14. A Life of True Filial Piety (PDF File)

Chapter One - The Meaning of Loyalty and Filial Piety

Section 1. Loyalty and Filial Piety Are the Central Thought of Koreans

People of filial piety will think of their parents first when something good happens in their lives. In the fallen world people think of their spouse first when they see something good. However, unless you buy something precious for your parents first, you cannot buy something for your spouse.

In the same way, a man should first buy clothes for his parents, and then for his wife and children, before buying clothes for himself. He should attend and serve his parents when they eat. Even in the satanic world, it was the custom in Korea for people to attend their parents for a three-year period of mourning after their death. In the old days, was it not Korean etiquette for a devoted son to be in mourning for his deceased parents by building a mud hut next to their grave and living there for three years in order to fulfill his filial duty? Therefore, in Korea, if people did not attend their parents with devotion for at least three years, then when they went to the spirit world, they would not be able to say that they are descendants of Korea.

We must surpass this standard. Our Blessed Families must enlarge themselves with good points from each other, and live their lives serving and caring for their parents. (26-299, 1969.11.10)

Koreans are a noble people who have honored loyalty and filial piety from time immemorial. I remember being invited to attend Armed Forces Day at Yeoido Plaza and feeling great satisfaction watching our dignified young soldiers. I was truly impressed as those brave soldiers marched past the reviewing stand and shouted the motto "Loyalty and Filial Piety!" (Choong Hyo!) I thought that, for God's chosen race, it was a motto that seemed very much like a revelation. I don't think there are any other armed forces in the world with a motto like this.

As Koreans are still a people practicing loyalty and filial piety toward God, the spirit of loyalty and filial piety has become the central thought of the nation. The classic stories of Shim Chung's filial piety to her father, Chun-hyang's fidelity to her husband, Jeong Mong-ju's loyalty to his king, and Yu Kwan-soon's spirit of patriotic martyrdom exemplify Korean faithfulness to the principles of loyalty and filial piety to a degree unparalleled in history. Such a spirit of loyalty, filial piety, and the unchanging fidelity that is like pine and bamboo constitute the central thought and spirit for the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth that will be established in the future. As the Kingdom of Heaven is God's nation, you must be forever loyal to that nation, and, as God is the Father of all humankind, you must show eternal filial piety to Him. When God tested the many peoples of the world, He could not find a people of virtue and fidelity with a spirit of loyalty and filial piety as high as the Koreans. Therefore, He chose Korea and is intently watching the nation. (100-252, 1978.10.19)

Children of filial piety should not leave their parents, even if a century or a millennium should pass. You should say, "I want us to be together!" If you are not people who move the hearts of your parents so that they say, "If possible, we would like to stay with you forever!" then you are not children of filial piety. Parental love is such that no matter how bad the children are, the parents think of being with them. This is why it is called true love. What about impious children? They dislike being with their parents. We find stories of such people in the Bible, do we not? Some did not want to be with their own brothers. They wanted to do and live as they pleased. What kind of seed is this? It is the seed of the unfilial. (147-292, 1986.10.1)

Children of filial piety will forget their own situation and think first of their parents. They'll always live for their parents with a tearful heart. Loyal patriots are those who will forget about their personal circumstances in times of crisis, and take the path of loyalty, worrying first about the king's difficulties. Forgetting ourselves and sacrificing our own interests links us to the zenith of loyalty and filial piety. (37-33, 1970.12.22)

In a family, be it man or woman, brother or sister, everybody should want to become devoted sons or daughters. Centered on love, they are to become one in heart. To unify the family, children of filial piety are needed. The same is true for the nation. Centering on the father and mother of the nation, the king and queen, and also their sons and daughters, there must be reciprocal relationships between spouses and siblings in every direction, namely up and down, left and right, and front and back. If there is no front and back, then parents and children cannot establish a relationship. That is why it is necessary to have up and down, left and right, and front and back. Siblings are absolutely needed. Marriages are woven together from the meetings of siblings. (286-268, 1997.8.13)

People talk about the way of loyalty and filial piety, but do not really understand the meaning. Children must establish the parents as the center of the family in the same position as God; then, becoming one in mind and body in front of the unchanging love that the parents have for their children, they always receive one hundred percent through their heart and body, and adapt to them one hundred percent. What do we call sons and daughters who take such a position? We call them children of filial piety. When people speak of the way of loyalty and filial piety, they do not comprehend its true path. (101-13, 1978.10.28)

What do parents hope for? There is no unified root of the lineage with just a mother and a father. They need to have children in order for the lineage to continue. When sons and daughters love their parents, then the unconnected lineages of the parents become unified through the child. The perfection of parents comes about through having children. The father and mother become perfect through sons and daughters practicing filial piety.

