International Conferences for Clergy

QUESTION: 1. Why would the angels not accept God's children? Why would God create Adam and Eve, when the angels had not sinned also? Did the angels have free will? Did God not have enough love for the angels, and all things?

ANSWER: Lucifer wanted a dominion centered on himself. The angels fell after Lucifer fell with Eve and then Eve with Adam. The sin of the angels was roughly around the time just before the flood.

Yes, the angels had a limited free will and responsibility. The angels had to fulfill a responsibility to obey God's word not to eat the fruit and like Adam and Eve they had the possibility to fall. The angels would not receive perfect complete love until after the perfection of Adam and Eve.

QUESTION: 2. If Adam and Eve had not fallen, would their children have been born perfect incapable of falling?

ANSWER: Their children would be born under the same pure condition to which Adam and Eve were born, that is... sinless. Like Adam and Eve, though they would have to fulfill the growing period by faith in the word of God (given to them by their parents). Therefore, the possibility that one or more of their children could fall is possible. The implication and consequences of the fall of one of their children or descendants would be far less than that of the fall of the first human ancestors. Had Adam and Eve not fallen, then in perfection they, as perfect God centered parents, would bare the authority to forgive sin on the earth. God centered parents would be able to serve a Christ function for any errant children. The disaster represented in the fall of the first human ancestors is that in their fall there was no mediator for the retribution of their sin and thus God had to conduct an arduous historical dispensation to bring such a figure into the world.

QUESTION: 3. Why didn't Adam ask God's forgiveness? Wouldn't God have forgiven him or did he feel Adam had to work for his forgiveness? If so what was expected from him?

ANSWER: The problem for Adam was not just that he needed forgiveness, but that he needed regeneration. The fall was not only a sin, but it was also a change of lineage, from life to death. That being so, Adam needed a messiah through which to be reborn. This is why all sinners cannot just ask for God's forgiveness without the channel of Christ.

QUESTION: 4. Please clarify your reference to Gen. 6:6 and the sorrow of God.

ANSWER: God was sorry that He had made man on earth because man did not do what God had intended for him. Adam and Eve should not have eaten the fruit and died, they should have remained faithful and live. If so, they would have established the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and in Spirit. God was sorry, not because God was remiss in some area, but because as a parent, He was grieved beyond measure at the sin of man, so much so that He regretted even the very act of creation. The sin of Adam and Eve caused the postponement of the fulfillment of God's original will.

QUESTION: 5. Why did Adam have to suffer for the act of his wife?

ANSWER: Because he disobeyed God in the same way as Eve. See Gen. 3:17

QUESTION: 6. Was God present with Adam and Eve in the garden? Was their disobedience a result of them not loving God enough?

ANSWER: Adam and Eve both enjoyed a deep and personal relationship with God, even in their growing years. Their relationship with God, was not a complete and perfectly mature relationship at that point. Their relationship was based on a condition: that they keep faith in the commandment. If they had kept this condition they would have continued to grow until they entered into the realm of the unconditional, unchanging relationship with God, that would be impervious to temptation and sin. This is the meaning of eating from the Tree of Live.

QUESTION: 7. If Adam and Eve had not fallen, would they have reached a perfected state in which they had an unconditional relationship with God? (as opposed to the conditional relationship during the growth stage). And, if they had reached that perfected state, would their children have automatically been born into that state or would each generation (each individual) need to go through that growth process and make the choice for themselves using their own free will in the context of real responsibility with the possibility of failure?

ANSWER: Each generation, though born without sin, would still have to fulfill a responsibility to complete their growth to perfection. The fall was so disastrous because it was the fall of the first human ancestors. Had Adam and Eve perfected themselves and given birth to sinless children, even if one of the children failed in their responsibility, it could be comparatively easy to indemnify (correct, restore) through their parents (perfected Adam and Eve) who could fulfill a Christ-like role for their errant children. Therefore, had Adam and Eve been perfected, even if one of their descendants sinned, it would not multiply to a sin heritage in that the parents could resolve sin in an immediate context.

The fall of Adam and Eve, however, did begin a sin heritage, because they were in the position of the first human ancestors. Thus, when they sinned, there was no one on earth who could mediate for their sin. The goal of history, since Adam's fall, was to reestablish the position of First Ancestor who could mediate for the sin of Adam's descendants. This figure would be the new Adam, the living Adam, the Christ.

