Filial Attendance: The Way of Filial Piety of Holy Sons and Daughters of God - Elio Roman
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Filial Attendance: The Way of Filial Piety of Holy Sons and Daughters of God - Elio Roman |
Had Adam and Eve fulfilled God's commandment, they would have become the embodiments of God. They would have become filial sons and daughters of God who would have lived their lives attending their Heavenly Father. God would have been the owner of true love and would have bequeathed the universe to Adam and Eve and all their descendents. Adam and Eve would have become the owners and lords of creation. As the sons and daughters of God, Adam and Eve would have developed a sensibility to the creation in which they would have recognized their value. Human beings would have had a heart of gratitude toward nature and recognized that nature had sacrificed itself for their sake. Nature gave of itself so that our bodies could be formed in our mother's womb. Nature has continued to give of itself in order to feed and house us and to provide for us a beautiful living environment. Thus, nature is often referred to as mother nature.
Human beings should have also recognized how much the angelic world had worked and sacrificed itself in helping God create the universe, the original homeland in which mankind would live. Perfected Adam and Eve and hence their descendents would have recognized their debt and would have expressed loving gratitude to God, nature and the angelic world.
However, Adam and Eve failed to keep the commandment and Satan and the fallen angelic world became the owners of mankind and of the creation. By having Adam and Eve submit to him, Lucifer became the owner, father, king and ruler of God's creation. God became a cast out of this world. Lucifer (Satan) multiplied a lineage of sin and settled throughout the world. Lucifer enslaved mankind though the dominion of their fallen hearts and fallen bodies. Fallen mankind lost its sensibility toward God, nature and the angelic world and has failed to display the proper heart of gratitude. Human beings living their lives almost blindly have failed to recognize their debt to God, nature and the faithful angelic world.
It is a law of creation that when one receives, one's heart of love and gratitude wants to give back. It is a principle in accord with the laws of give and take action that what one gives they will receive in return. Since God, nature, and the angelic world have given very much to human beings and have created them, then human beings have accumulated a burden to debt to God, nature and the faithful angelic world. Adam and Eve, with much love and gratitude, should have given much in return to God, nature and the faithful angelic world. Since it is a natural law to give back when one is given something, then if one does not give back then one does not satisfy his/her burden of debt and set the necessary conditions to receive more. If one does not repay their debt then the universe itself extracts back what it was due in order to help mankind repay its debt. This is most evident in the necessity of indemnity for the sake of restoration. Here we find the debt of our lineages and the debt of mankind.
The universe was formed, put in order, and maintains its order and development by the very laws of the universe. These same universal laws have been attempting to create the heavenly order in every individual, family, tribe, race, nation, the world and the cosmos. Its purpose is to create the ideal world of love which God has intended since time immemorial. In order for human beings to repay the debt they have accumulated from Adam and Eve, from their ancestors and from places of national birth, the universal laws have been seeking to extract payment for the debts humanity has accumulated. Thus the life course of each individual, family, tribe, race and nation is different because one's life course is an attempt to repay the debt that has been accumulated. Each must then live their lives with absolute faith absolute love and absolute obedience as the universal laws attempts to bring us back to the original ideal which God has intended. In Psalms 46:11 God declares "I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it."
Our life course and the course of mankind can be quickened by a messianic figure that pays the necessary debts through the course of absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience to God. Human beings by attending that messianic figure inherit the repayments and the victories that the messianic figure has attained during his course of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. This is called grace. In order to regain this world God has had to find individuals on earth who could display absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. These are necessary conditions by which He restores His sons and daughters and this world. We cannot pay back enough debt by ourselves. The messiah is absolutely necessary in order to advance the restoration and perfection of ourselves, our lineages and the world. This is the reason why it is imperative that we attend God and True Parents, with absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience (cf. Ch. 9 Attendance of True Parents). In the New Testament we read; "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." (Matt. 10:41 KJV)
God and all things of the creation, and including faithful angels, the great saints, providential figures and men and women of good faith have had to continue to sacrifice themselves with absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience in order for the restoration of God's sons and daughters, ideal families and the original homeland. We are not aware of how much sacrifice has been made for our sake.
Primitive man made many sacrifices to God and to nature as an offering in order to continue receiving from God and nature. Primitive man offered many things from the physical world and nature, such as plants, animal and sometimes human sacrifices. These sacrifices have been offered as acts of atonement. We cannot exclude that some offerings can be made as acts of gratitude and not only as repayment of a debt.
It is not exactly clear when the Biblical tradition of tithing began. In the 14th chapter of Genesis there is an account of King Kedorlaomer and other kings allied with him who had captured much of the surrounding territory including Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham's nephew Lot, along with Lot's family and possessions, were taken captive. In order to free Lot, Abraham summoned 318 trained men from his tribe and defeated King Kedorlaomer and his allies and brought back Lot, his relatives and his possessions. This is symbolic of God's side reclaiming ownership from the satanic realm.
In gratitude Melchizedek, who was the king of Salem as well as a priest of the Most High God, gave Abraham bread and wine and blessed Abraham and praised God for delivering Abraham's relatives from his enemies. Abraham then gave Melchizedek one tenth of everything he had gained from his victory. One tenth is symbolic of offering everything to God and hence returning ownership to God.
