What is the greatest obstacle to entering heaven? The self is your greatest enemy. The reason hell and the satanic world were created was because of the awareness of the self. The archangel thought centered on himself. He thought about himself intensely. What is a traitor? You call a person who puts himself before his nation and sovereign, a traitor! Rising up from the paths of a traitor is the summit based on the self. It is the road that leads to hell. For human beings it is the path that leads to ruin. This foundation called the self, and centered on the self, leads to death. (122-20, 1982.10.31)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 662
As heaven is the world of living for others, we must go forth making that notion our first consideration. Those who have the idea of being served will be destroyed.
Synergy of Grace and Effort
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
You must participate in God’s great creative undertaking… Although God provides 95 percent of the ideal form necessary to reach perfection, human beings must still complete the remaining 5 percent by their own responsibility. God alone cannot bring about human perfection; each person has the responsibility to make a contribution in perfecting him or herself. (115:66, November 4, 1981)
The spirit grows through give and take action between two types of nourishment: life elements of a yang type that come from God and vitality elements of a yin type that come from the physical self. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 6.3.2)
As long as you complain and lament over your situation while just sitting in your chair, you will not make progress. God will not help you. God wants you to make new efforts each day. (327:48, July 24, 2000)
God creates to the level of 95 percent and then human beings should add their efforts in accordance with God’s basic rules for creation in order to establish a value standard of 100 percent. In this way, God wants to give human beings the value of having participated in the completion of His Will. (130:19, December 11, 1983)
The proportion of five percent is used to indicate that the human portion of responsibility is extremely small when compared to God’s portion of responsibility. Yet for human beings, this five percent is equivalent to one hundred percent of our effort…
We should recognize how minuscule the human portion of responsibility is in comparison to God’s toil and grace, which is His portion of responsibility. On the other hand, when we consider the fact that over and over again central figures in the providence could not cope with their responsibility, we can appreciate how extremely difficult it was for them to fulfill even this comparatively small portion. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Predestination 2)
No matter how great the saving grace of the cross of Christ, the salvation knocking at our door will be for naught unless we fortify our faith, which is our portion of responsibility. It was God’s responsibility to grant the benefit of resurrection through the crucifixion of Jesus, but to believe or not to believe is strictly one’s own portion of responsibility. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 5.2.2)
We are endowed with the nature to empathize with God. We should develop that nature; then when God rejoices we also will rejoice, and when God is sorrowful we also will be sorrowful. Unless you become a person who can intimately experience God’s deep inner heart, you are in no position to become one with God and live in harmony with God, regardless of how much God loves you. (39:8-9, January 9, 1971)
God has borne all the responsibility for His sons and daughters on the road of restoration. But now surely the time has come when we should take on that responsibility. God has borne all that responsibility to help us, but now, by taking on Satan’s attack, we can stand up as God’s sons and daughters. (31:50, April 12, 1970)
Since I had to open the way for all humankind, I even befriended condemned criminals. I was chained together with thieves, ate with them and comforted them. Recently, I even went to Las Vegas to pray for those imprisoned there. I bought the New Yorker Hotel to clear away the worst dens of Satan in New York and lay a new foundation. I had to go there to mingle with them and comfort them. Only in this way could I open and pave the way for people from all walks of life, even those headed for destruction in the satanic world. By my paving the way on earth, barriers in the spirit world will be opened and the world can be unified. Hence, I will marry blacks and whites interracially, and buy houses for them. In this way, I am doing things that have never been done before in this world. (91-160, 1977.2.6
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1189
Cain represents Satan’s side. It is the position of the elder brother. Abel represents God’s side. This is the battle. Originally, God would have loved the first-born son, and then the younger son. Due to the Fall, the first son, Cain, stands on Satan’s side. He belongs to Satan’s side. In order to save him, God designated Abel. God designates Abel to restore the right of the firstborn son. This cannot be achieved by force; you have to inspire people by love. You have to achieve restoration by melting them with love. If you cannot stand in the position of having loved them, if you cannot win their heart through offering your love, then you will not be in a position to truly love your own son or daughter. As viewed from God’s ideal of creation, the first-born son was originally to be loved first rather than the second child. (140-38, 1986.2.1)
Synergy of Grace and Effort
The relationship between divine grace and human effort is what Thomas Aquinas called synergy: effort calls forth grace, and grace prompts effort. a number of texts stress human initiative as calling forth grace—”God helps those who help themselves”; others describe God’s grace as preceding and calling for our response. Father Moon teaches that God’s grace and power contribute some ninety-five percent towards the fulfillment of a work, leaving five percent as the human portion of responsibility. By leaving a small portion of the work unfinished as our portion, God provides a way for human beings to share in the work of creation and enjoy the glory of co-creators. However, in the course of salvation history, the requirement that we human beings do our portion has sometimes been a cause of frustration to God when we fail or fall short; it means that God cannot unilaterally complete the task by himself. God will reliably do his portion, but human beings are unreliable. Therefore, giving human beings a portion of responsibility means that God is essentially placing the fate of the universe in our hands.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7.7
He who conforms to the Way is gladly accepted by the Way; he who conforms to virtue is gladly accepted by virtue; he who conforms to loss is gladly accepted by loss. Tao Te Ching 23 (Taoism)
If a man sanctify himself a little, he becomes much sanctified; if he sanctify himself below, he becomes sanctified from above; if he sanctify himself in this world, he becomes sanctified in the world to come.