QUESTION: 8. Is it really possible that the entire human race came from one man and one woman?

ANSWER: That the entire human race descended from an original pair of ancestors is not as far-fetched as many scientists believe. As a matter of fact, recent genetic research has revealed interesting parallels with regard to the Genesis story. However, we must be clear on the truest intent and central point of the Genesis story. It is not seeking to explain the process of man's origin, as it is seeking to explain that man's origin is linked to God. That heritage was to begin in a central point with a chosen man and woman. The process that God used in creation I would expect would not be inconsistent with scientific truths, which also were authored by God. However, as long as certain scientists refuse to consider the spiritual origin of creation, the mysteries of the universe remain as such (to them). The reason Christians must emphasize the truth of man's common ancestors relates centrally and fundamentally to the issue of salvation and the essential role of Christ in the lives of sinners...."By the transgression of the one man, Adam, was death for all.... and so by the righteousness of the one man, Christ, is life for all", "As in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive (1 Cor. 15:22). If indeed man did not have a common ancestry, some of us, by birth, would be able to escape the heritage of the original sin, and thus the need for the salvation by Christ. Such a false assertion would, of course, be subversive to the message of Christ.

QUESTION: 9. 1Timothy 2:14 says that Eve was deceived into eating the fruit, but Adam was not. How can you say that Adam was deceived.

ANSWER: Paul's intent in 1Timothy 2:14 is not to absolve Adam of the blame for the fall. Clearly Paul holds Adam centrally responsible in 1Cor 15:22, as does God in Gen 3:17-19. The bottom line is not who was deceived and who was not, but rather, who had responsibility and who failed. Adam and Eve were given the responsibility to obey God's commandment not to eat the fruit and they failed.

QUESTION: 10. Adam and Eve were called to obedience and not to abstain from sex. The sin of Adam and Eve was the sin of disobedience. Comment?

ANSWER: I agree, but cant here be a disobedience without an act of disobedience? The essence of their sin was disobedience to the word of God through the act of eating the fruit. What then is the meaning of "eating the fruit"...Prov 30:20 gives us insight "this is the way of an adulteress, she eats, wipes her mouth, and says I have done nothing wrong". Before Adam and Eve ate the fruit they were naked and unashamed, but after they ate the fruit they felt shame of their nakedness. Once they gained this "knowledge" God revealed to Eve how she was to bear children, we see that when Adam lays with his wife, the Bible states that Adam "knew" his wife and she did conceive. In the fourth chapter of Song of Songs, Solomon says to his bride, "you are a garden locked up, my sister my bride, you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits..." (to which the bride responds)..."Let my lover come into his garden and taste it's choice fruits".

QUESTION: 11. Adam lived over 900 years. Why did God, during Adam's lifetime sent others to teach man (such as Abel, Enoch). Adam certainly was in concert with God's plan. When faced by the sin of Eve, Adam had to chose between the rest of God's plan, though premature, of multiplying and replenishing the earth. Comment?

ANSWER: Adam did have another option and that was not to fall with Eve and continue his growth to perfection. If he had gone that course, then as the "Tree of Life" he could stand in a Christ position and mediate for Eve's sin. She, through faith in the living Adam, could have been grafted on to the living tree, much in the same way as the woman in Luke 7:47. Had he done that, the True Family could have been restored at that time, with Adam and Eve giving birth to sinless children. Because Adam failed in this area, this becomes in essence the mission of Christ, the Next Adam.

QUESTION: 12. Why didn't Adam and Eve know they were naked before the ate the fruit?

ANSWER: Shame of nakedness is a shame that is indelibly connected to sexual "knowledge". They did not "know" their nakedness because they were unaware of the sexual experience. Has Adam and Eve joined together under the perfection of God's lave, then their sexual experience would not have produced shame. Adam and Eve covered the sexual areas of their bodies which indicates the "knowledge" they received was through sexual experience of which eating the fruit is a symbol (see Gen. 4:1 "to know", Song of Songs 4:12-16 the meaning of fruit, Prov. 30:20 the meaning to "eat".