In Genesis chapter 28 there is an account of Abraham's grandson Jacob fleeing form his brother Esau and traveling to Haran. Late one day as the sun set he set up camp. As night settled he placed a stone under his head and went to sleep. He had a dream that he saw a stairway from heaven reaching down to earth. On the stairway there were angels of God ascending and descending.
Above the stairway was God who spoke and said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
When Jacob woke up, he said: "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
Jacob made a pledge to God and said: "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." (Gen. 28:13-22)
These Biblical episodes explain when tithing began but do not explain why tithing is necessary. The reasons as to why tithing is necessary and the purpose of tithing are clarified by the teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Adam and Eve were created to be filial sons and daughters of God who would have inherited the ownership of all creation. Filial sons and daughters of God are those who have established mind and body unity, have become one in heart with God, and as perfect object partners live a life of attendance to God. Upon establishing dominion over their bodies through absolute sexual morality they acquire God's heart of love. Having dominion over their bodies, inheriting God's heart and love, and living a life of attendance to God qualifies them as owners, to inherit God's love, His inheritance, dominion and ownership of the creation. Such filial sons and daughters are the lords of creation. A bridge of love is formed from God, to man, to the creation. Since money represents all material things of the creation then money will follow such filial sons and daughters of God who are the embodiment of God and who are the lords of creation.
Due to their fall, Adam and Eve as well as God lost ownership of love, lineage and of the creation. Through fallen and sinful men and women, Satan became the owner of creation. The universe, which is the original homeland, was claimed by a fallen angel now called Satan. Man's physical body, which was composed of all the physical elements of the creation, was to be the temple of God. Mankind came to be dominated by Satan. The temple of God became the haunt of Satan. Satan came to be the owner of mankind and through them, owner of the world. Ownership needs to be restored back to God and to mankind.
Restoration occurs through mankind offering appropriate indemnity conditions for the repayment of their debts. Sacrificing the creation through offerings and tithing became one of the necessary indemnity conditions that needed to be fulfilled in order for ownership to be returned to God and inherited by mankind. Filial sons and daughters of God are those who have fulfilled the necessary indemnity conditions and have restored and inherited ownership. Restoration through indemnity involves a process of re-creation and the process by which everything is returned to God.
Before God created Adam and Eve, He first created the physical world. The creation, in the position of our physical parents, gave all of itself for the formation of our sinless physical bodies. During the process of re-creation the creation once again sacrifices itself so that God and mankind can regain ownership. In order to liberate the original land and for the redemption of human beings, both physically and spiritually, the creation serve as a sacrifice.
Human beings must make their offerings with a loving, sincere and grateful heart, thus becoming one with the offering. It is their own body and blood that should be offered as a sacrifice as the condition of indemnity for restoration to occur. Nature and the blood of animals becomes the offering in our place. As one gains awareness of how much the creation has sacrificed for us, as well as the sacrifice that the creation is once again making for our restoration, we then begin to regain our sensibility toward the creation and we reestablish a deeper relationship with the creation. We would begin to redevelop our hearts of gratitude for all of creation.
All creation is groaning in travail, waiting for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. (Romans 8:19-22) With a heart of love and gratitude for God and the creation, the creation is offered and in the process we separate from the heart of satanic self-centered ownership and possessiveness. Due to satanic ownership it may often be difficult to make one's offering. The difficulty one experiences is part of the process of separating from Satan's ownership due to sin. As human beings separate from Satan, their body, their hearts and ownership are being restored.
Money represents all things. Tithing of money is the necessary condition for the restoration of the owners of creation, who are the lords of creation. In order for our salvation and restoration to occur in the Old Testament Era, the creation was sacrificed in our place. In the New and Competed Testament Ages money represents all things. By sacrificing money through tithing we fulfill the necessary conditions for the re-creation of our bodies the physical world.
Jacob even used the creation in the process of purchasing the birthright from Esau. The creation was again used by Jacob on his return from Haran and offered to Esau in order that his heart of unity might emerge from where there once was resentment. This demonstrates Abel's responsibility in helping Cain separate from the satanic realm. Along with the material things that Jacob offered Esau was the presence of God's love. God's love communicates all that needs to be communicated. It is a rope of love which lifts Cain out of hell and brings the elder son's birthright, by which Satan has maintained ownership over the world, into God's realm. This restores God's original ownership which is ready to be bequeathed to His true sons and daughters. It is an ownership of love, life, lineage, and an ownership of the universe.
During the process of re-creation, offering of material things and now tithing have been necessary conditions for the restoration and re-creation of the physical world and the sinless bodies of human beings. Through the offering of successful indemnity conditions, the restoration of true love, true life, true lineage and true ownership have been established.
It is filial sons and daughters of God who have established dominion over their bodies who inherit the ownership of God's love and inherit ownership over the creation. Our physical bodies represent all of creation since they are composed of all the elements from found in the creation. In this way ownership of the creation is completed. It is filial sons and daughters of God who have restored the Parent and child relationship. Such true filial children live their lives attending their Heavenly Parents.
