Category: New Testament

Your Conscience Is the Agent of God Within You

1 John 3

11 From the beginning you were told that we must love each other. 12 Don’t be like Cain, who belonged to the devil and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? He did it because his brother was good, and he was evil. 13 My friends, don’t be surprised if the people of this world hate you. 14 Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don’t love each other, you are still under the power of death.

Esther 1

1 1-2 King Xerxes[a] of Persia lived in his capital city of Susa[b] and ruled one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia.[c] 3 During the third year of his rule, Xerxes gave a big dinner for all his officials and officers. The governors and leaders of the provinces were also invited, and even the commanders of the Persian and Median armies came. 4 For one hundred eighty days he showed off his wealth and spent a lot of money to impress his guests with the greatness of his kingdom.

5 King Xerxes soon gave another dinner and invited everyone in the city of Susa, no matter who they were. The eating and drinking lasted seven days in the beautiful palace gardens. 6 The area was decorated with blue and white cotton curtains tied back with purple linen cords that ran through silver rings fastened to marble columns. Couches of gold and silver rested on pavement that had all kinds of designs made from costly bright-colored stones and marble and mother-of-pearl.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Conscience and Inborn Goodness

2. Struggling with One’s Conscience

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

As he pursues his life’s course, a person must attend his own deep mind. This is an ironclad rule of Heaven. Heaven will punish a person who fails to follow his original mind’s order. (4:260, August 8, 1958)

A guilty conscience is evidence that you have broken the heavenly law. (17:36, November 6, 1966)

No one can help me be reconciled with my conscience; it is up to me, to each individual. For instance, if I wronged my brother, I would be ashamed to go near him. Even if he doesn’t know that I wronged him, my conscience already knows it. Because I feel pangs of conscience, I keep myself at a distance, feeling all the while that I should go to him and confess. That is how the principle of heaven and earth operates. Due to the Human Fall we were desensitized, but anyone whose sensitivity is keen and sharp already knows it. (400:382, January 11, 2003)

Every human being, throughout his life, has a most precious teacher within himself. Yet we do not treat this teacher well. We mistreat it, trample on it and abuse it. That teacher is the human conscience. Our conscience always gives us helpful words of advice, trying to connect us to true love. Like a parent, our conscience urges us to be good, unselfish people, and guides us to do the Will of God. But within each person there is also a rebel who always goes against the conscience. That rebel is the physical body.
The body tramples and abuses the conscience miserably. Knowing this, how can you continue to side with your body, the enemy of your conscience, as it weakens your character and damages your life?
Your conscience should be your constant internal teacher and parent, leading you to complete unity with the ultimate Parent of humankind, God. Your conscience is the agent of God within you. Do you think you should indulge and go along with your body, the enemy of the conscience? Or should you control and restrain your body and vindicate your conscience? Your body seeks only after carnal desire. It always seeks for comfort, and wants to take advantage of others. To conquer the realm of the body is an awesome responsibility, which every person must undertake. (201:208, April 10, 1990)

God is the great King of wisdom. He did not place the path to perfection in some far off place. Instead, He prepared it in the place that is nearest to us, the place that is most private and safe— your conscience.
Ladies and gentlemen, your conscience is your master. It is your teacher. It stands in the place of your parents. Your conscience is the first to know everything about you. Your conscience knows all your thoughts. It knows before your teacher, your parents or even God knows. Think how much advice your conscience gives you over your lifetime. Day and night, every time you have an evil thought, it scolds you, saying, “Hey you!” It never grows tired as it works constantly to pull you over rivers and mountains. The conscience always stands as the true master, protecting you and trying to help you. Yet, how often have you betrayed your own conscience? What should be done about your body, which has thoroughly mistreated this precious, irreplaceable teacher that the universe bequeathed to you? Do you intend to idle your life away, clinging to your physical body and enslaved by its desires while it continues to brutally trample your conscience? Don’t you realize that your conscience was given to you as the representative of your heavenly Parent, to enable you to inherit His original love? (May 1, 2004)

