Unification Family Life

by Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When we look at the official name of our church, it is "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity."

"The Unification of World Christianity" means that we will unify world Christianity. Next, in "the Holy Spirit Association," the Holy Spirit is included, but the Holy Spirit is not part of the world of man. It's part of the spirit world.

It means that on the foundation of the unification of world Christianity, works of the Holy Spirit will occur. Then if we remove the Holy Spirit, what happens? We are just the same as any established church. If we take the Holy Spirit out of "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity," we would have "The Association for the Unification of World Christianity." If we take out the Holy Spirit, nothing would work. (168-241)

The official name of our Unification Church is "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity." What kind of Association? The Holy Spirit Association. It is not the Association of the Divine Principle. The origin is different. If the Holy Spirit is not there, unification cannot occur. (68-169)

What Church is this here? The Unification (Tongil) Church! What church? The Unification (Tongil) Church? The Oneness Church (Dongil) is nice, too, using the "Just one" "Dong" Chinese character. Because that character (Dong) also means being able to become one, it is similar. In Seoul there is a Oneness (Dongil) Church. Once I received a newspaper which came to the Tongil (Unification) Church, but it was for the Dongil (Oneness) Church. And I got to thinking, "Yes, the Dongil (Oneness) Church is similar to the Tongil (Unification) Church." Don't you agree?

With the "just one" "Dong" character and the "one" "It" character together the meaning is similar to becoming one together. But, when "becoming one together," each can have different assertions. When one becomes one together, one can have different assertions. "Dongil" "becoming one together," that kind of unified church is different. It is a horizontal relationship. The meaning of unification "Tongil" is not that. The meaning of unification "tongil" is: if it's not you it's me. What does that mean? It means there cannot be two. What the "tong" character means is "to lead." It's leading. There is subjectivity in it. What church are we? The Unification (Tongil) Church! If we are the Unification Church, does that mean we should unify only Christianity? We must unify all. If we say Unification Church, then all must be unified. That's the relationship. (157-114)

The name Unification is an excellent name. The word "Unification" (Tongil) means to lead into oneness. The group which teaches leading into oneness is the Unification Church. But it does not lead and teach from a position armed with guns and knives. We must realize that the original source of unification appears from becoming a subject who can lead and teach with a heart of love, and with blood, sweat and tears, from a position which ordinary people cannot help but sympathize with. And by appearing as the subject who can teach and demonstrate that, one can become part of the group of the Unification Church which is proper to the original nature.

In order to stand in this position, Reverend Moon of the Unification Church is not enough. And in order to stand in such a position, Reverend Moon of the Unification Church does not go on an individual standard as an individual; he must go on a world standard as a representative of the world. On the foundation of the victory of the individual, the family also must represent that kind of position. And the church must do the same. In accordance with the church, the nation must do the same. And when the world does the same in accordance with the nation, the heaven of happiness will come to the earth. We team this through the teachings of the Principle. (63-250)

Today the Unification Church is charged with the responsibility to make progress towards the realm of the hope of history by linking Christianity into a new world level. Therefore, the thought of the Unification Church must unite world Christianity into one. This can be concluded. Do you understand? Why are the words "Unification of World Christianity" used? One person that I know well said to me, "Reverend Moon, why did you use the words 'World Christianity' and open yourself up to such opposition? Why don't you just take those words out?"

Who would oppose taking out the words "World Christianity"? Because we put the words "World Christianity" in the very forefront, the Christians, the ministers and elders are all saying, "Unite world Christianity?" Maybe if Reverend Moon had the foundation of several nations of the world or a foundation like the Roman Emperor, but a useless fellow like him is going to untie world Christianity. When they think about that, if they think about it in the morning, it upsets them; if they think about it at lunch time, it upsets them; if they think about it in the evening, it upsets them; if they think about it while sleeping, it upsets them; and if they dream about it, it upsets them. Then they ask, "Why unite Christianity?"

Throughout the historical periods until now, for thousands of years the Christians have fought and have divided into three or four hundred denominations. With what can they be united? With guns and swords? Have you learned anything? With what are you going to unite them? By guns, by violence, by dictatorial skills? By standing in such a position and asking what and how, they spread various kinds of strange rumors. So what the unification of world Christianity means is being unified by the Holy Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit Association. Do you understand? It is not bringing unification by the fist; it is not bringing unification by guns or swords. Through what will we unify? It is the Holy Spirit.

Then what is the Holy Spirit? If you mispronounce Holy Spirit (Shillyung) a bit, it sounds like ability (shillyuk). But it's not ability (shillyuk), it's the Holy Spirit (shillyung). So by what will we bring unification? It cannot be done by man's strength alone. This is only possible if the spirit world moves. But it is more difficult to get the spirit world to move than the world of the earth.

To get humankind to move there must be some content which can inspire them to move. Then to get spirit world to move there must also be some content which inspires them to move. What is that content? It is the unification of Christianity. It is simple. To unify Christianity, all the content of Christianity which could not unify should be removed, and all the content which can unify should be left. Then unification will come. It's easy to say that, isn't it? If all the things which cannot unite are removed and all the things which can unite are left, then unification is bound to come.

Because of that, here we can conclude that a new view must come into existence, a new system of truth which the whole Christian world does not have, a system of the Bible which can connect the truth from the Old Testament through the New Testament and in the future. That view must be the view which God and the spirit world have. If you want to receive the help of the spirit world, God must come forth and say He will help. If God is the Lord of the spirit world and the Lord is saying, "Hmmmm," no matter how much the lower beings say they will help, nothing can be done.

