Book Fourteen - A Life Of True Filial Piety
Chapter Four - Loyalty and Filial Piety Toward God
Section 1. God's Hope

What kind of being is God? He is the Parent of humankind, the King of Kings of humankind, as well as the center of all creation. To become God's son, you would have to become the filial son on the world level, as well as becoming the filial son on the family level.

Assuming that only a person who occupies the position representing the highest qualities of filial piety, loyalty, and holiness can attend God, people who attain only some but not all of these characteristics cannot. God desires to see the person who combines all these qualities together: a filial child, a patriot, and a saint of saints, simultaneously.

God is surely such a being. We are striving to attend Him as our Parent in order to meet our obligations to Him as His children. If there is a group, denomination, or race seeking to go the way of first-rate filial children, the path cannot be an easy one. Filial children of that caliber cannot come forth from the ranks of those who choose the easy way out. They do not emerge out of such backgrounds. From the point of view of the majority, this group of filial children is misguided. Everyone else wants to go east, but they have to go not only west, but also south, and east, and back again to the west... God will make His true filial children walk the path that others will be unable to follow. That kind of religion has to appear. Even through a commonsense approach we are bound to come to this conclusion. (62-33, 1972.9.10)

Historically, although there have been many patriots, filial children, and virtuous women centered on the king, no one centered truly on God's will. Yet we of today are different. People of the past devoted themselves to freedom and liberation based upon earthly standards. They might have become the object partner of God's concern, but they were not able to give Him comfort and joy. As yet there has been no loyal subject, filial child, or virtuous woman of whom God could be proud.

Becoming God's patriots, filial children, and virtuous women is the right path for all people to follow; yet such people have never existed. Although people may have lived in this way for their king or their parents, none has done so for God. As God looked upon these people, how much He must have longed for them to become His patriots, filial children, and virtuous women! (11-77, 1961.1.29)

God wants all people to become filial sons and daughters and patriots; and, from among them, He wants those who maintain the highest standard. God wants people who will only go the way of loyalty and filial piety.

Those who do not take responsibility for their parents' life and assets, and do not bring peace and development to their families, cannot become filial children. If their parents lose all their assets, then they must be willing to offer up everything they have for them.

With the destruction of God's ideal of creation, those standing in the position of having trampled upon life, assets, peace, and the ideal cannot become patriots or filial children. You have to ask yourselves, "When did I ever show concern for God's affairs as if they were mine? When did I ever feel the threat to Father's life? When did I ever agonize and strive to try to bring about peace and unification within Father's family?" You may have attempted to do that, but from God's point of view, instead of being loyal and filial, you have been disloyal and unfilial. (18-341, 1967.10.1)

God wants to elevate patriots and filial children and through them transfer His bitter pain to Satan. He cannot do that unconditionally, however. Thus, after raising up patriots and filial children, He transfers that bitter pain to Satan by making them walk the historical path of suffering as individuals. (13-128, 1963.12.20)

Finding a filial son who can liberate God and also liberate love itself is important. God Himself would also like to be in that position and say, "I wish I could be a filial child once." True Parents also are saying, "I wish I could be a filial child once." How wonderful it would be if there was such a road for God and True Parents to fulfill filial piety together in front of love.

God stands in the position of being the Father who has truly perfected love, and the son fulfills his filial duty based on God's love and the fundamental love of the universe, thus uniting with the Father. How can God pave the way of filial piety of a higher dimension in front of this love? If this had been done, then the Fall would never have happened for all eternity.

This is the realm of the greatest of all liberation. This realm goes beyond the realm of the Principle. It is the original world of true love. When we think about this, then you must not think it is the end when you realize the ideal of the family, the Kingdom of God on Earth, and the Kingdom of God in Heaven. There are still some traces stained by Satan's blood in the internal root, which have to be removed.

