Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 96
Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 4: True Person
Chapter 2: Our Portion of Responsibility and the Fall
Section 2: The Human Fall, 05-18
5 The universe cannot be based on deviation from the principle. Yet when Eve was still underage, it seemed to her that Lucifer understood all the principles of heaven and earth. Since Lucifer had been running errands for God, he knew how to talk about the creation of heaven and earth. Adam, on the other hand, was inattentive to her. He was preoccupied with everything around him, running around with a stick, catching birds, snakes, and frogs. He was supposed to have dominion over all things in nature and manage them, so he sought to become close to them. Hence, he did not yet have any interest in Eve.
6 If Adam and Eve had not fallen, they would have passed through their adolescence and upon reaching maturity they would have become one with each other naturally. It would have been natural; they would not have needed any guidance or education. Who would have been the center of their unity? It was neither Adam nor Eve. They would have become one centered on God, who is the root of love. It is the same as with a flower when it blooms; the blossom comes not from itself, but from the root. If these human beings had attained an ideal relationship with God, who is the root, their love would have been perfected. Then everything they would subsequently have done would have been approved by God and publically recognized. Life in the kingdom of heaven would have begun immediately right there. When seen from this perspective, the Fall means that God lost the standard of His ideal for the perfection of love, which was His dream for human beings.
7 Why did God implement the human portion of responsibility? We human beings must grow; we are required to grow to maturity. During the ages of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen, we must grow from adolescence to maturity and wait for love until we are fully grown. That is why this period is called the realm of dominion based on the result of fulfilling the principle, or the period of God's indirect dominion. Until we grow to maturity, we do not know what love is. For this reason, we must wait for love until we are mature. Once the time comes for two individuals, on either pole of the horizontal plane, to reach maturity and become one, God will arrive and conduct the marriage ceremony. Then God's Will shall be done.
8 Due to the Fall, human beings have remained in the realm of indirect dominion; they are not yet connected to the realm of God's direct dominion. As a result of Adam and Eve's inability to fulfill their portion of responsibility, they could not join the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of God's direct dominion. Because of this problem related to the portion of responsibility, the providence of restoration has been prolonged again and again. In order for us to reach the realm of God’s love, the realm of His direct dominion—in other words, in order to achieve perfection—we must fulfill our portion of responsibility while in the realm of indirect dominion.
9 In order to connect the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of God's direct dominion, we must fulfill our portion of responsibility. Fulfilling this responsibility requires that both a man and a woman must reach maturity. Perfection in the garden of Eden refers to knowing only God. Adam and Eve were to love God first and foremost. Then second, the man was to know the woman and the woman was to know the man. If they had become such people, Adam and Eve could have fulfilled their portion of responsibility and crossed from the realm of indirect dominion to a new dimension, the realm of God's direct dominion.
10 You have to set indemnity conditions in your families in order to complete your own portion of responsibility, by which you can reach from the realm of indirect dominion into the realm of God's direct dominion. You must do so because unless you connect to the realm of God's direct dominion, you have no way to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is the principle. Why did God ordain for human beings a portion of responsibility?
God has us set conditions of indemnity in order to allow us to inherit everything He has and to make us His object partners. Why, then, do we need the realm of God's direct dominion? It is because the connection of love between God and human beings is made only in that realm. Without this connection of love, we cannot inherit the universe from God. It is only through love that we can inherit the universe. That is why all families in every nation try to bequeath what they have to their children. This is the principle that is centered on love.
11 In the realm where we have fulfilled our portion of responsibility, we can unite based on God's love. Having attained individual perfection by which we connect to the vertical love of God, we make the connection from the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of God's direct dominion. Once these two realms are connected their realms of heart are also connected, and Satan cannot exist there. The Fall took place before human beings reached this level. This is the problem. Fallen human beings by themselves have no way of knowing this reality. Thus they are bound to go to hell. That is why, behind the scenes of history, God set up the course of the providence of restoration and worked through religion to cultivate the conscience as a middle ground.
12 The realm of God's direct dominion is where Adam and Eve can join together in love, while the realm of indirect dominion is the realm in which their portion of responsibility has yet to be completed. Thus, once they have fulfilled their responsibility, that is, after Adam and Eve have become husband and wife centered on love, God becomes the internal Parent, and Adam and Eve become the external Parents. At that point, when God and Adam and Eve become one inside and out, the realm of God's direct dominion is established for the first time. That is why marriage is absolutely necessary. No one can enter the realm of God's direct dominion as a single person.
