speeches: remove broken unification.net drop-cap images (#8)
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Co-authored-by: Samuel McCann <samuel.mccann@gmail.com> Co-committed-by: Samuel McCann <samuel.mccann@gmail.com>
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@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ FOR WORLD PEACE — NORTH AMERICA<br />
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INAUGURAL CONVENTION</p>
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<p>August 31, 1996</p>
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<p>Meadowlands Hilton, Secaucus, New Jersey</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_I.gif" alt="I" height="34" align="left" border="0" />congratulate you on your labors for the welfare of humankind and the realization of a peaceful world. I hope that this conference, convened with less than four years remaining in the twentieth century, can be a fruitful forum of discussion clarifying and expanding our hope for a peaceful world. I would like to share with you my thoughts on the realization of world peace and the ultimate human ideal.</p>
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<p>Icongratulate you on your labors for the welfare of humankind and the realization of a peaceful world. I hope that this conference, convened with less than four years remaining in the twentieth century, can be a fruitful forum of discussion clarifying and expanding our hope for a peaceful world. I would like to share with you my thoughts on the realization of world peace and the ultimate human ideal.</p>
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<p>I grew up on the Korean peninsula, where people suffered greatly as major powers fought over ideology and resources. Since my childhood, I have sought desperately to find answers to questions about life and the universe. I came to know the living God through my experiences with Him, and to know that God is the Lord of true love who has been present with humankind throughout history. I could not believe that God would have planned and created a world in which evil, conflict and war prevail. I do not have time to speak at length about the experiences of my youth. I will testify simply that those days were filled with an intense longing for the truth.</p>
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<p>I have revealed the teaching of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, a teaching known as “the Principle.” It was not easily learned. Needless to say, I received the essence of the Principle through deep, fervent and prayerful communion with God, Jesus and other saints in the spirit world. Its revelation is a victory gained through a desperate fight with Satan. I am devoting every moment of my life to the teaching and practice of the Principle. Those whose lives it has touched are sharing it throughout the world, in 184 countries. The Principle is transforming people’s lives by bringing them into a new relationship with the living God.</p>
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<h3 align="center">God’s Ideal and Human Perfection</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_A.gif" alt="A" height="34" align="left" border="0" />s human beings created by God, we were born with an innate hope to attain our dreams and realize an ideal world in relationship with God. Even under the worst conditions, human beings never give up their desire for an ideal and peaceful world. When we say “ideal world,” we should know that God is the origin of the very concept of the ideal.</p>
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<p>As human beings created by God, we were born with an innate hope to attain our dreams and realize an ideal world in relationship with God. Even under the worst conditions, human beings never give up their desire for an ideal and peaceful world. When we say “ideal world,” we should know that God is the origin of the very concept of the ideal.</p>
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<p>God did not create the world for the sake of power, glory or wealth. Being absolute, unchanging and eternal, and being the origin of all existence, He has no particular need for these things, as He already has them in abundance.</p>
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<p>However, it would not be right to think that God has fulfilled all His desires. God exists as the embodiment of true love. God needs a partner in order to experience love, just as we do. Love can be experienced only when there is a “subject and object” relationship. No being can experience love in isolation, all by itself.</p>
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<p>God created human beings to give and receive love freely in relationship with Him. We were made to be the true object of the love of God. He created us as His sons and daughters. He is the True Parent of humankind.</p>
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@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ INAUGURAL CONVENTION</p>
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<p>Adam and Eve were meant to mature in God’s love and become true individuals, true husband and wife, and, by rearing children, true parents. People experience God’s true love step by step, throughout the stages of life’s growth. Each individual is meant to come to know the heart of children through the love of their parents, the heart of a sibling through the love between brothers and sisters, the heart of husband and wife through the love of a spouse, and the heart of parents through loving children. The family is the foundation upon which we establish these four realms of love and heart.</p>
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<p>The family is the basis for love, happiness, life and lineage. We cannot learn and experience these four realms of love anywhere other than in the family. We know love only through actual experience. The true perfection of the individual, family, society and environment has its root in the realization of love within the family.</p>
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<h3 align="center">World Peace and the Providence of Restoration</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_W.gif" alt="W" height="34" align="left" border="0" />hat is the reality of our world today? Despite advances in technology and the conveniences of modern life, the world is facing a profound crisis: the loss of our very humanity. Disorders and maladies of every kind — violence, crime, drug abuse, war — plague humankind. More significantly, the breakdown of the family, including the rising divorce rate, the collapse of sexual morality among youth and the problem of unmarried teenage mothers, is destroying the foundation of society.</p>
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<p>What is the reality of our world today? Despite advances in technology and the conveniences of modern life, the world is facing a profound crisis: the loss of our very humanity. Disorders and maladies of every kind — violence, crime, drug abuse, war — plague humankind. More significantly, the breakdown of the family, including the rising divorce rate, the collapse of sexual morality among youth and the problem of unmarried teenage mothers, is destroying the foundation of society.</p>
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<p>Even though we have sought peace and happiness in many ways, none of us can be satisfied with the results we have achieved in our lives. After the First and Second World Wars, the League of Nations and then the United Nations were established to prevent further conflict. However, the global work of these organizations has not brought about a peaceful world. The efforts of religious groups also have not led to a world of happiness. The proud ideals of communism, the fascist illusion — these failed to bring about one ideal world. Neither highly advanced technology nor skillful diplomacy have delivered us peace and happiness. This is because the cause of humanity’s unhappiness and suffering lies in the human fall and our disobedience to God. The solution of the problem begins by eliminating this root cause.</p>
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<p>Adam and Eve defiled true love during their time of growth. They fell away from God’s Principle by having sexual relations and creating children before they reached maturity in true love</p>
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<p>Human history thus began with Adam and Eve’s lack of faith in God, their loving Parent, and their ultimate submission to Satan. By this action they became a false husband and false wife, and false parents. Our inheritance from the original family includes their legacy of corruption, conflict and suffering. This legacy has nothing to do with God’s ideal of creation. We cannot imagine how God’s Heart is broken!</p>
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@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ INAUGURAL CONVENTION</p>
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<p>The Messiah, sent by God, is the person who comes with the overall responsibility to complete the providence of restoration. The Messiah must come as the True Parent and must rectify everything, beginning at the very root of the problem.</p>
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<p>Jesus came as the Messiah with the mission of the True Parent. He came to resurrect human beings on earth. He would thus restore them as true individuals, so that they might become true husbands and wives who would be true parents themselves. Unfortunately, because of the lack of faith on earth, he was unable to accomplish his purpose fully. As he ascended, however, he promised to return. He must return in order to restore God’s ideal of creation.</p>
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<h3 align="center">Development of Civilization</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_J.gif" alt="J" height="34" align="left" border="0" />esus was born in Israel, but he was not born for the Jewish people alone. Jesus came in the position of the Messiah and the True Parent. It was his purpose to realize God’s ideal, that is, a world of true love and peace. At that time, Israel was under Roman colonial rule. If Jesus could have accomplished his purpose among the people of Palestine, then God’s providence was that his message to spread throughout the world.</p>
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<p>Jesus was born in Israel, but he was not born for the Jewish people alone. Jesus came in the position of the Messiah and the True Parent. It was his purpose to realize God’s ideal, that is, a world of true love and peace. At that time, Israel was under Roman colonial rule. If Jesus could have accomplished his purpose among the people of Palestine, then God’s providence was that his message to spread throughout the world.</p>
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<p>In fact, Palestine’s location at the crossroads of three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, led to the transmission of Jesus’ teachings during the first centuries of the Christian era. Christianity spread south into Africa, east into Asia and west into Europe. Eventually, Christianity attained continental dominion in Europe, western Asia and the Americas. Through Christianity these vast continents each accomplished relative unity. These unified continental powers came to dominate the world in the modern era.</p>
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<p>Civilization first emerged on continents, in Egypt, Mesopotamia and China. The center of western civilization then shifted to peninsular cultures in Greece, Rome and then Iberia. These peninsular civilizations gave way to an island civilization in Great Britain. The center of civilization then moved to the continental civilization of North America, and then across the Pacific to an island civilization centering in Japan. It is the view of providence that the development of civilization will bear fruit in a peninsular culture emerging in Korea.</p>
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<p>Peninsular cultures have given rise to important civilizations. Great religions and philosophies have emerged from peninsular cultures to guide the realm of the human spirit. These include, among others, Greek philosophy, which came from the Balkan peninsula, Christian culture that blossomed on the Italian peninsula, Hindu philosophy and culture from India, Islamic culture which arose on the Arabian peninsula, Buddhist culture which flourished on the peninsulas of Southeast Asia, the art of navigation from the Iberian peninsula, and the Nordic culture on the Scandinavian peninsula.</p>
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@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Farewell Banquet</p>
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<p>August 1, 1996<br />
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Washington DC<br />
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Translator — Peter Kim</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_D.gif" alt="D" height="34" align="left" border="0" />istinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.</p>
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<p>Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.</p>
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<p>With the end of the Cold War, new hope for peace and justice has spread rapidly across the globe. Leaders unable or unwilling to acknowledge the new international realities are being swept away by the tidal wave of change.</p>
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<p>As we stand at the threshold of the new millennium, I believe it is time to review our traditional patterns of thinking and boldly seize these new opportunities. Thus it is my great honor to share with you my life-long advocacy for world peace and true family values.</p>
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<p>In this world there are two kinds of human beings: men and women. Can they decide to exchange positions? Was your birth as male or female based upon your personal desire? Or were you born that way irrespective of your personal preference? The sex that we are given is an absolute and is not a matter of choice. We did not think it nor did we want it, but without knowing the cause, result, or process of our birth, we were born a certain way.</p>
