Leaders Building a World of Peace
Reverend Sun Myung Moon
This address was given on August 24, 1992, to the
assembled leaders attending the World Culture and
Sports Festival Seoul, Korea.
Distinguished chairpersons of the First World Culture and Sports
Festival, distinguished guests and participants from Korea and around
the world:
As founder of the World Culture and Sports Festival, I would like to
express my deepest gratitude to you for having gathered here in such a
large number to pray for the success of this festival.
I would like to speak to you this evening on the topic, "Becoming the
Leaders in Building a World of Peace." During the mid-1930s, when I
was sixteen years old and the Korean peninsula was under the forced
occupation of Japan, I received a special mission from Heaven through
Jesus. I am seventy-two now, and in the intervening years there has
not been even a single second when I did not think of God's will and
His commands.
I lived my boyhood and youth under the colonial rule of imperial
Japan. So I know only too well the excruciating pain and tragic
circumstances suffered by the weaker and smaller nations of the world.
Because I possess a certain degree of discernment into God's heart, it
was with unspeakable pain and sorrow that I witnessed, first, the
cruelty of the more powerful nation as it plundered the weaker nation
of Korea and, later, the terrible carnage of the Second World War.
Then immediately following World War II, in a development that
compounded our already difficult situation, the Korean peninsula was
divided between north and south. In 1950, the Korean War broke out and
Koreans found themselves in a fratricidal conflict. Various countries
of the world on the left and right chose to support one or the other
of the opposing sides. I witnessed this tragic history directly, and I
know from my heart of hearts how much pain and sorrow has been brought
to God and humanity by the loss of a world of peace.
How do you imagine God has felt since the time of creation as He had
to watch while time and time again brothers set themselves against
each other, with Cain, the older brother, taking the life of Abel, the
younger? All wars since the beginning of human history have been, in
their essence, struggles among brothers. The Bible teaches us this
through its record of the murder of Abel by Cain in the family of
Adam. Why do such conflicts among brothers occur over and over on the
levels of family, tribe, society, nation and world?
Original Sin
The reason lies in the sin committed by Adam and Eve, the parents of
Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve were the original ancestors of humankind,
placed in a position to represent all the men and women who would come
after them. As such, they should have brought God's ideal of creation
into reality. By breaking God's commandment, however, they forfeited
their position as the true parents of goodness for all of humanity who
would be born after them. Instead, they became fallen parents of evil.
It is this evil that is the original sin, the fundamental root of all
crime and unhappiness in human society.
The original sin of the first human ancestors was that Adam and Eve
broke God's commandment and engaged in an illicit sexual relationship.
In this way, they formed a blood relationship with the devil, and
became fallen false parents, passing on false love, false life and a
false lineage to the entire human race. There is only one way for
humanity to escape this world of evil and struggle, and that is to be
reunited with their true parents and be reborn through them. Only when
this is accomplished can the true way to cast off original sin be
revealed.
After I received my calling at the age of sixteen, I spent the years
searching for the answer to precisely this problem of how to bring
salvation to humankind. The result of that lonely search for truth is
the new expression of God's truth that we refer to today as the
Unification Principle, Godism and Headwing philosophy. On Aug. 15,
1945, the day Korea was liberated from imperial Japan, I began
proclaiming this truth on the earth. Because I have proclaimed these
teachings, I have had to undergo tremendous persecution and attack.
Think for a moment about the fact that I have been imprisoned as many
as six times in my life. This alone is enough to tell you how harsh
the attacks against me have been. The First World Culture and Sports
Festival, being held during this forty-seventh year since I began
proclaiming the Divine Principle, is a holy celebration. It is an
occasion to let the entire world see, and to offer to God, the harvest
reaped from the seeds I have sown and nurtured for the liberation of
God and humanity and for the realization of a world of peace.
Everything I have striven to achieve during my life has been for the
purpose of confirming the fact that all people in the world are
brothers and sisters before God, our common Parent. Our common ties as
members of the global family centered on God transcend our differences
based on race, nationality and international boundaries.
Organizations
The primary institution in which my teachings are being practiced is
the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity,
that is, the Unification Church. There is now no country in the world
where the Unification Church does not exist. The Unification Church
has put its roots down in all races, nationalities and countries. The
International Marriage Blessing of 30,000 couples will be held
tomorrow in Seoul's Olympic Main Stadium is certain to be a testimony
to the fact that humanity is one great family centered on God.
With the Unification Church as the root organization, I have founded
many other organizations for projects in a wide variety of fields.
These organizations are for the purpose of building a world of peace
in which we, the human family, centered on God, can rejoice in our
freedom, ideals and happiness. For the World Culture and Sports
Festival, I have gathered the most prominent of these organizations
here in Seoul. During the festival, a new unified structure will be
founded to facilitate stronger mutual ties and closer cooperation
among these organizations.
The International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, the
Professors World Peace Academy, the World Media Conference, the Summit
Council for World Peace, the Assembly of the World's Religions, the
Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, the Women's Federation for
World Peace, the international performing arts groups and
International CARP will meet during this time of the International
Marriage Blessing and provide forums for us to enlighten our
intellects and reaffirm our determination in devoting ourselves to the
cause of building a world of peace.
