Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 307

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 11: Ecumenical Initiatives
Chapter 1: Ecumenical and Interfaith Initiatives
Section 2: Salvation and the Liberation of God, Paragraph 12-18

12  Until now, people had faith in order to receive salvation as individuals. Our faith must be fundamentally different from that. Its substance must be different. In other religions, people on the path of faith say, "More than what happens to the world—my nation, my tribe, even my family—what is paramount is my own salvation. If need be, I would even cut off from my family rather than risk my own salvation." On the other hand, in the Unification Church our path should demonstrate that I exist as an individual in order to save my family, which exists to save our tribe, and our tribe exists for the salvation of our people. Our nation, likewise, does not exist for its own sake but for the salvation of the world. This should be the stance of members of the Unification Church. It is fundamentally different from that of believers in other religions.

The family is the foundation for building God's nation. Since that is our goal, we do not focus on individual salvation but rather on family salvation. In the past when people made a relationship with God, they mainly focused on their vertical position in front of God. But in this era, our relationship with God must encompass more than just our vertical position before Him. That exclusively vertical focus is limited to the individual level.

Thus far, a life of faith was limited to the individual. Now, however, after establishing that vertical aspect in your relationship with God, you must become a subject partner who substantiates the fruit of your vertical relationship of oneness in your relationships with others on the horizontal plane. You need to build that foundation of unity both vertically and horizontally. This differs from the life of faith that other believers have been leading. Today we in the Unification Church need to strive to stand in a position that is entirely different from the position that believers in conventional religions have sought until now.

13  There are multitudes of people in this world, and we can divide them into men and women. Our fundamental purpose is to seek for the secret that will enable man and woman to become one. When we find it, the original family that was lost in the beginning will emerge as the fruit of history. Thus far that original family has not emerged, despite humankind's long search for it. But once that origin appears and spreads its seeds, it will become a new tree. This is the meaning of the Blessing in the Unification Church.

A wise person thinks about how to leap from the individual stage to the family stage, and then how to leap from the family stage to the tribal stage. People who do that can save the family, and when such families are formed, they can save the tribe. In die same way, the tribe must surmount obstacles to save the people, the people must surmount obstacles to save the nation, and the nation must surmount obstacles to save the world. In this way, the restoration of the world will be simple. We must go over seven stages, that of the individual, family, tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos. When we go beyond these seven stages and ascend to the eighth stage, we reach God's level.

14  Jesus said, "God is my Father, and I am His only begotten Son." The only Son of God is the one whom God the Father loves entirely. In this way, Jesus clearly revealed the relationship between God and himself, which is applicable to all human beings. As God's only Son and the first to receive God's complete love, Jesus revealed the essence of the relationship between heaven and earth. Hence, there is no one who understands God's love for human beings as Jesus does.

Further, Jesus called himself the Bridegroom and referred to us as his brides. To be his bride's means we are all his counterparts in love. In fact, there is no relationship more intimate than that of bride and groom. Also, Jesus called us his brothers and sisters. Here he was speaking of the family that is formed by the will of God and the will of human beings together. Only Christianity has discussed this issue. We human beings long to be a part of that family. Thus the path to forming it is the path of hope.

When a man and a woman create a family together, their family should become not only a haven for the human heart, but also a haven for heaven's heart. Jesus sought for such a family, one that would be centered on God as well as on human beings, a family where husband and wife, and God would be united. Only when God and human beings become one flesh can the ideal world be realized.

The parent-type religion

The purpose of religion is not only to liberate humankind from suffering and evil. By recovering the original world that God created, its ultimate goal is to liberate God. God suffers in bitter grief and pain from having lost His children. That is why True Parents offered all that they did throughout their lives to liberate God. This life-long effort was consummated on January 13, 2001, when they conducted the Enthronement Ceremony for God's Kingship. With that, God was finally liberated.

