Category: Isaiah

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

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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)

One Who Is Rich in Enlightenment Will Not Indulge In Any Sinful Action

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Numbers 10

11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law. 12 Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. 13 They set out, this first time, at the Lord’s command through Moses.

Isaiah 1

7 Your country is desolate,
    your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
    right before you,
    laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
8 Daughter Zion is left
    like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a cucumber field,
    like a city under siege.
9 Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Beyond the Law

Laws define the path to God, yet the ideal of divine life in many religions is to live beyond all boundaries. Therefore, as much as the law is a teaching that liberates, it can also be a fetter. Paul, for example, contrasts the Mosaic Law, which educates but confines, with the liberating grace available through Jesus Christ. Fulfilling the obligations of the law cannot save, because they do not touch the deepest promptings of the mind, which are still engulfed in the endless conflict between good and evil. Laws, therefore, are at best of provisional value, a concession to sin. Moreover, in situations where earthly laws are flawed or abused, the conscience guides us to follow a higher law.
Beyond the law lies a higher relationship with the Absolute, where a person is free to do what he or she likes, confident that the promptings of the conscience are always in agreement with what God requires. However, life in the spirit should not be misconstrued as a license to sin. Even in a state of complete freedom, there are still heavenly standards and principles. All the same, a truly enlightened person is one with those principles and hence does not feel constrained by them.

I will put my law within them, and I will write it
upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. And no longer shall each
man teach his neighbor and each his brother, say-
ing, “Know the l ord ,” for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
Jeremiah 31.33-34

One who is rich in the enlightenment will not
indulge in any sinful action, since his conscience is
guided by the intellect fully illumined with Truth.
Acarangasutra 1.174 (Jainism)

No one born of God commits sin; for God’s
nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because
he is born of God.
1 John 3.9

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks
to those who are under the law, so that every
mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may
be held accountable to God. For no human being
will be justified in his sight by works of the law,
since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been man-
ifested apart from law, although the law and the
prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of
God through Jesus Christ for all who believe…
While we were living in the flesh, our sinful
passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our
members to bear fruit for death. But now we are
discharged from the law, dead to that which held
us captive, so that we serve not under the old
written code but in the new life of the Spirit.
Romans 3.19-22, 7.5-6

The man of superior virtue is not conscious of
his virtue,
and in this way he really possesses virtue.
The man of inferior virtue never loses sight of
his virtue,
and in this way he loses his virtue…
Therefore, only when Tao is lost does the
doctrine of virtue arise.
When virtue is lost, only then does the
doctrine of humanity arise.
When humanity is lost, only then does the
doctrine of righteousness arise.
When righteousness is lost, only then arise
rules of propriety.
Now, propriety is a superficial expression of
loyalty and faithfulness, and the beginning
of disorder.
Tao Te Ching 38 (Taoism)

People under delusion accumulate tainted mer-
its but do not tread the Path.
They are under the impression that to accu-
mulate merits and to tread the Path are one
and the same thing.
Though their merits for alms-giving and offer-
i ngs are infinite,
They do not realize that the ultimate source of
sin lies in the three poisons within their own
mind.
Sutra of Hui Neng 6 (Buddhism)

Finite and transient are the fruits of sacrifi-
cial rites. The deluded, who regard them as
the highest good, remain subject to birth and
death… Considering religion to be observance
of rituals and performance of acts of charity, the
deluded remain ignorant of the highest good.
Having enjoyed in heaven the reward of their
good works, they enter again into the world
of mortals. But wise, self-controlled, and tran-
quil souls, who are contented in spirit, and who
practice austerity and meditation in solitude and
silence, are freed from all impurity, and attain by
the path of liberation to the immortal, the truly
existing, the changeless Self.
Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.7-11 (Hinduism)

Subhuti, if you should conceive the idea that
anyone in whom dawns the Consummation of
Incomparable Enlightenment declares that all
manifest standards are ended and extinguished,
do not countenance such thoughts.
Diamond Sutra 27 (Buddhism)

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things
are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I
will not be enslaved by anything… The body is
not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and
the Lord for the body.
1 Corinthians 6.12-14

The Origin of Human Morals is Conscience

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1 Chronicles 21

5 So David paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for his threshing place. 26 David built an altar and offered sacrifices to please the Lord[d] and sacrifices to ask his blessing.[e] David prayed, and the Lord answered him by sending fire down on the altar. 27 Then the Lord commanded the angel to put the sword away.[f]

Isaiah 60

18 Violence, destruction, and ruin
will never again
be heard of
    within your borders.
“Victory” will be the name
    you give to your walls;
“Praise” will be the name
    you give to your gates.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Moral Law

2. Natural Law

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Like it or not, human beings live within a cyclical existence: people grow old and return to their original elements, and new people are born. Through this cycle, humanity develops and increases. All things that exist move and function within their limited realm in accordance with the laws of nature that establish nature’s cycles.
The nine planets of the solar system revolve about the sun. Can a planet say, “I will go where I please”? No, it cannot leave its orbit. When spring comes, can any animal or plant say, “I refuse to grow”? No. Spring is the time to grow. Summer is the time for plants to become thick with foliage and their flowers to bloom. Then in autumn, they must bear fruit. (207:61, November 1, 1990)

The solar system turns in a great, cosmic circle. What is its center? It is love—true love. Therefore, at home, we are taught to love and honor our parents, an expression of love called filial piety. We are taught to love our nation; that love is called patriotism. We are taught to love humankind; that is to love as a saint. In other words, in the various orbits of our life, love should be at the center. When true love takes the center seat, everything else falls into its proper place. The right order is created around that eternal and unchanging axis. (146:166, June 15, 1986)