You say that you are people of good character. You are self-satisfied and believe that there is nothing wrong with your conscience. However, your conscience is asleep…
Let’s wake up our sleeping conscience. Let’s wake up the conscience of the nation that sleeps in ignorance of God’s heart. Let’s wake up the conscience of humanity around the world that sleeps in ignorance of God’s heart. Let’s wake up the conscience of people, who cannot avoid their fated encounter with the Last Days, that they might act in obedience to the Will of God who seeks to embrace heaven and earth and build one united world.
Is the religion we follow today capable of awakening humanity’s sleeping conscience? Do we have a philosophy that possesses such content? When the conscience is awakened, the shock, determination, and resolve that rush in must be so strong that in an instant it can properly rearrange everything in the world. It has no fear of the sword or of death. Who will dare to stand in the way of the power rising up from our conscience? No one can block it. (10:284, November 6, 1960)

The Self Is Under a Cover of Innumerable Illusions

Watch or listen to the Richard Urban Show:
Why Abstinence Matters-1: The Fall of Man

James 1

1 From James, a servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Greetings to the twelve tribes scattered all over the world.[a]

Faith and Wisdom

2 My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. 3 You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. 4 But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.

5 If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking. 6 But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. 7-8 If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect the Lord to give you anything at all.

1 Chronicles 16

19 At the time there were
only a few of us,
    and we were homeless.
20 We wandered from nation
to nation,
from one country
    to another.
21 God did not let anyone
    mistreat our people.
Instead he protected us
    by punishing rulers
22 and telling them,
“Don’t touch my chosen leaders
    or harm my prophets!”

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Conscience and Inborn Goodness

The conscience is a gleam of the divine within, prompting us to do good deeds and opposing our inclination to do evil. Buddhism describes this faculty as the “enlightening mind” or “Buddha nature” which can be uncovered through the eye of wisdom. Confucianism regards it as the heart of benevolence; this is illustrated by a well-known passage from Mencius about people’s spontaneous reactions to a child falling into a well. Islam likewise regards the human heart as inherently upright, and St. Paul wrote that the conscience allows even those unschooled in religion to distinguish right from wrong.
The conscience operates positively, encouraging self-betterment and the idealistic search for a better society. It also operates negatively, scolding and admonishing us for acting selfishly and hurting others. In this regard, Father Moon speaks of the conscience as a “precious teacher” that knows us better than our parents, our teachers, and even God. The conscience is God-given, enabling us to improve and ultimately realize our full purpose as God intended. It must constantly struggle, however, against the self-centered desires of the body.
It is possible to speak of a corrupted conscience, because although its essence is God-given, upbringing and education can affect its judgment. To indoctrinate the conscience with false judgments of right and wrong is indeed of the worst defilements of the human spirit. Yet there are levels of conscience. The more superficial level of conscience is relative, adhering to a person’s concept of truth. Yet at a deeper level is the Original Mind, which maintains a connection to the absolute God. Therefore, someone like Saul of Tarsus, who had persecuted Christians in good conscience, could be awakened to a higher vision of truth and change his direction in life to become St. Paul. This divine quality at the root of the conscience is the basis for Father Moon’s optimistic view that all human beings will ultimately be saved.

1. The Original Mind and Heart—Rooted in Goodness

Gentleness and goodness are the roots of
humanity.
Book of Ritual 38.18 (Confucianism)

Religion is basically virtue, which is grounded
ultimately in the spiritual nature of man.
Kundakunda, Pravacanasara 7 (Jainism)

Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 11
Luke 17.21

When Gentiles who have not the Law do by
nature what the Law requires, they are a law to
themselves, even though they do not have the
Law. They show that what the Law requires is
written on their hearts, while their conscience
also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts
accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day
when, according to my gospel, God judges the
secrets of men by Christ Jesus. 12
Romans 2.14-16

Wabisah ibn Ma`bad said, “I went to see the
Messenger of God and he said to me, ‘You want
to question me on the subject of virtue?’ ‘Yes,’ I
replied, and he went on, ‘Question your heart.
Virtue is that by which the soul enjoys repose
and the heart tranquility. Sin is what introduces
trouble into the soul and tumult into man’s
bosom—and this despite the religious advice
which men may give you.’ ”
40 Hadith of an-Nawawi 27 (Islam)