During the course of history, numerous religions appeared in the world. According to the development of history in the course of the providence of restoration, religions in each age had different callings from God. True Father taught that history, led by religion, passed through the age of the servant, the age of the adopted son, and the age of the son. With the passing of these ages, now the religion of the parent has appeared. True Father emphasized that the Unification Church must fulfill the role of the religion of parents, which completes the purpose of religion by uniting all religions and bringing all people into unity centering on parents, the original ideal of creation.

15  We should not believe in religion just to receive salvation as an individual. We should not believe in Islam or Christianity just to seek for our own salvation. We should believe in order to liberate God. Muhammad wants us to love humankind and God more than ourselves. Jesus wants us to love God and humankind more than we love ourselves. Also, as True Father, I am teaching you to love humankind and God more than your own self. You must love humankind more than yourselves, and God more than humankind. This is an ironclad rule. From this perspective, religious people should set their sights on what they can do to liberate humankind and to liberate God.

16  The course of restoration does not end with the restoration of the individual. With individuals as the seeds, we should restore the family. Then, with restored families as the seeds, we must restore the tribe. Once we have restored a tribe, that tribe will be the base for efforts to restore the people, the nation, the world, and going further, restore the cosmos. Once we have completed all these, the liberation of God will take place.

At this point we have not yet been able to liberate God. History has not yet reached the point where God can see the completion of His original plan, the realization of the ideal of creation on the cosmic level. Although God did His part at the creation, we human beings failed to fulfill what God had intended for us to fulfill. That is why God has not been free. Hence, when human beings are liberated from this kind of failure, God also will be liberated for the first time.

Thus, while the mission of religion has been to liberate human beings, its goal should not end there. This is because we still have to liberate God. When God's Will for humankind is fulfilled, it will be the time of His own fulfillment as well. That will be the beginning of happiness for all humankind on earth and all throughout the cosmos, with God at the center. This fundamental principle is also applicable to the nation, the tribe, the family and the individual.

17  No one up to now has understood the purpose of salvation. No one could define it. Yet, amid the confusion within the world the Unification Church clearly presents the definition of salvation. That is, the providence of salvation is the providence of restoration. The term "restoration" is an amazing discovery. It says that we are to return to the world before Adam and Eve committed sin, the world where they would have been able to receive God's love completely.

For this reason, God's purpose in offering salvation, the Messiah's purpose in opening the path to salvation, and our purpose in receiving salvation, are one and the same. Our purpose in believing in religion is nothing other than to find the world free of sin, the original world where the first human beings lived with God. The Messiah's purpose is for us, all people of the world, to become one as brothers and sisters and together return to the world of God's love. Further, God's purpose is to realize His ideal in which all of us return to Him. So the purpose of God, the Messiah and humankind are one. These three can and should be in unity.

This is what we are trying to achieve. We are striving to liberate God, liberate the Messiah, liberate humankind, and create the world of love where everyone will find happiness together. The Unification Church has progressed thus far based on this perspective. That is why we in the Unification Church are striving to unite religions. All religions on earth must come into accord with each other, and with the Will of God.

18  My life has been a thorny path. The adversities and struggles that I faced on my path truly cannot be described in words. There were many times when I was at the brink of death and thought, "This is the end." The fact that I am still alive is itself a miracle.

There was a moment in my life when I came to the profound realization that the living God is my Father. Ever since then, I have lived every second of every minute not paying attention to anything or anyone but to God alone, with single-minded, absolute determination to accomplish the Will of my Heavenly Father.

God actually loves us human beings with that same kind of single-minded devotion. Reflecting on this, how small is the number of people on this earth who truly know His love. God is actually burning with passion to make all humanity happy and to build the kingdom of heaven here on earth. God's original nature is true love, and the original relationship between God and human beings is the relationship of a parent and child. However, people throughout history have not only been ignorant of this; they have driven nails into His heart with their continually unfilial behavior.

I discovered that Heavenly Father is truly the Parent of all humankind. He is like a parent whose child is lost and whose broken heart is filled with bitter pain and sorrow. Ever since I came to know the deep, aching bitterness inside of God, I made it my purpose in life to relieve His sorrow. Liberating God from that sorrow, loneliness and anguish has been the purpose of my life to this day.