16.
True Families and the Family Pledge16.
True Families and the Family Pledge
Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family, patriots in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth, by centering on true love.
"Our family... attending God and True Parents... by centering on true love." You must attend God and True Parents. However, because Eve fell, God and True Parents were driven out of Adam's family. You must attend God and True Parents. God is the vertical Parent and perfected Adam and Eve are the horizontal parents.
On the foundation of these two parents having become one, you achieve unity and are connected to God and to heaven. For this reason, nothing can be accomplished unless you attend God and True Parents. So, through becoming one with God and True Parents, you can create a family representing heaven and earth. That family holds a higher position than that held by Adam and Eve before the Fall. (260-189, 1994.5.8)
Adam's position is the pinnacle position, representing the past and the present of all humankind. He is at the zenith of all the human ancestors going back millions of years. In the beginning, there was only one. Adam and Eve should have married at that zenith, settling as the central family on earth, a family that was to expand out into the world. In that position, they should have become filial sons and daughters, patriots and saints in the heavenly nation, and fulfilled the way of divine sons and daughters in that nation. But Adam could not accomplish this. (264-187, 1994.10.9)
What is pledge number two? "Our family... pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family, patriots in our nation, ...by centering on true love," and so on. What does this mean? Adam and Eve were to be the central family and the representative family in heaven and on earth. There is only one representative family. The center is one. That is the seed. Adam and Eve were to be the seed of the blessed, married families. All the seeds of that family are equal. Your families should be the same. (263-60, 1994.8.16)
By going the path of upholding true love absolutely, Adam and Eve were to have passed smoothly and directly from the family to the nation, the world, and to heaven. The ideological viewpoints from history up to the present day do not include such an understanding. Everything has followed a meandering path upward. Centering on eternally unbreakable love, you must go forward in accordance with the ideal of the expansion of a unified family. The family model does not change. It is the representative and central family. (283-75, 1997.4.8)
If Adam's family had not fallen, but had reached perfection, it would have been the representative family in the history of heaven and earth. It would have been the representative and central family. As in the second pledge of the Family Pledge, Adam's family should have been both the central family and representative family at the same time. Adam and Eve were to go up in front of God at the zenith, and the three were to become one. (269-80, 1995.4.8)
Adam and Eve are the center of all of heaven and earth. They are the family standing on behalf of all humankind. It all develops from this point. A nation's president has a family. The president of the world has a family. God also has a family. It is all the same; only one standard will apply if this expands through the eight stages because its domain is the whole world. It will grow and become one axis. It can be one centering on the axis which is the family. Because the individual represents this family axis, each person stands in a unique position in the world. That is why everyone wants to become a prince or princess.
Our aspiration is to capture God, and through our becoming God's highest partners as the best men and women on earth, God and everything that he created simultaneously become ours. Through love, everything is brought into oneness and the right of possession is determined. These are amazing words. (273-282, 1995.10.29)
You need to fulfill the paths of filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters based on love. Your family represents Adam and Eve. It is the pinnacle family. If you are blessed in marriage at the highest point, you can then settle down on earth. Once you settle down centering on the love of heaven, you become a central family. That family would be one of divine sons and daughters, saints, patriots, and filial sons and daughters. That family would be the seed that would eternally multiply as fruit. By becoming people who base their lives on this principle over thousands of generations to come, you will surely become the citizens of the Kingdom of God. (263-148, 1994.8.21)
From the starting point of Adam and Eve's family, a tribe is to grow up around them. The family is the main point. It is the nucleus. The nucleus cannot move. Centered on such a family, we must have the place that is able to liberate the tribes, peoples, nations, world, universe, and God. Your family must be able to dwell together with God.
If your family has the family values that allow God to live together with your family and that allow Him to live with the tribes, nations, world, heaven, and earth, only then is your family fully qualified to enter heaven. Adam's family is the representative family of the world's families. It is to reach the position of being the representative family of all the world's families even though it will take time to realize this in the future. Following the principle of restoration through indemnity, today we stand in the position of representing the world. (263-204, 1994.10.4)
Adam's family was the representative family. As God exists at the very pinnacle, his family should have reached the pinnacle as well. They were to reach the highest position of unity as plus and minus, with God at the center. His family was to be the representative family. With this connection made, it would have expanded throughout the generations of the future.
The families, tribes, peoples, nations, world, and the cosmos -- heaven and earth -- are to be planted in this central area and connected to this center. They are representative families, but they should be planted on the earth. For this reason, they become central families on the horizontal plane. There are eight stages. The family is the center of the entire universe. If this kind of seed is planted, from there a family, tribe, people, nation, and the world can grow. All of these have the same value as the seed. (261-317, 1994.7.24)
In Adam's family, the seed blessed by Heaven that was given to Adam and Eve is the seed of marriage. The seed of marriage being thus, when people have families as families of the world, whether that seed is of Adam's family, or whether it is the seed of thousands of generations of descendants, these descendants are equal as they are the fruits that have been harvested from that seed. The seeds cannot be different in quality. If the seeds of a pine tree are spread around the world, from those millions of pine trees billions of seeds will come. Each of those has the same value as the one seed, and they must be able to grow into pine trees. (273-282, 1995.10.29)
Adam's family stands in a representative and central position. For that reason, you must have the concept that your couple is the representative family of all of the world's people, and the central family of the world. That is the way the sons and daughters of God should be, isn't it? Because you are families that will enter the heavenly kingdom, you must be like that. Therefore, Blessed Families must know the Family Pledge in order to enter Adam's family. (265-253, 1994.11.23)
The blessing is the criterion that connects people to God's love that is original and untainted by the Fall. Therefore, Blessed Families must have the same value as Adam and Eve's family that has not fallen. They have to achieve this in order to become the same seed. When a couple has three children, God would treat each one of them equally. No matter how families expand, each one has the same value as Adam's family. They should all have the value of the same seed. (263-196, 1994.10.4)
Blessed families are families representing the world both in name and in reality. Therefore, it is absolutely true that as the families representing the world, the Blessed Families must without fail become families who represent God, who have nothing to be ashamed of before the lineage of True Parents and before the lineages of the many people in the tribes, peoples, and nations. This is the meaning of Blessed Families being representative and central families. Therefore, Adam and Eve's family and our families have the same value. That is the conclusion. Therefore, you cannot live a certain way in one place and a different way somewhere else. (263-204, 1994.10.4)
Pledge number two mentions a representative family. What is a representative family? It has only two people, Adam and Eve. There are God and just two people, Adam and Eve. It is the best position in heaven and on earth and a representative position. You are in the position of being a representative, and by getting married you settle down on the earth. Why? It is because you must multiply by having sons and daughters.