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@ -17,17 +17,17 @@ The Reverend Sun Myung Moon</h2>
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<h3 align="center">World Convention<br />
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Federation of Island Nations for World Peace<br />
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June 16-18, 1996 — Tokyo, Japan</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_H.gif" alt="H" height="34" align="left" border="0" />onorable guests from around the world, ladies and gentlemen representing Japan who are gathered here to attend the world convention of the <em>Federation of Island Nations for World Peace</em>.</p>
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<p>Honorable guests from around the world, ladies and gentlemen representing Japan who are gathered here to attend the world convention of the <em>Federation of Island Nations for World Peace</em>.</p>
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<p>I am aware of your daily efforts toward the realization of world peace, for which I am sincerely grateful. I realize that this gathering presents the opportunity to further mobilize our intellect and deepen our friendship and understanding so that we can have the coming 21st century as a brilliant era of peace. For me there can be no greater joy than sharing our responsibility and mission, and making an unwavering determination among ourselves for the realization of world peace through this convention.</p>
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<p>Allow me to begin, first of all, with my explanation of the history and background with which I have come to propose before you the establishment of an unfamiliar organization named <em>The Federation of Island Nations for World Peace</em>.</p>
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<h3 align="center">The History of Civilization</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_W.gif" alt="W" height="34" align="left" border="0" />hen we look at the stream of development of civilization in human history, the ancient civilizations which emerged in the river valleys passed to the Mediterranean Sea including Greece, Rome and the Iberian Peninsula. Then it developed through the European Continent including Germany and France, and bore fruit as a Judeo-Christian culture in the form of the Atlantic Civilization centered on Great Britain, an island nation. Afterwards, civilization passed westward through the American Continent, and presently we have the era of the Pacific Ocean centered on Japan, an island nation. This represents the expansion of a Judeo-Christian civilization into Asia.</p>
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<p>When we look at the stream of development of civilization in human history, the ancient civilizations which emerged in the river valleys passed to the Mediterranean Sea including Greece, Rome and the Iberian Peninsula. Then it developed through the European Continent including Germany and France, and bore fruit as a Judeo-Christian culture in the form of the Atlantic Civilization centered on Great Britain, an island nation. Afterwards, civilization passed westward through the American Continent, and presently we have the era of the Pacific Ocean centered on Japan, an island nation. This represents the expansion of a Judeo-Christian civilization into Asia.</p>
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<p>When we recognize this kind of movement of civilizations in light of God’s Providence, we can see that the island nation that has been placed in the center of heavenly fortune today is none other than Japan. At the conclusion of the 20th century, Japan has come to stand in the limelight of human history in God’s providence. Therefore, Japan’s current prosperity cannot be explained without considering her relationship to the Judeo-Christian providence of God.</p>
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<p>If Japan has a role in God’s plan, our attention should be paid to the providential mission which Japan bears. It is because the purpose of God’s providence is the realization of world peace. World peace is the very hope for all humankind.</p>
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<p>There can be no better hope for human society than if the island nations around the world get together here and commit themselves to a federation of nations for the creation of world peace.</p>
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<p>It is with this expectation and ideals that I established <em>The Federation of Island Nations</em>. I cannot but hope that the realization of world peace will come true as the island nations all over the world inherit the heavenly fortune which was given by God to Japan, and form a group of nations dedicating their collective will to the pursuit of world peace.</p>
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<h3 align="center">Characteristics of Island Nations</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_W.gif" alt="W" height="34" align="left" border="0" />hat are the characteristics of island nations? The earths surface consists of land and ocean. Science today explains that the birth of the first simplest life form took place in the realm of water, namely the ocean. This tells us that the ocean plays the role of <em>mother</em> who conceives and nurtures life. In this way, if the ocean can be regarded as symbolizing femininity, then the land may be considered as symbolizing masculinity. Therefore, it can be said that island nations located in the ocean symbolize women, and that continental nations and peninsula nations symbolize men.</p>
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<p>What are the characteristics of island nations? The earths surface consists of land and ocean. Science today explains that the birth of the first simplest life form took place in the realm of water, namely the ocean. This tells us that the ocean plays the role of <em>mother</em> who conceives and nurtures life. In this way, if the ocean can be regarded as symbolizing femininity, then the land may be considered as symbolizing masculinity. Therefore, it can be said that island nations located in the ocean symbolize women, and that continental nations and peninsula nations symbolize men.</p>
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<p>From a spiritual perspective, one might say that island nations have certain characteristics of woman, such as objectivity, dependability, nourishing-ness, endurance and receptivity. On the other hand, continental nations may be seen as manly; possessing such attributes as subjectivity, creativity, and provider.</p>
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<p>Following this comparison, the position which an island nation should play can be described as identical with that which women fill in human society. Women get married and are traditionallly expected to wholeheartedly love and serve their husbands. By receiving love from their spouses, and giving birth to children, women may shine and blossom through this dynamic relationship.</p>
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<p>As mothers, women have the important responsibility of nourishing their children, bringing them up and educating them. Likewise, we can say that island nations also have similar roles to play.</p>
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@ -37,23 +37,23 @@ June 16-18, 1996 — Tokyo, Japan</h3>
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<p>In 1945, when World War II came to an end, world Christianity was at an extremely important point in the history of God’s providence of salvation. Christian nations like Britain, the United States and France were in the central positions of the providence at that time.</p>
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<p>In World Wars I and II, the three major Christian nations of Great Britain, the United States and France fought for democracy as the center of the allied nations. It was God’s desire to see these three, major Christian nations join their forces to practice God’s love in the service of mankind with a sacrificial and serving spirit to actualize world peace, without lapsing into nationalistic ideas centered on their countries. The end of World War II, in 1945, saw the opportunity of providing lasting peace for mankind through the establishment of the United Nations.</p>
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<h3 align="center">The Expansion of Communism</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_H.gif" alt="H" height="34" align="left" border="0" />owever, the historical reality was not the realization of world peace, but the expansion of communism, and the numerous conflicts that have come with it, as well as the spiritual decline and moral degradation of Christian nations. Humankind, which has endured the cold war between the United States and the former Soviet Union for more than 40 years, is passing through a spiritual wilderness which continues until the present.</p>
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<p>However, the historical reality was not the realization of world peace, but the expansion of communism, and the numerous conflicts that have come with it, as well as the spiritual decline and moral degradation of Christian nations. Humankind, which has endured the cold war between the United States and the former Soviet Union for more than 40 years, is passing through a spiritual wilderness which continues until the present.</p>
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<p>For my part, I have traveled the world to reveal God’s ideals and His providence in order to actualize the vision of world peace on the basis of God’s original plan. To this end, I have established many international organizations, but the path is long, and there remains a lot of work for all of us to do.</p>
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<p>What is the ideal of God? It goes without saying that the original ideal of God is to realize a peaceful world. In such a world, there are no divisions or conflicts.</p>
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<p>It is a world filled with unity, harmony and joy. The greatest and the quickest means to this end is through true love. True love is the factor of unity and the origin of joy and happiness. That is why I would say that the prerequisite of peace is true love.</p>
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<p>Then where does God’s true love originate? The settlement place of true love is the family. If Adam and Eve had perfected themselves and established an ideal family through their marriage centered on God, true love would have been initiated there. And, the family of true love would have become the basis which would produce global true peace.</p>
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<p>The reason why humankind is still unable to make true peace is because they are ignorant of true love. Why? The answer is, as mentioned in the Bible, humankind has separated from God. Since the fall of the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve who established the first family without God’s blessing. Peace has been absent from this world ever since. Instead, divisions, conflicts, and struggles have come to rule this world. In the individual, the struggle between mind and body, the conflicts between husband and wife at the family level, and the struggles between societies are accepted as normal, everyday life.</p>
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<h3 align="center">The Loss of True Love</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_I.gif" alt="I" height="34" align="left" border="0" />t is my conviction that all human problems are caused by the fundamental loss of true love. The fall of humankind meant the loss of true love. Consequently, Jesus came as the King of true love in order to restore the love which Adam and Eve had lost. By the same token, the Lord of the Second Advent is coming in order to restore true love. That is the logical conclusion seen from the view of the providence of salvation.</p>
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<p>It is my conviction that all human problems are caused by the fundamental loss of true love. The fall of humankind meant the loss of true love. Consequently, Jesus came as the King of true love in order to restore the love which Adam and Eve had lost. By the same token, the Lord of the Second Advent is coming in order to restore true love. That is the logical conclusion seen from the view of the providence of salvation.</p>
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<p>My life until today, and my quest for world peace, has been concentrated on the point of how humankind can restore true love. When we look at the moral degradation of the world, we can think of how great God’s sorrow must be. Watching this world decline breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes. The harm of immorality and adultery similar to the days of Sodom and Gomorra injures our youth as they tragically fall into the false enticements of so-called “free” sex. The greatest sorrow of God is to see mankind going down this path of irresponsible destruction.</p>
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<p>Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to announce there is much hope. This optimism comes from a new and liberated role of women. Women are actively working around the world to save civilization from destruction. In particular, Japanese women are playing an important role. They are active in 160 nations practicing the spirit of “living for the sake of the world.” This fills me with great joy. Women can save the world at this time of crisis. It is time for us to stand up, respect and recognize the power of women.</p>
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<p>Delegates and honorable guests, I would like to state once again my essential thesis. You represent, for the most part, island and oceanic nations. Island nations have in common the characteristics of women and mothers. Therefore, they should unite their forces and cooperate so that they can fulfill the mission as mothers in front of humankind. Based on these reasons, I proposed and founded the <em>Federation of Island Nations for World Peace</em>.</p>
