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Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon
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Book One - True God
Chapter One - The Original Being of God
Section 1. God Is the Incorporeal Subject Partner
1.1. The incorporeal God
God is without form. If we should conceive of Him as large, He is infinitely large, and if we should conceive of Him as small, He is infinitely small. (35-156, 1970.10.13)
Does God really exist? Can God be felt as more real than the pain that makes you say "ouch" when someone pinches you, or more real than the experience of eating when you are hungry? This is the question. When we know that God truly exists, all problems will be solved. (89-72, 1976.7.11)
We have a mind. The mind is invisible and may not appear to exist; yet it exists. Does it exist in the head, or in the heart? Mind exists throughout your body, with not even one cell within your body where it is not present. The same is true for God. Because this world is like His body, He is present everywhere in the world. (38-242,1971.1.8)
You cannot see God. Can you see energy? Since God is the original body of energy, you cannot see God even in the spirit world. (105-193, 1979.10.21)
The wise, all-knowing, and omnipotent God thought that it was most convenient to rule as an incorporeal being who could move around freely in the midst of things.
Since God has no form, He can pass through things at will without any problem. God may come to your body and pass through it, but you would not notice. When you doze off, God may walk on your body as He pleases without you noticing. How convenient! So it is plausible to say that God chose to remain invisible because He thought that it would be most convenient. (138-167, 1986.1.21)
We are normally unaware of the air around us. The air is there, but we do not feel it. If we unaware of the air circulating around us, how can we be aware of God?
It is most convenient for God to remain invisible. At the same time, He has to be more than big enough to wrap around this huge universe. Although God is without form, He requires a mind that is bigger than this universe. (138-167, 1986.1.21)
Do all of you here have love? Do you have life? You all have sperm or ova to continue your lineage, don't you? Do you also have a conscience? Then, have you ever seen love? Have you seen life, lineage or conscience? Although you know they exist, you can neither touch nor see them. You can know about them only by feeling them through your mind and heart. Likewise, when you are asked whether God exists, or whether you have seen Him, you cannot say that you have not seen Him. (275-13, 1995.10.30)
When God is in your heart, your heart knows it. When God is in your heart, you can break through the protective walls and communicate with the saints who died thousands of years ago. You can do this when the eternal God comes into your heart. You cannot capture eternity through time; time exists within eternity. That is why even though we cannot see God, our hearts know Him. (41-285, 1971.2.17)
How does God love? This is a difficult question to answer, isn't it? Since God is without form, He can go anywhere -- inside a lady's eyes, inside her heart... He can go everywhere. There is nowhere He cannot go. Then, where does God live? Where is His home? God's home is in the middle of our heart. God's masculine heart lives in the heart of man, and God's feminine heart lives in the heart of woman. (128-325, 1983.10.2)
Suppose that God, who is omnipotent, all-knowing, and controls all of heaven and earth, were here. With His power, He could blow away Mt. Taebek and put a hole through the earth. Do you think you could survive watching such a God?
So it is good that God is invisible. If He were visible, your nerves would tremble and you could not survive for even one hour. So you should be grateful that God is invisible. This is not a laughing matter. What I have told you now comes from my own poignant experiences. It is an account from my own experiences, not those of others. (38-244, 1971.1.8)
What if God decided to remove all the air in the world, leaving only one gallon? It would be a naughty method, but if God did that, world unification would be no problem. Perhaps He would be able to do it in five minutes. If God took away all the air and asked, "Will you unify or not?," all humankind would shout in unison, "We will!" God could unite the world in an instant using this method, but we are thankful that God does not do that with the air. Without air we cannot live. Air is absolutely necessary for life. Yet people gulp air like thieves without feeling grateful for it. (38-244, 1971.18)
If God, the great Master of heaven and earth, were visible to human eyes, wouldn't people fight each other to capture God? There would be no way to stop the battle. So it is good that God is invisible. America and the Soviet Union would fight, each claiming God as theirs. They would. Who would be able to stop the fighting? The all-knowing God stays invisible lest such fights break out. To wish that God were visible is foolish. It is better that He is not. (41-285, 1971.2.17)
This universe is veiled in mystery. This great universe is some 21 billion light years across. One light year is the distance light travels in a year. Light can circle the earth seven and a half times in one second, so you can begin to conceive of how far light travels in a year. Then, how large must the Master be who can rule this huge universe? If God had a body, how tall would He be? If God is as large as we say He is, would He be able to drag His cumbersome body around? How inconvenient it would be if He had to lumber about like that! Every time He moved the universe would fall over in surprise. God is a wise being. This is why He decided to be an invisible Lord. (138-167, 1986.1.21)
Have you ever thought about God's weight? How heavy do you think He is? How many kilograms does He weigh? Perhaps billions of tons? If He were that heavy, He would have a big problem trying to move around. But it is ideal for God that He is incorporeal. Even if you carry Him inside your wallet, you will not feel any weight.
Since He has no form, He can even go in and out through the eye of the smallest needle. In other words, He can move around at will. Being infinitely large yet also infinitely small, He is free to move around anywhere in the universe. (136-106, 1985.12.22)
If you have something you consider most precious, you will want to carry it with you at all times. You will not want to be separated from it even for a moment. Then if God, the greatest treasure of them all, was in your possession, where would you like to attend Him? Is there a store room where you can store Him securely, where you can attend Him? That place is none other than your heart and mind. The human heart and mind form the store room where God can be safely attended. (41-285, 1971.2.17)
Since God is without form, the conclusion is that He should give more importance to beings with form than He does to Himself. Only then will things begin to turn. Conversely, human beings should value their invisible mind and God more than their bodies. (111-49, 1981.1.18)
1.2. In the beginning we naturally knew about God
If humankind had not fallen, and we had been born through parents of original goodness, there would be no need to argue about whether God exists. People would naturally know from birth. Babies begin sucking as soon as they are born, when they sense their mother's breast in front of them. Do they need to learn how to suck while in the womb? They automatically know how to do it.
If human beings had not fallen, they would naturally recognize and cultivate their relationship with God, and automatically understand that their position is to advance towards Him. But the Fall has made people forget everything. This is why the world is in doubt as to whether God exists. This is a tragic fact. (20-306, 1968.7.14)
Human beings are the masterpiece among the created beings of the universe. How great a masterpiece are they? They are superb beyond imagination. That being the case, when the absolute God created them, should He have created them in such a way that they do not know what He says, sees or feels? (53-51, 1972.2.8)
If Adam and Eve, who resembled God, had become the parents of humankind, they would have recognized God's constant presence in them through His works. Had that happened, there would be no doubts about God. If the Fall had not occurred, we would be able to sense God's presence at any time, and He would appear right away whenever we called Him. If we reach that level, who will deny His existence? No one. (Blessed Family - 307)
God's existence is not just a matter of words. From the perspective of the subject-object partner relationship in the Principle, we do not need to prove that God exists. Rather, the position we must establish is that God existed before we had cognition of Him and that He rules over all our senses and over everything to do with us.
Awareness of this is more important than anything else. The basic rule is that awareness precedes knowledge, not the other way around. When we are cold, we first feel cold before we think, "I am cold." We do not first think "I am cold" before we feel it. Isn't that so? Likewise, because God exists, you must be able to feel His existence with your cells. Reaching that state is what matters. In other words, the issue is how we reach the state in which we can experience these things. (58-291, 1972.6.25)
You should be able to cry out "Father!" even in your sleep and even when you are by yourself. When in your daily life you forget to eat or sleep, and exclaim "Father!" with a deep longing, you will be able to hold His hand. Magical things will happen. When you call out "Father!" He will embrace you.
You must know that in your life of faith, the most precious thing is how you tap into those feelings that bring you those deep experiences. The degree and amount of your experience and feeling can be the measure of your faith. If you have such a heart of love, when you determine, "I must accomplish this," God will already be supporting you even before you ask, "Heavenly Father, please be with me." Feeling His support, you will say, "Thank you, God!" (58-297, 1972.6.25)
The Unification Principle teaches that God is the invisible, absolute Lord with dual characteristics in harmony. As a being of dual characteristics, God created Adam and Eve as manifestations of His duality. He intended to be their vertical center when they grew up and connected horizontally through love. In other words, when Adam and Eve reached maturity, God's masculine characteristics would have entered Adam's mind and God's feminine characteristics likewise would have entered Eve's mind. This does not mean that God is divided. God can be present in Adam's and Eve's minds because He is the Lord with dual characteristics. (138-245, 1986.1.24)
We say that God is a being who harmonizes dual characteristics, don't we? But I have not yet talked about Him as a unified being of love in addition to one harmonizing the dual characteristics. We need to add the fact that He is the unified being of love. (223-268, 1991.11.12)
Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 2. The Incorporeal God Needs a Body . |
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Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon
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Book One - True God
Chapter One - The Original Being of God
Section 2. The Incorporeal God Needs a Body
2.1. God created Adam and Eve in order to assume physical form
Why does God need a form like Adam? All things have a form, but God is an invisible being. God has no form whatsoever. If we conceive of Him as large, He is infinitely large, and if we conceive of Him as small, He is infinitely small. Although all things of creation manifest with a certain standard form of that being, and although they manifest with a substantial body resembling that being, God cannot rule them directly. Hence, the substantial world of creation needs a substantial being with the character and form of the Master. God should have dominion over the infinite spirit world as well as over all things on earth. To be able to govern the archangel, beings with various forms, and even invisible beings, God needs a central aspect, that is, an external form. This is why God created Adam. (35-156, 1970.10.13)
God's purpose in creating a human being was to have dominion over the incorporeal and corporeal worlds through him. God must form a relationship with a being that has personality. Thus, with the perfection of Adam, God's image, that is His external form, is perfected. When God created Adam, He intended that Adam's shape, looks, character, and other characteristics should resemble His own as he stood at the center of the incorporeal world. Without a form, He could not have dominion over the world of form. (35-156, 1970.10.13)
Why did God create Adam and Eve? He did to have a body. God, as an incorporeal being, cannot love His physical children without becoming a father and mother with a substantial body. God's purpose in creating Adam and Eve was, first, for the incorporeal God to acquire a body through Adam's body.
