Category: New Testament

Heavenly Fortune Rejects Those Who Live for Their Own Sake

Watch or listen to the latest Richard Urban Show: What is the Black Lives Matter Ideology?: https://www.visionroot.org/2020/06/19/what-is-the-black-lives-matter-ideology/ .

Join us for the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn materials that teach about the physical, intellectual, emotional and long term benefits of sexual abstinence before marriage. Learn about setting up a Chapter of Urban Life Training to teach this material to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

Philemon 1

1 From Paul, who is in jail for serving Christ Jesus, and from Timothy, who is like a brother because of our faith.

Philemon, you work with us and are very dear to us. This letter is to you 2 and to the church that meets in your home. It is also to our dear friend Apphia and to Archippus, who serves the Lord as we do.

3 I pray that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

Lamentations 1

15 You, Lord, have turned back
my warriors
and crushed
    my young heroes.
Judah was a woman untouched,
but you let her be trampled
    like grapes in a wine pit.
16 Because of this, I mourn,
    and tears flood my eyes.
No one is here to comfort
    or to encourage me;
we have lost the war—
    my people are suffering.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Interdependence

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In the universe, everything is linked and related, from the minutest things to the largest. (16:119, January 2, 1966)

Every existence is linked to another through dual purposes. One purpose pertains to internal character and the other to external form. The purpose pertaining to internal character is for the whole, while the purpose pertaining to external form is for the individual. These relate to each other as cause and effect, internal and external, and subject and object. Therefore, there cannot be any purpose of the individual apart from the purpose of the whole, nor any purpose of the whole that does not include the purpose of the individual. All the creatures in the entire universe form a vast complex linked together by these dual purposes. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 1.3.1)

When all beings in the whole universe, with subject and object partners well adjusted to each other, are linked to one another in harmony for a common purpose, there is completion and perfection. The universe is a balanced whole composed of reciprocal relationships, large and small. Without reciprocal relationships, nothing can exist. Anything that ceases to relate becomes extinct. (391:174, August 21, 2002)

Heavenly fortune rejects those who live for their own sake and embraces those who live for the sake of others. It is like a person who is nearly blind suddenly seeing with 20-20 vision; his eyes exclaim for joy: “Wow! We can see everything very clearly!” Through Heaven’s power we are connected to the entire universe and can see all for eternity. This power penetrates everything infinitely; hence our scope of action expands infinitely… By living for the sake of others, we can make relationships with everything. (244:107, January 31, 1993)

In the human body, the eye looks very simple, but it is actually complex. Each cell that makes up the eye is complex as well. All the organs are complex, but in living together as a single organism, they do not conflict with each other. Instead, they function together interdependently. No part of the body can say that it likes only the hand and does not like the eye. Each organ has its lawful place, and each accommodates itself to the limitations of its position and rank, relating to the others front and back, left and right, and above and below. That is the only way it can function; there is no other way. (49:193, October 10, 1971)

Each human being is like a cell. They do not exist separately, each doing their own thing. Rather, they come together and form a whole, creating an axis. Then humankind can enter into a partnership with God, the Center of the whole. The force of love flowing in this partnership motivates them to pursue a common objective. Cause and effect correspond to each other and fulfill their purpose. When the cause and effect are thus united, God and the whole of humankind manifest their value and complete their one common purpose. (110:73, November 9, 1980)

The supreme element that we human beings pursue is love. Therefore, we should make it so the give and take of love proceeds smoothly. The universe should be linked by one axis, formed when each person centers on his or her subject partner. Then, just like an electrical circuit, everything can engage in good give and take action through the axis. It is similar to a tree whose parts engage in give and take action centering on the trunk. Through that axis, every cell, from the bottommost tip of the central root to the terminal bud at the very top, relate to each other continually. If that give and take action is good, the tree will grow; if not, the root will shrivel and the whole tree will decline. (165:177, May 20, 1987)

We Must Successfully Resolve the Question of the Dialectic

Join us for the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn materials that teach about the physical, intellectual, emotional and long term benefits of sexual abstinence before marriage. Learn about setting up a Chapter of Urban Life Training to teach this material to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

Acts 9

11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the house of Judas on Straight Street. When you get there, you will find a man named Saul from the city of Tarsus. Saul is praying, 12 and he has seen a vision. He saw a man named Ananias coming to him and putting his hands on him, so that he could see again.”

Ezra 8

21 Beside the Ahava River,[i] I[j] asked the people to go without eating[k] and to pray. We humbled ourselves and asked God to bring us and our children safely to Jerusalem with all of our possessions. 22 I was ashamed to ask the king to send soldiers and cavalry to protect us against enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king that our God takes care of everyone who truly worships him, but that he gets very angry and punishes anyone who refuses to obey. 23 So we went without food and asked God himself to protect us, and he answered our prayers.