For him who… knows his own mind and sees
intuitively his own nature, he is a Hero, a
Teacher of gods and men, a Buddha.
Sutra of Hui Neng 1 (Buddhism)

Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your
eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but
when it is not sound, your body is full of dark-
ness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be
darkness. If then your whole body is full of light,
having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as
when a lamp with its rays gives you light.
Luke 11.34-36

The Purpose of the one true God, exalted be His
glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay
bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine
of their true and inmost selves.
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 132
(Baha’i Faith)

Every being has the Buddha Nature. This is
the self. Such a self is, since the very beginning,
under cover of innumerable illusions. That is
why a man cannot see it. O good man! There
was a poor woman who had gold hidden some-
where in her house, but no one knew where it
was. But there was a stranger who, by expedi-
ency, speaks to the poor woman, “I shall employ
you to weed the lawn.” The woman answered, “I
cannot do it now, but if you show my son where
the gold is hidden, I will work for you.” The man
says, “I know the way; I will show it to your son.”
The woman replies, “No one in my house, big or
small, knows where the gold is hidden. How can
you know?” The man then digs out the hidden
gold and shows it to the woman. She is glad,
and begins to respect him. O good man! The
same is the case with a man’s Buddha Nature.
No one can see it. It is like the gold which the
poor woman possessed and yet could not locate.
I now let people see the Buddha Nature which
they possess, but which was hidden by illusions.
The Tathagata shows all beings the storehouse
of enlightenment, which is the cask of true
gold—their Buddha Nature.
Mahaparinirvana Sutra 214-15:
Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Buddhism)

All men have this heart that, when they see
another man suffer, they suffer, too… A man
looks out; a child is about to fall into a well. No
matter who the man is, his heart will flip, flop,
and he will feel the child’s predicament; and not
because he expects to get something out of it
from the child’s parents, or because he wants
praise from his neighbors, associates, or friends,
or because he is afraid of a bad name, or any-
thing like that.
From this we can see that it is not human
not to have a heart that sympathizes with pain.
Likewise not to have a heart that is repelled by
vice: that is not human, either. Not to have a
heart that is willing to defer: that’s not human.
And not to have a heart that discriminates
between true and false is not human, either.
What is the foundation of natural human
feeling for others (jen)? The heart that
sympathizes with pain. What is the foundation
of a commitment to the common good (i)?
The heart that is repelled by vice. What is the
foundation of respect for social and religious
forms (li)? The heart that is willing to defer. And
what is the foundation for a liberal education
(chih)? The heart that can tell true from false.
People have these four foundations like
they have four limbs. A man who says he cannot
practice them is calling himself a criminal. A
man who says the ruler cannot practice that is
calling the ruler a criminal.
Everybody has these four foundations in
himself. If these four foundations can be filled in
on a broad scale, it will be like a fire starting up,
it will be like a spring bursting through. If they
can be filled in, it will be enough to create and
preserve the world order. Leave them unfilled, it
will be impossible for a man to take care of his
father and mother. 13
Mencius II.A.6 (Confucianism)

In Heaven and On Earth, I Alone Am the Honored One

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.

Richard: Here we see the importance of our Daily Study of Scripture. And in this age that is the Eight Sacred Textbooks.

Isaiah 39

39 Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, was now king of Babylonia. And when he learned that Hezekiah was well, he sent messengers with letters and a gift for him. 2 Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them all the silver, the gold, the spices, and the fine oils that were in his storehouse. He even showed them where he kept his weapons. Nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom was kept hidden from them.

3 I asked Hezekiah, “Where did these men come from? What did they want?”

“They came all the way from Babylonia,” Hezekiah answered.

4 “What did you show them?” I asked.

Hezekiah answered, “I showed them everything in my kingdom.”

5 Then I told Hezekiah:

I have a message for you from the Lord All-Powerful. 6 One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The Lord has promised that nothing will be left. 7 Some of your own sons will be taken to Babylonia, where they will be disgraced and made to serve in the king’s palace.

8 Hezekiah thought, “At least our nation will be at peace for a while.” So he told me, “The message you brought from the Lord is good.”