Due to the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan came to claim the number nine. Satan has ownership equivalent to 90 percent. God's portion is 10 percent. God needs to have the number nine returned so that He can restore the number ten. By restoring the number ten God gains dominion over everything and claims the number nine from Satan's realm. This is the reason why the amount of the tithe is 10 percent. By offering 10 percent willingly, with purity of heart, the remaining 90 percent also becomes holy. We make the condition of offering our wealth and reaching the number ten by offering one tenth of all our wealth. Through the tithe we are making the condition of offering all that we have and returning ownership to God who then bequeaths it to us.
The number nine represents the three levels of the three stages of the growing period. The number nine represents the growing stages that Satan has claimed, enabling him to be the false parents of mankind and owner and ruler of the world. Thus by claiming the number nine Satan has been able to establish his satanic realm, the kingdom of hell. The number ten is the number of perfection. We cannot reach perfection because Satan has claimed the number nine which must be returned to God before perfection can be attained and ownership can be restored. The result of perfection is establishing the Parent and child relationship of love where God's children live a life of attendance to their Heavenly Parent and inherit ownership of the creation.
Filial sons and daughters of God who live a life of attendance to God continue to make financial offerings to God as an expression of love and gratitude for what they have received, thus completing the cycle of giving, receiving, and giving back. All things have given of themselves to human beings and hence mankind accumulates a debt to the creation. By tithing we symbolically establish a condition of returning to the creation all that it has given us. The more we give in tithing and in living for the sake of others, the stronger a force we create for God and all things to give more back to us.
The laws of the universe will seek repayment from mankind if mankind does not repay their debts. Situations in life occur by which the universe extracts payment of their debts from mankind.
Tithing is also necessary in order to help pay the priests whose duties are full time and for the building and the maintenance of God's Kingdom. In Deuteronomy chapter 18 and in Hebrews 7:5 it says that the Levites who hold the positions of priest are to receive tithes so that they may be free to perform their priestly duties on behalf of God and the Israelites. The pastor of a church should receive the tithes in order that he can be free to perform his priestly functions and take care of the needs of the congregation and the church buildings. Different denominations have different organizational structures but overall tithing serves the same purposes. Thus tithing is also necessary for spiritual, as well as practical reasons. Filial sons of daughters who live in attendance to God maintain their duties of tithing.
After everything is restored, in the Kingdom of God, we make our offerings to God not as indemnity conditions, but in accord with the laws of giving and receiving, we make offerings to God from our hearts of gratitude and love.
We who are on the course of going through the providence of restoration should be determined not only to fulfill the condition of donating one-tenth of our income but even three-tenths. One-tenth of your income should be offered to your nation, the second tenth to the people of the world. It must be offered in the course of restoration. The last third should be offered to the heavenly kingdom. People who are given responsibility from heaven should never violate the condition of tithing. At the same time, you should meet all the duties of filial piety. (150-218, 1961.4.15)
At the time of the creation, all things belonged to Adam. However, after the fall, Adam lost his ownership. . . What is fortunate is that there is a way of indemnity (to restore that ownership). However, for indemnification, Adam needs to make indemnity conditions. That is why in the Unification Church, we are doing everything possible.
Even if you are persecuted, sworn at, beaten, nose-bled, have broken bones, or even if killed, you should still offer all of your hearts and minds to make indemnity conditions, shedding bloody tears.
Tithing? What is it? You should offer 100% plus the price for your blood. You should invest all of the essence of your love from your heart and body. By so doing, you should inherit ownership, only then can you return to a higher place where (Adam and Eve) were loved prior to the fall, before they belonged to Satan. If heart and mind are not invested, God and angels cannot cooperate with you. Thus they cannot lay a foundation for the recreation of humans after the fall. That is why the Unification Church members are asked to clean all of it. (13-40)
To make certain indemnity conditions, material things are required. The reason we are supposed to offer tithe to heaven lies here. The number nine is a number of the fallen world; the number ten is the number representing the heavenly world as well as the number shedding the number nine. (10-217, 1960.10.14)
We can consider the meaning and purpose of the symbolic offering in two ways. First, as discussed above, Satan gained dominion over the natural world through his domination of human beings, its rightful rulers. For this reason it is written, "the whole creation has been groaning in travail."(Rom 8:22) Thus, one purpose for making the symbolic offering of all things is to enable all things to stand as God's actual object partners in symbol. It fulfills an indemnity condition for the restoration of the natural world to its original relationship with God. Second, since human beings fell to a position lower than the things of creation, (Jer.17:9) in order for them to come before God, they must go through all things. This follows from the Principle of Creation, which requires that one approach God through that which is closer to Him. The second purpose for making the symbolic offering is thus to fulfill an indemnity condition for the symbolic restoration of human beings. (Exposition -- 195)
By offering a tithe from your material possessions to God, you can establish a condition equal to having offered all that you have. Even if you do not offer everything to God, offering a portion of it with all of your heart and mind will enable the rest to be considered holy. The person who tithes will never perish. As days go by, his storage room will be filled with more material blessings. (31-239, 1970.6.4)
Among the twelve tribes of Israel, eleven tribes had to offer tithes to the altar governed by the tribe of Levi. From now on, you are not a member if you do not tithe. You should offer three-tenths of your income: one-tenth for the nation, one-tenth for the world and one-tenth for the church.
