Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 162
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 4: The True Family Movement
Speech 6: Blessed Marriage and Eternal Life, pg 568-572
Knowing God, eternal life and true love
First, we need to know God. Second, we need to know our eternal life. Third, we need to know true love. True love means giving more than 100 percent of oneself. In this way, we can find eternal life. Without true love, there is no eternal life. Without eternal life, we cannot meet God.
How can you prepare for the world of the future? First, be altruistic. Second, practice true love. Third, seek eternal life. With the sincere practice of these virtues, we can manage the world in the coming age. The opposite way is the self-centered way of life, which is the worldview of Satan.
In contrast to Satan’s love, what is true love? True love is to invest beyond the point of your life and death. Without investing yourself beyond the point of life and death, there is no true love. I would like you to know that I have poured my life, my heart, and the resources of our church into America.
Through this kind of practice, true love is actualized. Without actualizing true love, there is no eternal life.
Why is this? The fundamental root of evil life is Satan’s lineage. Our lineage belongs to Satan. Our love belongs to Satan. God’s love transcends Satan’s love. And so the Bible teaches, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38) What does this really mean? Loving God with all your soul and mind means to give your life completely to God. The second commandment is, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What does this mean? It tells us to love others even at the cost of our lives. We have to invest ourselves in this way of life.
Then why do we need to commit ourselves with total intensity? Unless we commit ourselves to this degree, first, we cannot make Satan surrender. Second, we cannot free ourselves from the fallen environment in which we live. Third, we cannot eradicate our bondage to Satan’s lineage by ourselves. Even though we may be able to free ourselves from our fallen environment, we cannot deal with Satan’s lineage. We need the power of true love, which is greater than our life.
The world after death, related to love
There is no concept of time for God. This means that the beginning and the end are the same in eternity. Likewise, the present and the future are the same. Then what, within God, harmonizes everything and enables God to dwell in peace? This is a serious question. What is it, then? It is not God’s almighty power. It is not God’s omniscience. It is nothing other than the power of love. Even God Himself responds unconditionally to true love. This is because God does not need anything other than true love.
Most people agree that we will enter the spirit world upon our death. What does that mean? The spirit world is not just the dwelling place of the departed. It is connected to true love. The starting point of God’s creation is true love. Therefore, once we secure true love in the physical world, it will be secured in the spirit world as well. Because it is connected to true love, spirit world is not the world of death. This alone tells us how powerful true love is.
Through the perfect relationship of vertical and horizontal, harmonious movement in all directions, up and down, right and left, forward and back, can take place. When vertical and horizontal are disconnected, there is no harmony. In that case, there can be no unity.
True love alone can connect vertical and horizontal. This brings about unity and harmony. The central thought of the Unification Church, based on the perspective of the Divine Principle, this that the ideal world is centered on true love.
Ladies and gentlemen, God wants to guide humankind. God breathes through true love. Since the rhythm of the universe is in harmony with God, the universe exists for eternity. In God’s true love, we can find eternal life. You need to come to this point, so that you can belong to the realm of God’s breathing.
That is why, when husband and wife connect with true love, they find complete joy. When the rhythm of true love is in balance, we can love one another. In this atmosphere there is only one direction in our life. That direction is centered on God.
The Blessing is the gate to the kingdom of God
Both the spirit world and the physical world move in conjunction with true love. The universe maintains a natural balance, centering on the vertical axis of true love. What is the common denominator of the universe? What is the universal norm, by which people of the past and the present can live together for eternity? What is the origin of human desire? The answer to all these questions is the same. The answer is true love. The norm is not selfish love; it is true love. Then, what is true love? Vertically and horizontally, it connects everywhere at a precise ninety degree angle. It fits into an Oriental-style house or a Western-style house, into a house facing south or a house facing north. Only the practice of true love can embrace people of all races, all nations and all religions.
There are more than six billion people living in this world at present. Yet there are not many among the world’s population who understand the meaning of the marriage Blessing. It was the Unification Church that first used the word “Blessing” with its special meaning in relation to marriage. We have now conducted many such marriage Blessing ceremonies.
Where will humanity head in the future? Humanity can enter the kingdom of God by passing through the gate of this Blessing. There are millions of Christians in our world today, and Christianity itself can enter the kingdom of God through the gate of this Blessing.
Some may complain that Rev. Moon’s teaching is self-serving. If they want to believe this, that is their choice. Nonetheless, I am here to convey the message that the Unification marriage Blessing is the true road for all fallen people to take.
No matter how much persecution it may bring, our mission is to connect the spirit world and the physical world through this Blessing, and enter the kingdom of God.
Other religious people think of salvation in terms of the individual. They believe that as long as their faith is strong, they can enter the kingdom of heaven as individuals. From the viewpoint of God’s original ideal, we were never intended to enter the kingdom of heaven as single people. We enter only with our loving spouse and family.
Spiritual life as couples
The real purpose of life is to walk forward on the road of true love. We are to grow through harmonious relationships of true love. We have to carefully maintain the ideal of true love in our hearts. We are actually the representatives of the spirit world. Let us constantly strive to spread true love. Let us sow the seeds of true love throughout our lives.
When we bear the fruit of true love and enter the eternal spirit world as a loving couple, we will be embraced by God’s eternal love. We then truly become one with God.
Even though the physical body grows old, as long as we live as husband and wife centering on true love, our spiritual body will actually become younger! This means that the longer we live, the more handsome or beautiful our spiritual body becomes.
Our spirit is our internal self. At the proper time we simply will shed the physical body. Our physical body may feel that it does not want to retire, yet with the coming of old age, it eventually surrenders its life. On the other hand, our spiritual body, like a chestnut in autumn, becomes more solid and more handsome as it becomes our physical body’s successor.
We need to love the things of the material world, which includes our physical body and the food that nourishes it. We love what is close to us before loving God directly.
Why is marriage necessary?
By loving all things, we absorb the essence of the creation. By doing so, we love and nourish the physical body. Your first parents, of course, are your physical parents, and your second parent is the earth. From the earth we receive essential elements the body needs in order to grow. In this way the earth is the second parent.
After being nurtured and cared for by our second parent, we prepare to meet our third parent. There is a process through which we pass in order to realize this. That process is our physical death. We do not meet our third parent free of charge. To be able to return to our third parent, we need to resemble our original Parent, God.
Why then do we get married? Very simply, we marry in order to resemble God. God exists as a being of dual characteristics. In God, the dual characteristics are completely harmonized as one. When God’s dual characteristics manifest in our world, they do so as man and woman. Accordingly, at the proper time, a man and a woman are like a seed. They unite to become one. Thus, husband and wife return to God. Together, we are a reflection of God’s original nature.
We need marriage because it is the way to develop true love. In marriage, we ripen as a seed of God. Our entire life is to center upon true love. We are supposed to be born in true love; we are designed to grow in true love, live centered on true love, and return to true love when we die.
The way of true love is living for the sake of others. This is the purpose of a holy marriage. If we take any other path, we are taking the wrong direction for eternal life.
The marriage Blessing and eternal life stem from God working through True Parents’ love. Through our union with the True Parents, we can fulfill God’s original hope for the individual, the family, the nation, the world and the entire cosmos. Through True Parents we can find our original homeland, the starting place for the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven.
With this foundation in place, we can welcome an era in which God is our sovereign. The society that does so will never perish. It will continuously prosper and reach its fullest strength.
I sincerely ask that you contemplate deeply about the meaning of this message. If you practice it, you will find the way to receive God’s abundant blessing and eternal life.
May God truly bless you. Thank you very much.
FFWPU, USA