We have CARP students from Brazil today – let’s make some noise for True Parents! We have some CARP students from America – make noise for True Parents, make it! Bigger! We’ve got Korean CARP here – make some noise for True Parents! Japanese CARP, make some noise!

So, brothers and sisters, I want to talk to you about serious things while we’re running. My brother, Kook Jin Nim, gave you a very strong lecture. I think this lecture is theologically rich, because he’s making a very profound point. We usually think Able [from the story of Cain and Able] is weak, that he has to be completely passive, but he [Kook Jin Nim] is making the point that Able has to be strong. That’s a very revolutionary teaching in our Principle.

Is Religion a Problem?

You’ve got lots of people in this world who say religion is the problem. By the way, I’m running in a figure eight. That way you’re working out your left side and your right side. A lot of people say religion kills people, that religion messes it all up. We hear about the Salem witch hunts in America, we hear about the crusades, the Spanish inquisitions, we heard all these things. Keep moving, people, don’t sleep! Marathon running!

Lots of people did die, that’s true. We have the crusades – about 133,000 people died. We have the Spanish inquisition – 31,000 dead. We have witch hunts throughout Europe and in the states – the European witch trails we can estimate at 100,000 dead. The Salem witch trials – 19 people were tried and hung. This is a lot of people who died. This is the reason why many non-religious people say religion is the problem. If we get rid of religion, we’re going to have the ideal world. You’ve heard this many times, yes? Let’s look at some other numbers.

In the past 100 years, we’ve had a nasty ideology. Nasty. It seeks to destroy all religion, seeks to destroy the cornerstone of any democratic state, which is the freedom to believe. The scary thing about religious people is that they believe in a higher power, something greater than the government. And if you got crazy people who want to make everyone bow to the government, to tyrannical rule, then religion is a problem.

When we look at the 20th century, we see Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Mussolini – we see millions of people die. 144 million people killed. Let’s look at Pol Pot alone. Three years, 2 million dead. That is 1,826 people killed every day. There aren’t even 1,826 people in this room. We have maybe 1,200. So it’s like me filling up this room with people and killing you all. Every day. So when you look at the actual breakdown comparing religion to communist- or openly atheist theology, which tries to strip belief away from people, you’ll see the number of deaths is not even comparable. This is in the last 100 years.

We Are God’s Children

We [Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and his wife] had the opportunity to go to North Korea, and we’re very grateful for that. We’re thankful because the North Korean side took care of us very well. They let us come back home, which is nice. But honestly speaking, when you go there, it’s not like being in South Korea or America. We were in the main, open square during this huge ceremony; there were maybe 80,000 people outside, and we saw huge portraits of two figures – our favorite people, Marx and Lenin!

I also spent a lot of time in China, although I now cannot go into China, because I’m a Moonie. I’m prohibited from going to China. The lecture by Kook Jin Nim is showing the reality of China, showing us that there are different values that different nations hold. Those values lead to incredibly different conclusions in different nations --totally different realities. You have, on the one side of the 20th century, values centered on democracy and freedom, right? You have human value. We have the belief that we come from a divine creator, and that we are His children. We’re not like a rock, or a piece of plant life – we’re the children of God! That’s very special, because that means you can’t just kill a human being. But what about an ideological framework where you don’t buy that? “You’re not God’s children, you crazy people. You are deluding yourself with mythological stories; you are comforting yourself with psychological crutches! If you don’t believe the government rules, we’ll kill you.” If you change the framework and you create a nation based on that, the reality for the citizens is completely different.

I’m going to run through you guys. I’m going to check on the guys in the back. Come on, keep running, run, run, run!

So, that’s why the ideas are so critical. If you hold one set of ideas, that there is no God, from where can you derive human values? From where do human rights come? If we’re all just evolutionary byproducts, and we’re not necessarily more valuable than a chimp or a dog or a parrot, then the notion of human rights is gone. What values we hold will transform not only our personal selves, but how we treat nations. In the free world, we have a system rooted in the belief that we have inalienable rights bestowed upon us by our divine creator. That’s the source from which we derive humans’ rights to pursue liberty, pursue happiness, etc.

I’m not screaming, and there are a lot of young people here, and none of you are sleeping! It’s incredible! This is why I like the running method, because not only do you get in shape, but we can also talk about these very important things.

Training the Body and the Mind

Kook Jin Nim’s whole idea of Able being strong – I think I can relate to this. When I was in middle school, I was a total prankster. I didn’t do well in school at all. I didn’t do my homework, I admit it. I didn’t read my books, I admit it. And I was quite popular, because I tortured my teachers and drove them insane. Every week I had academic detention and disciplinary detention – those were my constant companions.

I remember this one kid, who later became my best friend, tried to pick a fight with me. Of course, I deserved it, because I was stealing his homework. I remember it was in chemistry class. We both got in trouble. After that I said, “Hey, I better learn some martial arts.” So I trained in MMA [Mixed Martial Arts], in JKD [Jeet Kune Do], BJJ [Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu], some grappling, stand-up training and some weapon training. I remember when I went to high school, everything changed. I was a crazy shaolin monk. I had all these techniques. I remember I felt very strong, because now I could dominate kids way bigger than I was. Rumors spread quickly, and then nobody picked fights. It was interesting to see that, when I was weaker and a prankster, a lot of people tried to beat me up. But in high school, they wouldn’t even try to pick a fight. I actually experienced this reality.

