International Conferences for Clergy

QUESTION: 1. Are you saying that because God told Noah He would not use water to judge man again, that baptism plays no part in salvation?

ANSWER: No, God says in Gen. 9:11 He will not destroy the earth with water. Baptism is a requirement until the Second Coming of Christ.

QUESTION: 2. Gen. 8:7 doesn't say that a raven was "cast out" of the ark. Where do you get it from? Or should we assume (as it seems so easy for you to do) that the dove was also cast out?

ANSWER: "Sent forth" will do just fine. Now back to the point, the raven is a symbol of satan. Gen. 8:7 is indicating that the flood judgement established a sanctification for Noah's family. The raven "sent forth" from the ark is indicating that satan had been separated from them.

QUESTION: 3. How could the white race come from Shem, when at that time there was no white race, all were clay color. The white race is a descendant of Gehazi (2Kings 5:27).

ANSWER: The Hebrews are the descendants of Shem, the semitic people. The Divine Principle makes no comment on the origin of the races. Our hope is for the establishment of the Love Race, in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile, black, white or yellow in the sight of God and man.

QUESTION: 4. What happened to satan when the world was destroyed at the time of Noah?

ANSWER: Casting the raven from the ark is symbolic of the separation of satan from the world at that time. Satan is a spirit and needs a condition to claim man. Satan gained that condition through Ham's failure and lack of faith in Noah.

QUESTION: 5. If Japheth, Ham and Shem were brothers and fathered by Noah, how do you divinely and intellectually propagate "races" from this? Ham had the same sociological, physiological and anthropological tendencies and characteristics of his father.

ANSWER: Hem, Shem and Japheth were the son's of Noah. The Divine Principle does not comment on the origin of the races. In my presentation I was reporting on a popular theory regarding the origin of the races, by my purpose was not to represent this as our view but to comment on the misuse of this theory with regard to the curse of Ham. Some white Christians have used this misappropriated theory to justify the enslavement of African people.

QUESTION: 6. How can you say that Shem was in the "Cain" position to Ham when he never demonstrated the characteristics of Cain?

ANSWER: Shem would not assume the position of Cain until Ham would have established his position of Abel. We see later that Esau never feels murderous to Jacob until Jacob assumes the position of Abel. What signifies the accomplishment of Abel's position is the event of vertical favor. For Abel it was the acceptance of his offering over Cain's, for Jacob it was receiving the blessing of Isaac over Esau. Shem never came to the Cain position substantially owing to Ham's failure to successfully accomplish the position of Abel, which is the bottom line of Gen. 9:22-26. Actually the result of Ham's failure is that the Abel position shifts to Shem, and thus the central people of God descend from the line of Shem, the Semitic line.

QUESTION: 7. What was the violation Ham made against his father?

ANSWER: Ham reported his father's nakedness to his brothers in such a way as to cause them to have shame for their father Noah. Ham should have protected his father's dignity and honor. Ham's failure indicates his lack of faith in his father Noah and it is for this reason that Ham's son receives a curse (see Gen. 9:22-26).

QUESTION: 8. Where did you get your information that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark? It is not in the Bible.

ANSWER: Gen. 6:3, it indicates that the mortal men had 120 years before the flood would come. Also Usshur's chronology indicates a 120 year period from the call of Noah to the flood by citing Gen. 6:3.

QUESTION: 9. How can you imply a theory of younger-older or first-born and second born with Ham and Japheth, since Ham was the younger (Gen. 9:24)?

ANSWER: The dispensation to establish the foundation of substance in Noah's family was to take place between Ham and Shem, not Japheth. Ham was the younger brother in the Abel position and Shem was the older brother in the Cain position.

QUESTION: 10. You said that the flood was a judgement, not a punishment. If so, why were they destroyed by the flood?

ANSWER: God had Noah preach for 120 years to elicit the repentance of the people, that is, judgement by the word...Jesus says the word will be our judge on the final day. The word isn't punishment, it defines who will be blessed and who will be punished. The flood was to sanctify, God wanted the people to be on the side of Noah when the "judgement" came, but sadly, they were not and it is why God promised Noah never to bring a flood such as that to the world as an instrument of judgement.

QUESTION: 11. Why did God promise that He would not cause a flood again, as in the time of Noah?

ANSWER: There would be two reasons, one practical, the other more providential.

God had Noah preach for 120 years before the flood judgement was to come (2Peter 2:5). In preaching righteousness, God's hope was that the wicked people repent and come into the ark. If we take the case of Ninevah as an example, we could even say had such repentance come, it would be possible that the flood would have been unnecessary. God was grieved that no one repented and so many died in the flood.

The second reason is that the ultimate instrument of judgement that God wants to use, is His word. God was longing to move man along quickly, to elevate man spiritually so that man could reach a state to be able to hear, understand and obey the spoken and written word of God.