It is absolutely essential to tithe in our daily lives as we go this way. You should not consider your income your own or use it as your own. The reason is that the number nine, three times three equals nine, has been governed by Satan so far.
If the number nine is returned and connected to God on the earth where Satan is the master, God can have dominion over that number. In this way, God can restore the number ten. Thus, if you believe in God and bring the number nine, all possessions within the realm of the number nine can be separated from the realm of Satan. That is how the term "tithe 10 percent" came into being. (150-218, 1961.4.15)
You must be strict with public funds. You should be thorough in your tithing. You should offer one-tenth of your total income to God without fail. (11-218, 1961.8.26)
What are we going to do by restoring material? It is to re-create Adam and Eve. The (re)creation of Adam means to invest everything for the Lord of the Second Advent. Therefore, unless you use your material that you made with blood, sweat, (and tears) for that creation, you are committing a sin. That is a principle. (Spiritual Leader Pt. 1 -- 130, 1976.2.1)
Offering a certain portion of your own income for the maintenance of the church sounds extremely good, but I think that it is extremely bad. Making an offering to God should the first priority in life, before thinking of your own life, and that offering should be 100%, not only a small portion of your income. Nevertheless, if your life becomes the first priority, and God comes next, it is easy to get into a mannerism. If God is placed in the second priority, later, He will end up being in last place. Do you understand? Don't you agree? [Yes, it seems likely to be so.]
God is the Creator of the universe as the omnipotent and omniscient Being. As such a Being, being pleased with some money offered by some church members as though some money is given to beggars, do you think that God would say: "Ah, blessed are those who made a donation to me. You are such a beloved religious group of people?" How can He save His face before Satan? No way. If a donation basket is being circulated in the church, that is an act of a beggar with a sign of the church. Certainly, God would not be happy with it. (96-101)
What you should understand is that the things that you have owned so far, or your material possessions, are not really your own, but you are temporarily in the process of managing them. That is, you are a manager of them. The things that you should manage well, should be offered to God through True Parents. In other words, unless they go through the process of becoming belongings of True Parents and God, they cannot be yours. This you must clearly understand. (23-334)
If we own God instead of material, not only shall we come to own everything, not to mention material, but also shall we become a perfect subject towards the material. (Spiritual Leader Pt. 1 -- 129, 1975.1.6)
Once Adam becomes perfect, money and material will automatically follow. (Spiritual Leader Pt. 1 -- 130, 1976.2.22)
All citizens of Cheon Il Guk will provide funds for the well being and peace of humanity, not by taxation but by voluntary contributions. They will demonstrate the model of offering the first three tenths of their income for public purposes. This cannot be an imposed tax; it has to be a gift that citizens offer willingly to Heaven with joyful hearts. (Messages of Peace 5 -- 76, 2006.6.13)
You should clearly understand that when you handle donations and offerings that were given with heart, you will be judged by them if you do not recognize their value. Even a king can perish if he errs in his conduct as a king, in other words, if he has mistreated someone who is dedicated to God. If he mistreats that person, he will be considered a traitor to heaven. For this reason, I do not treat lightly the person who offers with their heart. (18-143, 1967.6.4)
In order to find a way for children to be saved, the creation was sacrificed. People in this world do not know this, do they? In order to save people, the creation should be sacrificed. Why? When humans were created, their creation was done through the sacrificial investment of all things. Therefore, even when they should be re-created, they should be again sacrificed for humans. Therefore, centering on the offering objects, what happened? The body was taken by Satan, and the mind was taken by God. And in order for humans to be emancipated, since an offering object was sacrificed on behalf of humans, humans should keep a grateful heart to them, and with a heart that loves God more than the love existing in Satan's world, you should relate to the offering objects.
For this reason, humans should invest all of their hearts and minds for the offering objects, not only as an individual but also as a family and a clan. In order for a family to be blessed, the entire family including babies must make a special condition with love for the offering objects. The offering objects are the conditional offering objects that determine ownership. (Spiritual Leader Pt. 1 -- 136)
In terms of the life of tithing in the church, ten families in the church should support a church leader. Otherwise, you do not have the right to become a citizen of the heavenly kingdom. Ten people should support one heavenly person.
Tithing applies to every aspect of life. Even in a school, one in ten classrooms should be used for less fortunate children, to give them classes free of charge. From now on, you need to tithe not only your materials but also your time.
It is no longer only the material aspect like in the past. If you have ten family members, one family member should be offered to the public mission on behalf of your entire family. You should keep such a standard. In the future, Unification Church members must not avoid tithing. Those who do not tithe will not be considered church members. Tithing is a duty, a heavenly duty. (150-218, 1961.4.15)
If we divide each of the three stages of the growing period into three sub-stages, we arrive at a total of nine levels. Herein lies the significance of the number nine in the Principle. As a numerical unfolding of the dual characteristics of the invisible God, each of God's creations passes through the nine levels of the growing period. Each then fulfills its purpose of creation when it becomes one with God in the realm of His direct dominion, which constitutes the tenth level. For this reason, we call the number ten the number of unity. (Exposition -- 298)
To form certain indemnity conditions, material things are required. The reason we are supposed to offer tithe to heaven lies here. The number 9 is a number of the fallen world, and the number 10, as God's number, is a number to liberate the number 9. (10-217, 1960.10.14)
Beloved Heavenly Father! On this day, September 9, 1999, at 9 minutes and 9 seconds past 9 o'clock, in the True Parents' seventy-ninth year, I have made a clear pathway so that everything can now be liberated which has been bound by Satan through the Fall, both in hell and heaven, on earth and in the spirit world, which tied the spiritual and physical worlds to the realm of the number nine, Satan's number of perfection, and which has been confounding heaven and earth.