It is a joy to have parents to whom you can devote yourselves. We represent our parents' life, love and lineage. Their love has been duplicated through us. It has become the nucleus; your love, life, and lineage have become its embodiment.

Bringing about the perfection of your parents can, therefore, bring about your perfection. When we mature and marry, we must become one as our mother and father have, and in this way both sides achieve perfection. (223-174, 1991.11.10)

With what kind of environment does the family want to be linked? A nation. The family connects directly to the nation. Where must the nation go? To the world. Where must the world go? The world -- God's Kingdom on earth -- will link to His kingdom in heaven. A nation's loyal patriots are its children of filial piety. Who are the loyal patriots on the world level? The world's saints are its children of filial piety. Who is a holy child of heaven and earth? Such a person is a devoted child of heaven and earth. Apart from this context, the concepts of a filial child or son have no value. (280-107, 1996.11.11) 

Section 2. Saints and Divine Sons and Daughters of Perfect Loyalty and Filial Piety

The ideology of loyalty and filial piety in Korea is truly great. Then does this mean that Koreans must be loyal only to Korea? That's the question. Should the Japanese be loyal only to their emperor? Should the Germans be loyal only to their president? Or can we say that Americans have fulfilled their duty of loyalty when they are loyal only to the president of the United States? No, we cannot say this.

If you ask Koreans, "Do you want to become saints or only become loyal patriots?" they might answer, "Well, the way of loyalty and filial piety is at the center of Korean thought, so I am not sure about being a saint. I will just become a loyal patriot." This would be wrong.

Who is a loyal patriot? It is someone who brings national blessings to all the people of the nation. A son or daughter of filial piety is someone who brings blessings only to the family. You should know this. Of course the path of loyalty is important for everyone, but the path of the saint still remains, and so, if there's a people determined to go the path of the saint, they will be able to bring global blessings to humankind. (101-16, 1978.10.28)

What is the difference between patriots and saints? Loyal patriots are always ready to sacrifice their lives for their nation, and they live and invest themselves for the public good. Saints, however, transcend their race and nation, and live for all humankind. Going beyond that, they live for God who dwells in the public domain of the cosmos. More than just following the way of filial piety in the family or loyalty to the nation, saints are determined to fulfill the way of loyalty and filial piety in front of all humankind. They are willing to abandon their position as loyal patriots and forget their country and king. Even if the king grabs their hands and pleads with them, saying, "Our country will be brought to ruin if you go," saints won't concern themselves with their king's situation. After they fulfill the way of the saint in the world, they will be recognized by heaven as having done something far greater than just being a loyal patriot to their king. (101-150, 1978.10.29)

Among patriots there are numerous sons and daughters of filial piety. However, if you are a patriot, then you automatically receive the rank of being a filial child, even if you are unable to practice that role in front of your parents. In the same way, when you are able to become holy sons and daughters, you will be able to govern the saints. If you were unable to be a devoted child, a patriot or a saint, but gained the position of holy child, you will encompass everything below that.

It is not easy, however, to become a holy child. To become such a person, you must surmount all hardships in order to become the leading patriot among all patriots. As a devoted child, then as a patriot, and all the way up to sainthood, you have to overcome all kinds of difficulties. On the foundation that has the autonomous power to surmount an even higher level, the path of the holy child is achieved. Those who have not passed through each stage of such a course must receive global persecution within a short time. (196-125, 1989.12.31)

People absolutely need to fulfill the duties of devoted children, loyal patriots, saints, and holy children. Due to the Fall, saints are needed; the way of holy sons and daughters is waiting to be perfected.

