As America has become the archangel nation in the Last Days, its women will not be qualified to be women. Hence, homosexuals and lesbians arise and say, “Let women marry each other. Let men marry each other!” The archangel does not acknowledge a complementary partnership. He does not recognize the right of ownership. He does not acknowledge heterosexuality. That is why everything has become like that. The reality of America today is that while opposing homosexuality on the one hand, it must present the way it should go honestly before God on the other. Issues like lesbianism, homosexuality, and family breakdown must be resolved completely. (240-155, 1992.12.11)
The 36 Couples consist of three groups of twelve. The first group symbolizes the Old Testament Age of marrying without God’s permission. The second group symbolizes the New Testament Age of wishing to be married in God’s chosen land. However, with the death of Jesus on the cross, this wish was not fulfilled and so the age became one of the bride awaiting her groom. The third group symbolizes the Completed Testament Age, an era of perfection, and of wishing for the beginning of God’s family.
Today we are passing through the providence of restoration symbolizing Jacob’s victory. Accordingly, I need to restore through indemnity the era of the servant and the realm of the adopted child and realize the era of the true child. The 36 Couples were established in order to restore these three eras symbolically. (God’s Will – 165)
1. Cultivating the Good through a Lifetime of Practice
Good and evil are not decided in the future, but in the present moment, every day. (Way of God’s Will 1.1.2)
Whether you are good or evil is not determined by your thoughts. It is determined by your life. Just knowing in your head what is good does not put you in any relationship with the real world. (359:167, November 7, 2001)
You cannot just pick up a difficult textbook and study it unless you first know how to read. You need to practice reading and train over a long period to become a good reader. You cannot be a connoisseur of music just be listening to a few pieces. You need to train over many years to understand that music deeply and in every aspect. You cannot just stand at a podium and instantly be a great speaker; it requires training. It is the same with our thinking, attitude and behavior. We have to spend time training our minds and bodies. We can view meditation and prayer as ways of training the mind. (67:178, June 10, 1973)
Well-known violinists know the character of their own violin, having played it countless times, cleaning and caring for it for so long. They know how to make the best sound out of their instrument, and can play in total harmony with it. Therefore they make the most beautiful and even mysterious sounds. Just as a violinist makes special efforts to care for his instrument, you should make special efforts, through prayer, to cultivate your spirit. Wherever you go, you should raise your spiritual antenna and not be negligent even for a moment. (241:179, December 24, 1992)
How can we, who are fallen beings, return to the God of goodness? First, we have to cultivate our conscience; thus we begin to take after the goodness of our original self. Next, we have to act according to God’s Word; thus we reflect the goodness of God and the value of His Word. After we have done these things, we will become people who realize goodness and appreciate the value of God’s goodness. God can then rejoice, finding in us His ideal of goodness, for which He created all things and humankind. (131:170, May 1, 1984)
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. The spirit self… also returns an element to the physical self which we call the living spirit element…
Truth illuminates the innermost desires of the spirit mind. A person must first comprehend his spirit mind’s deepest desire through the truth and then put this knowledge into action to fulfill his responsibility. Only then do the living spirit elements and vitality elements reciprocate within him, enabling him to progress toward goodness. The living spirit element and the vitality element have the relationship of internal nature and external form. Because all people have living spirit elements ever active within themselves, even an evil person’s original mind inclines toward goodness. However, unless he actually leads a life of goodness, the living spirit elements cannot engage in proper give and take with the vitality elements, nor can they be infused into his physical self to make it wholesome. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 6.3.2)
You can attain heaven only if you have unity within yourself. Therefore, do not be arrogant. Be humble. Be a sacrifice. That is why we are taught to discipline the body through the path of religion. Although you dislike it, you should do fasting and make sacrifices for more than three years. (245:58, February 28, 1993