QUESTION: 13. Wasn't the reason God told them not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because they already had Good, they walked and talked with God daily?

ANSWER: They were good, innocent and flawless. They were not yet mature, however. Maturity is their completion and perfection. They would have to grow toward that ideal. That ideal is represented by "the Tree of Life". In perfection (the Tree of Life) they would be in the unchanging state of relationship to God and therefore, impervious to temptation and sin. They were not to multiply until they became "fruitful" and here again we are talking about the Tree of Life (perfection) because "the fruit of the righteous is a Tree of Life" (Prov. 11:30). Also, we see that the goal of salvation is to regain the right to eat from the Tree of Life (Rev. 2:7, 22:14).

QUESTION: 14. How could Adam's incidental partaking of satan's nature through Eve's transgression make him guilty in any way? God asked him what he had done. His response indicated that he had done something when he said the woman "beguiled me".

ANSWER: Eve giving the "fruit" to Adam means that the sin of lucifer and Eve was repeated with Adam and Eve. Eating the fruit is a symbol for fornication and adultery. Adam is far from being just an innocent bystander in the process of the Original Sin. Adam and Eve received the commandment from God, it was Adam's responsibility to obey that commandment. Not only that, but Adam was to protect and safeguard Eve in her role of faith. Adam's declaration that "the woman beguiled me" is merely a weak attempt to transfer blame from himself (as described in Prov. 30:20). Notice that God does not respond to Adam's claim of innocence and curses him anyway.

QUESTION: 15. How could Adam and Eve exercise personal responsibility, not knowing the difference between good and evil?

ANSWER: They would exercise personal responsibility by keeping faith in the commandment of God not to eat the fruit. Adam and Eve did not have to experience evil in order to become responsible for good. Adam and Eve were to know good and evil by becoming one with the absolute standard of goodness, which is God. By being one with goodness, they would know that anything not in relationship with them would be evil. Anything outside the sphere of relationship with them and God would be fully known without the need to morally experience of commit evil. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve, learned about good and evil the opposite way, that is by becoming one with evil, they fell outside the sphere of relationship with God. That is why they were not permitted to eat from the Tree of Life in that state.

QUESTION: 16. If God created all things, yet you say He did not create satan or evil, where did evil or satan come from? If God created all things good, then would it stand to reason that good of itself is able to corrupt itself?

ANSWER: Satan is the fallen angel Lucifer. God created Lucifer and as an original being of God, was created to be good. Lucifer fell and became the being that we identify with the name satan. So in answer to your question, satan came about when Lucifer fell outside the sphere of God's law and love. Evil is the result of any being that is not in relationship with God. Evil is that which is outside the sphere of God's love and principle.

God created all things good, yes, but He did not create all things in the state of perfection. Adam and Eve had to fulfill a responsibility of faith in the Commandment in order to grow to perfection. That ideal of perfection is symbolized by the Tree of Life. Therefore, in the growing period, God's relationship with Adam and Eve is conditional on faith. If Adam and Eve fail in their responsibility, they will fall outside the sphere of God's law and control. Sadly, this is exactly what took place.

QUESTION: 17. Did God create me? If so, why did God allow me to be born as a sinner?

ANSWER: It was never God's intention that you be born as a sinner. We were born as sinners because of our ancestral affiliation with the first humans, Adam and Eve. If blame is to be meted out, that blame should rest on the shoulders of Adam who was given the responsibility to obey the commandment of God. Through the condition of sinful action on the part of Adam, satan is exerting a viable claim upon man. God, as a just God, will not just pretend that the claim is not there and go on with business as usual. God as a loving God began an immediate providence to bring man out of the state of sin and thus, "...for as in Adam was death for all, so in Christ will all be made alive." Even so, and though God is not willing that anyone should perish but all come to repentance, we must do our part by linking, in faith, to the regenerative powers of Christ. Just as faith in the commandment was an exclusive responsibility of Adam and Eve, likewise the condition of faith in Christ is the sole responsibility of each repentant sinner.

QUESTION: 18. If God has already given Adam and Eve the direction to multiply, then how does fornication according to your view, bring about this Fall?