Richard: Wow! This is a very interesting passage. The King was very trusting and vain. But perhaps he should have looked at the long term picture and the fact that the Babylonians, even though friendly now, were not centered on God, but on other nefarious or demonic goals. Much of what passes for discurse today comports with a standard that is not centered on God’s Word. See theRheama above.

Commentary from the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. Hear the word of the Lord] Isaiah’s tone is threatening, because he sees in this thing a sin against Jehovah. It was not necessary to specify wherein the offence consisted; king and prophet understood each other perfectly. The reception of an embassy from the sworn enemy of the king of Assyria was in itself an act of rebellion likely to precipitate a conflict which Isaiah strove to avert; and the childish vanity displayed by Hezekiah, his pride in earthly resources, and his readiness to enter into friendly relations with the powers of this world, were tendencies against which Isaiah’s ministry had been a continuous protest. All these tendencies sprang from a single root, the lack of that absolute faith in Jehovah as the all-sufficient guide and protector of the nation which was the fundamental article of Isaiah’s political programme.

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/isaiah/39-5.htm

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Value of Human Life

2. A Human Being Has the Value of the Universe

In heaven and on earth, I alone am the Honored
One.
Ch’ang A-han Ching (Buddhism)

When I look at Thy heavens, the work of Thy
fingers,
the moon and the stars which Thou hast
established;
What is man that Thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that Thou dost care for
him?
Yet Thou hast made him little less than God,
and dost crown him with glory and honor.
Psalm 8.3-5

Surely We have honored the children of Adam,
and We carry them on land and sea, and We
provide them with good things, and We make
them to excel highly most of those whom We
have created.
Qur’an 17.70

The whole world was created only for the sake
of the righteous man. He weighs as much as the
whole world. The whole world was created only
to be united to him.
Talmud, Shabbat 30b (Judaism)

We prescribed for the Children of Israel that
whoever kills a human being, except to retaliate
for manslaughter or for corruption done in the
land, it shall be as if he had killed all of human-
kind; and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be
as if he had saved the lives of all humankind.
Qur’an 5.32

Only one single man [Adam] was created in
the world, to teach that, if any man has caused
a single soul to perish, Scripture imputes it to
him as though he had caused the whole world to
perish, and if any man saves alive a single soul,
Scripture imputes it to him as though he had
saved the whole world.
Also, man [was created singly] to show the
greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, for if
a man strikes many coins from one mold, they
all resemble one another, but the King of Kings,
the Holy One, made each man in the image of
Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his
fellow. Therefore every single person is obligated
to say, “The world was created for my sake.”
Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4.5 (Judaism)

Teachings of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon

An individual human being is more precious than the universe. Each person’s value is infinite, because he or she is created as God’s partner of love. (262:145, July 23, 1994)

One human being, although seemingly an insignificant individual, has the potential to represent all of human history and all relationships with the future. Therefore, he or she has cosmic value. (4:268, August 3, 1958)

What value does God bestow on human beings? God created us to be His partners of love. Therefore, human beings are meant to share God’s absolute, unique value. Yet people are ignorant of this amazing truth. These days, what is a human life worth? Yet, God created men and women as His partners of love, with a precious value that cannot be exchanged even for the whole universe! (142:143, March 8, 1986)

Even God cannot have true love, peace and happiness, or attain His ideal, apart from His object partners. What would be the use of peace or happiness to God if He were alone?… Please understand that each of you is indispensable for completing God’s true love, God’s peace, God’s happiness and God’s ideal. We have been unaware of our value. When you experience your precious, awesome and lofty value, which can bring love, peace, happiness and the ideal even to God, you can praise yourself and feel reverence for yourself. (77:314, April 30, 1975)

When you marry, you want your spouse to be better than you. You hope that your sons and daughters will marry spouses who are better than them. Whose trait does this resemble? It is God’s! Heavenly Father wishes for His partners and objects of love to be better than Him. Can we deny this? Human value is supreme. From the viewpoint of love, it can be even greater than God!
For this reason, your mind desires what is highest. This is not inconceivable. All human beings could have attained this value, had there been no fall. Dwelling in that supreme, heavenly state, they were to manage and lead the universe. (211:272, December 30, 1990)