Second, in assuming a substantial form, He would experience a vibrating jolt to His being. Mere words cannot express the feeling. God wanted to feel joy through the stimulation of this impulse.
Third, God's domain does not extend over any area because, as the vertical Father who occupies the central axis, He seeks to expand on the horizontal plane. (232-210, 1992.7.6)
You cannot see God even in the spirit world. God is not visible. Can you see energy? Since God is the original Being of energy, He cannot be seen even in the spirit world. He has no body. Hence, in order to guide and govern the physical world, He must assume physical form. What kind of God is He?
If, instead of falling, Adam had grown to maturity, flourished on earth, and gone to heaven, he would have become God who still retained the form of Adam. Hence, the invisible God and visible Adam would have become one. Then, Adam's laughter would have been God's laughter and the laughter of the universe. (105-193, 1979.10.21)
As an invisible deity, God cannot feel any stimulation from this universe. No matter how great a stimulus comes to His mind, as an incorporeal being, He will not feel inspiration. As these invisible aspects are the same, they cannot stimulate each other. When two conflicting things, like hot water and cold water, come together, there is a reaction, isn't there. God needs that kind of stimulation. (141-37, 1986.2.16)
God is invisible even in the spirit world. He has no form. Thus in order to become the corporeal parent of humankind, God has to acquire a form. Without form He cannot become the center. (222-337, 1991.11.7)
God's final purpose of creation is to acquire a body. Since the incorporeal God cannot govern the physical world, He must appear with a body as the Father and Mother of all humankind. He must assume a physical form in order to relate to created beings as subject partner and object partner, and thus feel stimulation through His sensory organs. (25-342, 1969.10.12)
As a being without form, God cannot rule over the physical world, although He created it. He therefore needs a body. God's purpose of creation is to acquire a body and become a substantial parent. That was to be Adam and Eve.
Had Adam and Eve reached perfection, God would have entered their minds and created a God-centered kingship. With the establishment of this kingship, the original Adam would have established the right of the parent, and along with that, the right of the eldest son. We would not have needed today's realm of the second son. Adam himself would be the eldest of the elder sons; likewise, Eve would also be the eldest of the elder daughters. This way, the two children would have become the parents of all human parents, and at the same time monarchs of the eternal world. (214- 39, 1991.2.1)
Why did God give human beings a body? Why did He not just remain alone, without a body? Would that not have been much better? Why did God create the body, which has caused so many problems? God is a deity without form. Such a God cannot be the ancestor of human beings who have a body. He has to assume a physical form, because He wants to relate to His children who have bodies. This is why Adam's body becomes like God's body. And so, God is elevated to an even higher stage, a world of a higher dimension than that of Adam's mind. (223-183, 1991.11.10)
Since God is invisible and has no form, He must manifest Himself by taking on a form. To rule over humankind and all things which do have form, God must take on the form of Adam and Eve. Then, once Adam and Eve and God become one, God's heart becomes the heart of Adam and Eve.
You must realize that when God would enter into Adam and Eve's heart and become one with them, He would, ultimately, be like Adam's internal master, or the internal Adam. (90-194, 1977.1.1)
Why did God create human beings? As this universe has physical form, God did so in order to manage and lead it through Adam and Eve, who would be the masters with bodily form. Since God is without form in the spirit world and cannot rule directly over the universe, He created humankind in order to assume physical form and become the King who can rule over His descendants, His children who are born in the world.
The face of this king was to be Adam's face. A king needs a queen. Who is the queen? Eve was to become the queen. Adam and Eve were to be the ancestors in the heavenly world as well as on earth. (199-144, 1990.2.16)
2.2. Adam is the first ancestor and visible God
God created Adam and Eve, first, in order to have a body, and second, in order to perfect love. Had Adam and Eve reached maturity and become a physical incarnation of love by becoming one, God would have come into them. He would then have been the loving Parent of humankind.
The ideal world would have been realized when Adam and Eve, as parents in God's external form, multiplied children. Then, the spiritual world and physical world would be connected through human beings. Thus, God also created human beings for the purpose of connecting the spiritual world with the physical world. In this way, God would dwell in Adam and Eve through love as the true parent of humankind, the parent incarnate. He would also appear as the parent in the form of Adam and Eve after Adam and Eve went to the spirit world. (Blessed Family - 307)
Adam, created as God's body, would become the true ancestor of humankind. Adam, in other words, would be God incarnate. For the incorporeal God to have dominion over the world of physical beings, to be able to see and hear in that tangible world, He needs a tangible body. The one created to be God incarnate was Adam.
Then who is Eve? Eve was Adam's wife, a wife with physical form. If Adam were God incarnate, Eve would be God's wife incarnate. Saying that the holy God would take a wife may sound shocking, but Adam was created as God's body and he was to take Eve as his wife. Eve, then, would have been God's wife incarnate. (22-279, 1969.5.4)
God needed Adam and Eve for two purposes. First, it was to enable the incorporeal God to appear in an external form. Second, He wanted to fulfill the ideal of love. Adam and Eve were to be the basis and essence of the incorporeal God's capacity to relate to the corporeal world with its visible external form. (92-147, 1977.4.1)
What good would come from the incorporeal God staying alone in heaven? An invisible God has no use. To be the Parent of humankind He has to be able to feel, with a body. You must understand that God inevitably had to create Adam and Eve as beings embodying His duality; He had to have a body in human form. (133-91, 1984.7.10)
When God becomes a father with bodily form, the invisible and visible become one. This symbolizes the universe becoming one. For this to happen, God created Adam and Eve with a bodily form resembling God's external form.
Adam and Eve would then be elevated to the heavenly palace and heavenly throne where God would dwell in their hearts as the King and Queen to rule over the earthly and incorporeal worlds. In other words, God's kingdom is established. This kingdom is the kingdom of love. The spirit and body can unite only through love, and through nothing else. (143-93, 1986.3.16)
Eve was born as a princess and also as God's future object partner. God wanted to make her His partner in love, that is, His wife. Why is this? To share love God needs a body. God has no form in the spirit world. He appears as light, like the light of the sun that shines in the atmosphere twenty-four hours a day. God, as an incorporeal being, manages everything from above. But He would feel a great emptiness if, when looking down on human beings from on high, He was always reminded of the gap, of the impossibility of His incorporeal self having them, with their bodies, as His love partner.
For this reason, the incorporeal God created Adam and Eve with bodies as an absolute work of the ideal of love, and as His partners. Whose form does God take? God assumes the form of Adam and Eve. God is the internal Father, and Adam the external father; God is the internal Parent, and Adam and Eve are the external parents. (199-361, 1990.2.21)
So, God created heaven and earth in order to share love. Thus, the incorporeal God brings a man and a woman out onto the stage as incarnations of His eternal love. Those He brings forward as the central incarnations of love are humankind's true ancestors and the True Parents of goodness. You have not had true parents, but today the Unification Church has the doctrine of the True Parents. (38-173, 1971.1.3)
Why did God create Adam and Eve? The incorporeal God cannot have dominion over this substantial world. The formless, invisible deity cannot rule over the visible world of created beings -- the universe. For this reason, God must acquire a body, based on love. This is why He created. When He takes on a body centered on love, He can feel internal and external stimulation. Stimulation occurs. (166-232, 1987.6.7)
Since the invisible God has no bodily form, the True Parents represent His form. The True Parents are parents on the level of the individual, family, tribe, people and nation. In the future God will appear in the form of the True Parents in the spirit world. (98-224, 1978.8.1)
This teaching marks the greatness of the Unification Church. The greatness of Rev. Moon is that God wants to assume his form. (166-232, 1987.6.7)
God is without form. The incorporeal God has now appeared as a God with form. What is this corporeal God? It is what we call the True Parents, who have not fallen. (201-83, 1990.3.4)
Ultimately, since God is spiritual and without form, people can neither directly receive what He teaches, nor receive the experience of rebirth from God. Hence, God established central figures so that people can be taught and experience rebirth through them. They are the corporeal and incorporeal True Parents. (91-101, 1977.2.3)
What was God's purpose in creating Adam and Eve? As human beings we have a body, but the invisible God does not. Without a body, God cannot govern the spiritual and physical worlds. Hence, although God exists, if He wants to manifest as the parent of humankind, He must acquire a body. God's representatives who have that body were to be Adam and Eve. God was to appear by assuming the form of unfallen Adam and Eve.