The International Marriage Blessing of the Unification Church, which I
will be conferring during this time, is the blessing of resurrection.
Through this ceremony, humanity is able to cut itself clear from
original sin and recover true love, true life and true lineage of God.
It is within the context of this ceremony that we can give birth to
peace that enables us to realize the ideal of the great brotherhood of
humanity which transcends race, nationality and international
boundaries.
As the founder of these organizations and groups, I wish to reaffirm
here this evening that their purpose is to bring about world peace,
according to the ideal of God and humanity. They are not created for
the benefit of any particular group or political faction. They do not
serve the narrow interests of any particular nation or state. Rather,
they exist to bring happiness, peace and freedom to God, the Creator
of the universe, and to all humanity.
Family Salvation
Our movement, thus, must bring salvation to all families, all nations,
all states and, finally, to the entire world. It must be a family-
saving, nation-saving, world-saving movement.
Our families are being destroyed by the debasement of sexual ethics
through illicit relationships and decadent lifestyles. Every nation is
suffering the agony of the destruction of its moral standards and the
accompanying increase in crime. There is no solution in sight to the
conflicts between political factions. Poverty and ignorance continue
to plague us. There is no sign that we may be nearing solutions to the
world's international border disputes, to the attitudes of prejudice
between religious groups, or to the conflicts between the various
races and ethnic groups. World peace is under constant threat from the
selfish actions of the world's countries and peoples.
Environmental pollution also is destroying our planet to the degree
that we are approaching a serious crisis for the future of humankind.
We may all find ourselves on a common path of destruction, unless we
are able to resolve the crisis we face through a love which transcends
all national boundaries and ethnic differences and encompasses all the
world's people. Let me emphasize again: any successful resolution of
this crisis must be based on an effort to build a unified world
through a movement of true love rooted in the Divine Principle, or
Godism.
In early July, I spoke in five cities around Korea at rallies held by
the Women's Federation for World Peace. There, I declared that my
wife, WFWP President Hak Ja Han Moon, and I are the True Parents of
all humanity. I declared that we are the Savior, the Lord of the
Second Advent, the Messiah.
Why would I stand before women leaders of Korea and make such an
astonishing and fearful announcement? The reason is that God has been
carrying out His providence to send the Messiah as the second
perfected Adam who has subjugated Satan, in order to establish a
perfected Eve who will represent all women. God has done this, because
it was when Satan caused Eve to all that human history came to be
permeated with sin.
Also, women are the central point for the love, peace and spirit of
service which protect our families, and it is the healthy family that
must be the starting point in our work to build world peace. The
establishment of God-centered family ethics and the education of our
children lie at the innermost core of my teachings as the person who
has declared for himself the responsibilities of the Messiah. The
family is the holy sanctuary that must cleanse this defiled world.
House of Unification
That is the reason it was necessary that I, as the Messiah, make my
declaration to women leaders gathered around President Hak Ja Han
Moon, my wife, who stands in the position of perfected Eve. This
declaration is an exhortation and notice to all who follow my
teachings to join Mrs. Moon and me in our attendance to God on the
path of sacrifice and service for the salvation of this world.
As I conclude my remarks this evening, I would like to propose, so
that all of our activities for world salvation can be carried out more
effectively, that we establish "The House of Unification for World
Peace" as a structure for the peaceful unification of the world.
To avoid any possible misunderstanding, particularly regarding the
title of this structure as rendered in the Korean language, let me
state clearly that I am not proposing to create a political party. The
House of Unification for World Peace that I propose is not a political
party. It will not have the function commonly associated with
political parties, that is, to seek the executive powers of government
in a given country. It is, rather, a "house" to reinforce the
concerted actions of the world's countries, and foster a unified
foundation and common effort for world peace.
If we say that heaven is a symbol of man, then earth is a symbol of
woman. The house is the stage on which a woman's life is played out.
The mother is the center of a nest filled with love for all the
members of the family. The family, with the mother at its center, is
the basic unit making up the nation and the world. I use the word
"House" in the title of the structure I am proposing, because this
word contains the meaning of "exalting the earth, centering on the
mother." It also signifies "to teach." The word "House" in this title,
therefore, signifies a center for the education of women.
Through this structure, we can provide new impetus to the work of
giving opportunities for meaningful exchanges and education on a God-
centered vision for world peace to people of all countries and all
walks of life, including political leaders, scholars, religious
leaders, journalists and educators, as well as leaders of women and
youth. This vision of world peace will be centered on families in
which mothers, representing all women of the world, accomplish mind-
body unity through love.
If you will embrace my proposal and join me in this task, then our
efforts are certain to bring the world of peace which is the object of
God's desire to all of humanity within the remaining eight years of
the twentieth century. We who are gathered here this evening will be
the leaders in opening the gates to a world of peace in the coming
twenty-first century.
I pray you may have a pleasant visit during the time of the festival
and that God will bestow His boundless blessings and protection upon
your work.
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