Talmud, Yoma 39a (Judaism)
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Philippians 2.12-13
God changes not what is in a people, until they change what is in themselves.
Qur’an 13.11
Remembering me, you shall overcome all difficulties through my grace. But if you will not heed me in your self-will, nothing will avail you.
Bhagavad-Gita 18.58 (Hinduism)
If you wish to find the true way, Right action will lead you to it directly; But if you do not strive for Buddhahood You will grope in the dark and never find it. Sutra of Hui Neng 2 (Buddhism)
Heaven helps the man who is devoted; men help the man who is true. The man who walks in truth and is devoted in his thinking, and furthermore reveres the worthy—he is blessed by Heaven. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.12.1 (Confucianism)
God has declared: I am close to the thought that my servant has of Me, and I am with him whenever he recollects Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I remember him in Myself, and if he remembers Me in a gathering I remember him better than those in the gathering do, and if he approaches Me by as much as one hand’s length, I approach him by a cubit… If he takes a step towards Me, I run towards him.
Hadith (Islam)
God gives each person a hook with which to pluck his fruit.
Igbo Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3.20
Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand.Hippocrates
It is from below that the movement starts, and thereafter is all perfected. If the community of Israel failed to initiate the impulse, the one from above would also not move to go her. It is thus the yearning from below which brings about the completion above.
Zohar (Judaism)
All undertakings in this world depend both on the ordering of fate and on human exertion; but among these two the ways of fate are unfathomable; in the case of man’s work action is possible.
In going the way of filial piety for the sake of God, even if you have to die away from home, you should protect whatever environment you are in such a way that will earn you the appreciation of its inhabitants. Only by bequeathing such a legacy can you go to heaven. If you do not, you will not. (280-41, 1996.10.13)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1268
You have been bought. You have been bought, along with humanity and the universe. That is why God wants to judge the universe with you. He bought you, who were in the position of slaves in the satanic world, to become His sons and daughters. Therefore, you are the blessed children of glory and you should be ready to give yourselves for the world when it asks for you. You should be ready to give everything you have even to Satan. You were bought with the blood and sweat of True Father. You were bought with my own flesh and blood. Therefore, you should carry out the same work as I. I would like to take pride in the members. Let us make a commitment in this regard. (11-164, 1961.7.20)
Predestination
3. The Relationship between Destiny and Free Will
Rabbi Akiba says, Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given; the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the preponderance of works. Mishnah, Avot 3.19 (Judaism)
No affliction befalls, except by the leave of God. Whoever believes in God, He will guide his heart. God has knowledge of everything. Qur’an 64.11
O my servants, every one of you is in error, except the one I have guided, so ask guidance from Me and I will guide you. O my servants, every one of you is hungry, except him whom I have fed, so ask food of Me and I will feed you. O my servants, every one of you is naked except him whom I have clothed, so ask clothing of Me and I will clothe you. O my servants, you sin day and night, and I pardon your sins; so ask pardon of Me and I will pardon you. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 24 (Islam)
All by Thee is accomplished, Thine is the might, Thou watcheth Thy handiwork, With chess pieces raw and ripe. All that into the world have come, must depart hence— All shall by turns go. Why put out of mind the Lord, master of life and death? By one’s own hands is one’s affairs set straight. Adi Granth, Asa-ki-Var, M.1, p. 473-74 (Sikhism)
Even though God foresees the free acts of the human will, freedom of choice remains, for God sees all time concurrently and through eternity. Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (Christianity)
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
God is the absolute Being, unique, eternal and unchanging; therefore, the purpose of His creation must also be absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging… It follows that God’s predestination of His Will—that the purpose of creation one day be fulfilled—must also be absolute, as it is written, “I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (Isa. 46.11) Since God predestines His Will absolutely, if the person who has been chosen to accomplish His Will fails, God must continue to carry on His providence until its fulfillment, even though it may require Him to choose another person to shoulder the mission.