Richard: Human responsibility is the most important thing. Here, the people of God take responsibility for themselves, centered on God.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Duality

3. Duality Operates by Giving and Receiving

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When a wife dies, or a husband dies, why does the surviving spouse feel sorrow? When a woman’s husband dies, why does she make a big scene by crying “Wah!” at the top of her lungs? She doesn’t just cry; she completely loses her mind. Why does this happen? She and her husband formed a reciprocal realm and, centering on love, entered into the universe’s realm of eternal principle. But the death of the husband caused that reciprocal realm to break apart, and the wife feels a force pushing against her with such force that it makes her skin turn red. That force makes her feel sorrow and pain…
Unmarried girls will go around playing, and sometimes you see a group of girls hanging on to each other, embracing each other and such. The same is true with boys. Wrestling with each other, rolling around on the ground like calves, they make all sorts of noise in the village. But on the day one of those young men marries and takes a wife, will he want one of his handsome friends to come and stand next to him in front of his wife? Would any man want that? No, he will kick his friend away, saying, “Don’t ever come here again! Get out of here! Now!”
It’s not a bad thing for him to tell his friend to go. He is actually telling him, “You should do as I do, and stand in a position where you can welcome the universal principle.” By kicking his friend away, he guides him to the path to perfection. (218:335, August 22, 1991)

Knowing this is the principle, the theory of evolution cannot be sustained. The supposed evolutionary link from amoebas to monkeys to human beings ignores the fact that each of the countless relationships between male and female had to pass through the gate of love and establish a realm of reciprocity.
Take sparrows, for example. During the winter, they know nothing about having relationships, so they play around and all become their own positives. But in the spring, when they start making nests and forming reciprocal realms, they become absolute. Both the male and the female of an established pair will repel a third sparrow that approaches. If a female approaches them, the male will repel it; if a male approaches, the female will repel it. Why is that? They repel the third sparrow because it threatens to break up their reciprocal realm and is an aggressor on the realm of the law of the universe. (218:338, August 22, 1991)

Hegel and especially Engels, philosophers who came up with the law of the dialectic, saw universal law as decreeing conflict and opposition. Unless we successfully resolve the question of the dialectic within the universe, we cannot find the true formula for the ideal world, nor can we establish peace and harmony with hierarchical order in organizations structured with up and down relationships. We must demonstrate the falsity of such principles as “survival of the fittest,” “the strong eat the weak,” and “power causes progress.” Otherwise, people would think that mistreating others is not a sin. (132:142, May 31, 1984)

Some people say the universe is made of energy. It is true that all beings are formed of energy, but what is needed for that energy to exist?
No being is energy itself. There is always a reciprocal standard or common base. Before we acknowledge energy, we must acknowledge the common base. If we acknowledge the common base, we must acknowledge subject and object partners…
“Relative relationship” does not refer to a thesis-antithesis-synthesis relationship, where a standard called “thesis” and something called “antithesis” oppose each other and become unified as one. Instead, it refers to a relationship where the object partner responds to the subject partner. That is, it means that a subject and object partner respond to each other and engage in action centering on a common purpose. When they engage in perfect give-and-take action and achieve a reciprocal realm, energy comes into being, and only then is the center determined. Even if there is a great deal of action, if the action is going in opposite directions, it will eventually destroy the world. (15:53, February 7, 1965)

Richard: Mistreating others is a sin. Development occurs through having a common purpose, not through conflict and violence.

For Everything There Is a Season, and a Time for Every Matter Under Heaven

Join us for the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn materials that teach about the physical, intellectual, emotional and long term benefits of sexual abstinence before marriage. Learn about setting up a Chapter of Urban Life Training to teach this material to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

Luke 9

18 When Jesus was alone praying, his disciples came to him, and he asked them, “What do people say about me?”

19 They answered, “Some say that you are John the Baptist or Elijah[e] or a prophet from long ago who has come back to life.”

20 Jesus then asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah sent from God.”

21 Jesus strictly warned his disciples not to tell anyone about this.

Isaiah 50

10 None of you respect the Lord
    or obey his servant.
You walk in the dark
    instead of the light;
you don’t trust the name
    of the Lord your God.[a]
11 Go ahead and walk in the light
    of the fires you have set.[b]
But with his own hand,
the Lord will punish you
    and make you suffer.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Duality

3. Duality Operates by Giving and Receiving

Not a handful of rain descends from above with-
out the earth sending up two handfuls of mois-
ture to meet it.
Genesis Rabbah 13.13 (Judaism)

Love works in a circle, for the beloved moves
the lover by stamping a likeness, and the lover
then goes out to hold the beloved in reality.
Who first was the beginning now becomes the
end of motion.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica 13 (Christianity)
Verily in the creation of heaven and earth and
the alternation of night and the day are signs for
people of understanding.
Qur’an 3.190

