When Families Break Down, Society Cannot but be in Turmoil

Peaceful families create a peaceful world.
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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1209

In order to receive the Messiah, there must be the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. After the foundation of substance is completed, the foundation for the Messiah is inevitably required. If so, who would stand on the foundation for the Messiah after the foundation of substance is established? We were born as the descendants of fallen human beings, inheriting Satan’s lineage, and we are still not able to transcend that lineage. In order to transcend that lineage, we must change our lineage, but we cannot do that on our own. Therefore, we need the Messiah. (47-12, 1971.8.19)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1570

How is it that I was able to proclaim the True Parents? The democratic and communist worlds represent the brothers Abel and Cain. Though these two worlds are like two sons, they are fighting with each other. Since I now stand in a position from which I can make peace between these two hostile sons and be welcomed by both, I could finally come to Korea with the special authority of the Parent and proclaim Mother and myself as the True Parents to the whole nation. (204-187, 1990.7.8)

Chapter 20

Society

Family as the Cornerstone of Society

SOCIETY IS AN ORGANISM WITH FAMILIES as its cells. Let these building-blocks be healthy, and society will be healthy. On the other hand, when families break down, society cannot but be in turmoil. The prevalence of family breakdown in our time is a worrying trend, boding no good for a nation’s future.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to construe “family values” as family-centered. The attitude that “my home is my castle” would only be another form of selfishness. The lessons learned in the family “school of love” (See Chapter 19: The Basic Form of Life) are meant to be applied at every level of social organization. Thus, Confucian ethics regards the norm of filial piety as the basis for the ethic of public service: serving parents at home is training to serve the nation. Likewise, the ways of love for siblings, parents, and children are to be extended to caring for one’s neighbors who are our peers, our parents’ age, and our children’s age. In this way, loving relationships in the individual family extend to encompass the universal family of humankind.

Continue reading “When Families Break Down, Society Cannot but be in Turmoil”

Grandparents Embody the Living History of the Past

Peaceful families create a peaceful world.
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Cheon Seong Gyeong 583

    In today’s world, there are many people who commit suicide by taking sleeping pills or in other ways. Do more women commit suicide or more men? More women. Why? Women tend to have a one-track mind.
    However ugly a man might be, he is able to approach a problem from different perspectives. Women see only one way out of a problem, but men avoid death by finding viable alternatives. As such, they have a lower suicide rate than women. (222-69, 1991.10.28)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1143

Everyone wants to become God’s son or daughter. This is the original principle of creation and we were supposed to become like that, but human beings who should have been born into such a lineage were dragged away by the enemy and inherited the blood of Satan, the enemy of God’s love. We should have been born with God’s blood running in our veins, but our present reality is unbearable. (191-244, 1989.6.25)

FAMILY

THE BASIC FORM OF LIFE

The Love of Grandparents

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

As children, you are destined to inherit the fortune of your grandparents and parents. Why do you need grandparents? They represent the past—they embody the living history of the past. Parents represent the present age and children represent the future. Thus, the family connects the past, present and future, as well as East, West, North and South. Grandparents, parents, children and God—the center of them all is true love. Think about whether it is this way in your family. By loving and respecting your grandfather and grandmother, you inherit everything from the past and learn from the past. From your father and mother you learn about the present. By loving and cherishing your children, you learn about the future… The three-generation family is like the entire universe. It is like a textbook to learn how to love the universe. Hence, if there isn’t a grandmother or a grandfather in your family, you may feel insecure. (162:140, April 5, 1987)

[In a traditional family] the grandfather and grandmother, the bride’s mother-in-law, father-inlaw, and sister-in-law, and the grandchildren should all live together. What is the center? God. Centering on God, three generations are settled—formation, growth and completion. Hence, children need to know how to love not just their father and mother, but also their grandfather and grandmother. They should honor their grandfather and grandmother with a higher status than their father and mother. Loving them is the way for the children to love God. (128:18, May 29, 1983)

Grandparents represent God in heaven; their position is like Heaven. As the elders in the family, our grandparents bring Heaven to us. That is why you need to attend them as the representatives of God. Think of them as representatives of the King of Heaven and serve them as you would serve God. This teaching is one of the traditions of the ideal family. (251:219, October 17, 1993)