Tens of millions of years of history have passed, and even if several times, ten times, or even more than a hundred times that time passes, do you think it is possible to forget the world of the Fall? You should ponder the thought that God's highest hope is to forget all this, to have you and me join together, to have the sons and daughters join together, and become filial sons and daughters who can comfort God who takes the trouble to love us. (300-33, 1999.2.21)

When God held out His hands to bless Adam and Eve, what kind of hope did He have for them as their Father? He would most likely have said, "Embrace the great cosmos that I have created and become patriots attending me as the King." God had this kind of hope.

Accordingly, Adam and Eve should have established the principle of being patriots amongst all the creation and should have lived their lives centering on this tradition for the whole of eternity. If Adam and Eve had become God's truly filial son and daughter and had served and attended Him as their True Father, then the loyalty and filial piety they showed to God would have become the tradition. The history of the world would have continued down until now with the same tradition of unified heart amongst God and Adam and Eve. Had that been the case, evil would not have taken over. If evil could dominate the world of God's heart, then the providence of restoration and salvation would be impossible. (9-105, 1960.4.24)

What God had hoped from His children, Adam and Eve, was to see them become filial children, patriots, saints, and a divine son and daughter when they grew up. God hopes that you will do the same, but have you ever thought that you must become a filial child in your family, a patriot in your nation, a saint in the world, or a divine child in heaven and earth?

Viewed historically, all the saints and great religious leaders have taught people to become filial children, patriots, saints, and divine children. Religions that do not teach this will not endure for long. In any case, that is the predestined course that humankind is following.

Destiny is to do with such things as the relationship between the parents and the children. You cannot change that destiny. There are some things in your fortune that you can change, but you cannot change those aspects of destiny.

If you do not understand these things, you will not be able to fulfill the role of true parents in your families. As true parents, you should teach your children how to become filial children, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. You have to teach them to fulfill all these with you and beyond that in front of God. (287-23, 1997.8.10)

The first couple of God's ideal should have returned glory to Him; yet through the Fall they brought sorrow instead of glory. This was not just the responsibility of Adam and Eve; it was also due to the archangel's disloyalty. The archangel should first have fulfilled his duty of loyalty and filial piety toward God. The Fall came about because he failed to do so. Consequently, the providence of restoration is to establish loyalty, filial piety, and virtue.

Because God installed loyalty, filial piety, and virtue in the center of our minds, all religions and paths of faith are destined to uphold them. All the ascetics have striven to achieve this, and even Jesus sought to have a family so as to establish the way of loyalty, filial piety, and virtue.

God founded the nation of Israel for the sake of establishing such a family. Jesus should first have established the way of loyalty, filial piety, and virtue. The high priest should then have established loyalty, filial piety, and virtue, and then Satan would have been subjugated. Our Blessed Families should not be outdone by others in exemplifying loyalty, filial piety, and virtue. All these qualities begin at home. The Blessing signifies inheriting the hope of the Father.

Until now there have been families that demonstrated loyalty and filial piety before God, but not virtue. He cannot establish virtue before we usher in God's Day. Moreover, as long as the condition for Satan to invade remains, virtue will not be established (14-209, 1964.11.4)

To stand upright before God, just being loyal to one's country, such as Korea, will not do. By doing that, you cannot fully become God's sons and daughter. The Apostle Paul understood this point. Anyone can love their own race. Everyone can love their own countries, but you have to love people from other countries, too. This is because God does not only love Korea. You should understand that God loves everyone equally.

In order to understand God's heart, we ought to go in search of a country that has been struck by adversity and which is facing difficult circumstances, and espouse its cause. This must be done. Even from a principled viewpoint, we are required to establish the way of loyalty and filial piety in at least three countries.

Now in Korea when you determine to attend me, and fulfill your duty of loyalty and filial piety to Heaven, you should not think that this loyalty and filial piety that you are practicing is for you alone. You should pray to God, "Father, I am offering my loyalty and filial piety first for this race, first for the world, first for heaven and earth. Please let it remain as belonging to heaven, and belonging to earth."