The realm of reciprocal relationships with God can connect from heaven to the world and to the family beginning with the individual. You must, therefore, fulfill all these duties while still on earth. It constitutes the road to perfection. Then, for the nation, the ruler should embody the essence of the father and mother. People would want to engraft to that standard and grow. You cannot stand in front of your nation without establishing your family, but now even the family is coming to ruin in front of the nation, Satan's nation. (285-91, 1997.4.21)

The way of children of filial piety is to love the family that channels love's life force. The way of loyal patriots is to give love based on the life force of the nation. The way of saints is to connect love to the life force of the world. In this light, the human moral concepts which have been taught in the past become clear. You have to know that this is the right way. It is the way of saints to love the world. This has set the standard of human moral education, and now you understand the correctness of such education. (111-173, 1981.2.15)

In the lives of people centering on love, the devoted child forms the innermost circle, the loyal patriot is the next bigger circle, and the circles get bigger and bigger. They start off small and become larger and larger. The circle of the saint is larger and the circle of the holy child is even bigger than that. That is why the central point of the circle is the devoted child. Children of filial piety are the first stage. The stages of loyal patriots, saints, and holy children follow. They constitute a total of four stages.

The center of these four is the vertical. They are centered on the vertical and the central point of all four circles is one, not two. The center of love is only one. That is why children who are devoted to their parents will not go to hell. People who are loyal to their nation will not go to hell. Even if they do not believe in the Messiah, everything will naturally be solved when they pass on. That is why saints will not go to hell.

I am saying that people who are not filial toward their parents cannot become loyal patriots. What happens with someone who wants to be filial, but has no parents? They would say, "I really want to be a devoted child, but I don't have parents. What should I do?" They have a serious problem. They can plead, "Heavenly Father, please give me parents!" but of course that cannot happen, because the laws of the universe do not work that way. Their parents may have died, or something else might have happened.

Even though you may wish to become a devoted child, if you cannot, then what should you do? You must become a loyal patriot or saint. The position of a saint is higher than that of a devoted child or loyal patriot. (197-44, 1990.01.07)

Devoted children are people who love their parents and children. The first page is love, the process is love, and the final page is love. The family cannot become the core. Above the family there must be a nation, and its core is the way of the loyal patriot. What does that mean? It means loving your nation. Loyal patriots, saints, and holy sons and daughters are the core; but what kind of core are they all based on? Humankind has not known that the core, the essence, is love; it has never been explained clearly. All of this means that the stable point upon which we can settle in these Last Days and in the future is nothing other than love.

Owing to this, spouses must love each other in order to become children of filial piety. You can become loyal patriots after becoming people of filial piety, and you can become saints after becoming loyal patriots, and after you have become saints, you can become holy sons and daughters.

After becoming holy sons and daughters, you have all the rights of inheritance, and after you become God's sons and daughters, He becomes yours, too. Then everything that He owns becomes yours, and all the things that He can later create for a future filled with hope will become yours. You have to stand in the position of being holy sons and daughters for all things of the past, present, and future to be given to you. When you stand in this position, nothing in creation will protest. You can then finally speak about the conclusion regarding a unified heaven and earth. (206-175, 1990.10.7)

When we consider the way we have to walk in our life, what is the main point of the way -- the way of filial children, the way of loyal patriots, the way of saints, and the way of holy children? They all want to live together forever. They want to live together as the upper level and lower level. Would they not become people who long to live together front and back, left and right, day and night, throughout their lives? This is a reasonable conclusion. (148-258, 1986.10.11)

In front of God what must you long to become? First, you must become devoted children. Second, you must become loyal subjects and patriots. Is there anyone above loyal subjects and patriots? Saints are higher. Devoted children in the family are absolutely loyal to their parents. Patriots are absolutely loyal to their nation. Then, what kind of people are saints? They are people like Jesus, Buddha and Confucius -- people who assert God's existence, not people who assert themselves. They lead God-centered lives and do not cause any harm, but instead try to benefit humankind. Moreover, they are not nationalists, but rather globalists. (54-214, 1972.3.24) 

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