If the husband and wife fight, the grandfather and grandmother will say, “Now, now. Don’t do that!” When the children fight or the grandchildren fight, they say, “Now, now. Don’t do that!” In this way, with love, they play the role of a servant. They live for the sake of the other members of the family, telling each of them, “You are in a high position. You are wonderful.” Grandparents play the role of the servant of love to the greatest extent… The greatest, most amazing and most powerful person in the universe is the person who walks the way of the servant of love. (135:121-22, October 4, 1985)

It is wonderful when a daughter-in-law loves her grandmother and grandfather so much that she always buys better things for them than for her husband. She may be good-looking, and the old grandfather and grandmother may be all wrinkled, yet whenever she goes shopping she looks to buy something for them, something finer than what she buys for her husband, and she does it with a more joyful heart. What a wonderful scene! If she does that, then the grandfather and grandmother will give her everything they had hidden away—everything having to do with love.
    Who is the oldest being in the world? It is God. Therefore, you learn from loving your grandfather how to love God and live for His sake. When you learn this tradition, you can receive all the treasures of love stored in Grandfather God’s secret warehouse. It is wonderful! (107:329, June 8, 1980)

It is true that many grandchildren and daughters-in-law hate to see the cane their grandfather carries about.28 Perhaps they wish the grandfather an early death? Rather, good grandchildren and daughters-in-law who have loving hearts would think, “Oh God, when the cane disappears someday, I will be drenched in tears.” (184:270, January 1, 1989)

If the people of a nation hold the elderly in contempt, eventually that nation will lose its national character. A person who doesn’t like old people is selling out the character and tradition of his nation. (21:120, November 17, 1968)

Grandparents Grace a Family with Wisdom and Love

Peaceful families create a peaceful world.
Join us from November 25th to November 27th at the Peace Kingdom Center in Harpers Ferry, WV or online by Zoom.
Save 50% until October 31st.

November 25- Parent and Presenter Training; Abstaining for Success and Happiness
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November 27- Strengthening Families and Communities Forum FREE
Speakers:
Kelly Kohls: National School Boards Leadership Council
Michael Marshall: Editor Emeritus, United Press International
Jamal Johnson
Richard Urban

Cheon Seong Gyeong 327

The path trod by a man or a woman exists because of love, and for love. Our path is the path of love. We are following this path in order to acquire love, defend love, and establish an environment of love. (Blessed Family – 1062)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1517

What is true love? It is about giving more than one has and not expect- ing anything in return. What is patriotism? It is about sacrificing one’s life for the nation without expecting anything in return. A true husband is someone who is ready to give his life for the sake of his wife, time and again. True husbands, true wives, true children, true siblings, true parents, and a true family follow that path. Families in which the grandparents, parents, husband and wife, and children are all ready to do this will automatically have God dwell with them even if they tell Him not to. Why? Because they would resemble Him. (210-32, 1990.11.30)

FAMILY

THE BASIC FORM OF LIFE

The Love of Grandparents

GRANDPARENTS GRACE A FAMILY WITH WISDOM, experience, and delightful love for their grandchildren. In traditional cultures where three generations live under one roof, children honor their grandparents and care for them in their infirmity as a part of daily life, learning lessons of love and respect in the process. Grandparents are moral anchors. There are too many cases where parents are corrupted by drugs or crime and rendered unfit to care for their children; then the grandparents step in to the breach to take over the parenting role. Father Moon decries the loss of the three-generation family in urbanized, industrialized society as contributing to selfishness and a coarsening of morality. In many traditions, the honor given parents and grandparents is linked to the honor given the ancestors and the gods in one vertical chain of devotion. In this light, Father Moon speaks of grandparents as representa- tives of God in the home. Honoring them is a way of honoring God, the greatest Grandparent of all.

You shall rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
    Leviticus 19.32

The feeling of grandparents for their grandchildren can be expressed this way: “Our children are dear to us; but when we have grandchildren, they seem to be dearer than our children were.” You might say that the grandmother falls all over herself to try to show her appreciation for her grandchild. It goes right back to those wishes that were made for them when they were little girls: the wish that they would live to become grandmothers someday. So when the time comes and they reach grandmotherhood, they do extra little duties to show their appreciation.
    Henry Old Coyote (Native American Religion)

Do not neglect the sacrificial works due to the gods and the fathers! Let your mother be to you like unto a god! Let your father be to you like unto a god! Let your teacher be to you like unto a god! Let your guest be to you like unto a god!
    Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.2 (Hinduism)