Therefore, while Adam and Eve are the first ancestors of humankind, they were also supposed to be God, who rules over heaven and earth. Adam and Eve were to be God in bodily form; that is, they had the responsibility to govern the world in the position of parents, assuming the external form of God who dwells in the eternal visible world. (133.91, 1984.7.10)
God's aim was not only for God and human beings to perfect a vertical love relationship as subject and object partners. He also sought on the basis of the perfection of their vertical love to bring the horizontal love of Adam and Eve to fruition.
When God comes as the internal parent, and Adam and Eve as the external parents achieve complete oneness with Him, in that moment the ideal of love is realized. As the invisible parent, God becomes the eternal parent in the visible world by taking on the form of Adam and Eve. At this point, Adam and Eve would become the true parents and true ancestors. (135-10, 1985.8.20)
Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 3. God is a Personal God . |
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Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon
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Book One - True God
Chapter One - The Original Being of God
Section 3. God is a Personal God
3.1. A personal God with intellect, emotion, and will
Today, many Christians say that because God, the Creator, is a unique and absolute being in the position of the Most High God and the being of supreme goodness, He cannot have a relationship with human beings whom He created, that is, with created beings. In other words, they say His creatures are profane, whereas He is absolute and divine. But from the viewpoint of love, no matter how elevated and good God is, and no matter how lowly His creatures are, they must have the same character as God if they are to have a relationship of love. They must have the same heart. It means God must have the same personal qualities as a human being. (138-245, 1986.1.24)
What kind of deity is God? He is a personal God, with intellect, emotion, and will. Since what this personal God wants most is love, He created human beings as His partners in love. This is an amazing fact. (143-149, 1986.3.17)
How did God, the First Cause, shape human beings? He made us like Himself. He made us in His image. This means that the Father resembles us as we resemble the Father. This leads us to the answer. In seeking to know about God, what might we find about His nature? If we conclude, "He is someone like me," we will be right on the mark. (127-233, 1983.5.15)
Whom do you think God resembles? If it is love that God needs, would He love something that resembles Him, or would He love animals, which do not resemble Him? God needs a partner whom He can like and with whom He can share love. If human beings are indeed God's partners, upon looking at the human race we are led to the conclusion that God must be a personal God. All His elements must be able to harmonize one hundred percent with those of humankind. God must be one who harmonizes all elements of the body and mind. This is why God must have the attributes of intellect, emotion, and will. (162-271, 1987.4.17)
If God exists, what kind of relationship does He have with human beings? To have a relationship with human beings, He must be a personal God. And to be a personal God, He must resemble human beings. People have the attributes of mind and body. Then God, as their Creator, has to have similar attributes if he is to share with them a common purpose. This point marks the origin of the concept of dual characteristics. (167-243, 1987.7.21)
Do you think God has a personality as people do? If He is like a person, do you think He is a man or a woman? Then, do you think He has the thing all men have dangling from them, or not? What kind of internal nature did I say God has? As the Subject of dual characteristics, do you think He has both the concave and convex parts or not? Have you thought about that? (181-203, 1988.10.09)
Do you think God laughs? Have you seen God smiling? Do you think God has eyes? Do you think He has a nose? How about a mouth or ears? Does He have a body? If you examine Christianity carefully you can see that Christians do not have a sense of this. They do not know if God has eyes. If you ask them, "Have you really seen His eyes?," they do not know. If you ask them, "Whom does God resemble?," they will answer, "What do you mean? God resembles Himself." What kind of answer is that? Whom does God resemble? His children. This is why God has to be a personal God. As a personal God, He demands of us the highest standard of character. What forms the base for the highest standard of character? It is measured neither by money nor by power, but by love. (182-59, 1988.10.14)
If God exists, He has to be a personal God; He has to be like a person. As a personal God He must possess intellect, emotion, and will. Based on these attributes, all His feelings and desires, and all of the goals He sets according to His will must become concrete. (174-162, 1988.2.28)
God knows everything. He is the supreme King of knowledge and power; He is all-knowing and almighty. Furthermore, He is omnipresent; no place is void of His presence. What is it that He needs? Diamonds? He can make them any time. Gold or jewels? No. What God needs is love. If God were alone, would he say "Oh, I have love and it's great"? What is it that God needs? If God is a personal God then He must have a mouth; must He not? Then, He also must have a nose, eyes, ears, hands, feet, and a mind and heart. If God is like a person then He should have these attributes. (142-30,1986.3.3)
What kind of person is God? He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and could destroy or save the world with just one word. But we do not need this kind of God. What kind of God does our original mind desire? We would desire someone about whom we can say: "I cannot but love Him more than my own father and mother. Even if we have a righteous king or president in our country, He is even higher than they are." Presidents are changed every four years; they are good and bad, and thus difficult to respect. (147-271, 1986.10.1)
If God exists and comes to our world today, He must be a God of intellect, emotion, and will. Why? Because this is how human beings are. His intellect, emotion, and will, however, are not based on the human way but on the heavenly way. (9-291, 1960.6.12)
Can the absolute God be sad? Can the all-knowing and almighty God avoid sadness? Can He relate to sorrow?
These are serious questions that I cannot take lightly. We cannot maintain the view that the absolute God can be the father of humanity and yet never experience sorrow. There is a logical contradiction here, for it fundamentally distances God the Father from His children who have intellect, emotion, and will, and who experience the feelings of joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure. Therefore, God has to be the Subject who can feel joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure - even more than we can. (203-288, 1990.6.27)
There is no religious organization that correctly witnesses about God. If you talk about God, Buddhism and Confucianism are the same; they become dumbfounded. They do not know the personal God, with intellect, emotion, and will. The Unification Church asserts the oneness of God and man. This is a magnificent concept. (227-112, 1992.2.11)
Members of the Unification Church can be proud of the fact that we know God very well. We know God clearly. God is both a personal God with intellect, emotion, and will, and the Subject of love at the same time. We know this clearly. We know that the God of love is the center of heavenly heart and we know that the center of heavenly heart cannot vacillate. (210-314, 1990.12.27)
3.2. We need a personal God with whom we can be one
In addition to His intellect, emotion, and will, God has His own hopes, circumstances and heart. What are God's hopes, circumstances and heart? We need to know these fundamentals before considering humankind's situation. Armed with this knowledge, you will naturally and immediately understand people's original desire. Why? Because humankind's purpose is God's, and God's purpose is humankind's. Those who understand people's circumstances, hopes, and heart can also understand God's. (151-208, 1962.12.15)
We cannot talk about love unless God is a personal God. God needs to have the same qualities of emotion and character as human beings. Christianity, alone among religions, revealed that kind of God. The early Christians called God "Father." Becoming free and able to call God "Father" marked a great religious discovery. My explanation of God, as the internal and external Father who seeks to create a unifying authority through love that is incarnated in substantial form, takes the conversation to a new level, but the Christian discovery of God as the Father is amazing. Furthermore, it has created the base upon which the nature of God, in love, can be peacefully discussed and explored. Christianity has also promoted monotheism. For these reasons, as I see it, Christianity serves as the global religion that can unite the world. It is paving the way to unify the world. (139-239, 1986.1.31)
Although there are many religious paths today, the one religion that can penetrate the heart has not appeared during the course of history. Because God exists, however, such a religion must inevitably appear. Some religions instruct in social ethics and morality and others teach about the infinite spirit world. However, there must be a religion that combines teachings on ethics and morality with those that describe the incorporeal world, uniting them upon the essential core of one heart. I have searched for such a religion and it is Christianity. Christianity is a religion of heart. Through the Fall, human beings lost God and forgot that God is our Father. We lost the substantial True Parents and Christianity is the religion that can reintroduce them. (9-140, 1960.5.1)
The final destination of philosophy is the discovery of God. What kind of God is He? He is absolute, unchanging and unique. In discovering God, we will find that He has to be a personal God, one needed by human beings. In order to have a relationship with us, God has to be a personal God who shares the inner and outer aspects of all our thoughts, ideals and will. He has to be someone who can deeply relate with us in all aspects of our being, emotional, volitional, or intellectual. Otherwise He has nothing to do with us. From this point of view, on the basis of the premise that He must be a God whose character includes human-like character, philosophy has not honored God. (138-142, 1986.1.21)
Whom does God resemble? His sons and daughters. Who are you? You are God's sons and daughters. You take after God. And God is a personal God. Can God just be some shapeless entity? What is amazing about Christianity is that it has talked about a God of emotion and personality in terms of His character and love, and His intellect, emotion, and will. This is a great thing. It has also promoted monotheism. (177-274, 1988.5.20)
If God is a personal God, do you think God needs love? When we human beings are born as God's sons and daughters and call God "Father," we need the Father just as He needs us, and the Father needs us just as we need Him. (184-199, 1989.1.1)
If God is a personal God, what should be connected to Him? When you say "God," you are talking about something high, aren't you? Then, can your body be connected to Him? No. It is your heart that is connected. Human beings are to live with a vertical heart with the First Cause, the personal God, at the axis. Just as the earth rotates on its angle-adjusted axis and moves in its day by day, 365 day course around the sun, we should live revolving around God. This is how we should see it. (194-154, 1989.10.22)