Every human being possesses a unique individuality. No matter how many billions of people are born on the earth, no two will ever have exactly the same personality. Each person is God’s substantial object partner who manifests a distinctive aspect of God’s dual characteristics. Hence, that person is the only one in the entire universe who can stimulate that distinctive aspect of God’s nature to bring Him joy. Every person who has completed the purpose of creation is thus a unique existence in the cosmos. We can thus affirm the Buddha’s saying, “In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one.” (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Christology 1)

Above and below, front and rear, and right and left—everyone is related to me. These relationships are not temporary but life-long. They extend from the beginning of human history, and connect me to my posterity thousands of generations into the future. If I were to be broken, my relationship with God would also be broken. My family would be damaged, as would my clan and the whole world. That is why I am a microcosm, representing heaven and earth.
My heart desires to embrace Heaven, and my body to possess the earth. I want to be enraptured by the heart of the Sovereign Lord. I want to be His representative, who cannot be defeated by anyone or anything in heaven and earth. If I deeply analyze myself in the context of these relationships, I can understand that I am the greatest being, with infinite value. (8:10-11, October 25, 1959)

The question, however, is whether we are in a condition to receive the value that God intends to give. If we were beautiful both internally and externally, we would illuminate heaven and earth like a diamond or a brilliant gem. (352:25-26, September 16, 2001)

Can We Say “Father, Thy Sorrow is My Sorrow”

John 20

20 On Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran to Simon Peter and to Jesus’ favorite disciple and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him.”

Psalm 68

28 Our God, show your strength!
    Show us once again.
29 Then kings will bring gifts
    to your temple
    in Jerusalem.[e]

30 Punish that animal
    that lives in the swamp!
Punish that nation
    whose leaders and people
    are like wild bulls.
Make them come crawling
    with gifts of silver.
    Scatter those nations
    that enjoy making war.
31 Force the Egyptians to bring
    gifts of bronze;
    make the Ethiopians hurry
    to offer presents.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Purpose of Human Life

Sons and Daughters of God

2. Recovering the Dignity of Sons and Daughters of God

Sons have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
Isaiah 1.2

The Rock, his work is perfect;
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and right is he.
They have dealt corruptly with him,
they are no longer his children because of their
blemish;
they are a perverse and crooked generation.
Do you thus requite the l ord ,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your Father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
Deuteronomy 32.4-6

We are all as the Buddha’s sons. The Buddha
has always declared that we are his sons. But
because of the three sufferings, in the midst
of births-and-deaths we have borne all kinds
of torments, being deluded and ignorant and
enjoying our attachment to trifles. Today the
World-honored One has caused us to ponder
over and remove the dirt of all diverting discus-
sions of inferior things. In these we have hith-
erto been diligent to make progress and have
got, as it were, a day’s pay for our effort to reach
Nirvana. Obtaining this, we greatly rejoiced and
were contented… but still we did not perceive
that we are really Buddha’s sons.
Lotus Sutra 4 (Buddhism)

For since in prayer we call God our Father, it is
our duty always to deport and demean ourselves
as godly children, that He may not receive
shame, but honor and praise from us.
Martin Luther, The Large Catechism (Christianity)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The original relationship between God and human beings is that of eternal Parent and child. Restoration, therefore, means recovering that relationship. (316:236, February 13, 2000)

Since God is the King of faith, He seeks a prince of faith, and since He is the King of love, He looks for a prince of love. (Way of God’s Will 2.2)

In relating to God, we should follow the way of children of filial piety. God is serious about the world situation. Is there someone who, with even greater seriousness, is desperate to experience God’s heart, and who forgets himself and spends sleepless nights in the struggle to become God’s child? This is what the question comes down to. (62:35, September 10, 1972)

God is your Father and you are your Father’s daughters. How much God has longed to embrace His daughters in His bosom? For that reason, you should become God’s filial daughters… If each of you becomes a filial daughter, all your family members will follow suit. By the same token, the entire nation, world and cosmos will unite with you. You will become God’s number one victorious daughter, a saint to the world, a holy daughter to the cosmos. That is how you become a mistress in the realm of the royal family. (293:208, May 26, 1998)