This liberation couldn't be manifested even from our time in the womb. The unified ideal did not come into being. Through the lineages of the union between men and women, it should have been connected in the experience of childhood, life with siblings, engagement, matrimony, parenthood and grandmother and queen. Satan blocked this by creating the boundary between the mind and body, resulting in barriers on every level from the period of gestation through the periods of childhood, siblings, engagement, matrimony, parenthood, grandparenthood and even right of kingship. Unification Church members clearly understand that these truths gave rise to a history of conflict between good and evil, in which many of those belonging to the realm of Abel on God's side shed their blood. It has been a history of anguish wherein the connection with God's lineage that was defiled cannot be regained unless Cain is brought to submission by Abel; then Abel would recover of the right of the eldest son of God's kingdom and naturally the children of the satanic world would submit in the position of the second son.
Because everything which arose from the false parents comes under the number nine, the numbers one to nine are loathed by Heaven. You persevered in providential history to clear up Satan's number, the number nine, through the practice of tithing, in the Old Testament Age…
The significance of tomorrow, the tenth day of the month, is that this number ten allows us to pass into the year 2000 from the year 1999. Then God can restore unhindered the physical world vertically from the individual to the family, tribe, people, nation and world, and connect it to the spirit world. (303-253, 1999.9.9)
Now, centering on 9.9. Jeol, you need to give the Offering of Total Indemnity. This offering is to be made for the ceremony of liberation and dissolution of anguish. The ceremony of liberation should be performed to dissolve God's anguish and liberate Him. You should realize that the Offering of Total Indemnity will also liberate the cosmos and yourself.
After the proclamation of 9.9. Jeol on September 9, 1999, then as of September 14 at quarter past seven in the morning, we have entered the era in which we will pray in our own names instead of in the name of True Parents as we have been doing until now. In this era of cosmic unity and liberation, we are entering the era of freedom and autonomy in the environment of the fourth Adam. (304-154, 1999.10.10)
Then, what is the purpose of offering objects? It is to open a way for people to go through all things that are sacrificed in order to become true people. From this perspective, today when we received a Day of All Things, you must understand how much contribution all things made for the restoration of humankind. When the time is ripe, on behalf of God, you should have a loving heart to cry for them with love, embracing them, and saying, "Thank you so much for your sacrifices for us."
Even a piece of paper is part of our ancestors' offering objects that were prepared by their sweat and blood. Therefore, knowing this, you should embrace it with loving heart. When you treat the creation with heart, you do not indifferently pass by even a piece of paper discarded on the street, you can become their true master. They will be grateful to you for becoming a bridge to God's love, and will say that they are finally relieved from the pain and bitter grief that was caused by being sacrificed throughout history. You should become the kind of people who can live with such realm of the creation as your surrounding environment. Then you can finally become descendants with qualifications to inherit the fruits of your ancestors who sacrificed the creation and the fruits of countless religious people who were sacrificed themselves. This you must clearly understand. (166-71)
Since offering objects were created earlier than humans, they are in the position of Cain, and humans are in the position of Abel. From this view, centered on the principle of Cain and Abel, offering objects and humans should be united. Otherwise, God cannot accept the offerings. (Spiritual Leader Pt. 1 -- 134, 1975.1.1)
I would say to the money: "If your master or owner offers a tithe with joy, all of you can go beyond the level of a family, you will be connected to a nation and thus become a bridge in the world." Everyone should make an offering with money. Then, the money will be liberated. Money complains: "No one has made an offering with money so far, connecting it to God." Rev. Moon would say: "Then, our fundraising members will go to make such an offering thorough their fundraising activities. Just wait for them." Then, they would reply: "Yes, yes, we will."
Well, when you fundraise, even if someone swears at you, you should never avoid him or her. Nor should you complain about it. That is an attitude of a person who prepares an offering. By so doing, everyone should shed blood. Money sheds blood too. Who makes that happen? It is you, or rather all of us.
Then the question is where can we collect money? It can be from beggars, the president or the First Lady, criminals, successful people, janitors, thieves, etc.
By so doing, we resurrect the moneys to be good from evil ones. Then, we can no longer make it our own. Once an offering is made, it belongs to the chief priest who conducted the offering. The person who made an offering should not touch even one penny out of it. The ownership is determined after the offering is made. Money, what is it? It is supposed to be an offering that should be used for the world and God.