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<p>Looking back on human history, women have played a vital role in both a positive and negative sense.</p>
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<h3 align="center">The Role of Women</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_A.gif" alt="A" height="34" align="left" border="0" />ccording to the Bible, human history began with the tragic incident known as the fall of Adam and Eve. It is a matter of fact that we must all shoulder the responsibility for this act and resolve this issue. However, when we look at the passage in the Bible that Eve was the first to fall and begin the history of sin, we can see that the providence requires that an age must come in human history in which women will lead the way to redeem the fall of Eve.</p>
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<p>According to the Bible, human history began with the tragic incident known as the fall of Adam and Eve. It is a matter of fact that we must all shoulder the responsibility for this act and resolve this issue. However, when we look at the passage in the Bible that Eve was the first to fall and begin the history of sin, we can see that the providence requires that an age must come in human history in which women will lead the way to redeem the fall of Eve.</p>
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<p>We can see that the ideological trends in the 20th century, such as the movement of women seeking true liberation, indicate that women have begun to stand up for the sake of world peace. Because I know that such is the providence of God, in April 1992, I founded the <em>Women’s Federation for World Peace</em> together with my wife.</p>
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<h3 align="center">Family Federation for World Peace</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />his movement of the <em>Women’s Federation for World Peace</em> will develop into the movement of the <em>Family Federation for World Peace</em> in the near future, and all people may participate. By establishing true love in the family, it seeks to construct an ideal world — the kingdom of heaven on earth.</p>
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<p>This movement of the <em>Women’s Federation for World Peace</em> will develop into the movement of the <em>Family Federation for World Peace</em> in the near future, and all people may participate. By establishing true love in the family, it seeks to construct an ideal world — the kingdom of heaven on earth.</p>
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<p>The age of women is the worldwide trend of the 1990s and into the 21st century. We may say that <em>love</em> and <em>cooperation</em>, and the spirit of <em>resolution</em> and <em>harmony</em> will fulfill a historical contribution towards world peace.</p>
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<p>This worldwide <em>age of women</em> means that the <em>age of island nations</em> will bear the characteristics of women. In this way, the age of women and the age of island nations are intimately linked together. The time when women stand up for world peace is the time when island nations should also stand up for world wide cooperation. Now is the opportunity for island and oceanic nations to fulfill their glorious and historical missions of realizing world peace. Is there a mission of greater glory than this?</p>
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<p>Let us look back on the history of humankind in which women played central roles. There were courageous women who established testimonies based on an unbreakable faith in God. Without the perseverance of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, Isaac’s wife, Rebecca, or Jacob’s wife, Rachel, there would be no history of the Israelites. Tamar, relying only on her absolute faith, risked her life to establish the lineage from which the messiah later appeared.</p>
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@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ June 16-18, 1996 — Tokyo, Japan</h3>
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<p>When the <em>Federation of Island Nations</em> ignites and spreads through the virtues of service and dedication, the light of hope will burn brightly before the future of humankind.</p>
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<p>Island nations must inevitably seek for the continent in the end. This is based on the same principle that a woman seeks a loving relationship with a man. This might be called the condition for the survival of island nations. Thus, the various activities for world peace carried out in island nations must inevitably bring a good influence on continental countries. In this way, when the positive effects of the efforts of island nations for the realization of world peace are spread to the continental realm, world peace will take a major step closer towards realization.</p>
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<h3 align="center">Conclusion</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_W.gif" alt="W" height="34" align="left" border="0" />e strongly desire that the age of the 21st century will become a new millennium which is the brilliant dawn of the kingdom of heaven on earth, long awaited by humankind. The associations such as the <em>Federation for World Peace</em>, the <em>Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace</em>, the <em>Women’s Federation for World Peace</em>, the <em>Youth Federation for World Peace</em>, and the <em>Students Federation for World Peace</em>, I am convinced will fulfill a crucial role for peace and harmony together with the <em>Federation for Island Nations</em>.</p>
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<p>We strongly desire that the age of the 21st century will become a new millennium which is the brilliant dawn of the kingdom of heaven on earth, long awaited by humankind. The associations such as the <em>Federation for World Peace</em>, the <em>Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace</em>, the <em>Women’s Federation for World Peace</em>, the <em>Youth Federation for World Peace</em>, and the <em>Students Federation for World Peace</em>, I am convinced will fulfill a crucial role for peace and harmony together with the <em>Federation for Island Nations</em>.</p>
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<p>Ultimately, all of these organizations will bear fruit as the <em>Family Federation for World Peace</em>. This is because the final base for peace is the <em>family</em> and there is no way to establish global unity other than through rebuilding the family institution.</p>
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<p>By thoroughly carrying out the education of youth based on an ideal that transcends race, nation and religion, the <em>Family Federation for World Peace</em> will be able to perfect an ideal family and attain the historical feat of a one-world family in which people from all corners of the world enjoy true and lasting peace. Your <em>Federation of Island Nations</em> will inevitably make the greatest contribution toward the highest objective of the <em>Family Federation for World Peace</em>.</p>
|
||||
<p>I would like to conclude my message with gratitude toward everyone for the fact that the dream of a one world family based on the true love of God is approaching realization through the Federation of Island Nations. May God guide and bless you, your nations and your families.</p>
|
||||
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|
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|
@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ tags: []
|
|||
by<br />
|
||||
Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon</h3>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">Autumn 1996 Speaking Tour</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_R.gif" alt="R" height="34" align="left" border="0" />espected guests, members of the Family Federation for World Peace, ladies and gentlemen:</p>
|
||||
<p>Respected guests, members of the Family Federation for World Peace, ladies and gentlemen:</p>
|
||||
<p>It is my great pleasure today to be able to share with you distinguished leaders, a message about the True Family. As you know, the family is the cradle of human life and the cornerstone for a peaceful world.</p>
|
||||
<p>It is my hope that at this gathering we will begin to find the way to build true families that are healthy and vibrant in the love of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>God is the absolute One, the only, unchanging, and eternal One. His will is the same. If the human beings Adam and Eve had become one body under the love of God, everything would have been complete and perfect. God’s origin, purpose, and process of creation, as well as cause, effect, and direction, are all absolute.</p>
|
||||
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|
@ -25,13 +25,13 @@ Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon</h3>
|
|||
<p>Originally, True Love was to be gained through life experience and understood through internal realization. True Love is not something that can be learned through words, a written text, or schooling. It is experienced completely only in life. Created as new-born infants, Adam and Eve were to grow and perfect themselves gradually through experiences of the heart of True Children, True Brother and Sister, True Husband and Wife, and True Parents encompassing their whole lives. Only after experiencing the True Love of God in its entirety can one perfect the Purpose of Creation and become an ideal human being.</p>
|
||||
<p>Every person desires that his object of love be ten million times more valuable than himself, or even infinitely more valuable. In the same way, God desires that humankind, His object of love, become infinitely valuable. If a human being perfects himself, then that person obtains God-like value by attaining God’s divinity and perfection.</p>
|
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<h3 align="center">God’s Ideal of True Love</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_G.gif" alt="G" height="34" align="left" border="0" />od is absolute, but His ideal of True Love cannot be realized by himself. That is because love always requires an object — a beloved. At this point, we should understand the relationship between God’s True Love and humankind’s True Love, and how they begin and are perfected. What would have happened if God had not chosen human beings as His absolute objects of True Love, and instead had sought to begin and perfect True Love in some other way? In that case, God and man would have pursued the ideal of True Love with different motivations, directions, and purposes. God would have had to achieve His ideal of love through an object higher than humankind; and by the same token, humankind’s ideal of love would have had no direct relationship with God.</p>
|
||||
<p>God is absolute, but His ideal of True Love cannot be realized by himself. That is because love always requires an object — a beloved. At this point, we should understand the relationship between God’s True Love and humankind’s True Love, and how they begin and are perfected. What would have happened if God had not chosen human beings as His absolute objects of True Love, and instead had sought to begin and perfect True Love in some other way? In that case, God and man would have pursued the ideal of True Love with different motivations, directions, and purposes. God would have had to achieve His ideal of love through an object higher than humankind; and by the same token, humankind’s ideal of love would have had no direct relationship with God.</p>
|
||||
<p>But God as the subject of True Love did establish humankind as the object of His True Love. Accordingly, God can fulfill His ideal of True Love only through humankind. The fulfillment of God’s Purpose of Creation is the ideal world where God and mankind are united through absolute love. Human beings were created as the greatest object of God’s love. They alone in all Creation embody the nature of God. They are born the visible bodies of the invisible god. If a person perfects himself, he becomes the temple of God, a visible, substantial body in which God can freely and peacefully dwell.</p>
|
||||
<p>God’s overall ideal of absolute True Love is realized and perfected through humankind in a vertical parent-child relationship.</p>
|
||||
<p>God created Adam first. He was to be the son of God and at the same time the substantial body of God Himself. Later, God created Eve as the object of Adam so that Adam and Eve could perfect the ideal of horizontal love, which is conjugal love. Eve was to be the daughter of God, and also, as a bride she was to perfect substantially the ideal of the horizontal love of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>The place in which Adam and Eve are perfected, consummating their first love by marrying under the blessing of God, is precisely the place where God meets His substantial bride. This is because God’s ideal of absolute love descends vertically and joins where the ideal of conjugal love between Adam and Eve is realized horizontally. The True Love of God and the True Love of humankind join and perfect themselves at the same point, although they came from different directions, one vertical and the other horizontal.</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">Why God Needs Humankind</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_G.gif" alt="G" height="34" align="left" border="0" />od’s act of creation was inevitable. And we cannot imagine Creation without a purpose. There was only one reason God needed the Creation: to realize the ideal of True Love. God developed life from the simplest and lowest levels up to the human level in pairs, subject and object and positive and negative, to form reciprocal relationships under the ideal of love. The Creation’s ideal of love and God’s ideal of ultimate love are not separate or different. This Principle of Creation is at work to perfect the absolute love of God through the perfection of the love of man and woman in the human world. This is the reason why in the beginning God created one man and one woman, Adam and Eve.</p>