God's existence leads naturally to the conclusion that this world has no hope for the future unless God's providence advances and is fulfilled. The Unification Church has emerged at this time in history to acknowledge the personal God with His perfected intellect, emotion and will, and to work with Him to realize the ideal world based on the realm of heart. The Unification Church is clarifying, for the first time, the relationship between God and humankind. (213-302, 1991.1.21)
Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 4. God Is Our Father. |
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Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon
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Book One - True God
Chapter One - The Original Being of God
Section 4. God Is Our Father
4.1 God and human beings are related as parent and child
God and human beings are related as parent and child, but how did this relationship come to be? If you enter a mystical state and ask what the center of the universe is, you will get the answer that it is the parent-child relationship. What is the center of the universe? In short, it is the parent-child relationship. (48-208, 1971.9.19)
If you pray and ask God, "What is the center of heaven and earth, and what is the root of the universe?" He will say that it is the relationship between a father and his sons and daughters, the parent-child relationship. People who are ignorant of this will think that this refers to the relationship between a physical father and mother and their sons and daughters, but we are talking about the fundamental relationship with God. (19-158, 1968.1.1)
God created human beings because being alone brings no stimulation. Joy arises through a relationship. Alone, you cannot receive the stimulation of joy. When we stand in the position of God's partner, we can finally receive the highest love and God's internal nature is made substantial. If God is sorrowful, humankind will inevitably be sorrowful. For this reason, the relationship between God and human beings is a destined relationship that cannot be severed. No matter how hard you research, this will be your conclusion. (God's Will - 279)
I said that God and human beings are in a parent-child relationship, but what is special about this parent-child relationship? The highest place where father and son can meet is the central point where their love, life and ideals intersect. Then, love, life, and ideals are in one place. At that place, God is love, and so are we; God is life, and so are we; and God's ideals are our ideals. The first place where these things can be established is in the parent-child relationship. (69-78, 1973.10.20)
When God gives us love, how much would He want to give? God's love does not have a set limit. He wants to give infinitely. Even after giving everything, God still says, "Because of you, I want to live in you." What is the essential element that makes this possible? It is love. God would be happy to live as a servant if that life were lived inside love. A father could feel joy even if he sees his beloved son defecates on his dining table. Love transcends law.
God has been continuously extending His love to people, but that doesn't mean He will complain, saying, "I have given you everything without reserve. Why do you not give back? How can you be like this?" The God of absolute love is still frustrated that He has not been able to give all the love He wants to. God cannot assert Himself absolutely into our lives. If God's purpose in creating man was to give perfect love, God would still want to pour His love into the human world even if He has been prohibited from doing so until now. The more we think of God as being so unconditionally giving, the better we feel. If God were someone who says, "I have given everything, so now you give back," we would not need Him. (36-77, 1970.11.15)
God is the Father of human beings, and human beings are God's sons and daughters. He created them by investing the core of His bone, the core of His flesh, and the core of His bone marrow in them. If they pull on God, God cannot help but follow. (20-207, 1968.6.9)
God created for the sake of love. That is why God likes to see a man and a woman loving each other. For this reason, God appears in the world of existence as the essence of love. (86-82, 1976.3.7)
A child is the fruit, the manifestation of the parents' love, an extension of their life, and the embodiment of the parents' ideals. Children are born on the basis of the parents' love, life, and ideals; thus, the more the parents see them, the more lovable they become, the more they become ideal people to relate to, and the more vibrant life becomes. (69-78, 1973.10.20)
Human beings are born through the relationship of love as God's absolute partners. This is where God becomes the Father and we the sons and daughters. If there is a place higher than this, human desire would want to occupy that position. Since human desire seeks the best, if there is something better, God must give it to us. From this point of view, God is surely the Father of humankind and human beings are His sons and daughters. (48-205, 1971.9.19)
Clearly, God did not create us without value. If He had, He would be a strange God. Since God is the Absolute Being, He knows everything; if He had created us without knowing these things, He would be an incomplete God. But God is the Absolute Being and thus He created us as His absolute partners. (54-87, 1972.3.20)
What kind of being is God, the Creator of heaven and earth? He is a being of utmost goodness, the root of all things, and the Lord of love. Therefore, after creating heaven and earth, He wanted to give all the precious things in the whole universe to humankind. If there is someone whom God can truly believe in, love, and entrust everything to, He will want to pass the most precious things on to him in their entirety. (13-247, 1964.4.12)
If God is our Father, He could not have wanted to create us as mediocre or incompetent creatures. As He created us to stand in an equal position, at the same level, as the all-knowing and all-powerful God, our conscience seeks the highest and best. (53-224, 1972.2.28)
If God is the Absolute Being, why did that absolute being create human beings? It was not for the sake of money, knowledge or power. He created man because it was the only way He could feel love. From this point of view, God as the Father and human beings as His sons and daughters form an axis. If the connections for this axis are made, absolutely nothing can sever the relationship of loving oneness between God and humankind. (137-57, 1985.12.18)
In creating human beings, God completely invested Himself to fashion them into the most precious, ideal and perfect form. God created Adam and Eve wanting to exist for their sake, not His own. The time when God lived for His own sake advanced to the time when He existed for the sake of His object partner. An ideal being does not live for his own sake; an ideal being lives for the sake of others, for the sake of its object partner. This principle is the basic core of the universe. (69-81, 1973.10.20
No matter how great, how absolute, and how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, He cannot be happy alone. The words "happiness" and "it is good" make no sense when you are alone. You can say that it is good, or that you are happy only when you are in a relationship with a partner. Is there anyone who says he is happy when he is alone? No matter how all-knowing and almighty God may be, He is not happy when He is alone. Let us say a good singer sings a song all by himself. Will he be happy? He needs someone to listen to his song. He will only be joyful when that give and take exists. Likewise, God also needs an object partner in order to experience joy. (65-20, 1972.11.13)
God, by completely investing Himself, created His object of love because He needed an object of love. You cannot love by yourself. An absolute being also cannot love without an object of love. Thus, God created human beings as such objects of love. He would not, therefore, create them carelessly. The Bible reveals that He created them through the Word, but He was not relaxed in His work. He created them by investing Himself 120 percent, hundreds of times over, through excruciating hardship and difficulty. (197-164, 1990.1.13)
When some Christians think about God's creation of heaven and earth, they focus on God's omniscience and omnipotence, and thereby believe, simply, that He created by His words. The creation did not, however, come into form by some type of magic. He created His sons and daughters by investing His entire being with a sincere heart. (65-20, 1972.11.13)
This is why we love Him. We, for the sake of comparison, will not fully love something for which we have not invested our utmost efforts and given our blood and flesh. We make something the object of our sincerest hope because we have invested into it the core of our bone, the core of our flesh, the core of our thought, and the core of our entire being.
Where did God place the ideal starting point of creation? He does not tell us to give everything for His sake. Rather than trying to absorb us by saying, "You come and cleave to me," He invests Himself. It is not "cleave to me," but investment. In other words, He placed the starting point of the ideal upon the principle of existing for the sake of others. This is why God invested Himself for the sake of humankind. God exists for mankind's sake. (78-111, 1975.5.6)
What did God mean when He said, "I am love." He was teaching us to cherish love by night and day, while working, resting, dancing or crying. In like manner, He could say, "I have love, I have love in its entirety." Having love in its entirety would mean that everything was invested into it. The one who cherishes love the most is God. He has all of that love, yet once we have tasted it we are unable to let go of it even in death. (44-188, 1971.5.7)
As an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being, there is nothing God wants to withhold for Himself; He lacks nothing. Although He has everything, if there is one thing He values highest and takes the most pride in, it is love. There is nothing He needs apart from love. (108-223, 1980.10.16)
Where does the completion of the ideal of creation begin? It does not start with God, but with human beings. It begins with the things of creation because the ideal of creation destines them to be. Humankind stands at the center of creation. For this reason, without human perfection, there is no perfection for God. This is because God and humankind are one. (149-9, 1986.11.1)
What is it that makes us one with God and His will? What is it that can unite with the central core of the Will that is complete rather than the Will that is in process? Is it God's omnipotence? Omnipotence will not work. Is it His full authority? No. Then is it His omnipresence? Again, no. Then what should it be? God is alive and dwelling in the spirit world, transcendent of time and space. What is the center of His life? It is not His infinite power, omnipresence, full authority, or anything like that. God lives with love as His central focal point. This is how I see it. He has lived focused on love from the beginning and throughout His present course, and He will do so for eternity. This is because God feels joy when He has a true object of His love. (126-223, 1983.4.24)
Since God is absolute, all-knowing, and omnipotent, He has a storehouse of love which keeps replenishing itself even after He gives and gives. If we were to steal a lot of love from God's storehouse and give it out day and night, will God punish us, saying "You, scoundrel, thief of love!"? Since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, He would say instead, "Okay, do that! That's good. Take as much as you want. Keep doing it forever. Even after you've been here at my storehouse, there is still some left. That is why I am God.