Well, since money represents all things, only when we have such heart, can a way for all things to go to the Kingdom of Heaven be finally open, without lamentations. If you fail to do this, what happens? The family that does not use money properly will perish. The same goes with a nation. If you misuse money, all kinds of things will happen in your life. Therefore, you should not fight because of money. Even if I (Rev. Moon) do not help you, you should not think: "Uh, why isn't Father helping me, using all money that I made from fundraising?" Just do not ask for money back after making an offering. It is not proper. If the money is used for a higher purpose, that is all that matters. It will not be used for a low purpose. I mean that I do not need to use it for you. (125-188)
Once an offering is made, it belongs to the chief priest who conducted the offering. The person who made an offering should not touch even one penny out of it. The ownership is determined after the offering is made. Money, what is it? It is supposed to be an offering that should be used for the world and God…Money represents all things. (150-306)
Now Unification members understand the responsibility of indemnity, right? You should go through the indemnity course. So why do you go fundraising? [Father talks to one person], what education did you receive about this? (It is a practical education in which we can use what we learned about the Principle in fighting against Satan.) Is that how it is explained? Why do you need to do witnessing and fundraising? (It is a condition for the restoration of all things.) What will you do after restoring all things? (We are responsible to restore people in the fallen world, but also to return all things to God.) What is the human responsibility? We need to restore all things because God needs things He can possess as He tries to re-create us. God tries to re-create fallen people but He needs things within his authority. You have not taught them this, right? What does this mean? Because of the fall, there is no material through which God can re-create me. Everything is given over to Satan. So I return the material to God, and through this I become re-created. By offering the material for my recreation, I establish the condition that I am recreated. Where is this material? It is possessed by all households and all people… Your sincere efforts are expressed in terms of money… You find all things in the world and bring them to God…
God tried to create the original land and me, and yet through the fall original man and original land were lost. So we should find it with blood and sweat. This is possible because it is Parents' order. Since there is nothing with which God can re-create you, you find the material and bring it to God so that He can use it as a soil to create you, the Adam and Eve. He will mold you again out of the soil. You are doing economic activities in order to establish such a material condition. Do you understand it? (Yes) It is not to make money. You have to go fundraising. (133-159)
Making an offering for the maintenance of the church after dealing with your own expenses first sounds extremely good, but it is bad. Making an offering to God should be the first priority in life, before thinking of your own life. Thinking that you are offering a percentage of your income can easily lead to a habit of putting your life first, before God. If God is placed as a second priority, He will later end up being in the last place. Do you think it will become like that or not? (96-101, 1978.1.2)
When you do the work of restoring the cosmos and saving humankind, making a few dollars is not important. God's circumstances are piteous and absurd. It becomes significant when you say that you are offering this money to God. One reason is that this money is not simply a penny but has God's heart infused into it. Second, it is like an offering which could be a substitute for all things. You must be able in this way to say that I am offering my heart and my mind a thousand fold, ten thousand fold, a billion fold. Even if it is only a penny, my heart should be filled with billions of hearts when offering it. In that way you should be able to say, "When You, God, receive my offering, please give Your blessing." Do you know the nobility and holiness of the place on which you will stand if you offer with this kind of thinking? (Blessing Pt. 2 -- 35-36)
The Unification Church is not fundraising in order to make money, but to restore and love all things. Thus, the money you make before marriage is used for saving the world and for missionaries. We are saying that we use the money we make before marriage for the world. We should scatter it like seeds. Thus if I don't have money after marriage, I can harvest it from where I sowed my seeds. (Blessing Pt. 2 -- 33)
When looking into tithing in Christianity, we come to realize something fearful in tithing. Some Biblical verses support the idea of tithing, teaching people to offer one out of ten to God. Some people might ask: "Is God visible? What is a tithe for?" But it means that we can go as far as ten by paying one. For example, suppose that you killed cows, pigs, and prepared all kinds of things to celebrate your parents' birthday or the special 60th birthday, or even the King's birthday. Do you eat all of the food yourself? No. Your parents or king would accept the offering, but what they actually eat only a small portion of it. Still, a condition that they ate all of it is made through the offering.
Likewise, by offering a tithe from your material possessions, you can make a condition that you offered that you have. Although you do not offer the whole, offering a portion with all of your heart and mind is valuable in that sense. By offering one, the rest of nine can be also considered to be holy. The person who tithes will never perish. As days go by, his storage room will be filled with more material possessions and blessings. (31-239)
When you make an offering, do you offer the first one or a leftover? [The first one.] Why so? In Korea, when a sacrificial offering is made at a shaman temple, do they kill a female cow or a male one? None of you do know about it. When you look back at the history of Greece or Rome, they initially sacrificed animals as offering objects, but later, they also used humans for offerings. You know the story of Shim Chung. At the time of making an offering, was the offering object a female or a male? [A female.] Why? When thinking of this, it coincides with the fall taught in the Principle. Why should it be pure? It is so because we must bring a pure one from Satan's world. Who took the first one from the Heaven's world? Was it Satan? Right? [Yes.] When you make a special offering to God, the offering object should be pure. That is how you can build a relationship with God. You should not use leftovers for that purpose.
For this reason, when you tithe, it should be the purest one with your sincere heart and mind invested in it. That is what the offering object is supposed to be. If we talk about this, it will be endless. Anyhow, you must understand that an offering object should be pure. Suppose that you are going to offer a son as an offering object. Would offer a son whom you dislike or who is hopeless? Such a son is not qualified to be an offering object. But he should be the best son whom you love the most. Why? Because an offering object is instead of yourself. (48-85)
That is the habit that you should build in your daily life. The first and the purest one that you obtain should be offered to God. If not, God will not be present. At the place where no fresh, new one is present, neither can God be present.