|
||||
<p>God’s act of creation was inevitable. And we cannot imagine Creation without a purpose. There was only one reason God needed the Creation: to realize the ideal of True Love. God developed life from the simplest and lowest levels up to the human level in pairs, subject and object and positive and negative, to form reciprocal relationships under the ideal of love. The Creation’s ideal of love and God’s ideal of ultimate love are not separate or different. This Principle of Creation is at work to perfect the absolute love of God through the perfection of the love of man and woman in the human world. This is the reason why in the beginning God created one man and one woman, Adam and Eve.</p>
|
||||
<p>God’s Purpose of Creation called for Adam and Eve to obey the Commandment of God, who is the subject of True Love, and perfect themselves as True Man and True Woman. Furthermore, they were to become a True Couple united in the True Love of God. Then, by having sons and daughters through that True Love, they would have become True Parents and lived in happiness. Had Adam and Eve perfected themselves in True Love, they would have fulfilled God’s desire to wear a substantial body. And when they perfected themselves as a True Couple, the ideal of God’s absolute love would have been fulfilled.</p>
|
||||
<p>By Adam and Eve having children of goodness and becoming True Parents, God would have established Himself substantially as the Eternal Parent and achieved His ideal: Citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven would expand infinitely in the afterlife of the spirit world based on myriad generations of descendants in the physical world.</p>
|
||||
<p>But Adam and Eve, the human ancestors, fell away from God. When they were expelled from Eden, they had not yet had children. Having driven them out, God had no basis to follow behind them to bless their marriage. The entire human race has thus descended from our failed ancestors. Humanity has multiplied without any direct relationship whatsoever to the love of God.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon</h3>
|
|||
<p>The only possible sin that could have been fatal in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were in communication with God and living in joy, was the sin of illicit love. The first consummated love of the human ancestors, because it was supposed to have been the perfection of the love of God Himself, should have marked the beginning of a celebration that would continue throughout history, filled with the never-ending intoxication of joy and blessing for God, Adam and Eve, and the universe. It should have been a joyous occasion in which the love, life, and lineage of God would have been established within humankind. To the contrary, however, Adam and Eve covered their lower parts and hid themselves among the trees, trembling in fear. By disobeying heavenly law, they established an immoral relationship as the basis for false love, false life, and false lineage.</p>
|
||||
<p>As descendants of Adam and Eve, all human beings are born with Original Sin. The Fall gave rise to conflict of mind and body within every person and caused our societies to be filled with tainted love, and people do things that contradict the desire of their original minds.</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">Taking Responsibility for Love</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_A.gif" alt="A" height="34" align="left" border="0" />ccording to the ideal of love, all love relationships in the animal and plant kingdoms are for reproduction only. Human beings are the sole exception. Humankind enjoys freedom in the conjugal relationship of love. This is humanity’s special privilege as the lord of all Creation. God gave the blessing and infinite joy of love to His sons and daughters. However, the True Freedom that God allowed requires human responsibility. If an individual were to insist upon and practice freedom of love without responsibility, how much confusion and destruction would take place! Achieving the highest ideal of human love is possible only when one takes responsibility for love.</p>
|
||||
<p>According to the ideal of love, all love relationships in the animal and plant kingdoms are for reproduction only. Human beings are the sole exception. Humankind enjoys freedom in the conjugal relationship of love. This is humanity’s special privilege as the lord of all Creation. God gave the blessing and infinite joy of love to His sons and daughters. However, the True Freedom that God allowed requires human responsibility. If an individual were to insist upon and practice freedom of love without responsibility, how much confusion and destruction would take place! Achieving the highest ideal of human love is possible only when one takes responsibility for love.</p>
|
||||
<p>We can think of this responsibility in three ways. The first responsibility is for one to become the master of True Love, truly free and thanking God for the freedom of love and knowing how to cultivate and control oneself. This responsibility for a love relationship should not be taken merely because of law or social convention. Instead, a person should establish responsibility through his own self control and self determination within the life-committing vertical relationship with God.</p>
|
||||
<p>Second is one’s responsibility toward the object of love. By nature, people do not want their spouse’s love to be shared with others. Horizontal conjugal love, which differs from the vertical love between parents and children, loses its potential for perfection the moment it is divided. This is because the Principle of Creation requires husband and wife to become one in absolute love. Each spouse has the responsibility given by love to live absolutely for the sake of the other.</p>
|
||||
<p>The third responsibility of love is toward children. The love of parents is the basis for children’s pride and happiness. They would wish to be born through the total and harmonious unity of their parents in True Love, and they would wish to be raised in that kind of love. The most precious responsibility of parents is not only to rear their children externally, but also to offer them life elements of True Love that can perfect their spirituality. This is why the family is so valuable. The daily experience of the heart of True Children, True Brothers and Sisters, True Spouses, and True Parents cannot be acquired in any place other than the True Family.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon</h3>
|
|||
<p>Due to the Fall, however, Adam and Eve became the substantial body of Satan and ended up becoming the original evil couple, evil parents, and evil ancestors. Their union became the root of evil love, evil life, and evil blood lineage. Because human beings originated from this root, they descended from the adulterous Satan, who is the enemy of God, and inherited this lineage of evil parents.</p>
|
||||
<p>Ladies and Gentlemen: How great must have been the pain of God when, by the Fall, our human ancestors destroyed His ideal of True Love! Humankind should have been the sons and daughters of God, but they do not know God Himself as their Original Parent. Yet even though His sons and daughters serve Satan, God has worked for the Providence of Salvation. Because He is an absolute being, and His ideal of creation is also absolute, He has carried out the Providence of Salvation even amid great sadness. God’s Providence of Salvation is the Providence of Restoration, which means to recover the lost Purpose of Creation, centered on True Love. The Providence of Salvation is also the Providence of Re-creation.</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">The Essence of God’s Providence</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_B.gif" alt="B" height="34" align="left" border="0" />ased on this point, the root of the Providence of Salvation is the re-creation of the seed of the original child, the human being who will fulfill the ideal of creation. That which God abhors — the life and blood lineage that began with the false love of the adulterer Satan — must be cleansed. The essence of the Providence is the task of setting up the birth of the True Parent, the Savior united with the True Love, Life, and Lineage of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>Based on this point, the root of the Providence of Salvation is the re-creation of the seed of the original child, the human being who will fulfill the ideal of creation. That which God abhors — the life and blood lineage that began with the false love of the adulterer Satan — must be cleansed. The essence of the Providence is the task of setting up the birth of the True Parent, the Savior united with the True Love, Life, and Lineage of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>Since the ancestors of humankind failed to fulfill their responsibility, inherited the immoral lineage of Satan, and came under the dominion of Satan, God Himself could not directly intervene and return human beings to their original position. Furthermore, God can neither unconditionally accept humankind, who chose to go to the side of the evil Archangel, nor punish them. So God uses the strategy of placing a central figure on the side of the good Archangel; by being struck first, that figure establishes the indemnity condition to recover what was lost. Satan strikes first but as a result must take the losing position. The First, Second, and Third (Cold War) World Wars are good examples of this. The side that struck first, lost.</p>
|
||||
<p>From the overall perspective of the Providence of Restoration, the foundation of cooperation between mother and son is very important. This was so at the time of Jacob, Moses, and Jesus. God was working His Providence to separate people from satanic life and lineage by establishing the foundation of cooperation between a mother who had to fulfill the responsibility of Eve, the originator of the Fall and the second son of the family.</p>
|
||||
<p>God cannot directly relate to the first son, because he is in the position of having a direct blood relationship with Satan, who through the Fall was the first to dominate humankind. God has been restoring the blood lineage of goodness by having the second son, who represents the side of goodness, establish a condition. Then God has had the first son, representing the side of evil, take a position subordinate to the second son.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -57,16 +57,16 @@ Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon</h3>
|
|||
<p>God lost Adam, who had the seed of True Love and True Life. So God had to find a son with the new seed free from satanic accusation. Just as God created Adam first at the time of the creation, God must prepare a son first who has no relationship to the Fall, according to the Providence of Restoration, which is the Providence of Re-creation. This is the basis for the idea of the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah rejects the sinful lives of those with a fallen lineage under the dominion of Satan. He comes as a True Person who engrafts fallen humanity into the seed of new life. The Messiah has his roots in God, and comes as the Second Adam, who wipes away all that was committed by the first Adam. This is the reason God cannot send a superman Messiah who will work only through miracles.</p>
|
||||
<p>For a son to be born on earth with this seed of God’s love and life, there first must exist a mother. And the mother cannot give birth to this child in a conventional way. Conception must happen through the formula of restoration. All the cooperation between mothers and sons in the Providence of Restoration is a preparation and a condition for the Son of God to be born with the seed of new life, free from satanic accusation. By making conditions to avoid Satan’s attacks, and by subordinating the firstborn son who represents evil, mother and son restore the love, life, and lineage that were taken over by Satan.</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">The Meaning of Jacob’s Victory</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />he Bible, which records the providential work of God, contains many stories that are difficult to understand. For example, Rebekah deceived her husband Isaac and her first son Esau, and helped her second son Jacob receive the blessing. (Genesis 27) God took the side of that mother and son, and although they used methods that at first glance seem unjust, God still blessed them for their actions.</p>
|
||||
<p>The Bible, which records the providential work of God, contains many stories that are difficult to understand. For example, Rebekah deceived her husband Isaac and her first son Esau, and helped her second son Jacob receive the blessing. (Genesis 27) God took the side of that mother and son, and although they used methods that at first glance seem unjust, God still blessed them for their actions.</p>
|
||||
<p>In Adam’s family, Cain and Abel fought outside the womb. Their struggle resulted in the death of Abel, the second son.</p>
|
||||
<p>Then came Jacob. On the merits of many godly people who paid indemnity and sacrificed after the time of Abel, Jacob at last caught up to the level at which Satan first dominated humankind. Then Jacob dealt with his twin brother, Esau. At the ford of Jabbok, Jacob set up the condition of spiritual victory over the angel. (Genesis 32:28) And through winning over Esau, (Genesis 33) who was in the position of the substantial body of the Archangel, Jacob consequently was blessed as the first victor in history, and was given the name “Israel.” But by then he was already in his fortieth year.</p>
|
||||
<p>Satan sowed the seed of false love within the womb of Eve, which gave birth to evil life. Therefore, God needed to purify a mother’s womb from which the heavenly Son could be born. That purification period of separation from Satan had to begin at the time of conception and continue to age forty, so even though Jacob was victorious he did not meet that criteria. The great mother who assumed the responsibility to meet this condition was Tamar.</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">Tamar’s Providential Role</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />amar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah. (Genesis 38) But Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar his second son, Onan, that they might bear a child for Er. But Onan, knowing that Tamar’s child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died.</p>