Mayest we become Thy simple and pure children who can penetrate to Thy heart of longing and love which desires to embrace us… Father! Although we called Thee “Father,” our voice did not flow out of a sincere mind and heart springing forth from our flesh and bones. There was never a time when we could rush to Thee and cling to Thee out of such an emotion. (20:199, June 9, 1968)

Only after climbing over hills of sorrow,
hills of suffering and hills of resentment…
can we hold on to Thy heart and say:
“Father, Thy sorrow is my sorrow,
thy suffering is my suffering, and Thy troubles are my troubles.
Please entrust all Thy suffering to me,
while Thou dost dwell in joy.” (4:294, September 14, 1958)

May Some Holy Aspiration Enter Our Hearts

Luke 4

31 Jesus went to the town of Capernaum in Galilee and taught the people on the Sabbath. 32 His teaching amazed them because he spoke with power. 33 There in the Jewish meeting place was a man with an evil spirit. He yelled out, 34 “Hey, Jesus of Nazareth, what do you want with us? Are you here to get rid of us? I know who you are! You are God’s Holy One.”

35 Jesus ordered the evil spirit to be quiet and come out. The demon threw the man to the ground in front of everyone and left without harming him.

36 They all were amazed and kept saying to each other, “What kind of teaching is this? He has power to order evil spirits out of people!” 37 News about Jesus spread all over that part of the country.

1 Chronicles 25

4 Heman had fourteen sons: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. 5 Heman was one of the king’s prophets, and God honored Heman by giving him fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 His sons were under his direction and played cymbals, harps, and other stringed instruments during times of worship at the temple.

Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman took their orders directly from the king.

7 There were two hundred eighty-eight of these men, and all of them were skilled musicians. 8 David assigned them their duties by asking the Lord what he wanted.[b] Everyone was responsible for something, whether young or old, teacher or student.

9-31 The musicians were divided into twenty-four groups of twelve, and each group went by the name of their family leader. They were assigned their duties in the following order: Joseph, Gedaliah, Zaccur, Zeri, Nethaniah, Bukkiah, Asarelah, Jeshaiah, Mattaniah, Shimei, Uzziel, Hashabiah, Shebuel, Mattithiah, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Joshbekashah, Hanani, Mallothi, Eliathah, Hothir, Giddalti, Mahazioth, and Romamtiezer.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Purpose of Human Life

Sons and Daughters of God

Jewish and Christian scriptures call God our “heavenly Father”; this insight can be found in most of the world’s faiths. Therefore, human beings are supposed to be God’s sons and daughters. How genuine that Parent-child relationship can be is the subject of the passages in this section. Father Moon teaches that the depth and emotive power of our relationship with God should be even greater than the filial affection and obligation we feel toward our physical parents who gave us birth. The notion that a human being can and should share God’s heart, God’s situation, and God’s sense of responsibility for the world in the same way that a filial son carries burdens for his aging father—what profound implications this can have for our life with God!

1. Our Birthright as God’s Sons and Daughters

You are the children of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 14.1

For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of
God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear, but you have received the
spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”
it is the Spirit himself bearing witness that we
are the children of God, and if children, then
heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
provided that we suffer with him in order that
we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8.14-17

Anas and ‘Abdullah reported God’s Messenger
as saying, “All [human] creatures are God’s chil-
dren, and those dearest to God are those who
treat His children kindly.”
Hadith of Baihaqi (Islam)

We are the children of our Maker
And do not fear that He will kill us.
We are the children of God
And do not fear that He will kill.
Dinka Prayer (African Traditional Religions)

See what love the Father has given us, that we
should be called children of God; and so we
are.
1 John 3.1

Let the children come to me, and do not hinder
them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the
kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Luke 18.16-17

I say, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you.
Psalm 82.6

May the words of the prophet Asaph apply—
“Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the
most High,”—lest we, abusing the Father’s most
indulgent generosity, render that unfettered
choice which He gave us harmful rather than
beneficial. May some holy aspiration enter our
hearts, so that we are not content with middling
things, but pant for the highest and strain to
achieve them, since we can if we will.
Pico della Mirandola, On the Dignity of Man
(Christianity)