Then even after your death your loyalty and filial piety will remain as that which belongs to heaven and to earth. Humankind will pass this tradition down as that which belongs to earth. That is how it is. (155-235, 1965.10.31)

The time for us to become God's filial children will not always be there. It will not exist in the spirit world after our death. In our earthly lifetime -- which, when viewed against the backdrop of eternity, is as brief as the tick of a clock -- we must establish the condition of having loved God and of having fulfilled our filial duty to Him.

Furthermore, we have to confirm our status as the children whom God absolutely needs, and we must accomplish this within our lifetime on earth. (26-114, 1969.10.19)

We are bound together by the destiny resulting from the unfolding history of God's providence, in which He has been pursuing His long-cherished goal of dissolving the anguish He has accumulated over six millennia. Accordingly, even though we have different surnames, we should live with greater love than blood brothers and sisters.

Although you are attending parents who are not your natural parents, you are the people that seek to attend the Parents, centering on God, even more sincerely than you would your natural parents. On top of that, despite having our own country, we are the people that seek to live for the sake of God's nation with loyalty, filial piety, and virtue. (47-81, 1971.8.19)

Now the final time has come. Parents must find "my country." To do that, all Blessed Families are to stand in a circle horizontally around Father and Mother and represent them by progressively fulfilling the duties of filial children, patriots, saints, and divine children. You will thereupon occupy those positions and proceed to observe the laws of the palace and uphold the laws of God's nation. You should understand that the Heavenly Constitution actually begins through us. This is what "my country" means. (197-87, 1990.1.7)

The day that the Korean people understand God's heart is the day that they will dominate Heaven and earth. Why is this so? Even though there are many children, and many citizens, there is only one greatest filial and loyal child. If it is natural even for parents in the fallen world to pay more attention to one of their children who is being victimized, do you not think it would be even more so for God?

God is not looking for any one particular race of people. He is looking for that filial son and daughter that He can love completely. He wants to be proud of them in front of all humankind. God moved the world to recover one people and set up Israel to recover one people. He then sorted out that one people to recover one family, and sorted out that one family to recover one person.

Recovering this one person is equivalent to recovering the world, and this person must be the filial child with the heart to dissolve all God's historical anguish. Only the emergence of such a truly filial son renders it possible for evil people to atone for their sins. (10-239, 1960.10.16)

In the Last Days, above all we must become the people who understand God's heart. Humankind is imbued with the three key elements of intellect, emotion, and will, and it remains for us to attain heavenly emotion on the foundation of intellect and will. God's love flows through our hearts, and because there is a heavenly providence concerning the Korean people, our hearts must beat more strongly with ardor, filial piety, and loyalty for Heaven than those of any other race. (4-250, 1958.6.22)

If you want to become Heaven's loyal subject, you must take revenge upon God's enemy. If you want to become a filial child, you cannot succeed as long as your parents' enemies remain, so you must subjugate and replace the sinful dominion with God's dominion. It is the same thing for a virtuous woman. Until the day you make the enemy account for his sins, if you are not prepared to go forth to fight at the risk of your eternal life, you will not be able to surmount the heartbreaking mountain of the Fall. It is only when you cross over this peak that for the first time God will be able to set His troubled mind at rest and say to you, "My loyal, filial, and virtuous child whom I have long awaited for six thousand years!" He will raise both hands to bless you. God cannot enjoy His Sabbath until such a standard of heart has been established. (9-122, 1960.4.24)

God is the First Parent among parents, the First King among kings, the One who alone can rule over all Heaven and earth, and the First Ancestor capable of formulating His ideal. Our purpose in the Unification Church is to attend Him as His sons and daughters who are capable of offering Him filial piety, loyalty, and saintliness and, for the first time, stand before Him and inherit His vast work of creation without shame or accusation. (84-205, 1976.2.29)