That is why I am the Subject!" He will say, "I am the Subject Partner, and the subject partner must have more than he can give to the object partner. As the Subject Partner I must have more than I can give to you as my object partners; otherwise, I would not be God. That is what I am like!" He will again say, "If you want to steal love from me and distribute it like my power plant of love, I will supply as much as you need." If you then say, "When I run out, I will want to get more, so may I connect myself to Your pipeline of love?" God will say, "If you want, go ahead!" (116-240, 1982.1.1)
4.2. God is the closest person to you
What is the highest embodiment of all truths? Parents, husband and wife, and children are. There is nothing higher. Then, what is the center of truth? It is love. Based on this principle, what is the center of the highest truth? We say that God is the ultimate source of truth, goodness, love and life. What does all this mean? They all go to the same point -- the establishment of truth requires love and life. For this reason, God is the deepest core, the ultimate source of life, love and truth. Then what kind of being is God? He is both our Father and Mother. The core is the parents. From this point of view, God becomes simply a person. (21-183, 1968.11.20)
God should have a white beard. That would befit Him well. So God would be stroking His beard, and if the son were to say, "I like your beard long," His beard would become long, and if the son were to say, "I like your beard short," it would become short. Since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, when He relates to men His face will look rough. To Adam, who likes masculine features, God's face will look masculine. To women like Eve, it will have an appearance women can like. (110-281, 1981.1.1)
Do you think God existed before the creation of heaven and earth, or not? Then how old do you think God is? It's okay for those who can only count up to the number seventy to say He is seventy. To such people, God will chuckle, "Ho, ho; I am seventy." When someone who can only count up to five asks Him how old He is, He will say, "Ho, ho; I am five years old" -- because they do not know anything more. No matter how many numbers there are, God cannot be calculated in terms of numbers. He is beyond numbers. That makes you happy, doesn't it? This is how our God is. (173-252, 1988.2.1)
God also likes jokes very much. He likes humor. Who do you think the great king of humor is? It is God. He has a good sense of humor because He is all-knowing and all-powerful. Who is the great king who can make others roll around laughing, laugh until they burst and fall over? It is God. I am saying that this great king is God. (171-148, 1988.1.1)
Externally, God resembles men and internally He resembles women. While God is strong, all-knowing, and omnipotent, He also has a merciful heart that can embroider flowers on Buddha's smile. He should also have a heart like that of the most feminine woman. Only then will these two sides have life. (206-49, 1990.10.3)
God is the great Master of the universe, all-knowing and all-powerful; He is a being who lacks nothing and has many powers. Nevertheless, if a loving son of filial piety were to press his way to His bosom without asking, would He shout, "Hey, you! How well do you know me? What are you doing?" God might try to stop him, but if the son were to ignore God's protests and keeps pressing in, like he once did pressing in to snuggle up to his own father's chest, saying, "I wanted to place my hand on Your chest, just as I used to touch my father's chest long ago," what would God do? Would He feel offended? A father would be very happy.
As children grow up, they leave their parents' laps, go outside the house, and cross over rivers and mountains. Yet when these children come home, cross the threshold, put on their old clothes, and try to touch their father's chest, would the father feel good or bad? Even a grandfather on his deathbed would be happy and say, "Come, let me feel your touch." (169-76, 1987.10.25)
God is the Creator. Then, what is there to add to Him? What is there for Him to pull in? If something is to grow bigger, it has to pull in and absorb something, or somebody has to add something to it. In other words, it either has to absorb something by itself or a third party has to bring something to add on. But when there is nothing to be added to God Himself and nothing for Him to pull in, how can God grow bigger by Himself? This is an important question. I have not discussed it because if I did, you would talk about it carelessly and cause problems. So please research this. I am giving you this as homework. Do some research; write a paper and I will grade it. (218-263, 1991.8.19)
How do you think the absolute God originally began? Do you think He was born all of a sudden, coming out quickly? Aren't you curious about this? If we talk about this, Christians will say, "Ooh, the Creator is holy, and this is an incredible insult." Stop that nonsense! Aren't you curious as to whether God came into being or has always existed as He is? We need to have a logical basis to go on.
Dr. Yoon! How did God come into being? Shouldn't someone with a doctorate in physics know this? Isn't it a shame if the holder of a doctoral degree covers his face like that? Unification Church members can only say, "God naturally exists," but this is not the case. God Himself also had to develop. This is the correct answer. (218-263, 1991.8.19)
What is it that has the power of the matchless beauty of creation? God must have studied this. Although God is all-knowing and all-powerful, if He is a personal God, and is like a person, when He relates to love, He will want to go into it and sleep there in peaceful rest. God cannot always keep His eyes wide open and say, "You fool, do not rest. Work on restoration through indemnity day and night." That's God principle, isn't it? It is just like breathing. When you exhale, you have to inhale. God also has to rest after work. It is because He wishes to feel the joy of rest that God works. Everything about God is connected to the mutual relationship of give and take. (164-70, 1987.4.26)
If God exists, what kind of being is He? He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and His presence is all-pervading. That is good. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and He can do anything. But however powerful He may be, and however good He may be at everything, what would happen if He told others to serve Him alone? There must be billions of people living in the spirit world; if God said to them, "I am all-knowing, almighty, and absolute, and you have to serve me absolutely," what would happen? What if everything had to serve only God? Judging from the essence of our conscience, we would not be able to embrace that in the long term. It would inevitably create conflict. Your hearts would inevitably conflict with this in the future. (138-75, 1986.1.19)
The only partner that God can love is us -- human beings. God cannot make another God among His creatures. Why?
You may think that the all-knowing and almighty God could create another God just like Himself. This may be possible, but what would happen as a result? The other God would eat with Him and follow Him around; they would work together and stand together. If God sat down, the other God would sit down together with Him. What would it be like If they acted exactly the same for hundreds of millions of years? Think about that. How stifled they would feel! Their eyes would turn inside out in less than a day. And how would they talk? How many days do you think they would talk with each other? Maybe not even three days. They would say, "Every thing's the same! This is killing me." (141-26, 1986.2.16)
What is the center of religion? It is God. Of course, there are many names for God, but the name does not matter. God cannot be two. The root is one, therefore God is one. When people talk about God, they use different names to refer to Him because each nation has a different language. Yet the Original Being is one. (210-199, 1990.12.23)
Heaven and earth themselves did not come into being because they wanted to, but surely from some origin and through some motivation based on some source of power. Considering this on a higher level, there has to be a fundamental agent of power who, as a central subject partner, moves heaven and earth or creates things. We call this being God. His various names, given by different races and in different languages, do not matter. This universe needs to have a center in any case. Although existing beings act and move around, the central being does not move around with them in their world. There has to be a central original being who remains forever fixed at the center of this world of relationships in motion. (154-298, 1964.10.5)
Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 5. God's Omniscience and Omnipotence Are Within the Principle . |
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Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon
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Book One - True God
Chapter One - The Original Being of God
Section 5. God's Omniscience and Omnipotence Are Within the Principle
5.1. God's omniscience and omnipotence are based on principles
What was God's motivation in creating all things in heaven and earth? We have to consider the fundamentals of this. God needs no money. It was not for the sake of money, knowledge, or curiosity. It was not for the sake of power. There is nothing the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God does not know. He is the King of wisdom, the King of ability, and the King of gold. He can make as many diamonds as He wishes. But God does not need diamonds. Why would He need them when He has them all the time? One needs something only when it is missing.
Through His knowledge God created the laws that control the elements of the universe, which move and operate under certain principles. In comparison to God's efforts to create those laws, the investment a scientist makes to discover just one minute aspect of one of them amounts to nothing. The quantity of their work, the doctoral degrees earned, the boasting, and the fanfare pale in comparison.
