Too Many People Lack Any Sense of Responsibility

LIsten to the Richard Urban Show #74:

The Family Rooted in Absolute Sexual Ethics-Part 9 with Yun-a Johnson

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1430

Every object in the world came to belong to Satan through the fallen parents. In order for all families to restore this situation centering on the True Parents, in the future they should have nothing in their possession. Nothing in this world should belong to them. Their own bodies do not belong to them, their sons and daughters do not belong to them, and their husbands do not belong to them. Everything must be regarded as the possession of unfallen Adam. Nothing should belong to Eve. She should not have anything established as belonging to her.
    The era of the right of ownership is coming, where objects can belong to her only after they have been determined as belonging to Adam, restored to God and acknowledged as His, and then returned to Adam to be finally handed back to her as her permanent possession.
    Such phenomena can take place only after you have entered the Kingdom of God and have been registered. Only then can you be restored to the position of unfallen owners in the Garden of Eden and hold possession of all things of the world. In such a manner, you can enter the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. (165-284, 1987.5.27)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1187

Based on this ceremony, I declared “The ideology centered on the Heavenly Father” on September 1, 1989. Until the Ceremony of the Settlement of the Eight Stages was completed, it was still the age of the restoration of the right of the eldest son. Restoring the right of the eldest son! Finally, the right of the eldest son has been completely restored. Now, that the right of the eldest son has been completely restored to God’s side, we ascend and stand in the highest global realm, where Satan cannot oppose us. The time has now come when, if we push forward strongly and boldly, America, the communist world, Korea and Japan will all yield. That is why we should be strong and bold. (193-204, 1989.10.4)

Richard:  We all have to realize that we are living in a blessed era, where God’s Kingdom is being substantially established.  It is our collective responsibility to make this happen, based on the extant foundation created by the the work of Rev. Sun Myung Moon and those working with him.

 

Preparation and Making a Good Beginning

1. Prepare Yourself for Life’s Challenges

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung

To overcome a crisis you must have deep faith, plans made in detail, and the conviction to carry them out. (Way of God’s Will 3.4)
 
Too many people today lack any sense of responsibility. They do not set goals or plan what they will do each day, they do not plan out the year, nor do they have a plan for their life. They just live moment by moment, doing whatever they please and grasping at whatever benefit comes their way. What will be the end result? Someday they will hit a stone wall and be shattered into pieces. (105:11, July 8, 1979)
 
 
You should have a definite sense of what kind of work you will do by the time you reach your twenties. You should be able to say with certainty, “This is what I will do,” and fight to achieve it throughout your lifetime. That is the only way you can become an historic person, a person who contributes something to the world. If you only try to accommodate to circumstances and simply go with the
flow, you will be carried away by the current and disappear.

After determining exactly what you will do, you will need a heart bold enough to continue fighting for your goal no matter what difficulties may arise. Instead of saying you don’t like this or that, you must have the guts to digest whatever comes. (120:229, October 20, 1982)

Even if Heaven has prepared everything, it will not work unless we have prepared a corresponding foundation in our minds and bodies. (7:287, October 11, 1959)

Each morning when you go out into the fallen world, prepare your eyes, nose, ears, and every cell, even your mind, like armament ready for battle. (122:266, November 21, 1982)
 
To live is to compete. We cannot develop without competition. Losing a competition makes us miserable, but it can spur us to strive for the capability we need in order to win. To gain that capability, we need time to prepare and train…
    A student studies to prepare. Especially adolescents should prepare, while carrying big dreams… By preparing intellectually, you can conquer the mental world. Then you are ready to act and utilize your well-honed capabilities to win in the competition. (Blessing and Ideal Family 7.5.5)
 