|
||||
<p>Tamar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah. (Genesis 38) But Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar his second son, Onan, that they might bear a child for Er. But Onan, knowing that Tamar’s child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died.</p>
|
||||
<p>Then Tamar wanted Shelah, the third son of Judah, for a husband, but Judah did not give him to her. Judah thought that his two sons had died because of Tamar, so he was afraid that Shelah would die and end the family lineage.</p>
|
||||
<p>But Tamar had the conviction that she was to carry on the lineage of the chosen people. To do that, she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah, and became pregnant with twins. At the time of birth, one of the twin sons, Zerah, stretched out his hand from the womb to be born first. But he was pulled back into the womb, and the second son, Perez, was born first, taking the position of the elder brother. Thus, within the womb of Tamar, the first and second sons fought, and their reversal of position separated them from Satan. That became the condition for restoration in the womb. Upon this condition, the Messiah could be conceived within the blood lineage of the chosen people, on the base of the nation of Israel that could stand up to the Roman Empire two thousand years later. The victorious foundation on the national level could then be formed in the womb of a mother free of satanic accusation, prepared for the seed of the Son of God. On this foundation, the Holy Mother Mary emerged in the mainstream of God’s Providence.</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">Mary Receives God’s Will</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_M.gif" alt="M" height="34" align="left" border="0" />ary, when she was engaged to Joseph, received from the Archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her. (Luke 1:31) In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she would be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)</p>
|
||||
<p>Mary, when she was engaged to Joseph, received from the Archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her. (Luke 1:31) In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she would be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)</p>
|
||||
<p>Mary consulted with the priest Zechariah, who was her relative and was highly respected. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth, with the help of God, was pregnant with John the Baptist. She said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1 :42-43) With these words she testified to the coming birth of Jesus.</p>
|
||||
<p>In this way, God let Mary, Zechariah, and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anybody else. All of them had the absolutely crucial mission of following the will of God and serving Jesus. Zechariah’s family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zechariah.</p>
|
||||
<p>Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mothers’ side. But according to God’s Providence, they were considered sisters, with Elizabeth as the elder (Cain) and Mary as the younger (Abel). Mary received Elizabeth’s help in the presence of Zechariah. Through this cooperation, Zechariah’s family, on the national level, indemnified the lack of unity between mother and son with Leah and Rachel in Jacob’s family. (Genesis 29-30) This allowed Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be born on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed of the Son of God — the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten Son of God, the owner of the first love of God, was born for the first time in history.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -77,20 +77,20 @@ Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon</h3>
|
|||
<p>Mary’s pregnancy began to show, and the people of the surrounding area became aware of it. What would have happened if Joseph had declared that he didn’t know anything about it? But Joseph was a righteous man. He believed in the revelation of God and defended Mary, saying the pregnancy was his responsibility. Mary may have been ridiculed for becoming pregnant during her engagement, but she had avoided death by stoning.</p>
|
||||
<p>Joseph, who loved Mary, protected her this way in the beginning. However, there was a great deal of anguish deep in his heart. Once Jesus was born, Joseph’s suspicions about the father of Jesus only increased and his heart ached. As Jesus grew older, the two became more and more distant in heart. And because of this, family problems frequently arose. Jesus was viewed as an illegitimate son, and lacking the protection of Zechariah’s family and the love of Joseph, he grew up with an indescribable loneliness in his heart.</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">No Bride for Jesus</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_J.gif" alt="J" height="34" align="left" border="0" />esus was aware of his path as the Messiah, and he lamented by himself these lonely circumstances and the serious obstacle they presented to fulfilling the will of God. The Messiah is the True Parent. And to fulfill that mission he needed to receive his substantial bride. Jesus had to reverse, at the very root, the false love by which the Archangel had caused the fall of Eve, who was growing up as the sister of Adam. Consequently, Jesus, in the place of Adam as the Son of God, should have received as his bride the younger sister of someone in an archangelic position. That bride was to have been none other than Zechariah’s daughter, the younger sister of John the Baptist. To fulfill this in a world where Satan plays the role of owner and lord, Jesus needed a foundation of protection formed by absolute faith. Tragically, the entire foundation ended up collapsing around him.</p>
|
||||
<p>Jesus was aware of his path as the Messiah, and he lamented by himself these lonely circumstances and the serious obstacle they presented to fulfilling the will of God. The Messiah is the True Parent. And to fulfill that mission he needed to receive his substantial bride. Jesus had to reverse, at the very root, the false love by which the Archangel had caused the fall of Eve, who was growing up as the sister of Adam. Consequently, Jesus, in the place of Adam as the Son of God, should have received as his bride the younger sister of someone in an archangelic position. That bride was to have been none other than Zechariah’s daughter, the younger sister of John the Baptist. To fulfill this in a world where Satan plays the role of owner and lord, Jesus needed a foundation of protection formed by absolute faith. Tragically, the entire foundation ended up collapsing around him.</p>
|
||||
<p>This would not have happened if Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had received the revelation and spiritual support from God, had maintained absolute faith. If they had fulfilled their responsibility, Mary would have been in contact with them continually, even after her three-month stay at their house. God chose Zechariah’s family as the foremost representatives of the entire world, so that even after the birth of Jesus they would protect, serve, and witness to him as the Messiah. They not only should have served Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah with utter devotion, but they should have learned the will of God through Jesus and followed him absolutely. Also, John the Baptist was born to serve Jesus and should have fulfilled his responsibility to guide everyone he led to repentance to believe in Jesus and receive salvation.</p>
|
||||
<p>But unfortunately, although Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist testified at first to Jesus as the Son of God, there is no evidence that they served him as such. The respected priest Zechariah was simply a spectator. John the Baptist stood separate from Jesus. These circumstances blocked the people from following Jesus and made his path very difficult. And once this family lost faith in Jesus, looking at him through human eyes, there was no room for them to help him receive his bride.</p>
|
||||
<p>We should also consider the influence that Joseph and Mary’s relationship had on Jesus. Mary had to restore the position of Eve and Tamar through indemnity, so she should have remained as only the fiancee of Joseph. Providentially, they could not be husband and wife. It was God’s desire that they not have sexual relations either before or after Jesus’ birth. Joseph still loved Mary after Jesus was born, but Mary should have wanted to separate from Joseph to raise Jesus as the Son of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>But the real circumstances did not make this easy to do. Even though Mary’s original mind told her that she should not do so, she had sexual relations with Joseph. They had children, which was a repetition of Eve’s mistake. With this condition, Satan invaded them. With the exception of Jesus, everyone who should have protected Jesus came under the dominion of Satan: his father, his mother, his Abel-type brothers (John the Baptist and his brothers) and his Cain-type brothers (the children of Joseph).</p>
|
||||
<h3 align="center">Jesus Seen Through Human Eyes</h3>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_W.gif" alt="W" height="34" align="left" border="0" />hen someone is invaded by Satan, he loses all spiritual support and inspiration. Trust in God, as well as a sense of gratitude to Him, is lost. One begins to see everything through human eyes. Mary did not help Jesus with the wedding he desired. She even opposed it. This was the direct reason that Jesus could not receive his bride, and could not become the True Parent; and this forced him to go the way of the cross.</p>
|
||||
<p>When someone is invaded by Satan, he loses all spiritual support and inspiration. Trust in God, as well as a sense of gratitude to Him, is lost. One begins to see everything through human eyes. Mary did not help Jesus with the wedding he desired. She even opposed it. This was the direct reason that Jesus could not receive his bride, and could not become the True Parent; and this forced him to go the way of the cross.</p>
|
||||
<p>Jesus’ words to Mary during the wedding at Cana, “Oh woman, what have you to do with me?” (John 2:4), reveal a reproachful heart to a mother who helped in the weddings of others but neglected to help Jesus receive his bride, the most important requirement of the Providence. With this perspective, now we can understand why Jesus asked, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” (Matthew 12:48)</p>
|
||||
<p>Faced with the opposition of Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and finally John the Baptist, Jesus gave up hope for their protection as he sought to fulfill his mission. Therefore, Jesus left his home in search of a new spiritual foundation to restart the Providence of Salvation.</p>
|
||||
<p>Now without a family and household, Jesus lamented, “foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) With his family level foundation lost, Jesus sought to replace it. That was his three-year course.</p>
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<p>In the end, as people disbelieved and the disciples lost faith, Jesus took Satan’s attack. And as his foundation crumbled he went the way of the cross. Originally, Jesus came to the earth as the Messiah to give blessings to his disciples and all humankind. He was to build the sinless Kingdom of Heaven. But because of the lack of faith in him, he could not receive his bride, he could not become the True Parent, and he could not accomplish his mission. This is why he promised to return.</p>
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<p>According to the Bible, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Today, therefore, I clearly reveal this truth about Jesus and Mary in order to liberate them despite opposition from established churches such as the Catholic Church and Protestant churches.</p>
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<h3 align="center">Completing the Ideal of True Parents</h3>
|
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />he Lord of the Second Advent comes to perfect the foundation of God’s Providence of Restoration left uncompleted by Jesus. That is to say, he comes as the seed of the original True Child to complete the ideal of creation. He comes to complete the ideal of True Parents, who are the origin of the True Love, True Life, and the True Lineage of God. He comes on the victorious foundation of the fundamental providence of God’s side up to the time of Jesus. He also stands upon the victorious foundation of Jesus’ life and finds the bride that Jesus could not find. Together they become the True Parents to save all humankind.</p>
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||||
<p>The Lord of the Second Advent comes to perfect the foundation of God’s Providence of Restoration left uncompleted by Jesus. That is to say, he comes as the seed of the original True Child to complete the ideal of creation. He comes to complete the ideal of True Parents, who are the origin of the True Love, True Life, and the True Lineage of God. He comes on the victorious foundation of the fundamental providence of God’s side up to the time of Jesus. He also stands upon the victorious foundation of Jesus’ life and finds the bride that Jesus could not find. Together they become the True Parents to save all humankind.</p>
|
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<p>Through the blessing of new marriages that pass on God’s original blood lineage, the True Parents will be able to give salvation to all humanity. People will become True Persons engrafting into the True Love, True Life, and True Lineage of God. Furthermore, the Messiah will establish a True Family, creating the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Thus, it is the International Holy Weddings that establish this new blood lineage when the Lord of the Second Advent comes in the flesh.</p>