That is what you must understand. You should not use leftovers for an offering. That is defiled. Nevertheless, if you do, those whose eyes are spiritually open by the grace of God would recognize it immediately. That is why you are asked not to go such a defiled place.
When you make a donation on Sunday at the church, if children say: "Mommy, daddy, money for donation, please," would you say, handing a bill: "Here it is for your Sunday school?" Is God a beggar? Is He? Is the church minister a beggar too? The church and a minister should not be treated that way. In the last days, everyone has to offer his or her material that have been kept deep in the safe. If you want to offer money, you should prepare a safe from now on. As the harvested grains are stored into the barn in fall, you should save donation money, tithes, separately in the safe. And one year later, for some reason, if you cannot offer it to God, your children and relatives should collect money together, and with sincerity and love, they should make that offering to God. (166-71)
When you make a donation, you should not use leftover money after purchasing something to eat. That money is defiled. Further, God would not be present with the donation that is made out of change after you purchased things at the market. (48-86)
From now on, you need to tithe not only your material but also your time. It is no longer only the material like in the past. If you have ten family members, one family member should be offered on behalf of your entire family. You should keep such a standard. In the future, the Unification Church members must not skip tithing. Those who do not tithe cannot be considered to be church members. Tithing is a duty, a heavenly duty. If you deviate from such a realm of life, it is not right.
Today, we are walking the course of restoration in the position of being related to two nations: Satan's nation -- where we are living -- and the nation to come. During the process of being freed from the satanic world, since we are in the position of being related to two worlds, we need to pay taxes to a country where we were physically born, for example, Korea. Right? We also tithe to the heavenly kingdom. As the number that represents Heaven, tithes are not offered for our physical nation, but are offered for the chief priest of the tribe, and for the people who are serving the role of the chief priest.
Today, we who are in the position of going over the providence of restoration should be determined not only to fulfill the condition of donating one-tenth of our income but up to three-tenths of our income. One-third should be offered to your nation, the second third, to the people of the world, and the last third to the heavenly kingdom. People who are responsible for the establishment of the heavenly kingdom should never violate the condition of tithing. You should be committed to this. At the same time, you should meet all the duties of filial piety.
Even when you eat a bowl of noodles, you should not eat alone. As a person who attends Heavenly Father, if you do not feel comfortable to eat alone, but suffer from your financial difficulties, you should say: "I am sorry to eat alone in front of you who are now with me," and offer even a penny as a condition that you are first serving God who is with you. That is the kind of life-style that you should lead. Even when you buy clothes, the same is applied. (Spiritual Leader Pt. 1 -- 144-145)
Tithing is a basic duty of the chosen children. When you offer the portion of the number one, that is, the number of God, you set up the condition of having offered the portion of the number nine. Therefore, you must think more of this one-tenth than of the remainder. (The Way -- 369)
Until now, you may have thought that if you did a certain amount, you were all right. However, although you've met Teacher, there is a distance between you and me. It is a mistake to think that everything is solved only by meeting the parents. As does God, Teacher also has responsibility on the earth -- not to throw away everything that I have as a beggar in a wanderer's position, but to stand in the position of God desiring a filial son. We should be in the position to find the enemy and restore his children and his wealth, as did Jacob. Without doing this, after returning to the original place, you have no honor in front of God, and you must know that you cannot receive the blessing. (Blessing Pt. 1 -- 280)
From now on, if you have a family, you should have a room for True Parents, and if you have farming land, you should keep a piece of land for them. By so doing, whenever you farm, you should use seeds that are harvested from the Father's land.
Amongst Israelites, a tribe called Levi lived with tithes collected from its people. Likewise, you should do the same. As the Unification Church members, in leading a life of attendance for God and True Parents, tithing is absolutely essential. If you consider all money as your own, Satan will invade. The reason is that the number nine (3 x 3) has been governed by Satan so far. On the earth where Satan is the master under his dominion, if the number nine is returned and connected to God, He can restore the number 10, through which God can claim His dominion over everything including the number nine from the realm of Satan. That is why the terms, tithe came into being. Do you think that it came randomly for no reason? (150-299)
Because our blood became stained, blood had to be extracted from the sacrifices. That is why one must cut sacrificial offerings in half. One must divide offerings into God's side and Satan's side. However, God's side is only one part out of ten in this world. Nine parts out of ten belong to Satan. In Oriental philosophy, the number nine means "bad." Satan took more than two thirds of this world and God has less than one third. Out of that one third, less than thirty percent-even less than ten percent-belongs to God. That is why people are asked to offer a ten-percent tithe. That is why the ten-percent tithe is a must in your life of faith. You must take great care of the things you use in your day-to-day life. With a sincere heart towards your possessions, you must offer ten percent of the money you make monthly as a pure offering. When you receive your monthly salary, if the money you receive is not in new bills, you should go to the bank and change them to new bills. You should offer new bills as your offering in church.