ANSWER: God told Adam and Eve to multiply. But God states that there is a prerequisite for the multiplication and that is to become "fruitful". The meaning of "fruitful" is that they should first individually perfect their relationship with God before they were to consummate their marriage. They were not yet spiritually mature and therefore were not yet qualified to begin the lineage of God. The Tree of Life is the symbol of the perfection they were seeking (Prov. 11:30 "...the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life"). That ideal has been held back from man since the beginning, but will be returned to us at the Second Coming (see Rev. 22:14). Secondly, the relationship between Adam and Eve that did take also place was a result of the temptation of Lucifer. The relationship between Adam and Eve, passed the nature of sin, Eve had received from Lucifer, to her husband Adam. Together, as fallen parents, they passed the sin on to their children. This was not what God wanted. Adam and Eve should have first become perfect (fruitful) and on that foundation, then multiplied. Had they obeyed this then the children of Adam and all their descendants would be without the nature of sin and death that riled since the fall.

QUESTION: 19. What would have happened to God's plan, if Adam and Eve had not sinned by eating the forbidden fruit?

ANSWER: God's original plan of creation would have been realized. That is Adam and Eve, would fulfill the three blessings and give birth to children who would be born without the taint of sin of the connection to the Devil through the nature of sin. The Kingdom of Heaven would have been set up beginning in Adam's family, multiplying to the society, nation and world. Adam and Eve, by being one with God, the paragon of goodness, they would know completely good and evil. They would know evil without the practical experience of evil. God knows evil, but never experienced evil. God knows evil because He is the absolute standard of goodness. Therefore anything that is not in relationship with God is evil and fully known by God (such as satan). If Adam and Eve had become one with God, their knowledge of good and evil would have been in the same way (that is by being one with perfect goodness and not through the practical experience of evil). By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve's knowledge of evil was contrary to what God had intended. They learned of good and evil by experiencing and becoming one with evil and falling out of the sphere of goodness. It was for this reason that we see in Gen. 6:6 that God's grief is so great that He even regrets that He had crated man on the earth.

QUESTION: 20. According to the Unification Theology, Eve was corrupted by satan in the offering and eating of the fruit. What about Adam's participation? Is Eve (and satan) the only one we have to blame for the corruption of love and the human nature? How did Eve corrupt Adam's nature?

ANSWER: Adam is the primary responsible agent with regard to the fall of man. Adam was not only responsible for his own fall, but he also shared a responsibility for the fall of Eve with Lucifer. Adam, as Eve's intended spouse and elder, should have been more protective of Eve. He failed in this role as well as his own fall, which was a critical factor contributing to Eve's fall.

Eve corrupted Adam in the same way and process of her own corruption. By engaging in fornication with Adam, she passed on the nature of sin she had received via her fornication on the spiritual level with Lucifer. Though Adam and Eve were intended to be husband and wife and to engage in sexual union, that consummation was to take place centering on God after their perfection (and thus: be fruitful...perfection, then multiply). The event of the fall severed God from the consummation of love and the conception of children in absolute purity and thus satan has claimed a dominion over the ensuing lineage of Adam and Eve, which is all mankind.

QUESTION: 21. How could a being of goodness corrupt himself? How can corruption enter into goodness? Also, what is your position on the gift of free will and the gift of choice which God gave to mankind by creating the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

ANSWER: Adam and Eve could corrupt themselves because they were not yet one with God. They were born flawlessly, but not in the state of maturity. Adam and Eve had to grow to gain the qualification to eat from the "Tree of Life". The Tree of Life is a symbol of the ideal of the unchanging eternal state of relationship with God that is indicative of perfection or maturity. Because Adam and Eve were to ultimately became one in love with God, they had to grow in love, to be givers of love. In order to be givers of love, Adam and Eve had to have creativity, freedom and free choice. The basis of freedom is responsibility. Without a role in their self-government (discipline) no being can have freedom. Adam and Eve were given the commandment in order to play a role in their own government and completion (growth to perfection). The fundamental purpose of giving the responsibility of faith in the commandment to Adam and Eve was so that in fulfilling that condition they could form the moral basis for their freedom and ultimate experience as loving beings. Because love, in Adam and Eve, was meant to be genuine, their responsibility had to be genuine. For their responsibility to be genuine, then, the possibility of failure had to be a potential in their role of responsibility. The potential for failure was placed there not so that it would be substantiated, but rather to give validity, credibility to their role of responsibility. It is in this potential for failure that pure beings could be corrupted and transformed into impure beings, in total contradiction to God's purpose for them.

