ.

13 Has Christ been divided up? Was I nailed to a cross for you? Were you baptized in my name? 14 I thank God[c] that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15 Not one of you can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize the family[d] of Stephanas, but I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else. 17 Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the good news without using big words that would make the cross of Christ lose its power.

Richard: People of good will should focus on the commonality of the message of Christ at the Second Advent: follow your conscience centered on the Eight Sacred Textbooks and promote and spread the good news about the message of absolutely good sexual ethics and the Holy Wedding Blessing Ceremony.

Amos 9

If they escape to the peaks
of Mount Carmel,
    I’ll search and find them.
And if they hide from me
    at the bottom of the ocean,
I’ll command a sea monster
    to bite them.
4 I’ll send a sword to kill them,
wherever their enemies
    drag them off as captives.
I’m determined to hurt them,
    not to help them.”

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

Chapter 3

Eschatology and Human History

We dwell in ignorance of history, uncertain about its origin, the
direction in which it is heading, and its final destination. To address this issue, we should first understand such fundamental matters as the purpose of God’s creation, the meaning of the human Fall, and the goal of the providence of restoration.
THE COMPLETION OF GOD’S PURPOSE OF CREATION AND THE HUMAN FALL

1.1 THE COMPLETION OF GOD’S PURPOSE OF CREATION
Human beings are endowed with emotional sensitivity to the Heart of God, intuition and reason to comprehend
His Will, and the requisite abilities to practice it. A person who relates
with God in this manner will attain perfection of his individual character. Had Adam and Eve reached perfection, being thereafter insusceptible to sin, they would have borne good children and founded a sin less family and society in complete concordance with God’s blessings. They would have founded the Kingdom of Heaven, which consists of one great family with the same parents. God gave us the mandate to have dominion over all things. Hence, to realize the ideal of creation, people of perfected character
should advance science, harness the natural world, and create an
extremely pleasant social and living environment. This will be the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth. God’s primary purpose of
creation is to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
1.2 CONSEQUENCES OF THE HUMAN FALL
Due to the Fall, human beings could not
become temples of God; instead, they united with Satan and became
his dwelling places. They failed to cultivate the divine nature; instead,
they acquired an evil nature. People with evil nature have propagated
evil through their children, constituting evil families, evil societies and
an evil world. This is the hell on earth in which we have been living. We have not built the Kingdom of God, but instead established the sovereignty of Satan.

GOD’S WORK OF SALVATION

2.1 GOD’S WORK OF SALVATION IS THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
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 pres-
ent 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. to save a person suffering under the yoke of sin means to restore him to his original, sinless state. In other words, God’s work of salvation is the providence of restoration.
2.2 THE GOAL OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
What is the goal of the providence of restoration? It is the estab-
lishment of the Kingdom of Heaven, which in its totality is God’s good
object partner and the fulfillment of His purpose of creation.
2.3 HUMAN HISTORY IS THE HISTORY
OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
Human history can be seen as the history of the providence
through which God has been trying to save fallen people and work
through them to restore the original, good world.

View slides 1 to 20 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p1-CHAPT-3-Escatology_revised-4-28-2014