The representative family is the central family. A family consists of two people: not two men, nor two women; it is a man and a woman as a couple. A unified man and woman standing in front of God in a representative position are the same as Adam and Eve. Therefore, if Adam's family is a seed, then our families are also seeds. Pine tree seeds have the same everlasting value wherever they go. They carry the same value, equal value. In other words, wherever you plant the seed, a pine tree will grow. Therefore, the marriage ceremonies I am holding for you these days are on the global level. (273-48, 1995.10.21)
If you are of the Kim clan in Korea, you are not blessed as the son or daughter of the Kim clan. You are blessed in the same position as Adam and Eve who were direct descendants of God prior to the Fall. What does that mean? It means that centering on that family, the family represents all families. Adam's family represents all families. Tribes and clans are to connect to one point, Adam's family, and grow into the world.
Merging these into one, this will develop into a sphere and circle centering on that one point. In the same way, as you have received the position of the original seed like Adam who is the central person, you must keep the same value for each of the tribes, peoples, nations, and world that Adam wanted to establish even though they are on different levels. (263-196, 1994.10.4)
The family of True Parents is the seed. If it is the perfect seed, even if there are billions of families that have multiplied from that seed, they have the same value. They are equal. Since the families in which God can settle will receive recognition of having the same value even after thousands, ten thousands, or even hundred millions of generations pass, those seeds are equal. That is why our families are representative families. Our families represent Korea.
Pledge number two of the Family Pledge reads, "Our family... pledges to represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents... by centering on true love." The representative family stands at the pinnacle. And then it becomes a central family. When this family is connected horizontally and vertically, it occupies the position that connects the vertical and the horizontal. Your families are representative and central families. When your family becomes such a family, the entire universe can be yours. (282-319, 1997.4.7)
You must think about the fact that your families are to "represent and become central to heaven and earth." You should not think that your Blessed Family is just one family among the five billion people of the human race. The opposite is the case. Your family represents all five billion of humankind. Because what started from two, Adam and Eve, was lost, men and women are to be recommended as representative families from throughout the world and selected from the whole one by one and joined together in marriage.
If we push down on a representative family that is up on the pinnacle above the earth, it becomes a central family. Therefore, it means that through becoming a central family, all the sorrowful pain of filial sons and daughters in the family, of patriots in the nation, of saints in the world, of divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth, and of Jesus, has been resolved. I have achieved precisely that and now am bequeathing it to you. So, all you have to do is follow me and take charge of these matters. (267-148, 1995.1.4)
When you get married, you must not think that you are getting married simply as one man and one woman. You must think of your family as representing all of humankind. Couples who are tied through true love are tied together as representatives of all humanity. This means they are in the same position as Adam and Eve. There are eight stages. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight; eight stages. Adam and Eve are at the pinnacle. All these eight stages are developing through inheriting the tradition of Adam and Eve. This is kingship. (266-145, 1994.12.22)
Adam and Eve's family is the central and representative family of heaven and earth. There is only one representative family. And there is only one central family. That is the seed, the seed of the family of Adam and Eve that is blessed in marriage. The seeds of such families are all equal. Your families must also be the same. (263-60, 1994.8.16)
As restored families, do the Blessed Families have the same value as Adam's family or are they different? If you go home, your family home is your palace. It is the palace of your tribe, the palace of your nation, the palace of the world, and the palace of heaven and earth. If you ask any man, he will say he wants to be a king, and if you ask any woman she will say she wants to be a queen. Isn't that right? What on earth does that mean? Originally, Adam and Eve were to be king and queen.
They were to represent the world and the universe, not only families. This means they were to have been king and queen. That means the seed. You are the fruits. Fruits come from the same seed.
They have the same value. The following is in the same context. Do you think any man and woman we bring together in marriage can become like Adam and Eve who have not fallen and become the base of the kingdom in the family, in the nation, and in the heavenly kingdom in heaven and on earth? If those who have been blessed by True Parents in the Unification Church do not have such value equally, they will be struck by lightning. (261-317, 1994.7.24)
Families that have centered themselves on True Parents can enter into the realm of God's direct lineage, centering on God's love. Blessed families are the historical fruits of the True Parents in this world. Blessed families are on the world level. They received the blessing on the global plane. There are numerous nations, tribes, families, and individuals under them. The order has been reversed. Blessed families represent these levels. Therefore, if Adam's family realizes a unified world through perfecting a family on the worldwide level, the value that your family attains is the same. That is the seed. It is the world- level seed. (263-206, 1994.10.4)
As I have become a filial son in God's family, a patriot in the nation, a saint in the world, and a divine son in heaven and earth, you must inherit this tradition from me. Otherwise, you cannot become central and representative families. The representative Adam's family is the center of all families and the center of heaven and earth. That center is one. The representative is the zenith, and the center is on the perpendicular. If we push down on the eight stages, the families, tribes, peoples, and so on, they will form a circle. (263-60, 1994.8.16)
Who is the direct ancestor of the realm of the royal family? He is the person who is centered on the foundation of true life and true lineage based on original love and on true love, as God's direct son who has not fallen. That person is the seed. The root emerging from the seed is the main root. It will grow into the main trunk, branches, and buds. As it grows vertically it will also grow outwards in proportion. This will join the families and the tribes, and also the peoples, the nations, and the world together.