All of you want to be successful. How do you gain success? You have to prepare well. You should prepare, with enough material that you are able to digest the existing world, for upon it you are to erect your own new foundation. Your new foundation should exceed the old foundation; otherwise, you will not succeed in establishing it. This is a lesson of history. It is true in the path of our individual lives and in the life of our nation.
    Look at the Unification Church: We face difficulties and persecution, yet in the midst of it all we are preparing for the future. Today I am fighting alone against America, a superpower with a population of 240 million that is feared the world over. Yet none of its leaders know of my work; none of them help me; none is my friend. In this situation, I cannot fight blindly. I prepare myself. I must prepare thoroughly and completely.
    What preparation do I need? First, I must prepare mentally, to have an indomitable spirit that will never be defeated. Second, I must make more effort than anyone else in history to contribute to America’s well being. Third, I must make concrete preparations for specific actions.
    I must have a thoroughgoing and complete teaching, and then I need to strive. I cannot sit and rest with only a teaching. Having equipped myself with the truth, I must make limitless effort. Moreover, my effort cannot be self-centered. To generate the subjectivity required to surpass the existing system will require unending struggle. The guardians of the old order are not about to welcome a new system. Every new movement in history is tested in the crucible of conflict, where it either flourishes or perishes.
    I try to find a way to overcome every difficulty. I proceed regardless of the price I must pay. It is an effort not to be absorbed by others, but to absorb them. Furthermore, I need a consistent praxis. As a religious leader, my method cannot involve violence. I work quietly. If others work eight hours a day, then I work twenty-four hours…

I cannot afford to lose! I must prepare myself, even with blood and tears. In the midst of tears, I must prepare! Though I am starving, I must prepare! Though I weep bitter tears, I must move forward! Though I may have to sleep on the streets, I must move forward! I do not believe that Heaven’s victory is possible without making such a commitment. (133:217-226, July 19, 1984)
 
 
 
 

A Ship Which Is Not Prepared Goes to Destruction

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State Legislators Do Your Job

Cheon Seong Gyeong 331

God’s love is stronger than the sun. When the sun rises in the morning, the buds of plants turn towards the sun. Likewise, God’s love is the source of life, the source of our original mind, and the core source of ideal elements. That is the way it is. (99-230, 1978.9.25)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1279

The mass holy wedding is held to find and establish the new family of God. In other words, the ceremony is held so that you can learn to love God more than anyone else in the world. (Blessed Family – 563)

Preparation and Making a New Beginning

For any venture to succeed it must begin well. The oriental proverb, “Well begun is half done,” describes the theme of the passages in this section. A good beginning means, first of all, internal preparation. We should purify our heart, steel ourselves with firm resolution, and be clear about our philosophy and methods of proper action. Then we should take the measure of the task and gather sufficient resources to surmount the obstacles in our path. This is practical advice, but it applies especially to the spiritual aspirant. Those who regard life lightly and frivolously are liable to fall into straits worse than when they started. Father Moon teaches that to become a person of significance, someone who makes a difference in the world, we need to prepare well. Without fixing our purpose, our life becomes ordinary and of no consequence, and without setting our determination and preparing a foundation of self-discipline, we are liable to be defeated by the challenges that await us. He provides the example of his own life, describing the preparations he made to take on the entire corrupt world-system.

1. Prepare Yourself for Life’s Challenges

The superior man does not embark upon any affair until he has carefully planned the start.
    I Ching 6: Conflict (Confucianism)

Success is the result of foresight and resolution; foresight depends upon deep thinking and planning to keep your secrets to yourself.
    Nahjul Balagha, Saying 46 (Shiite Islam)

Check the edge of the axe before splitting wood.
    Njak Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

The superior man gathers his weapons together in order to provide against the unforeseen.
    I Ching 45: Gathering Together (Confucianism)

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
    Luke 14.28-31

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil… that you may be able to withstand the evil day.
    Ephesians 6.10, 13

He who wants to expand the field of happiness, let him lay the foundation of it on the bottom of his heart.
    Tract of the Quiet Way (Taoism)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
    1 Corinthians 9.24-27

A ship, which is not well prepared, in the ocean
goes to destruction, together with its goods and merchants.
But when a ship is well prepared, and well joined together,
then it does not break up, and all the goods get to the other shore.
Just so a bodhisattva, exalted in faith, but deficient in wisdom, swiftly comes to a failure in enlightenment.
But when he is well joined to wisdom, the foremost perfection,
he experiences, unharmed and uninjured, the enlightenment of the Jinas.
     Verses on the Perfection of Wisdom which is the Storehouse of Precious Virtues 14.7-8 (Buddhism)

The Self Is Your Greatest Enemy

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The Family Rooted in Absolute Sexual Ethics Part 8- with Leila Johnson

Cheon Seong Gyeong 894

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)
 
 
 

You Have to Inspire People by Love

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Do Not Concede or Consent

Cheon Seong Gyeong 693

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

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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.
    Laws of Manu 7.205 (Hinduism)
 
 
 

Align Yourself With the Principle that Governs the Universe

Listen to the Richard Urban Show #70:

The Family Rooted in Absolute Sexual Ethics-Part 7 with Philip Sharp

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2220

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