For example, God willed that His purpose of creation be fulfilled through Adam. Although this did not come to pass, God’s predestination of this providential will has remained absolute. Hence, God sent Jesus as the second Adam…
Although God’s Will to realize the purpose of the providence of restoration is absolute, God predestines the process of its accomplishment conditionally, contingent upon the five percent responsibility of the central figure, which must be completed in addition to the ninety-five percent responsibility of God. The proportion of five percent is used to indicate that the human portion of responsibility is extremely small when compared to God’s portion of responsibility. Yet for human beings, this five percent is equivalent to one hundred percent of our effort…
To what extent does God determine the fate of an individual? The fulfillment of God’s Will through an individual absolutely requires that he complete his responsibility. Hence, even though God predestines someone for a particular mission, God’s ninety-five percent responsibility and the person’s five percent responsibility must be accomplished together before the person can complete his given mission and fulfill God’s Will. If the person does not complete his responsibility, he cannot become the person God has purposed him to be. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Predestination)
No matter what people may say or do, they are subject to the rhythm of heavenly fortune, which power flows throughout the universe. No one has the power to stand against it, so they are inclined to follow along with it. People who follow the right path in alignment with heavenly fortune grow and prosper along with it. Since they move with its rhythm as it pulses throughout the universe, they are bound to live forever. Nevertheless, many Western people want to be masters of their own destiny, but since they disregard the rhythm of heavenly fortune, things will not go as they want. Therefore, clever and wise Westerners will align themselves with the Principle that governs the universe…
No one wants to perish. No nation wants to perish. Nevertheless, today so many people are perishing, and nations are on the path of decline. Why are they perishing? It is not because of anything I do. But when the very universe opposes them, how can they stand against it? Only people who are aligned with heavenly fortune and who are obedient to the Principle that governs the universe can expect to survive and prosper. This has been the case for the heroes and saints throughout history. Wouldn’t you like to become a hero or a saint? (94:19-20, June 19, 1977
Therefore, blessed couples should become ‘plus’ couples who take the initiative in serving the world. To be completely reborn, we should practice absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience centering on God. I have personally practiced this throughout my life.
When creating the universe, God did so with absolute faith. He went on to create us to be the absolute partners of His love. Absolute obedience means investing ourselves completely to the extent of total self-denial. Furthermore, we forget about the investment we made and reinvest; such a process continues until reaching the zero point without any concept of self. If our love were rejected, we would continue to love even more; even if we have already invested, we should continue to invest everything that we have, until we can make our enemy surrender voluntarily. God walked such a path, and the Parents of heaven and earth have also walked such a path. The person who invests love continuously without expecting a direct return becomes a central being, the one who inherits everything, and the child of greatest piety. In a family with ten members including the grandparents, the one most exemplifying altruism will be its center. The same principle applies with respect to patriots in the nation. The more we invest without expecting a direct return, the higher we can rise as loyal citizens, saints, and God’s holy sons and daughters.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1108
The realm of direct dominion is a place where Adam and Eve can participate together, united in love. Thus, the realm of indirect dominion is the realm in which their portion of responsibility has yet to be completed. When the portion of responsibility is fulfilled and Adam and Eve become husband and wife centered on love, God becomes the internal Father and Adam and Eve become the external parents. When these unite as the inner and the outer, the realm of direct dominion is established for the first time. In this process, marriage is therefore absolutely necessary. You cannot enter this realm as a single person. (139-262, 1986.1.31)
Predestination
2. The Seemingly Chance Events of Life Are Actually the Workings of Destiny
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Our meeting together here is the unfolding of destiny through which God is weaving all things into one. This is not a chance encounter. The destiny that brought you here was formed over a long history. Among the multitudes of people of the world, why were you in particular able to come here?
Wherever you lived before you came here, Heaven checked your background [and determined that you had merit]. (November 4, 1990)
Despite all the difficulties and sufferings I endured after I came to America, I knew that I was destined to meet there with people who would appear out of the countless destined relationships (inyun, in Korean) that composed America’s history. It was my mission to guide them all to the path of God’s blessings. Since I knew these things with certainty, I accepted every challenge and took it as my cross to bear, in order that in my lifetime I could give blessings to the people who represented such greatness.
I thought that I would meet some direct descendants of the Pilgrims, born of survivors among the 102 souls who endured such tribulations that half of them died either at sea or during that first winter. I thought about how fascinating it would be to meet them. The knowledge of what they went through encouraged me to overcome the obstacles in my path. No amount of rejection, persecution and cursing could weaken my determination to fulfill my responsibility to seek out and care for the descendants of the Pilgrims who came to my church through the working out of their destiny.
When I was released from the prison at Danbury, I did not want to return to Korea straight away. I preferred to stay in America one more week, even one more year, in hopes of meeting someone beloved of Heaven. I waited in America because still I sought to inherit her historical tradition. Even now, whenever I meet someone new, I think about how long his or her ancestors have waited for this moment. Since they waited, should I not also wait to receive them? Do you understand what I am saying?