The branches that grow out of the true root, true trunk, and true buds are also branches of true love. Therefore, the fruits that these branches bear have the same value as Adam's original family.
When the original seed that can become the original root, original trunk, and original bud comes out as the fruit, if that fruit -- a couple that centers on a family -- is planted, it can grow into a new central root, central trunk, and central bud of the clan, based on the clan. That is why the fruit has the same value as the original. (263-194, 1994.10.4)
Our Unification Church members should think, as Adam and Eve did, "I stand here on behalf of heaven and earth." You should think that your families represent all the nations and the world horizontally, at the same time as you represent the universe. Your families are representatives, vertically, and representative central families, horizontally. They are the highest representative families. They are also the center of the horizontal world on earth. With such a heart, you can enter the heavenly kingdom and live as members of the royal family attending God and the king. You should know that place is the Kingdom of God in heaven. (261-317, 1994.7.24)
You should become the representative and central families attending God and True Parents. Your family must determine to fulfill the way of filial sons and daughters in the family, patriots and virtuous women in the nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth, and everything Heaven desires. That means that we should determine to become those qualified as the people and the family members of the heavenly kingdom in the world and in heaven and earth through educating our children and through educating the people in our nation. (260-189, 1994.5.8)
From ancient times, regardless of the time and place in which they have lived, all people have wanted to become a central person. This is human nature. We all know that everyone has that common desire.
Then how is it that people have such a desire? It is not something one acquires after birth. Everyone has it from the outset; we are born like this, and this is the only way we can be. That desire is connected to humankind through the historical nature of the original standard. As no one can avoid that, everyone without exception wants to be the best. (226-7, 1992.2.1)
What kind of people are filial sons and daughters in the family? Filial sons and daughters are those who want to love their parents no matter how much they sacrifice their minds and bodies for them and then still love them even beyond that. What is a patriot? It is someone who sacrifices himself for the nation again and again without caring about his own well being, and who invests and forgets about how much he has invested for the nation.
Such a person is a genuine patriot. If there is a man who invests ten times for his nation and forgets about his investment and a man who invests eleven times and forgets about his investment, the one who has invested and forgotten eleven times is in the subject position. Following this principle, everything can be settled in peace. Without love and without the path of living for the sake of others, there is no way to achieve this. (255-190, 1994.3.10)
The family needs filial sons and daughters. A son of filial piety is one who is absolutely one with his parents. A nation's patriots must become absolutely one with the central person of that nation. This is the reality of the universe. There are saints in the world, and people want to become absolutely one with them. Beyond that, throughout heaven and earth people want to become absolutely one with God, who is the center. (262-128, 1994.7.23)
Filial piety wants to follow filial sons and daughters. Although those devoted sons and daughters become old, they follow their heart for their parents, and even their descendants in the future and all their brothers and sisters want to entrust matters to them. We will determine to establish families and a world that move toward God and that God wants. Who will do it? Each of us! Even if it cannot be achieved, if we know God as a God of heart who can entrust us with things to do and support us, and if we have conviction, we cannot come to ruin. (263-170, 1994.8.23)
Because God wants his partner in love to be better than Himself, that partner can go up to the position where he can tell God what to do. If a devoted son asks his mother and father to come, will they go to the son or not? They will. It is the path of devoted filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters to have to do new things, whatever they may be. (263-183, 1994.8.23)
As it says in the second pledge, you should be filial sons and daughters in your family and patriots -- that is, loyal citizens -- in the nation. The filial sons and daughters are not the ones in the satanic world on earth. They are the ones who have appeared for the first time, having never existed in history.
God is in grief and sorrow over the loss of Adam's family. That is why God has struggled to find the True Parents. Therefore, you must understand how precious True Parents are. (263-204, 1994.8.21)
Those who live investing their entire life for their parents and then forget what they have invested are called true filial sons and daughters. A true filial son or daughter is the truest among them all.
It is the same in nations; if someone aspires to become a loyal subject or patriot in front of the nation's ruler, he can be called a true patriot when he invests, invests again, even invests his very life, and then forgets what he has invested. Thus, a divine son or daughter is the one who can invest and invest his or her life again for the world, and those who invest even more and still want to invest more are called the most divine of all divine sons and daughters. That is how it is. (263-275, 1994.10.15)
Will a wife feel happy or unhappy if her husband is absolutely obedient in front of his wife's love? She will be absolutely happy. If the wife is also like that, her husband will be absolutely happy. Those who are absolutely obedient in front of the love of their parents are filial sons and daughters. Those who have the same heart for the sake of the nation are known as patriots.
Those who have the same heart for the world are known as saints, and those who can have the same heart for heaven and earth are divine sons and daughters! Amen. All of this is our textbook, material for our education! Ah... la, la, la, even your tongue dances, the flesh and skin of your stomach, and your stomach too, all dance saying, "A-men"! "Men" means "people." When you say "Amen!" think that it means "Ah! Amazing people." Say "Amen" thinking about this meaning. Do you understand? (264-140, 1994.10.9)
No matter how difficult, you should think it is proper and natural to smooth out the path and go the way of filial sons and daughters, of patriots, of saints, and divine sons and daughters. You need the conviction to do so. You must have the mind to go the way of filial piety even if you sacrifice yourself for your parents and, in the family, even if you sacrifice not only yourself but your wife as well.