With regard to free choice. As I mentioned, freedom for Adam and Eve is conditional, that is, Adam and Eve can enjoy the benefits of freedom and free choice as long as free choice is subjected to the standard of righteousness (in the garden, it was the commandment). Adam and Eve would have to maintain the condition of faith (their responsibility) in order to maintain the environment of freedom. If they lose faith in the commandment, they will automatically lose the environment of freedom. The loss of freedom results on the rise of uncontrollable excessive desire. The cause of sin is not free choice, but rather the loss of freedom resultant of losing faith in the commandment. It is why all sin has the nature of habit and addiction, making sinners "slaves to sin"....

QUESTION: 22. God being an all wise God and doing all things well and He knew all about Adam, why would He place this temptation on Adam, knowing Adam's weakness? Do you think He wanted these two opposite forces (good and evil) on earth to keep man on the straight and narrow? Can we consider good and evil in the same way as positive and negative, subject and object?

ANSWER: We could not consider Good and Evil to be compliments to each other. We should be careful not to confuse "dual characteristics" with the philosophy of "dualism". In the principle of dual characteristics, the give and take action between subject and object (such as positive and negative) takes place when both the subject and object place priority on the whole. The whole is the pre-existent concept of their oneness. This concept originates and exists in the mind (and therefore in His plan of creation) of God. This is the meaning of the "word". The word is the concept or idea of the perfect relationship between the Father and the Son. Jesus became "the word made flesh". The model of all subject and object relationships in creation then is based after the model of the Father and Son. Good and Evil cannot unite because there is no common higher idea, in the mind of God, of their oneness. Also there could be no relationship of good and evil that would be reflective of the relationship between the Father and the Son. Why God did not stop the fall will be a topic that we take up another day.

QUESTION: 23. The Unificationist view of sin seems to root sin only in feeling of a lack of love. But does not the voice of Scripture indicate that the root of sin is the willful pursuit of selfish desire?

ANSWER: The root of sin lies not in desire but in the failure of Adam and Eve to remain faithful to the commandment of God. Selfish excessive desire is a result of the root of sin. Adam and Eve were given conditional freedom to choose. The condition required by God from Adam and Eve was faith in His word. If Adam and Eve fulfilled this responsibility then they would maintain freedom and free choice. If Adam and Eve relinquished this condition, they would loose freedom and free choice. Thus there is no freedom outside God's law and word. When Eve lost faith in the commandment, the result was the loss of freedom and the subsequent rise of uncontrollable desire. You will notice that Gen. 3 indicates that it was after Eve the redefined commandment that her desire for the fruit increased, that it was pleasing to the eye etc. When Eve loses her connection to the commandment, she loses the condition by which freedom is maintained. As a result she becomes a slave to excessive desire and falls. This is why, all sin has the nature of habit and addiction. Sin destroys freedom and free choice, making us slaves to sin.

QUESTION: 24. Can you tell me how much time was to transpire before Adam would have achieved his position of dominion over the angels? Also how much time transpired from the creation of Adam and Eve until their fall?

ANSWER: No exact chronology is represented in the scripture, which is why all theories of a pre-creation fall of the angel must stand on an alleged "gap" between Gen. 1:1 and 1:2. What is clear is that Adam and Eve were to achieve that position of dominion, but Lucifer sought to raise his throne above the "stars" of God, rejecting that position of the children, pulling them down to come under his dominion ( as he would try to do to Jesus, but was defeated by Christ).

QUESTION: 25. How many children did Adam and Eve have?

ANSWER: The bible mentions three by name: Cain, Abel, Seth, These were the most important figures with regard to God's providence for restoration. Scripture does mention that Adam and Eve did have other children but it does not say how many of what their names were.

QUESTION: 26. In Gen. Chapter 2 it appears that man was first created to till and govern the garden, and loneliness was the reason for woman's creation, not initially to replenish the earth.