Those who offer their ten-percent tithe with sincerity will never perish. Heavenly fortune will always follow those people. Satan cannot remain with them. That is why you need to tithe ten percent. In your life of faith, you need to offer your heart as well as your possessions. You must offer the most precious things you have from your possessions. You must offer the most precious materials as representing your own life. You must offer the most precious thing or the thing you love the most before God. For a woman, her rings, diamonds, gold and other jewels don't belong to her. Ten percent of them belong to God. The remaining ninety percent doesn't belong to her either. She should leave them behind to her nation and the world. (Public Venue, 2002.4.4)
Until now, although God desired to re-create humans, because no conditions were made by them through which He could claim His ownership over material, He just could not do it. What is the material condition through which God can claim His ownership? At the time of creating Adam and Eve, God extracted all of the essence from all things both in heaven and on earth. Then, they belonged to God. However, due to the Fall, all of them became Satan's. Then, how can they be restored as God's? It can be done through indemnity conditions. By making indemnity conditions for re-creation, by investing all of your hearts and minds, you should take them back from Satan's realm.
For this to be done, throughout history, a condition of tithing has been required. Based on that foundation, you should pay the price for your own blood. Jesus did it, along with making indemnity conditions. Unless you can make a condition that can bring unity with God's heart, by offering blood, sweat and tears, you cannot do it.
What is Satan? First, Satan thinks of himself. He is self-centered. Second, he has a concept of his own ownership. Third, he is self-centered on love. These are the three elements that Satan has.
For indemnity conditions, things are required. The reason we are supposed to tithe lies here. The number nine is a number of the fallen world, and the number 10 is a number to liberate it from Satan, as God's number. (10-217)
Ladies and gentlemen, do you like tests? [No.] Still, you need them, right? [Yes.] What if you do not have them? Those who did not pass the tests are useless. They are just useless. The more you pass difficult tests, the better person you shall become. Now, I am almost done with today's sermon. Further, you also want me to finish soon, right? Well, we need persecution. In the fallen world, without persecution, you cannot return (to God). Do you understand?
Tithing is a way to restore the persecution from material. If you do not tithe, the number nine will accuse you. The persecution of material. . . Do you understand what I am trying to say? One tenth of material is an offering object. Offering object. It become the most precious offering object. Do you understand?
All of the offering objects should be pure, without experiencing first love yet. In the olden days, a virgin female was sacrificed as an offering object, right? The first love. You should offer the first love to God. You should be connected to God through the first love. Next, centered on material offering objects, we should surrender here, following the protocols of Cain and Abel.
The era of material offerings was the Old Testament Age. Then, what comes next? The New Testament Age was an era in which people were sacrificed as offerings. In the Old Testament Age, blood was shed, and also in the New Testament Age. The difference is that the former was that of animals, and the latter, that of people. Now is a time to shed blood of heart. Blood of heart. Blood of heart. Isn't it strange? We are in such an era. Right? That is why the Unification Church members suffer in their hearts. Although we did not do anything wrong, why? (107-292)
You should not use leftovers for sacrificial offerings. Leftovers are defiled. A person of grace would immediately recognize it. That is why I prevent you from going to impure places. (30-133, 1970.3.21)
You make donations to me, but I do not receive it. My policy is not to receive. What did you do to get that money before making that donation? Unless I know that, and stand in a position where I am not ashamed of it, I cannot receive it. Since I have such a mentality, God desires to give and give more. (51-276, 1971.11.28)
If you value your own personal property more than the public's, you are violating heavenly law. If you value your personal integrity more than public integrity, it is against heavenly law. (51-291, 1971.11.28)
Today, what would you call the way of collecting donations in most Christian churches? They circulate bags for the donations. In the Unification Church, do you receive donations in that fashion? Do you collect using some kind of mesh strainer? Before people leave, you should place the donation boxes at the entrance. People will donate as an act of devotion and expression of your gratitude for having received grace from God. Those who do not want to donate will avoid those boxes. Heaven does not want such trifling sums of money. It must be money offered with devotion. You should not just donate the money you find in your mother's or father's pocket. You should keep the donation money for three days as sanctification and then offer it. Why are you thinking of donating an amount that is not even worth a meal for lunch? You should be offering your entire life's assets. (166-319, 1987.6.14)
You should offer something pure in which you have invested your utmost devotion as a tithe. That is a sacrificial offering. Sacrificial offerings should be something pure. Why is this so? It is because an offering is something that takes your place. (48-85, 1971.9.5)
Since Sunday is a tithing day, it is not our personal day. It is a day when we need to obey, according to God's command. To use this day, which belongs to God, in whatever manner you please is a sin. One of your children should be offered to God. If not, you should educate someone else's child as if he or she is your own, and offer that child to God.
Even when you are eating a bowl of noodles, you should not eat alone. If you feel ashamed for eating alone as a person attending Heavenly Father, you should establish a condition of being with the Father by saying, "I am sorry to be eating alone in the presence of God who is with me." You should live with the heart of always treating the parents first. When you buy clothes, you should not do so only for yourself. You should live in this way. (150-218, 1961.4.15)
Our every action on such a foundation of principled order will be linked to the whole purpose and to eternity; it will not disappear but remain forever. (152-219, 1963.5.15)
You will never starve if you can tithe with sincere devotion. As a rule, your descendants will never suffer for want of material things. Invest your devotion in offering tithes; this is the essence of faith. Just offering it in a mediocre way will not work. An offering is something that you offer on behalf of your life. That is why you should offer the thing that is most important to you. (63-338, 1972.10.22)