When filial sons and daughters and parents together resolve to sacrifice even the parents to save the nation, they stand as patriots. Furthermore, if those patriots resolve to save the world and so sacrifice even their nation, they complete the path of a saint. That is the ideal of creation Adam was to have fulfilled. You must become filial sons and daughters, patriots, and saints, and willingly determine to fulfill the way of divine sons and daughters even if it means sacrificing all the members of your family. (266-105, 1994.12.18)
In a family, those sons and daughters who have made greater sacrifices than other children are known as filial sons and daughters. Those who have invested more for the sake of the nation than other tribes or citizens are known as patriots. Saints are those who have invested more than others for the sake of the world. Someone who has invested for the sake of heaven and earth can become a heavenly prince like Jesus Christ. If you do not live that way, you cannot go to the heavenly kingdom. The heavenly kingdom is where people go who have lived that way. If you do not live in such a way, you cannot enter the heavenly kingdom.
You do not work here just to make a living or to succeed in the worldly sense. You have gathered here to become the people of the heavenly kingdom, to fulfill the way of filial sons and daughters, patriots and virtuous women, saints, and divine sons and daughters of the heavenly kingdom. You need to know that the people and members of the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven are those persons who, from within their families, love other families and our members whom God likes. (269-253, 1995.4.30)
Only when you are confident of being perfect as a filial son or daughter in a family that represents all of humanity throughout the world, a patriot representing the historic nation, saints representing the world, and divine sons and daughters representing all of Heaven's providence, can you return to heaven by going completely beyond the satanic world from the level of the individual. You are such people.
You are the ones to be perfect filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. Such a husband and such a wife become a filial son or daughter as a couple, patriots as a couple, saints and divine sons and daughters as a couple. The families who can be considered families, national-level couples, world-level couples and couples connected with the history of heaven and earth will become families that have fulfilled the will of the ideal of creation! Amen! Amen! Amen! Those who are confident enough to create such families should raise their hands; let us make a pledge. Mansei! What Mansei means is that everything will enjoy everlasting prosperity. It means it will continue on forever. (270-103, 1995.5.7)
When the heavenly kingdom on earth exists, it must invest for the sake of the heavenly kingdom in heaven. The pledge of our Unification Church says we pledge to "represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family, patriots in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth, by centering on true love."
This is impossible without investment. The reason for becoming a filial son or daughter is to create a stepping stone to the way of a patriot, becoming a patriot is the stepping stone toward becoming a saint, and becoming a saint is the stepping stone on the path to becoming a divine child. Only by passing through those levels can one reach heaven and become the son, the divine child, of God. Then, when one returns home, it is possible to realize the heavenly kingdom on earth. (274-114, 1995.10.29)
Those who live continuously for the sake of others become the central people. This is a certainty. Filial sons and daughters in the family are the ones who live continuously for the sake of their parents. They can become the central figure in a family who can inherit from the family. It is the same with patriots. Those who live in service of the nation's ruler and invest and invest again, sacrifice and sacrifice again for the sake of the nation become those who can take responsibility for the nation.
Presidents or prime ministers are such people. They should certainly be the central figures. For this reason your conscience tells you to go that far. Your conscience teaches you to be a filial son or daughter in the family, a patriot in the nation, a saint in the world, and even to go the way of a divine son or daughter in heaven and earth. (275-38, 1995.10.30)
In the family, those who are willing to offer even their lives for the sake of their parents are filial sons or daughters. Those determined to live sacrificing their lives for their nations are patriots. Those who are resolved to save the human race and who are willing to go the way of death several times over for the world, and who resolve to offer themselves even again are saints, and those living and dying for the sake of heaven and earth are divine sons and daughters. Those kinds of people are remembered in history. (275-136, 1995.12.4)
A true child is a family king who centers on God. Therefore, one must become a true filial son or daughter from the beginning, and consequently that king can move up to the position of a patriot of the nation. The prince and princess of a nation are patriots. Then those who stand in the position of a prince or princess of the world are seeking to become a saint.
After that, when you say you are aiming to be a son or daughter standing as a prince and princess of heaven and earth, that is the way of a divine son and daughter. Do you want to become a divine son or daughter or to become a saint? Why would you want to be a divine son or daughter? It is because you can take pride in front of saints. Would you rather be a saint or a patriot? Why would you choose being a saint? It is because you can be proud in front of the patriots. So would you rather be a patriot or a filial son or daughter? Why? You would choose to be a patriot because you can be proud in front of the filial sons and daughters. A filial son or daughter follows the way of a patriot; a patriot follows the way of a saint; a saint follows the way of a divine son or daughter, and a divine son or daughter follows in God's footsteps. (280-117, 1996.11.11)
Those who live comfortably at home are fools. They inevitably have to remain within the bounds of the family-level heaven. That is exactly how it is. That is why your families have to become representative and central families. You must walk the path of filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. That is the path you must inevitably walk.
That is why you must be filial sons and daughters in your families. You must be patriots in your nations. To be patriots, you must not stray from that dutiful path from the time you are born. You should maintain your focus day and night. My focus on God's will has never faltered throughout my life. I continue whether I am awake or asleep. I will keep going forever. (283-77, 1997.4.8)
Being parents who are dealing with a true, genuine, filial son or daughter is more difficult than dealing with the ruler of a nation. You must be careful about every word you say and everything you do. What does that mean? In your families, you must show how you would attend the nation's ruler. Once parents attend their children in this way, their children cannot relate with them in a rash manner.
