Cheon Seong Gyeong 2376
All the things I have taught you are like keys for you to use to enter heaven. Unless the key fits, you cannot open the gate to heaven. You cannot open the gate to heaven unless you hold the keys that I am giving you. No matter how important a person you are in America, you can’t open the gate unless you have the keys from me. My keys are the essential ones. Other keys, whether gold or silver, will not open the gate, no matter how well made they are. But my keys can open it every time, even if they may look like nothing and are made of brass. No one else can make such keys. (260-186, 1999.5.8)
God cannot live with human beings on earth, because people have not realized unity in their families. Once family members unite, God will dwell with them. When we say “true love,” the concepts of unity between mind and body, husband and wife, and children should come to mind. When those three kinds of unity are achieved, the family of true love will be the starting point of the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven. When you achieve unity, with God and True Parents as your focus, the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven can be built. Where does the Heavenly Kingdom on earth start? It starts from your families, your sons and daughters. (260-185, 1994.5.8)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1241
God’s Blessing is absolutely public in nature. It is not just for an individual, family, nation, or even the world. God’s Blessing is for the whole universe. (15-67, 1965. 2.13)
Society
Women’s Rights
THE MOVEMENT FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS and equality of the sexes that began in the last century is a major force for human betterment. Yet amidst the profusion of feminist ideas and trends, can scriptures instruct us to discern what is best and most enduring? This section deals specifically with women’s rights in society. The more fundamental man-woman relationship is marriage, and there the matter of sex roles and equality of the sexes comes up with special force—see Chapter 19: Ethics of Married Life.
Against the persistent mistreatment of women, scriptures affirm the essential equality and dignity of both man and woman before God. Scriptures also affirm the right of women to an education and to seek the highest goal of faith—an outstanding Buddhist passage praises the resolve of a nun who defeats the Devil’s whispering that women are not fit for enlightenment. On the other hand, the scriptures encourage the traditional womanly role of childbearing as the basis of female dignity. Further, there is scriptural warrant for the subordination of women as a consequence of the Fall and the first woman’s sin—a theme to which Father Moon adds a unique twist when he attributes women’s subordination at least in part to the degradation of men to the level of “archangels.”
It is undeniable that men and women are distinctly unequal in their physical stature and abilities. A Buddhist text ridicules the notion that such external differences have any meaning, based on its perspective that Mind is the only reality. That won’t do for Father Moon, who affirms the reality of the created world. Rather, he teaches that love is the basis of the equality of men and women. He supports the traditional value of childbearing, calling it God’s special gift to women, but at the same time he applauds women who aspire to leadership positions in society and he encourages his women followers to take on traditional male roles. In this respect his thought resonates with the dreams of the pioneering American feminist Susan B. Anthony, who is quoted here.
1. The Basis of Equality between Men and Women
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1.27 Continue reading “God Created Man In His Own Image, Male and Female He Created Them”