Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 138

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 5: True Family
Chapter 3: Principles and Order in the Family
Section 3: Ideal Parent-Child and Sibling Relationships, 10
Chapter 4: The Education of Children and the Kingdom of Heaven in the Family
Section 1: The Meaning of Education, 04

(10)  Having many children is a blessing. How is this so? How is it that raising many children can bring more blessings? Your realm of heart grows that much bigger, bringing you higher and closer to the standard of the heavenly kingdom. Having many children will mean you have more descendants and family lines. Each of them has the right to inherit all of God’s blessings, and God surely will bless them. When God says, "I give you my blessing," they will receive blessings. Such is the authority they command.

(11)  If a couple has no children, everything is over in one generation. Since they do not have ideal relationships of above and below, front and back, and left and right, everything ends with them. Thus, when those without sons and daughters go to the spirit world, they feel out of place. God is at the central point, but they have no foundation to relate with it. Those who raise many children are insulated from sin. They cannot hate anyone. If you raise twelve children, you will be living with people of all twelve types of personalities, and you will understand the motivation behind all that they do.

(12)  Why is it that people are not satisfied with just the intimate marital relationship, but also want to have children? Which is better, having more children or fewer? The more you think you are a good, noble, and valuable person, the more descendants you want to have with the same qualities. That is our original human nature.

Ideal relationships between brothers and sisters

(13)  A family includes parents and the children growing up under their care. Each child has his or her own unique character. Since the children share a common root in their parents' love, each of them can express a unique perspective. Even the youngest child can assert an opinion and not be ignored by the older brothers and sisters. Why can't they ignore the younger one? It is because their assertion is based on their parents' love. Since even the youngest child is united in love with his or her parents, the elder siblings need to acknowledge his or her opinion. They should support that child so that his or her opinion is welcomed. This is family life.

(14)  In a family, though the opinions of the elder brother and elder sister may differ, they should honor their parents' will. The will of both the brother and sister should be connected to their parents' will. This connection gives them each the authority to express their unique will when they discuss their different opinions. When an older brother asserts his will, if it is recognized by his parents, he receives the authority to represent them. He can then assert his opinion from that position. The sister gains such authority in the same way. Even the younger brother, if he asserts his opinion while united in love with his parents, has the right to participate in a position equal to that of his parents.

(15)  Once you are united with God, things begin to turn, and they produce all sorts of forms and shapes. For example, the love of elder children for their younger siblings will follow the model of their parents' love for them. When a family is united in love in that way, love within the family blossoms. That love then becomes love within the society, and it expands to become love within the nation.  In this manner, it later becomes the love of the whole world.

(16)  What is the reason you receive parental love? It is because you are the reason your mother and father love and support each other as a couple. Their motivation is for you. When the love between siblings operates with the same motivation, the love between them will never change. When you extend that love to your neighbors, regarding them as one body, and to society, a sound social environment will unfold. Based on the family as the formation stage, the society represents the growth stage, and the nation is the completion stage.

(17)  Centering on parental love, the tradition and order of love for the person in the position of the elder brother is to sacrifice himself for and love his younger siblings, as his parents' representative. The eldest brother's position comes with the responsibility to suffer more than any of his siblings, for the sake of his parents and siblings. That is the eldest brother's situation. The parents suffer for the sake of their children more than the children do. They do so because of their love. The parents will not give up, even when they are drenched in tears. They will continue along that path of tears.

CHAPTER 4  The Education of Children and the Kingdom of Heaven in the Family

Section 1.  The Meaning of Education

(1)  We are to raise our children to be people who are like God. This is the standard for education. What does it mean for a person to be like God? It is not defined by the shape of one's face, how much energy one has, or the extent of one's abilities. Being like God means loving as God loves. It requires perfecting oneself as a person and learning to love as God loves. Then what is God's love all about? If we analyze it, there are three kinds—parental love, conjugal love, and filial love. That is all it is. His love is nothing other than these three kinds of love.

The true meaning of education

(2)  In order for human beings to be saved, they need education. The human ancestors fell while they were in a state of ignorance. Adam and Eve, who should have moved from the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of direct dominion, did not fully know God's Will.  Hence, not one of the many great people and religious leaders who came to the earth throughout history was able to prepare the foundation according to God’s original standard. No one fully figured out the course that our first ancestors failed to complete, and hence left unknown. No religion, no philosopher, or great individual has been able to clarify this. Human history has not flowed in accordance with God's original standard. Rather, it has flowed based on our ignorance, following the tradition inherited from our ignorant ancestors. This is the point on which humankind needs education.

(3)  For us to be a mother or a father, it is not enough just to give birth to our children. We have to raise them and educate them. What is the purpose for which we raise them? It is so they can enter the kingdom of heaven. Even if we cannot give them education on other matters, we should at least educate them so they can enter the heavenly kingdom. We should not leave them unable to go to the place where all their family members and relatives reside. That is why we need to educate them. By this, I mean to teach them about heavenly law. That education is of foremost importance.

(4)  The way of filial children is to love their family, which channels the life force of love. The way of patriots is to love in conjunction with the life force of the nation. The way of saints is to connect their love to the life force of the world. People have taught morals and ethics in light of this progression; we need to understand that this way is correct. Loving the world is the way of saints. This is the standard for the moral education of humanity.