Those children whose parents treat them with cautious respect tend to be careful in attending their parents and do not say even one word without thought. They will think things over several times before speaking. (285-16, 1997.4.19)
We say that we should become filial sons and daughters in the family, don't we? What should we do once we become filial sons and daughters? We may think that mothers and fathers who teach their children filial piety might be doing so for their own advantage, but that is not the case. Add your love to your parents' love! That is the way it should be. That is how the sphere of love can develop. It grows. Things that are in motion grow larger, don't they? Why would things in motion become larger? Because they are interacting based on love, they want to grow. (253-234, 1994.1.30)
It is not easy to be a husband or wife. Your children are not your own children. They are distinct from you. They are children belonging to the world. It is not easy to be the parents of children of the world. It is not easy to be a teacher. Moreover, it is not easy to be filial sons or daughters in front of such parents. Once you have created an exemplary model family in which the grandparents, parents, and you, as husband and wife, are trained in living for the sake of others in front of your children, your family will be welcomed in any neighborhood, any nation, or anywhere in the heavenly kingdom. (252-265, 1994.1.1)
The Bible says, "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." This is not referring to dirty, immoral people losing their lives. Exemplary people who are willing to sacrifice their lives and die after having expressed their loyalty fully in the position of filial sons and daughters, patriots, and virtuous women are the heavenly people who have reached a standard higher than the filial sons and daughters and patriots of the fallen world. Such people will live, even in a situation facing death, if they are willing to sacrifice their lives. Even if one had many lives to live, if he has gone to the bottom of hell he has no relationship with God. Bluntly speaking, that is what it means. (261-58, 1994.5.22)
Everything must be discerned based on the ideal of God's providence of restoration. In the midst of this, you must find something special for which you can be grateful in offering your lives to God. You must go beyond the history of betrayal that came from Adam and Eve. You must understand this clearly. If God does not appear to you more than He did to Adam, our first ancestor, before the Fall, you must wait without sleeping or eating for God to appear to you to that degree by reaching beyond the position of the heart of the filial sons and daughters, patriots, and virtuous women. (261-55, 1994.5.22)
Filial sons and daughters do not go to hell. Even in the case where they should have to go to hell, they wait somewhere other than hell until the Second Advent of the Lord. There are middle realms in the spirit world.
Do you want to be filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, or divine sons and daughters? Even if you do not practice filial piety in relation to your parents, once you become a patriot you stand on the foundation of having perfected such filial piety. (246-188, 1993.4.16)
If, as members of the Unification Church, you become patriots, should you just be like other patriots, or should you be patriots such as the world has never seen? Even after you have become filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters, you have to take on each of these roles in such a manner that the world and history have never encountered, and only by following these respective paths can you attend God. Bitter grief came about through Eve's mistake of a single day. When you know this, you must then understand how serious you must be to transform the lineage, the realm of ownership, and the realm of heart. (273-114, 1995.10.22)
When God becomes the object centering on love -- true love -- and meets His partner in love who is a thousand times better than Himself, God can automatically be liberated. That is why you must understand that you should be the best filial sons and daughters, virtuous women, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. Otherwise, you cannot liberate God. If you cannot reach that point, you cannot liberate Him.
If people follow Jesus, the best place they can end up in is paradise! That means living a single life. Other religions all urge people to leave their hometown and to live a single life, but what about the Unification Church? Do I tell you to leave your home? I tell you to return to your hometown, right? And to get married, right? It is just the opposite of what it was. Why is that so? I am saying that religion is not needed. We stand as those who have surpassed religion. (265-93, 1994.11.20)
Adam was to become a son of filial piety and patriot of the heavenly kingdom; he should have become a loyal citizen and fulfilled the way of the divine son in the nation, but he could not fulfill his role. My regret is that I could not fulfill the way of a filial son while I was in my youth, in full vigor; I missed the chance. I could not walk the path of a patriot who stands in the front line to face any risk if it could save the nation, and who, though bleeding, remains grateful to God. (264-187, 1994.10.9)
Why do I weave together the strands of history in making such shocking proclamations or saying things to spur you on? This is God's situation, and it is not yet resolved. He has not been able to resolve the bitter sorrow in His heart. True Parents have not been able to resolve the bitter sorrow in their hearts.
Not being able to fulfill the path of the son of filial piety in front of God in my youth is my own bitter sorrow! Not being able to have the honor of being a patriot because I could not gain God's nation is my bitter sorrow! Not being able to fulfill the duty of a saint representing all nations is my sorrow! Not being able to have the victorious supremacy of heaven and earth and to liberate God as a divine son is my sorrow! These deep sorrows still remain. (264-63, 1994.10.9)
Why are filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters needed? Even if you do your best in serving your parents, that is for only a hundred years or so. It is not something you can do for your whole life. Your parents cannot live for a thousand or for ten thousand years. Even if you attend your parents throughout your life, it will be less than a hundred years. However, patriots are remembered beyond a single generation. The patriotic tradition can be bequeathed from your grandparents' generation and your parents' generation to your generation, and on to your descendants. Otherwise the nation cannot continue to exist.
The outlook of a saint can go beyond level of the patriot. Saints must live based on a love that embraces the whole universe. They must love the entire universe. Therefore, the path of saints surpasses the path of patriots. The path of divine sons and daughters surpasses the path of saints and is the highest position of all. They respect the rules of the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven and maintain the balance between the internal and external, the vertical and horizontal relationships. (246-188, 1993.4.16)
You must understand that True Parents are the first son and daughter of filial piety in the family. They have never existed in history. They stand in the position of patriots of the heavenly kingdom, the representative position of loyal subjects. Furthermore, they stand in the position of the divine son and daughter who have fulfilled the way of a divine son and daughter.