Art is the same. Art is learned from nature; it originates from nowhere else. Everything is learned from nature, and there is nothing that cannot be found in nature. (182-121, 1988.10.16)
God is all-knowing and all-powerful, but what need does He have for power? Why would He need it when He is the one who can move the universe? He does not need power because He is the great King of power. In history, no matter how great the heroes were, they passed away, as did the kings and emperors of great nations; before their passing they were all dancing under God's authority. God does not need the money or knowledge that we human beings need. (176-165, 1988.5.9)
God Himself is absolute, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. There is nothing He does not know, and there is nothing He cannot do. Standing in such an absolute position as the Subject in possession of everything, what could He need? Although God is the Absolute Subject, He must have the heart to be an object partner as well as the subject partner. Why so? We do not need just the east; when there is east, we need west; when we have east and west, we need north and south; and when we have north and south, we need front and back and above and below. In this way, we seek to form a sphere. This is why the universe moves based on the model of a sphere. (201-12, 1990.2.28)
What kind of things do you think you would find in the universe? Do you think there would be diamond stars? If the all-knowing and almighty God created the universe, would He have created just one diamond star? (49-294, 1971.10.17)
What is it that God likes most? Famous scholars? There is nothing special about famous scholars. A scholar may say that he has researched this and that, but this is just reporting on the natural formulas and principles created by God -- the scholar did not create them.
God does not even like scholars. Next, what about presidents? Do you think God likes Reagan, the U.S. president? What about a world president? God is the president of the universe. What would the all-knowing, all-powerful and absolute being need? God does not like power, either. What's next? Money? Don't talk nonsense. (141-247, 1986.2.26)
God is all-knowing and almighty. If He were to get angry and strike the earth, everything would be shattered to pieces. Even presidents of nations and people who are proud of their position would disappear without a trace at one shout from God. Does God need power? He does not. Power may be something rank and file soldiers covet. Who likes power? The devil likes it. (210-18, 1990.11.30)
Why do you think God created heaven and earth? If God said, "I tried creating you just to show off my power and omniscience and omnipotence," would this sound good to you? Would creatures born through God's power say, "God, thank you for creating us with a stroke of your power"? If God said, "I created you because I am so wise," would you feel good? If God said, "I created you because I am rich with ability," wouldn't you think, "If God created me through His ability or wisdom, what is my joy, and what does it have to do with me? That's God's ability, not mine. That's God's wisdom, not mine. As for me, I am just so powerless..." Therein lies the problem with the emphasis on omniscience and omnipotence. (175-150, 1988.4.16)
Christianity today emphasizes "God, the all-knowing and the all-powerful Father," but omniscience and omnipotence work exclusively on the basis of principles. God does not do things arbitrarily or through unprincipled action. The laws established by the eternal God are eternal. He does not arbitrarily change what He has established. The authority and dignity of God, in His obedience to the law, is amazing. God is the first to follow, absolutely, the laws He has established regarding justice and the public good because they are in keeping with heavenly principles. After God, then all people are to follow, and then the universe. There is no alternative direction. Such is the ideal standard of man's creation. (162-184, 1987.4.12)
God cannot do it alone. Today's Christian ministers may think that the all-knowing and all-powerful God can do things arbitrarily any time with the power of creation. But that is far from the truth. All existing things in heaven and earth operate by laws and principles. Even God cannot break them and act on His own. The president of this country must cherish the laws based on the constitution and those enacted through legislation. There is a major commotion here because this is not happening; isn't that so? (166-99, 1987.5.30)
This may sound strange, but if God wanted love, why could He not simply create it at will? It is because if He did, He would not be able to stand in His proper position. This is why He does not create love, and this is the same as saying He could not create it. Do you understand what I am saying? You may say, "Ah, but how can the all-knowing and almighty God be unable to create love?" If He did, we might come to find that either dualism or polytheism were correct. You may doubt it, but this is how it is. (173-211, 1988.2.18)
People these days talk about God's nature and say that God is absolute, all-knowing, almighty, all-pervasive, unique, eternal, and unchanging. But what is God going to do with His absoluteness? What is He going to do with His uniqueness? What does God's uniqueness have to do with us? These are major questions. What is God going to do with His omniscience and omnipotence? What is the relevance? What is He going to do with His eternal and unchanging essence? It may be good for God Himself, but it has nothing to do with us. The discussion becomes futile and useless, yet we cannot have blind faith. We have to clarify these matters. (223-261, 1991.11.12)
There is nothing God does not know. He is all-knowing and all-powerful, has full authority, and is omnipresent. But what does this have to do with us? I am asking what it has to do with us. You may say, "Oh, since He has full authority, it should be easy for Him to rule over me. Since He is omnipresent, it should be easy for Him to monitor me. Since He knows everything, He will analyze me thoroughly and leave no escape for me." What good would come from God ruling over us through His omniscience and omnipotence? (130-209, 1984.1.22)
With what does God govern heaven and earth? He governs through law, a law of governance through love. The universal law exists in order to support the means or way of governance. God created humankind because He longs for love. He could have gone on alone, without us, but instead, for some purpose, He did create us. What was that purpose? He needed and needs love that is stimulating and impulsively expressed. (121-103, 1982.10.24)
5.2. Only love is the absolute standard
There is one thing that immobilizes God. Is God not omniscient and omnipotent? Despite His omniscience and omnipotence, there is one thing He cannot do as He pleases. What do you think that is? Is it that He is unable to make gold or diamonds? Would He lack power? There is one thing this omniscient and omnipotent being cannot do as He pleases. What is it? It is love. Love. Do you think there is love in my heart? Is there love in your heart? Basically yes. But if you were to go around saying, "My love, my love, my love!" to yourself all the time, you would be a crazy person. (142-269, 1986.3.13)
Do you think God can attain love by Himself? Would the all-knowing, all-powerful and unique God say, "Oh, I feel so good!" all by Himself? Then we would have to say that God has also gone mad. Also, if I were to say, "Oh I'm so happy, my love!" based only on some feeling of love, people would call me crazy, wouldn't they? But if someone takes even a scrap of paper or handkerchief as his object and says, "Oh my beloved handkerchief!" who would speak ill of that person? The value and authority of an object partner that can represent the universe is possible only in the world of love. (142-31, 1986.3.3)
I am saying that even the absolute God cannot have love by Himself. Since love is found only in a mutual relationship, no matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, He cannot possess love alone. Of course, He has the potential for love, but the signs and stimulation of love come only through another, not to God alone. This is love, the power of love. (138-245, 1986.1.24)
We pity widows and widowers, but why do we pity them? It is because although they have love inside, they have nothing to stir it into motion. However omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God may be, love does not operate when there is no partner. With whom does God, the Creator of heaven and earth, wish to have a relationship? He wants to engage in love with Adam and Eve. (130-21, 1983.12.11)
God likes love. What kind of love does God like most? It is true love. But what is true love? Where would we say true love has its root? Its root does not lie in God. This sounds strange, doesn't it? The all-knowing and all-powerful God is the Master of true love, and yet God does not want the root of this love to begin from Him. God thinks that He will plant the root in a person who can be the object of this love. (177-269, 1988.5.20)
For whom did God create heaven and earth, for His own sake, or for His creatures as His partners? Of course, we can say that God created them for His own sake, but we should know that He attaches great importance to the object partner, and this is the standard for all the creation. The subject partner among all object partners is humankind. God's thoughts were focused on humankind and on the happiness of all people. As for God Himself, He is an all-knowing and all-powerful being, isn't He? (109-268, 1980.11.2)
God is absolute, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Then, can He also love as He pleases? No. God is also under the dominion of love. Then what can we say about God? Isn't God omniscient and omnipotent? If we ask Him, "God, are You not omnipotent?" God will answer, "I am omnipotent, but not when it comes to love." Why is God like that? (98-38, 1978.4.8)
God cannot be God by Himself. What fun could that be? Would He worry about food? Would He worry about sleep? Would He worry about clothes? He can have these supplied in whatever quantity He desires. He may want to get on a plane and fly around, but He would become bored within an hour. No matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, and no matter how much He prides Himself in being so special, He would not find it satisfying. He is just like us. And God has no other choice. He must find the joy that derives from seeing something valuable that He made effort to create. (161-116, 1987.1.11)
What longing was it that led God to create? I am asking what it was that the Absolute Being longed for that caused Him to create? He is an all-knowing and all-powerful being who needs neither gold nor knowledge. There is nothing He lacks, and so I am asking what need made Him create human beings?