When you have that kind of attitude throughout your life, you have no cause for complaint. If you bump into someone on the street, even a troublemaker who tries to pick a fight with you, you should think, “What is this situation going to bring me?” Instead of rejecting it, be open to the moment as an opportunity for the unfolding of destiny. Maybe you look around and suddenly see a long-lost relative, separated fifty years ago during the Korean War when you both had become refugees. What is the likelihood of such an “accidental” meeting? If that person had not bothered you on the street, you would have missed your only chance to meet your long-lost relative. Yet what was behind that incident? What made that man accost you? He may not know himself; he was playing a part in the unfolding of destiny.
When something like that happens, you should stop and think about your involvement in the encounter. If you did not keep an attitude to welcome destiny, it would have passed you by. Since a seemingly chance encounter may be fraught with destiny, you should not take anything casually.
You know the story of Joseph. His brothers put him in a well thinking to kill him, but they sold him instead and he was brought to Egypt as a slave. There the wife of his master Potiphar tried to seduce him, and when he would not be tempted she had him imprisoned. While in prison and waiting for the day of his execution, he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and was raised to the rank of Prime Minister of Egypt. How, in the midst of his misery, could Joseph have even imagined that such good fortune would befall him? Yet these things opened the way for him to save the Israelites. Who could have known that it would turn out that way? (November 4, 1990)❖
When you return to your hometown, you should be able to say, “Ah, this is God’s gift to me” while looking at its mountains and rivers. Looking at grandfather trees that are older than you, pebbles in the river that are older than you, and the fields, you should say, “How have you been?” This is love. You have to know how to love nature and to love people. You have to do this again. This is restoration. You should love all creation because Adam and Eve were not able to. You should return to your hometown and love nature. Love everything there from the grass to the mountains, rivers, and trees. When you finish, love the people next. If you have attained the position of being able to love the mountains, rivers, trees, and animals, then love people on that foundation. The people are to be loved after all things have been restored. (175-31, 1988.4.6)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1199
If I had not chosen Japan as the Eve nation, it would have been a miserable nation. If the Christian foundation had accepted me, England would have been the Eve nation. The Adam nation is Korea. England the Eve nation, France the archangel nation, Germany the Adam nation on the Cain side, all should have automatically become one, but these countries all went against God’s will and opposed it. That is why the enemy took what he loved the most: the Eve nation, and Germany, the male nation. Don’t forget that the Adam, Eve and archangel nations centered on the Unification Church were raised within the framework of God’s will. Thus, I didn’t bless Japan for the sake of Japan itself. It was for the sake of the world, the Unification Church, and Korea. Japan will perish if it doesn’t use that blessing for the unification of Korea. (186-116, 1989.1.29)
Predestination
2. The Seemingly Chance Events of Life Are Actually the Workings of Destiny
No man bruises his finger here on earth unless it was so decreed against him in Heaven. Talmud, Hullin 7b (Judaism)
Where you fall, there your God pushed you down. Igbo Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
The order that God has arranged, mortal man cannot upset. Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
Whatever you do not wish to do because of your delusions, You will do even against your will, bound by your karma. The Lord, Arjuna, is present inside all beings, Moving them like puppets by his magic power. Bhagavad-Gita 18.60-61 (Hinduism
Yüeh-cheng Tzu saw Mencius. “I mentioned you to the prince,” said he, “and he was to have come to see you. Amongst his favorites is one Tsang who dissuaded him. That is why he failed to come.” “When a man goes forward,” said Mencius, “there is something which urges him on; when he halts, there is something which holds him back. It is not in his power either to go forward or to halt. It is due to Heaven that I failed to meet the Marquis of Lu. How can this fellow Tsang be responsible for my failure?” Mencius I.B.16
Do not say about anything, “I am going to do that tomorrow,” without adding, “If God will.” Remember your Lord whenever you forget, and say, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me even closer than this to proper conduct.” Qur’an 18.23-24
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain;” whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4.13-16
For not of your will were you formed, and not of your own will were you born, and not of your will do you live, and not of your own will will you die, and not of your will are you to give account and reckoning before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He. Mishnah, Avot 4.29 (Judaism)
Time is no one’s friend and no one’s enemy; when the effect of his acts in a former existence, by which his present existence is caused, has expired, he snatches a man away forcibly. A man will not die before his time has come, even though he has been pierced by a thousand shafts; he will not live after his time is out, even though he has only been touched by the point of a blade of grass. Neither drugs, nor magical formulas, nor burnt offerings, nor prayers will save a man who is in the bonds of death or old age. An impending evil cannot be averted even by a hundred precautions; what reason then for you to complain? Institutes of Vishnu 20.43-46 (Hinduism)