That is why you must have the same thought as True Parents. As True Parents have fulfilled the way of a son and daughter of filial piety, patriots, saints, and divine son and daughter, you should inherit that same tradition of True Parents, and you must maintain an attitude of heart that you are the only son and daughter in the whole world.
The fact that you have received the blessing from True Parents as a son and daughter representing the world signifies that you are allowed to be in a relationship with True Parents. You need to understand that Blessed Families must have experiences of heart with my own family in their daily lives. (266-89, 1994.12.18)
What is the difference between a saint and a divine son? A divine son can appear where, centering on God's love, original Adam and Eve who have not fallen become one as the embodiment of God's life and God's lineage. The divine son and daughter are to appear in the place where they inherit the lineage of God's son and daughter. However, this is not the case with saints.
That is why there are no divine sons and daughters in the fallen world. There, people can only reach the level of a saint. Therefore, until the present, saints have been able to teach the way of the outer, relational world but have not been able to teach the inner path that is at the root. Why? This was because the Parents and the divine sons and daughters had not appeared on the earth. The ideology relating to the returning Lord is to establish the way of the Parents and of divine sons and daughters. That is the ideology relating to the Messiah. (226-113, 1992.2.2)
Who has been the most central saint among all saints of this world? It is Jesus. Because Jesus' lineage was already sanctified from the time he was in the womb, there were no conditions upon which Satan could invade. That baby, who was conceived on the basis of God's love, was the very first fruit whose center was true love. He had no relationship with false love.
Other than Jesus, there has been no one born as a divine son. Buddha, Mohammad, and Confucius were not such people. However, Jesus taught based on the realm of heart. God is the absolute Parent, and Jesus is in the position of an absolute husband and absolute elder brother. Jesus' teachings are all focused on the family and on love. That love is not a secular love but a Godly love. Because Jesus is the central figure who disseminated such teachings throughout the world, we can conclude that wherever he went he never thought in a self-centered way. (229-221, 1992.4.12)
Jesus was the first son to be born in history with a purified lineage. Thus, he became God's eldest and only begotten son. In the realm of religion, Jesus is the only divine son born through a purified lineage; therefore, he can be called the divine son of all divine sons. (244-249, 1993.2.14)
Jesus is the saint among all saints. He was able to become the first ancestor based on love due to the purification of the lineage. (251-296, 1993.11.1)
Because Jesus was born on the foundation of the national-level victory based on the transformation of the lineage, no one on the national level of the satanic world can show any condition to accuse based on blood relations that have not been indemnified.
Jesus was the first and only begotten son of God; He was born centering on God's love on the national level. The lineage had been purified, hadn't it? In all of history there had never been a saint with a purified lineage. Neither Confucius, nor Buddha, nor Mohammad, nor anyone else -- except for that one person, Jesus -- was born after the purification of the lineage that remained from the past. (251-253, 1993.10.31)
A divine son is the son of God. To God's son, the existing world is not the only issue. He must bring together the spirit world and the earthly world, and rule by laws that are the same as those that come from the palace of Heaven. These are not the federal laws that a nation's people obey. They are the unified laws of the palaces of the heavenly and earthly realms. A divine son is one who stands connected to the love in these realms. Everything must be focused on love. (229-42, 1992.4.9)
As the only begotten, divine son, Jesus was the first ancestor centered on true love. (251-298, 1993.11.1)
What must you do to become a global figure? It is not enough to focus simply on ethics and moral principles. You cannot do it just by making people your central concern. If your central concern is human beings, you will not be able to go beyond the national level. In heaven there is a way to surpass the national level. Without a philosophy encompassing heaven and earth, you cannot transcend the national level. (38-260, 1971.1.8)
Thus, the saints have spoken about God, not just about humankind. If you look at the people who are numbered in the ranks of the saints, have they revered God or not? Is there anyone who has become a saint without God? Moreover, the saints have taught not only the way of morality but also the way of heavenly law. (33-291, 1970.8.21)
In families, those who care for and love their parents are filial sons and daughters. Those who care for and love their country are patriots, and those who love the world are saints. Then what have I taught you? I have taught you to be divine sons and daughters who love God, the world, and the universe. Who would you be? Would you like to be divine sons and daughters, or filial sons and daughters? To be divine sons and daughters, you must have the same love in your hearts as God does. (129-99, 1983.10.1)
Up until now the saints have not taught strongly about the unity of mind and body. Since they thought that it was normal for the human mind and body not to be united, they got it wrong. To begin with they dealt with the issue based on the external world. Confucius said, "Cultivate yourself and harmonize your family, and then you can govern your nation well and bring peace to the world," didn't he?
How can you cultivate yourself and harmonize your family? Where does bringing peace to the world begin? People have thought that it begins at home, haven't they? Peace is not brought to the world that way. There is no way for the world to become one within a family. Then what must it be based on in order to become one? It begins from you, yourself; it is the struggle between mind and body. That fire is burning within you. (250-166, 1993.10.14)
A divine son is God's son. A divine son resolves to love not only God but also heaven and earth. He resolves to love not only the realm of love of heaven and earth, but also the laws from the palace of the heavenly kingdom. A divine son is a prince of the heavenly kingdom. He should keep the laws that come from the palace in the heavenly realm as well as the laws from the palace of the earthly realm.