13 When God's perfect love manifests, Satan cannot appear. This occurs at the point where human beings have fulfilled their portion of responsibility. In the state where it is fulfilled, a connection of love is made between the realm of indirect dominion and the realm of God's direct dominion. This is where vertical love and horizontal love meet. Out of that vertical love and horizontal love, people emerge who have a bond with God's lineage. His lineage is created. Satan cannot interfere with people whose lineage is bonded to the love of God, through the connection of vertical love and horizontal love. Such people have nothing to do with Satan. Therefore, in order to inherit God's heart, you must inherit the lineage of the original tradition, centered on the pure love of God.
The human portion of responsibility and the Fall
14 If only Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden had obeyed God's commandment, the Fall would not have occurred. If those two individuals had obeyed God's commandment and given birth to a family, and if from that family a nation and a world had been formed, they would have established the kingdom of heaven on earth, a world where God alone would have had dominion. But because Adam and Eve disobeyed God's commandment, and even betrayed Him, the individuals, families, tribes, peoples, and nations that came about were centered on Satan instead. Consequently, the kingdom that God had originally intended has yet to be formed. A world opposite to God's original intention came about, with Satan, God's main opponent, at its helm. Thus the individual, the family, and the world all came to be under the dominion of Satan.
15 Had Adam and Eve consulted God before they fell, there would have been no Fall. They should have asked Him, "Satan is saying such and such, so what shall we do?" If they had done that, God in answering them would have guided them not to fall. Their portion of responsibility was to ask. They were free to do so. But instead, they engaged in a horizontal relationship without asking God. That was the problem. Since they acted without asking, a problem arose. This is always the case. Do all of you have the confidence to fulfill your own 5-percent portion of responsibility? There are all kinds of people who go around pretending to be great, yet they do not have confidence to fulfill their portion of responsibility.
16 Why did Adam and Eve fall? It is because they failed to fulfill their portion of responsibility. Could Adam and Eve have accomplished it by themselves? First, they should have become one with God. Without becoming one with God, they could not have fulfilled their portion of responsibility. Next, they should have become one with the Principle. They had to meet these two conditions. Therefore people of faith are instructed: "You must absolutely believe in God! You must turn to God, and stand firmly centered on God!" This is the first article of faith. No matter what the religion, this is the first article for people of faith. Next comes the Principle. People are instructed that they must completely unite with the laws that God has established.
17 Due to the human portion of responsibility, indemnity came to exist. Had there been no human portion of responsibility, God could have exercised His dominion at any time. At the time of the Fall, He could have said, "Hey, you! You should not do that!" But because of the human portion of responsibility, God was not in a position to intervene to prevent the Fall or to prevent Satan's activities. Adam and Eve were unable to fulfill their portion of responsibility. However, the impact of their failure did not end with Adam and Eve themselves. If we liken Adam and Eve to the root and all humankind to the trunk, branches, and leaves, then it is clear that all human beings remain in the position of having failed to fulfill their responsibility.
18 Once Adam and Eve had committed sin, God could not work with them as He had desired. On the other hand, Satan was free to do whatever he liked with sinful Adam and Eve, in order to have them ruin God's Will. God cannot liberate Himself. He cannot be liberated until that day in history when the Lord of the Second Advent, the Messiah, comes to this world and subjugates Satan. Most religious people do not even dream of this. They simply believe that God is omniscient and omnipresent and can do whatever He likes. However, no matter how powerful God may be, He must abide by the laws that He established. God is not the kind of being who does what He pleases if it means going against the laws that He established according to the great principles He used to create heaven and earth. That is the reason He could not intervene with Adam and Eve at the time of the Fall. Intervention is permissible only at the state of perfection. God could have intervened to care for them if they had reached the perfection level, but He could not intervene with Adam and Eve because they were still at the completion level of the growth stage. An unripe fruit that is still in the process of maturing has no seeds that can be harvested. God can gather only absolutely ripened fruit, fruit that is fully mature, to spread its seed. He cannot intervene if it is not fully mature.