|
||||
<p>On the level of the great world-wide family, the Lord indemnifies that which was lost in the family of Adam and restores the True Elder Sonship, True Parentship, and True Kingship that should have been perfected in Adam’s family. He will transform this world into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth under the dominion of God, opening the Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world for registration. Humanity will enter into the era of kingship both spiritually and physically centered on God; and establish a world of victory, freedom, happiness, and unity; and create the Heavenly Kingdom on earth and in the spirit world, which is God’s ideal of creation. This is the View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation. I hope that in the future all of you can also receive this joyous new marriage blessing.</p>
|
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<p>My dear leaders and distinguished guests, I want to again express my appreciation that you have taken time from your busy lives to attend this important meeting. I hope you are able to have a clear understanding of the direction of providential history so that you can become true leaders in establishing a peaceful world. May God bless you and your families. Thank you.</p>
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@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ The Reverend Sun Myung Moon</em><br />
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Presented at the Inaugural Banquet of<br />
|
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THE WASHINGTON TIMES FOUNDATION<br />
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April 16, 1996 – Washington, DC</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_D.gif" alt="D" height="34" align="left" border="0" />istinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:</p>
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<p>Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:</p>
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<p>Today I sincerely thank God that you and I can meet as we face this era of great historical change. God is the absolute One, the only, unchanging, and eternal One. His will is the same. If the human beings Adam and Eve had become one body under the love of God, everything would have been complete and perfect. God’s origin, purpose, and process of creation, as well as cause, effect, and direction, are all absolute.</p>
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<p>The human ancestors Adam and Eve entered into chaos after they fell through their ignorance. This ignorance and chaos expanded from the individual level to the levels of family, nation, and world. It has been the task of religion and the Providence of Salvation to liberate us from this sphere of the Fall.</p>
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<p>In the Last Days, the Messiah comes and teaches clearly the absolute, the only, unchanging, and eternal cause, direction, and effect, from God’s viewpoint. He will cleanse the world of ignorance and chaos and return it to the original bosom of God. This is the completion of the will of God.</p>
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@ -24,18 +24,18 @@ April 16, 1996 – Washington, DC</h3>
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<p>Originally, True Love was to be gained through life experience and understood through internal realization. True Love is not something that can be learned through words, a written text, or schooling. It is experienced completely only in life. Created as newborn infants, Adam and Eve were to grow and perfect themselves gradually through experiences of the heart of True Children, True Brother and Sister, True Husband and Wife, and True Parents encompassing their whole lives. Only after experiencing the True Love of God in its entirety can one perfect the Purpose of Creation and become an ideal human being.</p>
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<p>Every person desires that his object of love be ten million times more valuable than himself, or even infinitely more valuable. In the same way, God desires that humankind, His object of love, become infinitely valuable. If a human being perfects himself, then that person obtains Godlike value by attaining God’s divinity and perfection.</p>
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<h2 align="center"><b>God’s Ideal of True Love</b></h2>
|
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_G.gif" alt="G" height="34" align="left" border="0" />od is absolute, but His ideal of True Love cannot be realized by Himself. That is because love always requires an object — a beloved. At this point, we should understand the relationship between God’s True Love and humankind’s True Love, and how they begin and are perfected. What would have happened if God had not chosen human beings as His absolute objects of True Love, and instead had sought to begin and perfect True Love in some other way? In that case, God and man would have pursued the ideal of True Love with different motivations, directions, and purposes. God would have had to achieve His ideal of love through an object higher than humankind; and by the same token, humankind’s ideal of love would have had no direct relationship with God.</p>
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<p>God is absolute, but His ideal of True Love cannot be realized by Himself. That is because love always requires an object — a beloved. At this point, we should understand the relationship between God’s True Love and humankind’s True Love, and how they begin and are perfected. What would have happened if God had not chosen human beings as His absolute objects of True Love, and instead had sought to begin and perfect True Love in some other way? In that case, God and man would have pursued the ideal of True Love with different motivations, directions, and purposes. God would have had to achieve His ideal of love through an object higher than humankind; and by the same token, humankind’s ideal of love would have had no direct relationship with God.</p>
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||||
<p>But God as the subject of True Love did establish humankind as the object of His True Love. Accordingly, God can fulfill His ideal of True Love only through humankind. The fulfillment of God’s Purpose of Creation is the ideal world where God and mankind are united through absolute love. Human beings were created as the greatest object of God’s love. They alone in all Creation embody the nature of God. They are born the visible bodies of the invisible God. If a person perfects himself, he becomes the temple of God, a visible, substantial body in which God can freely and peacefully dwell.</p>
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<p>God’s overall ideal of absolute True Love is realized and perfected through humankind in a vertical parent-child relationship. God created Adam first. He was to be the son of God and at the same time the substantial body of God Himself. Later, God created Eve as the object of Adam so that Adam and Eve could perfect the ideal of horizontal love, which is conjugal love. Eve was to be the daughter of God, and also, as a bride she was to perfect substantially the ideal of the horizontal love of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>The place in which Adam and Eve are perfected, consummating their first love by marrying under the blessing of God, is precisely the place where God meets His substantial bride. This is because God’s ideal of absolute love descends vertically and joins where the ideal of conjugal love between Adam and Eve is realized horizontally. The True Love of God and the True Love of humankind join and perfect themselves at the same point, although they came from different directions, one vertical and the other horizontal.</p>
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<h2 align="center"><b>Why God Needs Humankind</b></h2>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_G.gif" alt="G" height="34" align="left" border="0" />od’s act of creation was inevitable. And we cannot imagine Creation without a purpose. There was only one reason God needed the Creation: to realize the ideal of True Love. God developed life from the simplest and lowest levels up to the human level in pairs, subject and object and positive and negative, to form reciprocal relationships under the ideal of love. The Creation’s ideal of love and God’s ideal of ultimate love are not separate or different. This Principle of Creation is at work to perfect the absolute love of God through the perfection of the love of man and woman in the human world. This is the reason why in the beginning God created one man and one woman, Adam and Eve.</p>
|
||||
<p>God’s act of creation was inevitable. And we cannot imagine Creation without a purpose. There was only one reason God needed the Creation: to realize the ideal of True Love. God developed life from the simplest and lowest levels up to the human level in pairs, subject and object and positive and negative, to form reciprocal relationships under the ideal of love. The Creation’s ideal of love and God’s ideal of ultimate love are not separate or different. This Principle of Creation is at work to perfect the absolute love of God through the perfection of the love of man and woman in the human world. This is the reason why in the beginning God created one man and one woman, Adam and Eve.</p>
|
||||
<p>God’s Purpose of Creation called for Adam and Eve to obey the Commandment of God, who is the subject of True Love, and perfect themselves as True Man and True Woman. Furthermore, they were to become a True Couple united in the True Love of God. Then, by having sons and daughters through that True Love, they would have become True Parents and lived in happiness. Had Adam and Eve perfected themselves in True Love, they would have fulfilled God’s desire to wear a substantial body. And when they perfected themselves as a True Couple, the ideal of God’s absolute love would have been fulfilled.</p>
|
||||
<p>By Adam and Eve having children of goodness and becoming True Parents, God would have established Himself substantially as the Eternal Parent and achieved His ideal: Citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven would expand infinitely in the afterlife of the spirit world based on myriad generations of descendants in the physical world.</p>
|
||||
<p>But Adam and Eve, the human ancestors, fell away from God. When they were expelled from Eden, they had not yet had children. Having driven them out, God had no basis to follow behind them to bless their marriage. The entire human race has thus descended from our failed ancestors. Humanity has multiplied without any direct relationship whatsoever to the love of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>Ladies and Gentlemen: Could the Fall of Man have been the result of eating the fruit of a tree? The fall of Adam and Eve was an immoral sin against the ideal of the True Love of God. The fact that Adam and Eve needed to obey the Commandment shows that they fell in a stage of imperfection, that is to say, during their period of growth. The Archangel, who is symbolized by a serpent, tempted Eve to eat of the fruit of good and evil, and she fell spiritually. She later tempted Adam (who was also too immature to eat of the fruit), and they then fell physically.</p>
|
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<h2 align="center"><b>Taking Responsibility for Love</b></h2>
|
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />he only possible sin that could have been fatal in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were in communication with God and living in joy, was the sin of illicit love. The first consummated love of the human ancestors, because it was supposed to have been the perfection of the love of God Himself, should have marked the beginning of a celebration that would continue throughout history, filled with the never-ending intoxication of joy and blessing for God, Adam and Eve, and the universe. It should have been a joyous occasion in which the love, life, and lineage of God would have been established within humankind. To the contrary, however, Adam and Eve covered their lower parts and hid themselves among the trees, trembling in fear. By disobeying heavenly law, they established an immoral relationship as the basis for false love, false life, and false lineage. As descendants of Adam and Eve, all human beings are born with Original Sin. The Fall gave rise to conflict of mind and body within every person and caused our societies to be filled with tainted love, and people do things that contradict the desire of their original minds.</p>
|
||||
<p>The only possible sin that could have been fatal in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were in communication with God and living in joy, was the sin of illicit love. The first consummated love of the human ancestors, because it was supposed to have been the perfection of the love of God Himself, should have marked the beginning of a celebration that would continue throughout history, filled with the never-ending intoxication of joy and blessing for God, Adam and Eve, and the universe. It should have been a joyous occasion in which the love, life, and lineage of God would have been established within humankind. To the contrary, however, Adam and Eve covered their lower parts and hid themselves among the trees, trembling in fear. By disobeying heavenly law, they established an immoral relationship as the basis for false love, false life, and false lineage. As descendants of Adam and Eve, all human beings are born with Original Sin. The Fall gave rise to conflict of mind and body within every person and caused our societies to be filled with tainted love, and people do things that contradict the desire of their original minds.</p>
|
||||
<p>According to the ideal of love, all love relationships in the animal and plant kingdoms are for reproduction only. Human beings are the sole exception. Humankind enjoys freedom in the conjugal relationship of love. This is humanity’s special privilege as the lord of all Creation. God gave the blessing and infinite joy of love to His sons and daughters. However, the True Freedom that God allowed requires human responsibility. If an individual were to insist upon and practice freedom of love without responsibility, how much confusion and destruction would take place! Achieving the highest ideal of human love is possible only when one takes responsibility for love.</p>