On that basis, he should love the royal descendants of the heavenly kingdom, the people of the heavenly kingdom, the royal descendants of the earthly kingdom, and the people of the nation on earth. When he loves the kingdoms and peoples of both worlds, he can be called a son of God. The people and members of the royal family on earth need God's son, and the people and the members of the royal family in the other world need God's son. That is how he can become a divine son. (229-183, 1992.4.12)
It is the same with religion. How did religions begin? Saints founded all of the religions. They are the lords of the religions. They all started out from positions where they could receive instruction from God through practicing devotion and reaching an enlightened state; however, after the religions developed to a higher level, they became more and more secularized.
That is why there are no religious organizations that can guide this world out of its whirlpool of confusion and onto the proper path with very clear and essential guidelines. There are religious systems within regions, but there is no religious system that can embrace and solve the situation of the entire world. Religions have all completed their tests. All have been tested. Politics and all the various ideologies have been tested. They have all performed disappointingly. All have reached a limit that not one can go beyond. (253-13, 1994.1.1)
It can be said with certainty that there has been no family, no nation, and no world in which God can dwell together with human beings. You must always have this concept in mind. God could not live together with you, your families, your nations, or the world. You must attend God once again and live in attendance to God from a position of being higher than any of the filial sons and daughters, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters of this fallen world. That is the motto of your faith that you must strengthen. (266-85, 1994.12.18)
Saints are people who love all the people of the world. Up until now, the leaders of the religions have been saints. Among the saints, the highest saints are those who have shed blood and devoted their lives for humankind, and who are willing to continuously devote themselves. These are the highest saints of all. In keeping with this principle, Christianity unified the world after the Second World War due to having shed so much blood throughout history. (228-45, 1992.3.3)
I am living in such a way that I am ready to die at any time. I have pledged myself before God. Because I have already determined to offer my life, I would have no regret even if it were my fate to die on the street. There is no greater blessing than to become filial sons and daughters for whom God Himself would come and take away our bodies, or to become patriots for whom the king would come and take away our bodies, or to become saints or divine sons and daughters of the heavenly kingdom like that.
The places where our bodies lie will become places of historic interest. They will become sites for memorial services and festivals that can revive everyone in the world. On account of these sites that evoke sorrow, countless youths will be born anew in generations to come. As representatives of their countries, they will explode like erupting volcanoes. The Unification Church has numerous such resources. (227-260, 1992.2.14)
The loftiest hope of humankind is that which is realized through love. All of God's hopes are to be realized through love, too. If God were to take the position of a son of filial piety, He would want to do so on the basis of love for parents. If He became a couple, He would want to become a couple established through love and then a parent established through love. This is what God desires. (263-309, 1994.10.27)
Those who spare no effort in sacrificing themselves become the light of their families. They are called filial children. Those who shine by sacrificing themselves for the sake of their nation are patriots. Those who sacrifice themselves for the world are known as saints, and those who do so for heaven and earth are divine sons and daughters. (276-159, 1996.2.18)
You must know that those who can live for the sake of the entire universe with their minds and bodies united become the central people of the universe. Filial children are those who live for their parents more than anyone else in the family. Those who live for their nation's ruler and its people more than anyone else are patriots. Those who live for the world more than anyone else are saints. Those who live for the sake of heaven and earth more than anyone else are the sons and daughters of God -- divine sons and daughters. (276-180, 1996.2.19)
Filial children do not become indebted to their parents. Rather, they make their parents indebted to them. Patriots do not become indebted to their nation but, rather, make the nation indebted to them. Saints do not become indebted to the world, but make the world indebted to them.
Because I am not indebted to heaven and earth, the time has now come for the world to be able to move centering on True Parents. In the world, there has been the way of the filial children of the satanic world, patriots of the satanic world, saints of the satanic world, and divine sons and daughters of the satanic world. But there has been no standard, no way of the filial children, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters who are centered on the heavenly kingdom. You should know that this is what we must establish. (266-103, 1994.12.18)
You must know that your family has greater value than if it had been purchased at the cost of heaven and earth. You Blessed Families have not known this amazing truth, have you? You must not have conflicts or get into fights. Here on earth we have the amazing task of preparing the foundation of filial children, the foundation of patriots, the foundation of saints, and the foundation of divine sons and daughters, all representing the heavenly kingdom. You must understand that doing so will result in the ideal world God wanted to create centered on Adam.
Because True Parents are in such a position, when I go to the next world, I will become the central "plus" or subject of all the filial children, of all patriots, of the saints, and of the divine sons and daughters.
Through your paying indemnity yourselves -- more than your mother and father, more than your nation's patriots, more than the world's saints, and more than heaven and earth -- to indemnify that which Jesus desired to accomplish, liberation can be attained. This will be the central basis of the ideal and principles for establishing the nation. (266-105, 1994.12.18)
Who wants you to become a divine son or daughter? God wants that. Who wants you to become a saint? The world wants that. What the nation desires is loyal subjects and patriots; and families want filial children. That is the genuine path of truth. True parents would not tell their child, "As you are a devoted son, do not become a patriot; do not follow that path."
Such parents must teach them, saying, "You should sacrifice our family to follow the path of a patriot and serve this nation; fulfill the way of a saint, and sacrifice even that path in order to go the way that Heaven desires; and sacrifice heaven and earth for the sake of God." People have never even conceived such an idea. We must invest and make sacrifices. Otherwise, a unified world and nation can never be realized. (285-218, 1997.5.19)
You must teach how to advance from being a filial child, to a patriot, to a saint, and to a divine son or daughter. This is necessary for becoming an ideal human being, being molded as a human being, and achieving perfection. You must teach your children to fulfill the dutiful way of filial children, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters, and then to go on up to God.