If the Lord God is excited and says, "Yes, that's right! My time has come!," when He feels that good about something, all the lower beings in the spirit world can follow and unite. If God is opposed, the spirit world cannot help. When in the center of His heart God appraises the essence of the Old and New Testaments, He needs to feel something that would make Him say, "Oh, that guy is right. That Unification Church is all right." Then it is for sure that the content which can move the spirit world must be something centered on God, and next it must be something which the numerous saints and religious leaders who have come to and left this earth long for and desire for it to be so.

For Buddha that content is such and such which is found in the Buddhist Holy Scriptures which he advocated, and if it is the Confucius of Confucianism, or if it is Jesus, and to Jesus or any of them we say, "Your teaching was such and such, but shouldn't this lacking point here be this way?," then all of them must say, "Yes." It must pass through the test of their saying "It is so. It is so." Does that seem right?

So what can be a problem here, centered on the religion of the son which can represent the wills of all the religions through the Old and New Testaments. . . That religion of the son has passed through the religion of servants and the religion of adopted sons. At the same time that they can be connected, through the religion of the son and through the realm of the religion of the parents up to the world of spirit and God, we want to officially recognize one form of one system. When that happens world Christianity could not be automatically unified. [Yes, it could!] When we look at it like that, world Christianity can be united. Since we say it can be done, if we add a little more confidence to it, it will be done. Based on this content, we made our name The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. You should know that. If we say, "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification" and "World Christianity," then we have "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity." It is a Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of Christianity. That's how we see it. Some people think of it as a "Unification Association," but if we remove the World Christianity and call it a Unification Association, what good is it? But it's not that Unification Association. It's the Unification of World Christianity. What kind of association for unity? It's the Holy Spirit Association. (113-96)

The Unification Church is "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity." So we need the Holy Spirit. How good would it be if we took out the Holy Spirit? Some people ask, "Why does the Unification Church put out such strange rumors?" That is because we put in the Holy Spirit. So people call us things like a phantom troop. They say, "What's the Holy Spirit? They're a bunch of phantom lovers." Well, there are phantoms. And there are ways for phantoms to go.

A phantom refers to a person who is unlimited in his transformations. They say I'm like a phantom, don't they? Calling someone a phantom refers to their unlimited ability to change. When the results of a group's actions don't seem to follow what came before, they are called a band of phantoms. People refer to it in that way. There are such phantom-like spirits, but if there is a spirit who has a crown and lives in a much more beautiful way than humankind, then humankind should follow that spirit. It's like that. Those kinds of spirits are in the good realm of spirit world. And the king of those kinds of spirits is called God. Things must be organized like that. (168-250)

What is the unification of world Christianity? Through what can it be unified? It shall be unified by the Holy Spirit, unified by the Holy Spirit of the father-son relationship. What is that Holy Spirit? What does that ghost-like being do? The Holy Spirit is the one who can bring about harmony between the spirit world and the world of humankind centered on love. Do you understand?

The issue is not for the Holy Spirit to make a blind person see. It is not to make the deaf hear. Christianity of today says that there is nothing that the Omniscient Almighty God cannot do. He can tell the lame to get up and walk, but that is nothing. God doesn't need those things. The Holy Spirit of love, you should know that the Holy Spirit is a Holy Spirit of love. In the Bible is says that you should worship in spirit and in truth.

What truth is that? It's not some truth from the Pythagorean theorem of physics. It's not some principle of Newton. It's not that kind of truth. It's the truth of love. What is the highest truth of the truth of love? It is the love between a father and his sons and daughters. We must see it as that. What God needs is not money, not power, not knowledge. God needs love. Why does He need love? God created humankind because if He was to feel joy, He absolutely needed an object.

Because man was created as the object of joy of God, although man is a part of the creation, the realm of man's value in terms of love is on a par with God's realm. We must understand this. The Christians of today say, "the things of creation come after the Lord of creation," but they should stop talking nonsense. Then why did God create all the things of creation? We have to understand that clearly. What is the Holy Spirit Association? [Love] What kind of love? The love of the parent and child. It is the realization of harmony centered on the love of the parent-child relationship.

If that harmony comes into existence, even if it spreads only a little on earth, its ripple effect is cosmic. In the case of electricity, or a broadcasting station, no matter how small it may be, the signals it sends go out into the universe. It's just that they are weak, but they are sent out into the universe. In the same way, even if the realm of the harmony of love is small, it has content which can connect with the whole universe. You should know this. (113-103)

All of the things of the universe are created in give and take relationships. This flag symbolizes the fact that the cosmos is ordered with God at the center the same way that the solar system where humankind is living is centered on the sun.

The center part of this flag symbolizes that all the parts of our ideal are connected. Centered on this, 12 lines are drawn radiating outward; among them, the four thick lines represent the four directions. In order for a being to establish its center, the four directions must be established. That is to say, that is the four position foundation.

Next the 12 lines represent the months of the year centered on the four directions. This revolves through the give and take relationship. Looked at as a whole, it represents the helm of a ship. This shows that we must steer the cosmos. In this way, within the flag is included everything of our ideal principle of creation. Originally a flag represents a nation. At present this flag represents our Unification Church, but our ideal is not just our church; it is all the hope of history, the unique world of hope of the present and the future, the world connected to God's heart, the one world realizing God's purpose of creation and that glorious day. Our flag also symbolizes that.

Accordingly, always keep this flag in your heart. It also symbolizes that the person who is living together with the heart of God has the strength to overcome all the trials and treacherous forces of Satan. Therefore if you believe and go forth with courage, wherever you go together with this flag, God will do works for you. (15-7)