ANSWER: The creation of woman is more than an afterthought of the part of God in response to Adam's loneliness. Gen. 1:27 states that God made man in His image and likeness, male and female. In that all things were also created in male and female pairs, we can confidently state that God's plan entailed the creation of women from the very beginning, for it is not good for the man to be alone. The story is however, emphasizing a special role and responsibility that Adam was given by God in relation to his intended wife, Eve.

QUESTION: 27. Do you teach that Adam and Eve did not have sex before Eve sinned with Lucifer? Do you teach that Adam sinned in procreating with Eve? Were both Cain and Abel corrupt?

ANSWER: There is no Biblical evidence that Adam "knew" his wife before they "ate" the "fruit" from the Tree of "Knowledge".

The procreation of a sinful lineage was not the plan of God. However, in spite of Adam's sin, he still had to procreate in order to set the lineage from which ultimately salvation would emerge. The relationship Adam had in eating "the fruit" with Eve was fornication because it passed on the nature of sin that had been imbued to Eve from Lucifer. That sin imbued into Eve, passed on to Adam, is then bequeathed to all of Adam's descendants (Cain and Abel as well as all mankind). Though Abel made a righteous offering and was deemed righteous, he was neither sinless nor free from the need for salvation through Christ, the living Adam ( see Hebrews 11:1-40).

QUESTION: 28. Please clarify your reference to Gen. 6:6 and the sorrow of God.

ANSWER: God was sorry that He had made man on earth because man did not do what God had intended for him. Adam and Eve should not have eaten the fruit and died, they should have remained faithful and live. If so, they would have established the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and in Spirit. God was sorry, not because God was remiss in some area, but because as a parent, He was grieved beyond measure at the sin of man, so much so that He regretted even the very act of creation. The sin of Adam and Eve caused the postponement of the fulfillment of God's original will.

QUESTION: 29. Was Adam and Eve's relationship with God, before the fall, the same as Jesus relationship with God?

ANSWER: Not quite the same. Adam and Eve were still growing and had not achieved the position of True Son and Daughter. Jesus, never sinned, and accomplished fully the position of True Son of God and therefore became the First ancestor of mankind (Hebrews 1:3-5, 5:7-9).

QUESTION: 30. You said that Adam and Eve's death was spiritual not physical (as a result of sin), but sin leads to physical death as well. James chapter one says that lust leads to sin, sin uncontrolled leads to death.

ANSWER: I recommended that you study the Divine Principle chapter in the Resurrection. We will not have time to cover this very important issue in this conference. However, please note that God told Adam and Eve that on the very day they eat thereof, they would die. Physical death did not come about "on that very day" and therefore, physical death is not a result of the Original Sin. Also, Jesus in Matt. 8:22 indicates that there are two distinct concepts with regard to "death", when He said..."let the dead bury their own dead...". That means let the spiritually dead (the result of the fall) bury the physical dead (not resultant of the fall).

QUESTION: 31. Before the fall, was man capable of dying in the mortal sense?

ANSWER: We do not see mortal death as a result of the fall. The "death" that was a result of the fall was the death of the spirit. Both Adam and Eve in their sinless state were born with flesh and bones. The mortal body was to serve a Godly function. It was to be the "soil" for the spirit to grow to perfection. Once man's spirit reached perfection, man would no longer need his mortal body and would live forever in the eternal world of spirit. In the original plan of creation, the mortal body would play a vital, albeit temporal role.

QUESTION: 32. Please list some scripture that teach Adam was born in a formation stage.

ANSWER: The point of the Genesis story is not to document the complete life of Adam and Eve, it is focusing on the core fact that Adam and Eve were to fulfill an ideal of perfection. To do so they would have to fulfill a responsibility which was to fulfill the commandment. There could only be two options: Adam and Eve were born perfect with no need for growth or Adam and Eve were born with a need for further growth for perfection. If it is the former, then you will have a very difficult time explaining how perfect beings could sin. Especially since we know God who is perfect cannot sin and Jesus who is perfect cannot sin.

The ideal of perfection is represented by "The Tree of Life" which was in the midst of the Garden. The right to the Tree of Life was lost by Adam because of his sin. The goal of salvation is to regain the right to eat from the Tree of Life (Rev. 22:14).