What was God's fundamental motivation for creating? It was not power, knowledge, or possessions. What did God lack? God lacked the basis for love. God, too, is unable to achieve love by Himself. This is why love is the origin, the alpha - the motivation for the creation of heaven and earth. (149-149, 1986.11.21)
What kind of love does God need? God has love, but He can love only when there is a partner. All of you here, do you have love? But do you like saying, "Oh, wonderful! Oh my love!" all alone? Love only works when you have a partner. This is the basic rule of the universe. No matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, without a partner He is a lonely and sad God. (94-262, 1977.10.1)
No matter how wonderful, absolute, all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, good things cannot happen when God is alone. The words "happiness" or "that's nice" do not make sense when you are alone; you can talk about joy and happiness only where there is a relationship with an object partner. No matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, He cannot be happy when He stays alone doing nothing. Let's say that a good singer sings a song by himself. Would this make him happy? He needs someone to hear his song. We need to have give and take to feel good. Likewise, God cannot feel good by Himself. (65-20, 1972.11.13)
What is the origin from which God came into existence? From what could God have come? What is His beginning point? Is it omniscience and omnipotence, or absolute authority? What's the use of absolute authority? When He is alone, what's the point of having absolute authority? There is nobody else anyway. If He, as the Absolute Being, is alone what is the use of knowledge? The important question relates to God's essence. And that is love, not a love that seeks to be served, but a love that seeks to serve. (218-263, 1991.8.19)
Even the all-knowing and all-powerful God surrenders in front of true love. No matter how great the president of Korea may be, he also surrenders helplessly in front of true love. When you really love your wife, would you want to bow down to her or not? You would do more than bow down. You would think, "Where in this universe did my wife come from? I cannot help loving her so truly." The thought of being without her would paralyze your limbs. It is painful to think of her not being there. How happy her presence makes you! Even the president will happily say, "My darling, please love me; I love you!" as he bows to the ground. At that moment, would that small lady sitting in front of him feel good or bad? (211-83, 1991.12.29)
No matter how all-knowing and all- powerful God maybe, He cannot love all by Himself as He pleases. You may say that God can love as He pleases because He is all-knowing and all-powerful, but this thinking creates a big problem, because it leads to the argument that an object of love is not needed. For this reason, in order for God, as the absolute, central being, to feel the stimulation and joy of His own love, He needs a partner in love. (208-233, 1990.11.20)
Even God Himself needs a partner. He cannot realize love by Himself, either. If I were to exclaim enthusiastically, "Oh, I feel so good today," when no one is there, people would call me crazy, wouldn't they? But when there is a partner, even if I were to speak with enthusiasm it would make sense and fit the circumstances. However all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, what would be the point if He were dancing alone, saying, "That's good, good; oh, I like my love"? You must understand this. Even God cannot achieve love by Himself. He can feel stimulating love only when He has a partner. This is the issue. (141-106, 1986.2.19)
Among the existing things in the world there is no power that can match God's because God is all-knowing, all- powerful, and absolute. God is also eternal, immortal and self-existing. But what is it that God desires? It is not money, knowledge, or power; so what does God desire? There is only one thing God absolutely needs, something absolutely needed by both humankind and God. It is true love. (Blessed Family - 302)
5.3. Even God is absolutely obedient to love
Since God likes love, can He become crazy for love? Can the all-knowing, almighty, and marvelous God, who created heaven and earth, become crazy for love? There are times when a grandfather, who normally dominates like a tiger, meekly comes under the control of the small grandmother. What makes him do this? He does it because he is caught on the hook of love. Love has great power. This is why God helplessly surrenders in front of love. (137-84, 1985.12.24)
If the capable, all-knowing and almighty God exists, what kind of things would He like? The most logical conclusion is that, since God is better than human beings, He would inevitably like love. Then what on earth is God's love? Even before the beginning of time, God had the love that lived unceasingly for others, and He sought to practice that kind of love. (90-86, 1976.12.19)
You should be sons of God. In being God's sons, which path do you want to take? The path of money? Would God say, "I am all-knowing and all-powerful, and based on my great power you have to come into the parent-child relationship"? What about knowledge? These are peripheral matters. God wants to focus on love, and says, "I must be one with that love." You should say, "Only that love is the best." When you have completely occupied this love, even the powerful God of this universe will say, "Yes, yes!" (69-181, 1973.11.12)
However all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, can He order men and women to absolutely obey true love? To have a commanding presence as the Father, God should command, "I too absolutely obey true love, so obey true love just as I do." If God were to tell His sons and daughters to absolutely obey true love without doing it Himself, would it make sense?
God, who occupies true love, would become a dictator. Only when God says, "Just as I eternally and absolutely obey true love, you sons and daughters must eternally obey true love," will they say, "Amen!" Otherwise, they would scoff, saying, "The Father lives as He pleases, and we have nothing to do but obey? Pooh!" There will be problems. Hence, we must establish the view that God, too, absolutely obeys true love. (211-84, 1990.12.29)
However all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, He absolutely obeys true love. How does that sound: good or bad? Would this true love be good when heard from the east and bad when heard from the west? It is good whether you hear it from the west, from the south, or from the north, from above, or from below. Day and night, throughout the four seasons, and beyond the time of our youth and old age, it will, for all eternity, be pleasing to hear the sound of true love. (211-75, 1990.12.29)
God, who asserts absolute power, is also looking for a place where love can settle, a place where love can stand. God, too, absolutely likes love. How much does He like it? More than His absoluteness, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. God will absolutely obey the laws of true love even if He abandons everything else. Only then, will it all make sense.
We say God is the Father of humankind, don't we? Then, can this Father tell His sons and daughters to absolutely obey true love if His own life is not centered on love? This root principle is indispensable. Therefore, only when God Himself lives in absolute obedience to love can He educate His children saying, "You should live like this because I am living this way myself." (207-261, 1990.11.11)
The absolute God also thinks, "Although I am absolute, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and have everything, I also want to live in obedience to something absolute." God, also, has the desire to live for the sake of others. Since God is like this, His love does not demand that others serve Him. He should not love in such a way that He asks to be served. (201-115, 1990.3.27)
On what basis will unity be achieved? Since God is omniscient and omnipotent, will it come based on His omniscience? How about knowledge? No. Then what? Power? Power won't work, either. No matter how powerful spring may be, it cannot be other than a season in which flowers bloom. Although summer may be said to be powerful, it cannot be other than a season when the trees grow thick with leaves. In autumn, they will all wither away. Although autumn is said to be the season of harvest, it is unable to overcome winter. In order to overcome these limitations, the seasons need to always serve the sun as their center. In that way, serving the center, the four seasons all triumph; in no other way can they unite.
What does this mean? When God, with the tradition of the Parent, enters a scene where the sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers are fighting and stands at the center and says "Do it this way," will they not unite? Those who say otherwise are out of their minds. (221-190, 1991.10.24)
Modern theology is doomed because it says that since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, He can also love as He pleases. Can I love as I please alone -- without my dear wife? Can I? Those who say that I can are crazy. Then, can God love all by Himself? (209-81, 1990.11.27)
God is all-knowing and all-powerful. What would the world be like if there were another all-knowing and almighty being just like God, and the two came to love each other? They would not balance each other, and would instead run away from each other. Anything that became stuck between them would be unable to go back and forth; it would slip out at the side.
The weak gravitate to the strong, and the strong to the weak and only then will they fit exactly in the center, riveted together. The weak desires the strong, and the strong desires the weak.
Women who like effeminate men may as well die. The same goes for women who want to love effeminate men. When a woman touches another woman's hand, does she feel good? When women hold hands do they feel good? When a woman's soft hand holds another soft hand, how bad that must feel! How bad the feeling of the two soft hands must be! It is worse than dying. So we can say it is like dying. (167-300, 1987.8.20)
Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 6. God is Omnipresent Through His Love .
Book One - True God
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Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 7. Assessing the Existing Views of God . |
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Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon
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Book One - True God
Chapter One - The Original Being of God
Section 7. Assessing the Existing Views of God
7.1. Existing doctrines of God are contradictory
There are various questions raised against religious doctrine. They include the question "Does God really exist?" God is said to be omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, possessing utmost goodness and beauty. He is said to be a being of love, the Lord of judgment, and the Father of humankind. Yet how do we know these descriptions are correct? Why did God create the universe, when He could have just remained quietly by Himself? What is the purpose for which God created the world? There must have been a certain method to the creation. What would that method have been? Why does the phenomenon of the so-called law of the jungle appear in this world created by the God of absolute goodness? It is said that the Fall has led to the world of sin, but why did human beings, created by the perfect God, fall? (122-302, 1982.11.25)
God has many problems. If He is all-knowing and all-powerful, why did He allow Jesus to be nailed to the cross? Is salvation impossible without the cross? How are you going to answer this? If God is all-knowing and all-powerful yet still unable to save Jesus from the cross, such a God is a cruel God whom we should chase away. How can we believe in Him? (136-128, 1985.12.22)
There has been no one who sought to understand, by digging into the root cause of God's grief after the Fall, what the relationship between God and human beings is, and how the supposedly all-knowing and all-powerful God has become so impotent. (133-216, 1984.7.19)
So far, although many theologians and spiritual mediums have known about the existence of Satan, they have not been able to understand why the all-knowing and almighty God could not prevent Satan from opposing Him. This is a problem even throughout the spirit world. Whenever you try to go to God's side, Satan will surely interfere. Satan opposes us from many directions, not just one. But why is God unable to intervene and punish him? This has been a riddle until now. This is one thing that cannot be known even through relating with the spirit world. (133-86, 1984.7.10)
The all-knowing and all-powerful God has been leading humankind throughout the tens of thousands of years of history. Why then is it that history is not heading toward a world where goodness is realized but instead has ended up heading toward a world of despair and hopelessness? This is a serious problem that can lead to people concluding that there is no God. If there were no God, would humankind have the possibility to dream of the ideals we long for, the peaceful world and utopia that we seek, in the future? Throughout our long history, thinking people and numerous philosophers have failed in their pursuit of such a world and left the world in its present state. Considering this fact, we cannot assume that such a world of hope will come about in the future. (130-18, 1983.12.11)
Why does the all-knowing and all-powerful God leave Satan alone? He could just execute him one night by cutting off his head, but why does He leave him be? Why just leave him be? This is the most difficult question in religion. Is it a simple matter? (127-112, 1983.5.5)
Many faithful people think of God as sitting on the throne of glory as an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being with absolute authority. This is why they think that God has nothing to do with such concepts as suffering or sorrow. If Christians ask what kind of being God is, they would say, "God is our Father." They say that all believers who call Him Father should repent and practice faith in the sinful world. God and man are related as parent and child, yet they are said to be in contradiction. (123-154, 1983.1.1)
Today Christianity pronounces, "God is the holy, all-knowing, and omnipotent being, and the Judge who sits on His throne as the righteous Lord of Judgment who judges all people." Do you like judges? If a judge serves for ten years, he will get sick and die; if he does not die, he will at least become seriously ill. If he does not get sick, he is a fake. Judges sometimes pass death sentences, and yet their verdicts cannot be absolutely right.