Father and mother
Are gods of the family;
Even so, honor them as gods with
Heartfelt service,
All of you of human birth.
    Norinaga Motoori, One Hundred Poems on the Jeweled Spear (Shinto)

O son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives; even if his mind fails, be considerate with him; in all your strength do not despise him. For a kindness to a father will not be forgotten, and against your sins it will be credited to you.
    Ecclesiasticus 3.12-14 (Christianity)

My father sent for me; I saw he was dying. I buried him in that beautiful valley of winding waters. I love that land more than all the rest of the world. A man who would not love his father’s grave is worse than a wild animal.       
    Nez Perce Tradition (Native American Religions)

Divorce is Hateful to God

Listen to (podcast) or watch (video) the latest Richard Urban Show:
#112-Richard Urban-To break the generational cycle of outside of wedlock birth, we need a revolution of abstinence-centered education.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2096

    Now my fame has gone beyond national borders. I have heard that many statesmen in various places have put my picture on the wall of their study and pay their respects to it.     Have you put my picture on the wall of your room, Dr. Yoon Se-won? Do you offer a bow to it every day? Do you kiss it everyday? You should kiss it passionately. It is not impolite for you to do so. If you kiss it as a representative of God’s love, the spirits around you are given the right to participate with you in your work and receive benefit. God wouldn’t say no to this. He would say, “That’s right!” Don’t you think so, Dr. Yoon? Why don’t you try? (171-239, 1988.1.1)
Richard:  If you would like a picture of Rev. and Mrs. Moon, contact us.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 660

    Then, if people were to just feel sad, repent and shed tears of lamentation because heaven and earth are filled with sadness, can that become the stronghold of God’s Kingdom? Even that cannot. When serving the church, while desiring the time of being blessed anew with joy, we must be able to be determined to solve the problems of sin and evil in this world. Without a single direction of determination to bear that responsibility, the stronghold of heaven cannot exist.

FAMILY

THE BASIC FORM OF LIFE

Ethics of Married Life

4. Divorce is Hateful to God; Spouses Should Be Faithful ‘Till Death and Beyond

The lawful thing which God hates most is divorce.
    Hadith of Abu Dawud (Islam)

Some Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” He said to them, “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery.”
    Matthew 19.3-9 Continue reading “Divorce is Hateful to God”

Wives often Lie to their Husbands, and Husbands to their Wives

Listen to (podcast) or watch (video) the latest Richard Urban Show:
#112-Richard Urban-To break the generational cycle of outside of wedlock birth, we need a revolution of abstinence-centered education.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1913

I have been speaking about the hobby business. The entire world today is a world of science, in which through the best technology, people are moving the world. For this reason, people take a serious view of the production process, calling it the hobby industry, whereas I call it the hobby life. Do you understand? There are all kinds of hobbies – hobbies for your eyes, for your nose, for your mouth, for your ears, for your sense of touch, for your body, for your mind, for your love, and so on… (278-95, 1996.5.1)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 989

Section 1. Living in Attendance of God
1.1. God and human beings relate as parent and child

Among all bonds of relationships, the standard is the parent-child relationship established between God and human beings. The heart coming from this bond cannot be undermined by the authority of any being and is eternal, unchanging, and unique. The authority of this heart is also absolute. For this reason, when you come forth with this authority, all existing beings will bow their heads before you. When you move with the authority of that heart, the entire universe must follow you. This is the ironclad rule of the universe. (7-105, 1959.7.26)

FAMILY

THE BASIC FORM OF LIFE

Ethics of Married Life

3. The Good and the Bad in Husbands and Wives 

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

What is the problem with families today? Isn’t it that both the husband and wife are insisting, “Live for my sake” and “You must love only me”? Such a selfish attitude is the characteristic of Satan, so God will leave such a family. Once Satan enters a family, it breaks down. The parents raise the children, insisting, “You must live for us.” The children tell their parents, “Father, mother, live for me.” They each want the other to live for their sake, so the family breaks apart. (69:87, October 20, 1973)

Wives often lie to their husbands, and husbands to their wives, in order to hide things from each other. Each tries to possess a realm over which they have sole control. If your family is like this, you are still connected with Satan’s world. (396:257, November 10, 2002) Continue reading “Wives often Lie to their Husbands, and Husbands to their Wives”