Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 103
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 3: The Mission of Religion in Achieving God’s Ideal
Speech 1: One God, One World Religion, pg 355-359
The mission of religion is to save the world
It is an undeniable fact that the purpose of beings, created by the absolute God, is one with God’s purpose. However, do you think there is even one human being on earth who stands in the position of absolute object partner centered on God’s love? There is not. Even though human beings aim for the same purpose, because we were all created by the absolute God, when we look at ourselves we can see that we are standing on another path, a path whose purpose is diametrically opposed. Some people may consider this to be another relationship of subject and object partners within human beings, but that is not the case. If the conscience is an internal plus, selfishness is a different plus, and these two oppose each other. Such a predicament is the one we human beings live in on this earth.
Human beings need to understand that we lost the ideal of love, the principle of absolute value that God endowed us with. We became miserable beings, living in mourning in a world of the opposing phenomena of good and evil. In other words, we became defective beings. Nevertheless, since the absolute God inevitably needs to relate to us as His children, He could not leave us the way we are. Thus, He has been leading the movement to bring us back to life throughout the course of history. That is, He established a repair shop. That repair shop is called religion.
There are numerous religions in the world. In accordance with the standards of the different cultures and national backgrounds, God established religions to gather all people. Religions have the desire to save the world. God also desires to save the world. Religions other than those that try to save the world do not last long.
Ladies and gentlemen, the founders of the world’s religions were not nationalists; they were globalists, and they were the people who purposed a global movement centered on Heaven. I know that we currently consider four people to be the four great saints: Jesus Christ, Buddha, Confucius, and Muhammad. Some people also include Socrates in that list; however, Socrates was a philosopher and not a religious leader. You cannot save lives with knowledge. Only Heaven can save lives.
That is why the four greatest saints are those who founded the great global religions. There is not one among them who did not serve Heaven. Ladies and gentlemen, we must not become people who esteem these saints and yet disregard Heaven.
The central religion of the world is Christianity
Given that religion is carrying out the mission of a repair shop, so to speak, if God is an absolute Being, we need to know which of the four great religions approaches Him most closely.
When you consider Confucianism, it does not teach clearly about God. All it has taught is that when you do good, Heaven gives you blessings, and when you do evil, you receive punishment. When you consider Buddhism, while it recognizes the God of law, it does not know about the personal God. When you consider Islam, it is carrying forward aspects of the providence of Jesus.
Jesus Christ, however, made substantially different declarations. He appeared and said, “I am the only begotten Son of God.” In the course of human history, only one person, Jesus, has ever claimed that he is the only begotten Son of God. Next, he said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” He also said, “As the Father is in me and I in the Father, so I am in you and you are in me.” He also went on to say, in effect, “I am the bridegroom,” and that he will return for his bride. In light of all this, if you ask centering on whom he tried to achieve all that he said, I would answer that he tried to do so centering on God.
In other words, the purpose of Christianity is to help us become the son or daughter of God, to become one body with Him, to become united with Him as bridegroom and bride, and thus to form one united family. Before he passed on, Jesus taught us that our position before God is equal to that of children, a position bestowed on us as our highest treasure. He taught of the origin of the family in which we can carry out the great work of creation and feel the joy that comes from creation, as I mentioned before.
The limitations of Christianity
However, even though Jesus was the Son of God and had become one in body with Him, he could not prepare the position of the bridegroom with a bride who could become his object partner. If the nation of Israel and Judaism had, at the time, become one with Jesus and helped him receive his bride, he would have become the direct object partner of God and built the basis on which he could be a co-creator with God. Sadly, he passed away before he could achieve this.
If sons and daughters centered on God had appeared and formed families at that time, thus giving rise to a new tribe, people, nation, and world, this planet would have become the heavenly kingdom. It would have become the heavenly kingdom centered on God. Jesus was crucified because the people and leaders of his nation and religion did not believe in him. If they had believed in him, he would not have been crucified.
If at that time, the nation of Israel and Judaism had believed in Jesus and made a new beginning, attending the bridegroom and bride envisioned by God, its people would never have been scattered, and tragedies such as the Holocaust would never have happened. Such things came to pass because the first person in history who became the object partner of God, totally beloved by Him, was not received on earth. There is no sin greater than that.
I believe that many followers of Jesus are here today. However, the Christianity that you now believe in is insufficient. If it continues down its present road, its followers may well be scattered like the people of Israel were two thousand years ago.
Today’s Christians, who are spread out across the world, need to unite as one centering on God. Since the Lord of the Second Advent comes with Jesus’ mission, if Christians do not prepare the foundation to receive him, they may be exiled like the people of Israel were. If they do not fulfill this condition, I foresee that the future of this world will be bleak.
The Lord, when he returns, will come as the bridegroom and marry his bride in a wedding ceremony. This is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that is mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
Because the first human beings fell, we came to have fallen, false parents. The good True Parents whom God had envisioned as the original model of His creation did not emerge. This plan that God had in mind will be realized in the Last Days. Unless the True Parents emerge and give rebirth to humankind by engrafting them to bring them back to God, human beings worldwide cannot be saved.
The Unification Church emerged to build the ideal world of love
What is the mission of the coming Lord of the Second Advent? We human beings lost the True Parents, who were to have attained perfection without having fallen and remained in the position of the parents of goodness. Hence, the Lord of the Second Advent is the one who comes to achieve this. This will open the way through which humankind can be fully loved by God again, starting from the family of the True Parents who can receive love from God.
Which would constitute happiness? For sons and daughters who receive the love of God on earth and then go to the kingdom of heaven as a family, or for a family to be divided, with a devout mother going to heaven and the faithless father going to hell? Today’s Christianity believes the latter. However, I say that we need to enter the kingdom as a whole, from the parents to the children. Families need to enter together, tribes need to enter together, nations need to enter together, and the entire world needs to enter the kingdom of heaven all together.
When a global family centered on these new Parents appears in the future, and a new culture and tradition centered on the ideal of love are manifested on earth, this complicated, sinful world of today will be transformed into the kingdom of heaven on earth. For this to come about, you must know that there are clear steps for you to take. Therefore, it is the mission of the Unification Church to teach you about such things.
Having condensed such a vast amount of material into such a short presentation, I skipped many parts so I could elaborate more in other places. I thank you with all my heart for your understanding and close attention.
FFWPU, USA