There are many different ways of seeing the situation, and still their judgments decide whether someone lives or dies. It is a serious matter. Judgment, from the human perspective of universal laws often misses the true mark in light of universal law. For this reason, a righteous person would get sick after being a judge for ten years. (198-285,1990.2.5)
We should ask Him about this. Today's Christians say that God is sitting on the throne as the all-knowing and all-powerful God. They say that, as the Judge, He sends bad people to hell and good people to heaven. But if God were joyful to see this, He would be a crazy God. God dwells in the place of absolute goodness, which transcends good and evil. (194-32, 1989.10.15)
Christian pastors say that God is sitting on the throne as the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being, but would that be interesting? If He sat on a throne for tens of thousands of years doing nothing, would not His buttocks become flabby? If you like sitting, try sitting for just three days. (192-29, 1989.7.2)
So what is God doing? According to Christianity, God is sitting on the throne in eternal glory... But if He is alone, what kind of glory is that? Is God sitting in one spot for eternity and saying, "Oh, I so much like my power, my omniscience, mysterious..."? Really? What use is that? God, too, has always been living centered on love. The logic of this is undeniable. (191-22, 1989.6.24)
If it seems God can do everything as He pleases, why did He allow human beings to become like they are over our long, drawn-out history, said by some to be 850,000 to one and a half million years? This could lead us to conclude that God does not exist; we could not even talk about an all-knowing and all- powerful God. But that would be faulty logic. Why is it that God cannot do as He pleases? Why can't He? It is because He is constrained by circumstances. (162-186, 1987.4.12)
What would happen if man had not fallen? Today, Christianity teaches that God is all-knowing, all-powerful and holy, while we human beings are profane, but they are wrong. Go to the spiritual world and see. They, too, call God "Father" just as people do on earth today.
Who is this father? If the holy God were unable to enter a relationship with people, could we call Him Father? There is a logical contradiction there from the outset. It is completely contradictory. But what I am saying makes sense. (240-191, 1992.12.13)
Why am I saying this? God created human beings as His sons and daughters, but do you think God has seen them dancing and singing while praising God, or not? Because they fell and were expelled, God still has not seen such a day. But Christians do not know this about God. They think that God is in glory and that because He is all-knowing and all-powerful, He is able to do anything. But then, they need to ask why He has not been able to save humankind during all these thousands of years. How would you answer this? It is because human beings committed sin. Since it is they who committed sin, it is they who must liquidate it. (226-304, 1992.2.9)
What is it that God absolutely wants? That is the question. What is it that God wants? What does God absolutely want? Is it ability? Today, Christian churches and Christian theology teach that since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, as the righteous Lord of Judgment He sends good people to the Kingdom of Heaven and evil people to hell. Would you like that kind of judge? Do you like the judges in the secular world? Wouldn't it be nasty of God to have made it so that He sends some people to hell and some to the Kingdom of Heaven? We conclude that this would be unfair. (211-75, 1990.12.29)
Christian theology claims that God the Creator is holy and the things He created are profane. This view, however, contradicts the original principle of the formation of the universe. The traditional, mainstream idea of Christianity is said to be based on love, even loving one's enemy, but how can the profane sinner and the holy God become one? Without establishing a basis for answering this serious question, any conclusion advanced is futile, false. This is why there must be a partner for the absolute God to absolutely obey, serve and have with Him even at the cost of His own life. (204-100, 1990.7.1)
Christian theologians are today saying, "Now is the time to critique faith as a whole. Now is the time to re-examine all previous doctrines of God and views of life." Theological trends have so far upheld the view that created beings cannot stand in an equal position to the holy Creator. Then how is love to be given? Do you think God can share love by Himself? What are those things we call peace and happiness? Can God have these on His own? How would you answer this question? God needs an object partner. (77-317, 1975.4.30)
What motivation led to the birth of this created world? God created heaven and earth because He needed love. Based on this, the doctrine of God in modern Christian theology is in error. They say that the absolute God of power can subsist on power alone. This is why, wherever Christian culture has gone, blood has been spilled. Based on this logic we can foresee that, although Western Civilization has developed in accordance with Christian culture, Christian culture will now have a devastating impact on the world in the Last Days. (209-29, 1990.11.25)
History is heading into the age of science. With the advent of the age of scientific development, in which the fundamental roots of everything are investigated and our basic origins are pursued through studying the origins of species, religion must inevitably keep pace.
In this situation, a religion must appear having a commanding outlook that can explain the reality of the world and creation, and prove God's existence. Since there is as yet no such religion, God should prepare the substance of such a religion because He is a living God. (211-139, 1990.12.30)
If humankind was created by the Absolute Being in such a way as to practice the love of the Absolute Being, it is clear that there was motivation and purpose behind our creation. To reveal that motivation and purpose, a correct view of God, explaining who the Absolute Being is, should first be developed. Establishing the correct understanding of God will reveal His purpose and motivation for the creation, and thereby clarify the reason we must practice absolute love for the sake of peace. (110-253, 1980.11.27)
If the absolute, eternal, unique and unchanging God exists, we must be able to view the origin of true love, true ideals, true peace and true happiness from a new standpoint centering on such a God. From that point of view, we can secure perspectives of God, life, and material things that are aligned with God's own viewpoint, and from there finally be able to welcome a world of new peace and new happiness. (77-260, 1975.4.14)
The root cause of religious conflict lies in the vagueness of the doctrines of the ultimate reality. The absolute being is only one; there cannot be two or three absolute beings. However, the leaders of each religion claim that only their absolute being is the true God and that other gods are not true gods. This results in each religion having its own absolute being, and fosters further contradictory ideas of the existence of many absolute beings. Since this leads to the conclusion that the gods of all religions are nothing but relative gods, the system of absolute values -- that should have been developed through religion based on the doctrine concerning God's love and truth -- still remains relative.
In other words, we conclude that religions to this day have not established an absolute value system to settle the confusion. This inevitably results from the fact that no religion has been able to present the correct explanation about the Absolute Being. (122-302,1982.11.25)
Each religion has its own absolute being as the basis of its doctrine. The absolute being in Judaism is Jehovah, that of Christianity, God, and that of Islam, Allah. Buddhism and Confucianism do not specify an absolute being, but with the basic Confucian virtue, benevolence, being connected to the heavenly mandate, heaven can be taken as the absolute being in Confucianism. Moreover, since Buddhism teaches that all dharmas constantly change while the truth is found in the "suchness" behind dharmas, we can say that "suchness" constitutes the absolute being in Buddhism. (122-300, 1982.11.25)
The doctrine of ultimate reality for the new religion must reveal that the absolute beings of the different religions are not separate gods but one and the same God. The new religion will reveal the fact that all religions constitute a brotherhood established by God, with the theologies of each having embraced one particular aspect of God's attributes. The new religion will complete the picture of God. Moreover, in revealing God's attributes and the motivation, purpose, and laws of creation, the doctrine of ultimate reality must explain that this purpose and these laws govern the movement of everything in the universe, and that human norms are, in the end, in accordance with this universal law -- that is, the heavenly way. (122-303, 1982.11.25)
The greatness of the Divine Principle taught by the Unification Church is that it explains creativity in concrete terms and serves us in our understanding of the process of creation. Next, it provides a substantial explanation of how the Fall came about and then also presents a view of history. It clearly explains how God, rather than abandoning human beings in their fallen state, has been working diligently for their re-creation throughout the course of history. It logically and plainly reveals that through this process of restoration we will arrive at the world He purposed to achieve. (208-296, 1990.11.20)
Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Chapter Two - God and the Work of Creation Section 1. God's Motivation for Creating Is Love. |
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