Observe how all God’s creations borrow from
each other: day borrows from night and night
from day, but they do not go to law one with
another as mortals do… The moon borrows
from the stars and the stars from the moon…
the sky borrows from the earth and the earth
from the sky… All God’s creatures borrow from
the other, yet make peace with one another
without lawsuits; but if man borrows from his
friend, he seeks to swallow him up with usury
and robbery.
Exodus Rabbah 31.15 (Judaism)

When the sun goes, the moon comes; when the
moon goes, the sun comes. Sun and moon alter-
nate; thus light comes into existence. When
cold goes, heat comes; when heat goes, cold
comes. Cold and heat alternate, and thus the
year completes itself. The past contracts. The
future expands. Contraction and expansion
act upon each other; hereby arises that which
furthers.
The measuring worm draws itself together
when it wants to stretch out. Dragons and
snakes hibernate in order to preserve life. Thus
the penetration of germinal thought into the
mind promotes the workings of the mind. When
this working furthers and brings peace to life, it
elevates a man’s nature.
I Ching, Great Commentary 2.5.2-3 (Confucianism)

Difficult and easy complete one another.
Long and short test one another;
High and low determine one another.
Pitch and mode give harmony to one another,
Front and back give sequence to one another.
Tao Te Ching 2 (Taoism)

For everything there is a season, and a time for
every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is
planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather
stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3.1-8

Heaven and earth come together, and all things
take shape and find form. Male and female mix
their seed, and all creatures take shape and are
born.” In the Changes it is said, “When three
people journey together, their number decreases
by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds
a companion.
I Ching, Great Commentary 2.4.13 (Confucianism)

Heaven is high, the earth is low; thus the Creative
and the Receptive are determined. In correspon-
dence with this difference between low and high,
inferior and superior places are established.
Movement and rest have their definite
laws; according to these, firm and yielding lines
are differentiated.
Events follow definite trends, each
according to its nature. Things are distinguished
from one another in definite classes. In this way
good fortune and misfortune come about. In the
heavens phenomena take form; on earth shapes
take form. In this way change and transformation
become manifest.
Therefore the eight trigrams succeed one
another by turns, as the firm and the yielding
displace each other.
Things are aroused by thunder and
lightning; they are fertilized by wind and rain.
Sun and moon follow their courses and it is now
hot, now cold.
The way of the Creative brings about the
male; the way of the Receptive brings about the
female.
The Creative knows the great beginnings;
the Receptive completes the finished things.
I Ching, Great Commentary 1.1.1-5 (Confucianism)

Thirty spokes share one hub to make a wheel.
Through its not-being (wu),
There being (yu) the use of the carriage.

Mold clay into a vessel.
Through its not-being,
There being the use of the vessel.
Cut out doors and windows to make a house.
Through its not-being
There being the use of the house.
Therefore in the being of a thing,

There lies the benefit;
In the not-being of a thing,
There lies its use. 16
Tao Te Ching 11 (Taoism)

If a Person Lives Alone There Is No Joy

Join us for the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn how to teach the core providential content of sexual abstinence before marriage to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

Watch the latest Richard Urban Show: All Lives Matter: https://youtu.be/ivlBBBCszyA
Why are we only hearing about George Floyd and not those black lives killed during the looting and shooting? Are these protests godly, Is the Black Lives Matter movement honest, and do they promote fear and hatred?

Hebrews 11

32 What else can I say? There isn’t enough time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33 Their faith helped them conquer kingdoms, and because they did right, God made promises to them. They closed the jaws of lions 34 and put out raging fires and escaped from the swords of their enemies. Although they were weak, they were given the strength and power to chase foreign armies away.

Psalm 111

God rescued his people,
    and he will never break
his agreement with them.
    He is fearsome and holy.

10 Respect and obey the Lord!
This is the first step
    to wisdom and good sense.
    God will always be respected.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Duality

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When God created, He worked centering on human beings. With human beings as His model, He expanded the creation in all directions. Hence, He created all creatures—minerals, plants, and animals—in pairs. The act of creation proceeded by weaving together in pairs the vertical paths and the horizontal paths. Some moved straight, some in a zigzag, others engaged in all manner of actions, but all were arranged in a pair system to create the natural world. It is teaching material for people to learn about ideal love. (173:211)

Inside the seed of a plant are two parts in a reciprocal relationship. The two are completely one inside a single shell. They engage in give and take action through the embryo in order to propagate life. In an egg, too, there is an embryo between yolk and white, and they form one body within the single shell. The same is true for the human fetus. Whether human beings or plants, life forms through a harmonious union of subject and object partners by means of give-and-take action. These multiply in a way that resembles their causal being, thus connecting to the foundation of their existence. Ultimately we resemble the First Cause. Therefore, the First Cause must be the basic model, with subject and object partners forming a perfect harmonious union, and having the status of Subject Partner in relation to all beings. (89:226, November 27, 1976)