|
||||
<p>We can think of this responsibility in three ways. The first responsibility is for one to become the master of True Love, truly free and thanking God for the freedom of love and knowing how to cultivate and control oneself. This responsibility for a love relationship should not be taken merely because of law or social convention. Instead, a person should establish responsibility through his own self-control and self-determination within the life-committing vertical relationship with God.</p>
|
||||
<p>Second is one’s responsibility toward the object of love. By nature, people do not want their spouse’s love to be shared with others. Horizontal conjugal love, which differs from the vertical love between parents and children, loses its potential for perfection the moment it is divided. This is because the Principle of Creation requires husband and wife to become one in absolute love. Each spouse has the responsibility given by love to live absolutely for the sake of the other.</p>
|
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|
@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ April 16, 1996 – Washington, DC</h3>
|
|||
<p>Due to the Fall, however, Adam and Eve became the substantial body of Satan and ended up becoming the original evil couple, evil parents, and evil ancestors. Their union became the root of evil love, evil life, and evil blood lineage. Because human beings originated from this root, they descended from the adulterous Satan, who is the enemy of God, and inherited this lineage of evil parents.</p>
|
||||
<p>Ladies and Gentlemen: How great must have been the pain of God when, by the Fall, our human ancestors destroyed His ideal of True Love! Humankind should have been the sons and daughters of God, but they do not know God Himself as their Original Parent. Yet even though His sons and daughters serve Satan, God has worked for the Providence of Salvation. Because He is an absolute being, and His ideal of creation is also absolute, He has carried out the Providence of Salvation even amid great sadness. God’s Providence of Salvation is the Providence of Restoration, which means to recover the lost Purpose of Creation, centered on True Love. The Providence of Salvation is also the Providence of Re-creation.</p>
|
||||
<h2 align="center"><b>The Essence of God’s Providence</b></h2>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_B.gif" alt="B" height="34" align="left" border="0" />ased on this point, the root of the Providence of Salvation is the recreation of the seed of the original child, the human being who will fulfill the ideal of creation. That which God abhors — the life and blood lineage that began with the false love of the adulterer Satan — must be cleansed. The essence of the Providence is the task of setting up the birth of the True Parent, the Savior united with the True Love, Life, and Lineage of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>Based on this point, the root of the Providence of Salvation is the recreation of the seed of the original child, the human being who will fulfill the ideal of creation. That which God abhors — the life and blood lineage that began with the false love of the adulterer Satan — must be cleansed. The essence of the Providence is the task of setting up the birth of the True Parent, the Savior united with the True Love, Life, and Lineage of God.</p>
|
||||
<p>Since the ancestors of humankind failed to fulfill their responsibility, inherited the immoral lineage of Satan, and came under the dominion of Satan, God Himself could not directly intervene and return human beings to their original position. Furthermore, God can neither unconditionally accept humankind, who chose to go to the side of the evil Archangel, nor punish them. So God uses the strategy of placing a central figure on the side of the good Archangel; by being struck first, that figure establishes the indemnity condition to recover what was lost. Satan strikes first but as a result must take the losing position. The First, Second, and Third (Cold War) World Wars are good examples of this. The side that struck first, lost.</p>
|
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<p>From the overall perspective of the Providence of Restoration, the foundation of cooperation between mother and son is very important. This was so at the time of Jacob, Moses, and Jesus. God was working His Providence to separate people from satanic life and lineage by establishing the foundation of cooperation between a mother — who had to fulfill the responsibility of Eve, the originator of the Fall — and the second son of the family.</p>
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||||
<p>God cannot directly relate to the first son, because he is in the position of having a direct blood relationship with Satan, who through the Fall was the first to dominate humankind. God has been restoring the blood lineage of goodness by having the second son, who represents the side of goodness, establish a condition. Then God has had the first son, representing the side of evil, take a position subordinate to the second son.</p>
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@ -54,16 +54,16 @@ April 16, 1996 – Washington, DC</h3>
|
|||
<p>God lost Adam, who had the seed of True Love and True Life. So God had to find a son with the new seed free from satanic accusation. Just as God created Adam first at the time of the creation, God must prepare a son first who has no relationship to the Fall, according to the Providence of Restoration, which is the Providence of Recreation. This is the basis for the idea of the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah rejects the sinful lives of those with a fallen lineage under the dominion of Satan. He comes as a True Person who engrafts fallen humanity into the seed of new life. The Messiah has his roots in God, and comes as the Second Adam, who wipes away all that was committed by the first Adam. This is the reason God cannot send a superman Messiah who will work only through miracles.</p>
|
||||
<p>For a son to be born on earth with this seed of God’s love and life, there first must exist a mother. And the mother cannot give birth to this child in a conventional way. Conception must happen through the formula of restoration. All the cooperation between mothers and sons in the Providence of Restoration is a preparation and a condition for the Son of God to he born with the seed of new life, free from satanic accusation. By making conditions to avoid Satan’s attacks, and by subordinating the firstborn son who represents evil, mother and son restore the love, life, and lineage that were taken over by Satan.</p>
|
||||
<h2 align="center"><b>The Meaning of Jacob’s Victory</b></h2>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />he Bible, which records the providential work of God, contains many stories that are difficult to understand. For example, Rebekah deceived her husband Isaac and her first son Esau, and helped her second son Jacob receive the blessing. (Genesis 27) God took the side of that mother and son, and although they used methods that at first glance seem unjust, God still blessed them for their actions.</p>
|
||||
<p>The Bible, which records the providential work of God, contains many stories that are difficult to understand. For example, Rebekah deceived her husband Isaac and her first son Esau, and helped her second son Jacob receive the blessing. (Genesis 27) God took the side of that mother and son, and although they used methods that at first glance seem unjust, God still blessed them for their actions.</p>
|
||||
<p>In Adam’s family, Cain and Abel fought outside the womb. Their struggle resulted in the death of Abel, the second son.</p>
|
||||
<p>Then came Jacob. On the merits of many godly people who paid indemnity and sacrificed after the time of Abel, Jacob at last caught up to the level at which Satan first dominated humankind. Then Jacob dealt with his twin brother, Esau. At the ford of Jabbok, Jacob set up the condition of spiritual victory over the angel. (Genesis 32:28) And through winning over Esau, (Genesis 33) who was in the position of the substantial body of the Archangel, Jacob consequently was blessed as the first victor in history, and was given the name “Israel.” But by then he was already in his fortieth year.</p>
|
||||
<p>Satan sowed the seed of false love within the womb of Eve, which gave birth to evil life. Therefore, God needed to purify a mother’s womb from which the heavenly Son could be born. That purification period of separation from Satan had to begin at the time of conception and continue to age forty, so even though Jacob was victorious he did not meet that criteria. The great mother who assumed the responsibility to meet this condition was Tamar.</p>
|
||||
<h2 align="center"><b>Tamar’s Providential Role</b></h2>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />amar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah. (Genesis 38) But Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar his second son, Onan, that they might bear a child for Er. But Onan, knowing that Tamar’s child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died.</p>
|
||||
<p>Tamar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah. (Genesis 38) But Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar his second son, Onan, that they might bear a child for Er. But Onan, knowing that Tamar’s child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died.</p>
|
||||
<p>Then Tamar wanted Shelah, the third son of Judah, for a husband, but Judah did not give him to her. Judah thought that his two sons had died because of Tamar, so he was afraid that Shelah would die and end the family lineage.</p>
|
||||
<p>But Tamar had the conviction that she was to carry on the lineage of the chosen people. To do that, she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah, and became pregnant with twins. At the time of birth, one of the twin sons, Zerah, stretched out his hand from the womb to be born first. But he was pulled back into the womb, and the second son, Perez, was born first, taking the position of the elder brother. Thus, within the womb of Tamar, the first and second sons fought, and their reversal of position separated them from Satan. That became the condition for restoration in the womb. Upon this condition, the Messiah could be conceived within the blood lineage of the chosen people, on the base of the nation of Israel that could stand up to the Roman Empire two thousand years later. The victorious foundation on the national level could then be formed in the womb of a mother free of satanic accusation, prepared for the seed of the Son of God. On this foundation, the Holy Mother Mary emerged in the mainstream of God’s Providence.</p>
|
||||
<h2 align="center"><b>Mary Receives God’s Will</b></h2>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_M.gif" alt="M" height="34" align="left" border="0" />ary, when she was engaged to Joseph, received from the Archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her. (Luke 1:31) In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she would be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)</p>
|
||||
<p>Mary, when she was engaged to Joseph, received from the Archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her. (Luke 1:31) In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she would be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)</p>
|
||||
<p>Mary consulted with the priest Zechariah, who was her relative and was highly respected. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth, with the help of God, was pregnant with John the Baptist. She said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:4243) With these words she testified to the coming birth of Jesus.</p>
|
||||
<p>In this way, God let Mary, Zechariah, and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anybody else. All of them had the absolutely crucial mission of following the will of God and serving Jesus. Zechariah’s family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zechariah.</p>
|
||||
<p>Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mothers’ side. But according to God’s Providence, they were considered sisters, with Elizabeth as the elder (Cain) and Mary as the younger (Abel). Mary received Elizabeth’s help in the presence of Zechariah. Through this cooperation, Zechariah’s family, on the national level, indemnified the lack of unity between mother and son with Leah and Rachel in Jacob’s family. (Genesis 29-30) This allowed Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be born on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed of the Son of God — the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten Son of God, the owner of the first love of God, was born for the first time in history.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -74,20 +74,20 @@ April 16, 1996 – Washington, DC</h3>
|
|||
<p>Mary’s pregnancy began to show, and the people of the surrounding area became aware of it. What would have happened if Joseph had declared that he didn’t know anything about it? But Joseph was a righteous man. He believed in the revelation of God and defended Mary, saying the pregnancy was his responsibility. Mary may have been ridiculed for becoming pregnant during her engagement, but she had avoided death by stoning.</p>
|
||||
<p>Joseph, who loved Mary, protected her this way in the beginning. However, there was a great deal of anguish deep in his heart. Once Jesus was born, Joseph’s suspicions about the father of Jesus only increased and his heart ached. As Jesus grew older, the two became more and more distant in heart. And because of this, family problems frequently arose. Jesus was viewed as an illegitimate son, and lacking the protection of Zechariah’s family and the love of Joseph, he grew up with an indescribable loneliness in his heart.</p>
|
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<h2 align="center"><b>No Bride for Jesus</b></h2>
|
||||