If there were parents who taught their children to go this way, would God think, "Ah, these people are fulfilling the roles of parent, teacher, and owner," or not? If they are qualified to be a parent and a teacher, they are also qualified to be an owner. Furthermore, they can be the kind of father who can become a king. Do western people have the concept of filial piety? They do not have the concept of patriots. They do not have the concept of saints. They do not have the concept of divine sons and daughters. That is why they are in decline. (285-218, 1997.5.19)
We must sacrifice. Sacrificing is the only way to find love. Throughout his life, a filial son follows the path of sacrifice for his parents, solely for his parents; and a patriot makes sacrifices for his nation. A patriot sacrifices not only himself but also his family. It is not just the individual. He must sacrifice his wife, sons, and daughters. Those who do not know the value of sacrifice cannot become filial children, or anything else.
They are unable to hook into the realm of the heart of restoration, but they must. Only when you hook onto a family, and the hook is more than equal to its task, can you become a filial child in a family. Even if a nation runs away when you hook onto it, you must put the hook in so that it does not get pulled straight. God's hook is as thick as a post and does not get pulled straight. So, the problem is not just that it must be securely hooked in without being pulled out, but also how much it can hold. Without sacrifice things will not work well. (283-21, 1997.4.8)
Don't you have the desire to be better than God? You have that desire, don't you? Your desire can be like that. Filial children who can comfort God in his tears and sadness must be able to reach a level of comforting God more than God can. How can you comfort God if you are not better than Him? Am I not right in this? It is logical.
The world with that standard is the eternal original homeland to which we will go. Do you want to go there or not? You cannot go there. With your stubborn character, you cannot move in all four directions. If you cannot turn through 360 degrees on a level plane, how can you turn through 360 degrees on the perpendicular? Turn 360 degrees over and under based on the East-West axis. You have not reached the point of doing this in an unrestricted manner. (280-119, 1996.11.11)
We must perfect our families, our tribes, our nations, the world, heaven, and earth and ultimately liberate God! We must bring salvation to God. In order to ease the hurt in the parents' heart caused by unfilial children, we must be the best filial children.
People have not known that God, who has embraced the fallen world, is in sorrow. When we think that our Father, God, has been burdened by such painful and miserable circumstances, we must know that it is the responsibility of the people who have to be saved on earth today to keep the dutiful way of the filial child who lives in such a sorrowful situation that he cannot hold back his tears even if he has to crawl on the ground wailing for ten thousand years... It is a serious matter. Who else is teaching such things? (283-215, 1997.4.12)
Even if you begin with a path of suffering and end your life with suffering, as a heavenly son or daughter going forward toward heaven, you must maintain the attitude of seeking to ease God's heart, and seeking to live for the sake of God as a filial child. Through having done this, I want to leave a legacy of patriotism for the heavenly kingdom. In the name of a divine son, I want to bring this world, which the saints and divine sons were not able to fully realize, into the realm of completion. I am that serious. (258-106, 1994.3.17)
If by observing you God can be encouraged to go and break down the evil world, at that moment you actually create the platform for God to work. That would be the highest heavenly gift of joy for you, one that could not be matched by any precious position, throne, or place of glory, nor even by one's lifetime or several lifetimes. I believe that the way that filial children representing eternal history have to go is one of being determined to face persecution even beyond history. That is surely the path of being loyal to the eternal nation. (255-121, 1994.3.10)
Without human beings, God cannot be liberated through love. This means that through parents having filial children, their realm of heart is liberated; through having patriots, kings are liberated; through having saints, the world-level president is liberated; and through having divine sons and daughters accomplish everything as His object partners of love by fulfilling the way of the filial child, God can be liberated. Only when this is achieved can God be liberated. This is an amazing message. (283-173, 1997.4.8)
Throughout the course of my life I could never complain. I could never criticize. You must not complain on the path of filial piety and patriotism. You must not criticize. As long as we have a relationship of love with the perfect subject partner, we can neither complain nor criticize. If your husband does wrong, you should take it as your own fault. "This is my fault." If your wife does wrong, you should take it as your own fault. You should not say, "I do not like you." (263-105, 1994.8.21)
I am planning to make a record of each one of your witnessing results in the future. What is meant by the "Safe Settlement of True Parents and the Completed Testament Age"? God has been wandering around, and now it is time to settle down. You must pay taxes to live in His nation. We need patriots and filial children. We need filial children in the family and patriots in the nation. The path of loyalty and filial piety is a basic foundation for establishing the nation, isn't it? Even if we face difficulties such as going hungry or even death, we should attend Heaven and not allow the nation to perish, don't you agree? (254-119, 1994.2.2)
What we human beings absolutely need to do is to fulfill the way of filial children, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. Due to the Fall, we need saints. We need to perfect the way of divine sons and daughters. Because of that, all the realms connected with God can connect to the nation, heaven, the world, and our family, through each of us. That is the path we must complete in our lifetime. We must perfect it. This is the first time you have heard this, isn't it? I have given this message in detail in the United States, but this is the first time I have done so here in Korea.
That is why we must be filial children, patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. Where is the self that is you? Do you have your own self? You are nothing more than the bones of your mother and father. In a nation, the nation's ruler comes from the bones of his father and mother. People want to engraft to that bone and grow. Unless we have a family we cannot stand before the nation. But even a family can be destroyed by Satan's nation. Do we need to have God's nation or not? (285-91, 1997.4.21)
Love gradually dissipates and disappears when we insist on ourselves. Love, however, continues to grow when we continually live for others. That is why true individuals live for the sake of others. A true husband lives for his wife; true parents also live for their children; true filial children live for their parents; and likewise, a true king lives for his nation, a true nation lives for its people. We should understand this. (268-259, 1995.4.2)