Even though a person may have many possessions, many children and great power, there is no joy if he or she lives alone. Likewise, although God is the Subject and the Absolute Being, without a partner He also is lonely. Why did God create heaven and earth? God is the Absolute Subject, but He cannot experience joy as long as He remains alone. Joy cannot be experienced alone; it arises only in the context of a relationship. Peace, too, and happiness, only exist in the context of relationships. For this reason, God cannot function as God as long as He is alone. (58:210, June 11, 1972)

Throughout the universe, love is something that no being can possess by itself. Once a being meets its counterpart, however, and they relate with love, they can obtain all the things that love provides. For example, even though a couple may love children, until they have children of their own, they cannot experience parental love. They cannot become the owners of the kind of love that parents have for their children. From this perspective, we can understand why God created human beings and the universe: He created them as His object partners in order to realize true love.
All types of love—including the love of children, love of siblings, love of husband and wife, and love of parents—come about through the unity of subject and object partners. Once subject and object partners become one, nothing can separate them. If they could be divided, we could not say that true love is indestructible. Among married couples, there should not be even the thought of divorce. (True Family and World Peace, March 14, 1999)

God created everything in complementary pairs so that they could receive God’s true love. God wanted them to receive this one love as a partnership. If a man and a woman perfect God’s love, embody God’s love, and share that love with each other from the same ground of complementarity as God, then they will definitely become an ideal couple. (26:155-56, October 25, 1969)

For the sake of love, God created human beings as His partners. God created all things in the universe in pairs so that God’s love may be eternal, man’s love may be eternal, woman’s love may be eternal, and children’s love may be eternal. They are all God’s family; hence they should be eternal. (201:193, April 1, 1990)

From the Beginning You Were Told That We Must Love Each Other

Watch or listen to the latest Richard Urban show: Will We Seek Blessing and Love or Anarchy and Chaos?
President Trump did the right thing by going to St. Johns’ Episcopal Church with a Bible. Terrance Floyd told people not to riot and destroy their communities, yet protests and riots continue. What is behind this chaos?

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.

15 If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know that murderers do not have eternal life. 16 We know what love is because Jesus gave his life for us. That’s why we must give our lives for each other. 17 If we have all we need and see one of our own people in need, we must have pity on that person, or else we cannot say we love God. 18 Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not merely by talking about it.

Matthew 1

Jesus Christ came from the family of King David and also from the family of Abraham. And this is a list of his ancestors. 2-6a  From Abraham to King David, his ancestors were:

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and his brothers (Judah’s sons were Perez and Zerah, and their mother was Tamar), Hezron;

Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, and King David.

6b-11  From David to the time of the exile in Babylonia, the ancestors of Jesus were:

David, Solomon (his mother had been Uriah’s wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram;

Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.

12-16 From the exile to the birth of Jesus, his ancestors were:

Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim;

Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

17 There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David. There were also fourteen from David to the exile in Babylonia and fourteen more to the birth of the Messiah.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

The Golden Rule

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Even looking at contemporary morals and social ethics, a certain principle applies. It is the standard that we live for the sake of others and not insist that others live for us. (71:125, April 29, 1974)

What is the path for us to live a true life? As we go on the path, the main thing we should keep in mind is to live for the sake of others. Confucius, Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha all affirm this truth. Living for the sake of others is the universal principle that defines the way we should live our lives—the one law of the true way of life. (133:18, July 1, 1984)

What should you do to others if you want them to serve you? [Serve them.] Should you serve them first, or let them serve you first? [I’ll serve others after they serve me.] That won’t do. Isn’t there a saying that if you want others to serve you, you should first serve them? [Yes.] The basic rule is that you should be the first to serve. What about me? Do I, Father Moon, seek to serve you, or do I seek to have you serve me? I never have the slightest thought of wanting you to serve me. It is not good to be indebted to others. (50:339, November 8, 1971)

What is a life of true love? In a nutshell, it is living for the sake of others. It is living for the sake of another before you wish that the other would do something for you. In living for others, you give and forget that you ever gave. You do not give in hopes of receiving something in return. You give and give to the point where you have no regrets for not having given more. Even as you give, you bow your head in humility. Thus, Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (January 27, 2004)

According to the universal law, a subject partner should care for its object partner as parents care for their children or teachers for their students. However, people in the fallen world instead try to use others in self-centered ways. That is why they perish. Through their good example, religious people should educate others in Heaven’s principle that we should place the happiness of others before our own happiness. (271:72, August 21, 1995)