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_J.gif" alt="J" height="34" align="left" border="0" />esus was aware of his path as the Messiah, and he lamented by himself these lonely circumstances and the serious obstacle they presented to fulfilling the will of God. The Messiah is the True Parent. And to fulfill that mission he needed to receive his substantial bride. Jesus had to reverse, at the very root, the false love by which the Archangel had caused the fall of Eve, who was growing up as the sister of Adam. Consequently, Jesus, in the place of Adam as the Son of God, should have received as his bride the younger sister of someone in an archangelic position. That bride was to have been none other than Zechariah’s daughter, the younger sister of John the Baptist. To fulfill this in a world where Satan plays the role of owner and lord, Jesus needed a foundation of protection formed by absolute faith. Tragically, the entire foundation ended up collapsing around him.</p>
|
||||
<p>Jesus was aware of his path as the Messiah, and he lamented by himself these lonely circumstances and the serious obstacle they presented to fulfilling the will of God. The Messiah is the True Parent. And to fulfill that mission he needed to receive his substantial bride. Jesus had to reverse, at the very root, the false love by which the Archangel had caused the fall of Eve, who was growing up as the sister of Adam. Consequently, Jesus, in the place of Adam as the Son of God, should have received as his bride the younger sister of someone in an archangelic position. That bride was to have been none other than Zechariah’s daughter, the younger sister of John the Baptist. To fulfill this in a world where Satan plays the role of owner and lord, Jesus needed a foundation of protection formed by absolute faith. Tragically, the entire foundation ended up collapsing around him.</p>
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<p>This would not have happened if Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had received the revelation and spiritual support from God, had maintained absolute faith. If they had fulfilled their responsibility, Mary would have been in contact with them continually, even after her three-month stay at their house. God chose Zechariah’s family as the foremost representatives of the entire world, so that even after the birth of Jesus they would protect, serve, and witness to him as the Messiah. They not only should have served Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah with utter devotion, but they should have learned the will of God through Jesus and followed him absolutely. Also, John the Baptist was born to serve Jesus and should have fulfilled his responsibility to guide everyone he led to repentance to believe in Jesus and receive salvation.</p>
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<p>But unfortunately, although Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist testified at first to Jesus as the Son of God, there is no evidence that they served him as such. The respected priest Zechariah was simply a spectator. John the Baptist stood separate from Jesus. These circumstances blocked the people from following Jesus and made his path very difficult. And once this family lost faith in Jesus, looking at him through human eyes, there was no room for them to help him receive his bride.</p>
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<p>We should also consider the influence that Joseph and Mary’s relationship had on Jesus. Mary had to restore the positions of Eve and Tamar through indemnity, so she should have remained as only the fiancée of Joseph. Providentially, they could not be husband and wife. It was God’s desire that they not have sexual relations either before or after Jesus’ birth. Joseph still loved Mary after Jesus was born, but Mary should have wanted to separate from Joseph to raise Jesus as the Son of God.</p>
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<p>But the real circumstances did not make this easy to do. Even though Mary’s original mind told her that she should not do so, she had sexual relations with Joseph. They had children, which was a repetition of Eve’s mistake. With this condition, Satan invaded them. With the exception of Jesus, everyone who should have protected Jesus came under the dominion of Satan: his father, his mother, his Abel-type brothers <i>(John the Baptist and his brothers) </i>and his Cain-type brothers <i>(the children of Joseph).</i></p>
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<h2 align="center"><b>Jesus Seen Through Human Eyes</b></h2>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_W.gif" alt="W" height="34" align="left" border="0" />hen someone is invaded by Satan, he loses all spiritual support and inspiration. Trust in God, as well as a sense of gratitude to Him, is lost. One begins to see everything through human eyes. Mary did not help Jesus with the wedding he desired. She even opposed it. This was the direct reason that Jesus could not receive his bride, and could not become the True Parent; and this forced him to go the way of the cross.</p>
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<p>When someone is invaded by Satan, he loses all spiritual support and inspiration. Trust in God, as well as a sense of gratitude to Him, is lost. One begins to see everything through human eyes. Mary did not help Jesus with the wedding he desired. She even opposed it. This was the direct reason that Jesus could not receive his bride, and could not become the True Parent; and this forced him to go the way of the cross.</p>
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<p>Jesus’ words to Mary during the wedding at Cana, “Oh woman, what have you to do with me?” (John 2:4), reveal a reproachful heart to a mother who helped in the weddings of others but neglected to help Jesus receive his bride, the most important requirement of the Providence. With this perspective, now we can understand why Jesus asked, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” (Matthew 12:48)</p>
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<p>Faced with the opposition of Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and finally John the Baptist, Jesus gave up hope for their protection as he sought to fulfill his mission. Therefore, Jesus left his home in search of a new spiritual foundation to restart the Providence of Salvation.</p>
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<p>Now without a family and household, Jesus lamented, “foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) With his family-level foundation lost, Jesus sought to replace it. That was his three-year course.</p>
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<p>In the end, as people disbelieved and the disciples lost faith, Jesus took Satan’s attack. And as his foundation crumbled he went the way of the cross.</p>
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<p>Originally, Jesus came to the earth as the Messiah to give blessings to his disciples and all humankind. He was to build the sinless Kingdom of Heaven. But because of the lack of faith in him, he could not receive his bride, he could not become the True Parent, and he could not accomplish his mission. This is why he promised to return.</p>
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<h2 align="center"><b>Completing the Ideal of True Parents</b></h2>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_T.gif" alt="T" height="34" align="left" border="0" />he Lord of the Second Advent comes to perfect the foundation of God’s Providence of Restoration left uncompleted by Jesus. That is to say, he comes as the seed of the original True Child to complete the ideal of creation. He comes to complete the ideal of True Parents, who are the origin of the True Love, True Life, and the True Lineage of God. He comes on the victorious foundation of the fundamental providence of God’s side up to the time of Jesus. He also stands upon the victorious foundation of Jesus’ life and finds the bride that Jesus could not find. Together they become the True Parents to save all humankind.</p>
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<p>The Lord of the Second Advent comes to perfect the foundation of God’s Providence of Restoration left uncompleted by Jesus. That is to say, he comes as the seed of the original True Child to complete the ideal of creation. He comes to complete the ideal of True Parents, who are the origin of the True Love, True Life, and the True Lineage of God. He comes on the victorious foundation of the fundamental providence of God’s side up to the time of Jesus. He also stands upon the victorious foundation of Jesus’ life and finds the bride that Jesus could not find. Together they become the True Parents to save all humankind.</p>
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<p>Through the blessing of new marriages that pass on God’s original blood lineage, the True Parents will be able to give salvation to all humanity. People will become True Persons engrafting into the True Love, True Life, and True Lineage of God. Furthermore, the Messiah will establish a True Family, creating the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Thus, it is the International Holy Weddings that establish this new blood lineage when the Lord of the Second Advent comes in the flesh.</p>
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<p>On the level of the great worldwide family, the Lord indemnifies that which was lost in the family of Adam and restores the True Elder Sonship, True Parentship, and True Kingship that should have been perfected in Adam’s family. He will transform this world into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth under the dominion of God, opening the Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world for registration. Humanity will enter into the era of kingship both spiritually and physically centered on God; and establish a world of victory, freedom, happiness, and unity; and create the Heavenly Kingdom on earth and in the spirit world, which is God’s ideal of creation. This is the View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation. I hope that in the future all of you can also receive this joyous new marriage blessing.</p>
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<p>Distinguished Leaders and Honored Guests:</p>
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@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ tags: []
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<h3 align="center">June 9, 1996<br />
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Belvedere–International Training Center<br />
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Translator–Peter Kim</h3>
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<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.unification.net/images/cap_S.gif" alt="S" height="34" align="left" border="0" />econd generation children, please raise your hands. Raise your hands higher please. What kind of message would you like to hear from Father this morning? You have attended Belvedere regularly and heard hundreds of messages from Father. However, you never really heard Father’s message deeply before. Are you ready this morning to hear the real message? (YES.) Instead of you listening to Father’s message, would you prefer Father to listen to your message? (Laughter.)</p>
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<p>Second generation children, please raise your hands. Raise your hands higher please. What kind of message would you like to hear from Father this morning? You have attended Belvedere regularly and heard hundreds of messages from Father. However, you never really heard Father’s message deeply before. Are you ready this morning to hear the real message? (YES.) Instead of you listening to Father’s message, would you prefer Father to listen to your message? (Laughter.)</p>
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[Mr. Peter Kim has the audience repeat in Korean, the title of Father’s message] Where and How Do You Want to Live Your Life? <em>Uh-Deh-Suh Uh-Dduh-Keh Sahl-Goh-Ship-Eu-Nah? </em>Regardless of gender, this is one of the most important questions for all humanity. We want to live exciting and joy-filled lives. However, it is not easy to come up with a standardized response to how we might live such a life. All the various races of the world are proud of their own tradition. But it is important to understand the origin of one’s tradition, and upon what that tradition has been established,–origin, direction and effect.</p>
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<p>Americans might claim that their nation of America has its roots in the Pilgrim Fathers. Based upon Christianity America has been progressing to establish Western Christian culture throughout the world. If you claim this, then it is necessary to understand under what circumstances the Pilgrim Fathers left Europe and, based upon the Christian values they brought with them, what direction they took upon arriving in America. Actually, in setting out on their voyage to America they risked their lives. They faced danger from the elements during their voyage. Then upon arriving in America they faced danger from the Native American Indians. The question arises, “did the Pilgrim Fathers live in natural harmony with the American Indians, or did they exert force in order to reach an agreement with them”?</p>
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<p>In studying American history, we can only conclude that the Pilgrim Fathers did, in fact, use force in order to secure their peaceful life in this land. If we want to erase that history we need to take some action. However, now it is too late, because it has become an historical fact. The America that we dwell in is, in fact, the result of the actions of the Pilgrim Fathers. Within the population of America are many different races. But the Anglo-Saxons were the first to come here from Europe. Those Pilgrim Fathers became the original American white race. All the other Europeans which came after them became various ethnic groups. Because of this, we now face great danger in America of racial disunity. We all face the task of solving this problem of racial discrimination.</p>
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