Just as the laws by which the sun, moon and stars were created—the way of heaven—set up a system of vertical order, so also in the family there is a vertical order extending from grandparents to parents and children, and likewise a horizontal order formed by the siblings. The laws of heaven and the values or norms of [family life] correspond. (122:304, November 25, 1982)

In springtime the flowers bloom, in summer the plants grow, and in autumn they bear fruit. Likewise, when you live according to the laws of nature, it is a shortcut to the Kingdom of Heaven. (393:215, February 20, 2004)

What is the heavenly law? Have you ever heard of this religious term? You know what human morals are, but have you ever heard of heavenly morals? What is the origin of the human morals? Is it the Korean constitution? No, the origin of human morals is the conscience. Human laws today are based on Roman law, and Roman law is the foundation of world culture. However, human morals are based on the conscience. Conscience precedes law. Goodness is the foundation of conscience. When we deviate from goodness and go astray, our conscience tries to correct us. Our concept of goodness sets the standard for our conscience. Hence, a universal society needs the moral law, because its members seek a social order that is in accord with the untainted conscience. Ultimately, the root of human morals is the heavenly law. (33:44, August 2, 1970)

Human morals are rooted in the heart. Relationships in the family, norms of behavior, social systems, the social order and such should be rooted in the heart. Human morals begin from parents loving their children. Then, by children loving their parents, they establish a true human relationship. A second true human relationship is established by a husband loving his wife and a wife loving her husband. Love is like the leaven for morality in all its aspects.5 (64:124-25, October 29, 1972)

Formulas rooted in laws have made possible the development of our technological civilization. Whether a scientific idea can be accepted as law depends on how widely it can be applied in its field. Likewise, in our religious lives, we should not go by blind faith. God always carries out His Providence through formulaic laws, so we must understand these formulas. There is a clear formula running through the history of the Providence of Restoration from the past up to the present. This is one of the most important teachings of the Unification Principle. (16:119, October 22, 1978)

God Governs the World by the Same Creative Principle He Used in the Beginning

Exodus 32

19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

Isaiah 16

Send lambs[a] as gifts
    to the ruler of the land.
Send them across the desert
    from Sela[b] to Mount Zion.
2 The women of Moab
    crossing the Arnon River
are like a flock of birds
    scattered from their nests.
3 Moab’s messengers say
    to the people of Judah,
“Be kind and help us!
Shade us from the heat
    of the noonday sun.
Hide our refugees!
    Don’t turn them away.
4 Let our people live
in your country
    and find safety here.”

Richard: Our children are like the lambs described here. They have been cruelly decimated by the vaccine industrial complex. One half of all children born now will have a developmental disability. How did this happen? We must not let it continue:https://youtu.be/nrQJO1eIUG8.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Part 1
God and Creation

Chapter 1
God

The Creator

This section on God as the Creator includes classic accounts of the creation of the universe and the creation of human beings. Some describe creation as beginning with a word; others from a desire within the Absolute Being. In some texts the Creator forms the universe out of nothing (ex nihilo), in others the world originated as an emanation from the Absolute, a portion of which emerged out of the void to take on the attributes of form and matter. Several texts describe the root of creation in the appearance of Mind, which then molds physical matter into its abode; others mention the motive of Love, which sought to divide Being from Non-Being in order to manifest itself. (For more texts on creation by the interaction of two poles which emerged from the One, see Chapter 2: Duality.) Finally, scriptures from Hinduism and Taoism describe creation in terms of divine self-emptying and sacrifice.
These creation stories are not mere explanations of how things came to be in the far remote past. They are to instruct us on the workings of God who even today governs this world by the same creative principle that He used in the beginning. As the biblical scholar Rudolph Bultmann said, “The real purpose of the creation story is to inculcate what God is doing all the time.”28 This in turn informs us about who we are. Father Moon, for his part, emphasizes the effort and love God invested in the creative process. If we are God’s children, then just as God invested effort and sincerity in creating, we too should invest 100 percent of our effort in order to realize fully our potential as creative beings. As creation proceeds from mind to matter, so too our life can accord with the cosmic order when it is centered on the mind. As God was motivated to create out of love, searching for a counterpart in the world of being with whom to rejoice, so we should strive to become God’s beloved, able to please His heart.

You Shall Know I Am the Lord When Their Slain Lie Among Their Idols

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Colossians 4

12 Your own Epaphras, who serves Christ Jesus, sends his greetings. He always prays hard that you may fully know what the Lord wants you to do and that you may do it completely. 13 I have seen how much trouble he has gone through for you and for the followers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Isaiah 3

6 Some of you will grab hold
    of a relative and say,
“You still have a coat.
Be our leader
and rule
    this pile of ruins.”
7 But the answer will be,
“I can’t do you any good.
    Don’t make me your leader.
There’s no food or clothing
    left in my house.”

8 Jerusalem and Judah,
you rebelled against
    your glorious Lord—
your words and your actions,
    made you stumble and fall.
9 The look on your faces shows
that you are sinful as Sodom,
    and you don’t try to hide it.
You are in for trouble,
and you have brought it all
    on yourselves.

Part 1
God and Creation

Chapter 1
God
Knowledge of God

3. Evidence of God in History

No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.
John 1.18

And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the mountain tops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing odor to all their idols. And I will stretch out my hand against them, and make the land desolate and waste, throughout all their habitations, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 6.13-14

All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O Lord, and all thy saints shall bless thee! They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and tell of thy power, to make known to the sons of men thy mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of thy kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to thee, and thou givest them their food in due season. Thou openest thy hand, thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.
Psalm 145.10-17