But after high school, when my brother passed away, I really thought a lot. I asked the question, “Do I believe in God?” How can there be a loving God? How can such good people be taken away? How can there be so much suffering, if there is a loving God? Don’t tell me you’ve never thought the question: Is there really a God? Who thought that question? Raise your hand. There we go. You’re all doomed to hell! Just joking. [Laughter]

This is a serious issue. If I don’t believe in God, then True parents mean nothing to me, Principle means nothing to me, all of this means nothing, Blessed Families mean nothing. Zero. That’s when I started saying, “OK, does God exist?” Come on people, keep running! Of course I studied different religions, not only training physically through martial arts but also internally through meditation and training with Buddhist monks. For me, the reason Buddhism was so appealing was because I was into martial arts, and apparently at the shaolin temple was where it all started. So I trained through meditation, sometimes 21 hours a day, leaning how to overcome my emotions. I had a fiery emotional character, and because I used martial arts for fighting, I had this arrogance. So, through meditation training, 13 years of it, I was able to change, to transform how I dealt with my emotions and reactions.

I’m grateful to all my Buddhist and monk friends, but one thing that the training never helped me with was the question about God. We can deal with emotional states, psychological states, but we’re not dealing with the issue of whether God exists, or whether that’s plausible, logical.

“Why Do You Believe in God?”

If God does not exist, you have no grounds for morality. Zero. For example, is raping somebody wrong? Yes or no? [Audience: Yes!] But how do you get to that answer? How do you get to that without God? If you don’t believe in a being that has created this world and us, then how do you get to the point where you say it’s wrong to rape someone? In the animal kingdom it always happens. Male lions will forcefully exert themselves on female lions, sharks do the same, different animal species do the same. If we’re simply animal species, then how do you say that it is particularly wrong for us, but it’s not wrong for a lion? You may say we have higher levels of consciousness, we have higher intellects, thus we should preserve human rights. But what if I find in the universe some beings that are smarter than we are, have higher a consciousness than we do and way higher intellects than we do? Would that mean they could do experiments on us? Yes or no? [Audience: No!] But how can you say no? Who gives you the right to say no? If you don’t have the philosophical framework that we are God’s creation and the highest of his creations, you cannot say no. It’s the crux of the moral argument.

Our Korean CARP team has been working on the theism debate, and they’re getting much better, but we’re not at the level yet where we can debate with high-level intellectual atheists. [To sister] If somebody asks you, “Why do you believe in God?” what are you going to say? … You believe in something because a lot of people believe in it? You’re telling me that if everyone in this room believes it’s good to jump out the window you’re going to do it? I’m not picking on you, we love you dear. I’m just saying that if you’re not thinking about this and you get asked this question in college or at your workplace and you don’t know how to respond, you may be pressured into thinking in another way.

Let’s ask someone else. Where’s USA? [To sister] Here we go. Why do you believe in God? [Sister: Because of the love I felt from my friends and family.] Are you saying that atheists don’t feel love from their friends and family? Are you saying communists don’t feel love from their friends and family? I went to North Korea and I saw a lot of love between family members. I’m not picking on you, I love you dear. I’m just saying, how are you going to answer this question? This is the whole purpose of training and learning – why it is that we believe believing in God is not illogical, not superstitious, not unscientific, not irrational.

[To brother] Ok, big guy. You’re from Russia right? Why do you believe in God? [Brother: Because I have experiences with him.] You have experiences with him? People experience the spaghetti monster! People experience Pac-man! One person experiences Krishna, one person experiences Jesus. Experience is so subjective, totally un-objective, totally irrational, totally illogical. I’m not picking on you. I’m just saying. But seriously, this is the reason it’s so important to strengthen our spirits and minds.

Approaching God through Logic and Science

When I was in North Korea, at a dinner, one of the people who is atheist was making very sarcastic comments about all the mythology religious people believe in, like Christmas and Hannukah. He said to us, “Why do you guys believe in God?” So, I started talking exactly how we talk when we do debates.

I would ask the philosophical questions, “Do you believe I’m sitting at this table? Do you agree that I’m sitting here with you? Would you agree that we’re eating food and having a conversation together? You would agree this is not mythology? The room is real right? You are real, I am real, the floor exists, the chairs exist. But how do you know that? Because you can feel it? See it? Sense it?” All your experiences are just electric impulses in your brain! For all we know, we could be lying in a pool of ooze, like in the Matrix, and we’re just in a virtual reality in which we can sense things and feel things. I believe, even though I can’t prove, that I’m experiencing this room and you people running with me. I accept this as real. In the same way, I accept the senses to be real. I can also say that my morality, the sense that I shouldn’t kill or rape, is real. This is not a delusion, not a mythology.

If I’m willing to say that morality is real, then of course I have to say there has to be a standard by which I can determine what is a good action or bad action. If I have no standard, I can’t decipher what is appropriate and what is not. Some tribes say, “Love your neighbor.” Another tribe says, “Eat your neighbor.” Not all values are the same. So, we root our values in an immaterial, time-transcending, space-transcending being or mind that creates everything.

Would you say the universe exists? Does the universe exist? [Audience: Yes!] Are you sure? Does the universe have a starting point, or does it exist eternally? All scientists would agree there’s a beginning point to the universe. 13.7 billion years ago, approximately, there was what we all know as the Big Bang. And we can prove mathematically and scientifically that there is an absolute starting point to time and space. I don’t think there’s any debate in the scientific field whether or not the universe is eternal. Before modern science, in the time of Aristotle and Augustine, people were saying that the universe is forever! But it’s improbable for the whole universe and all its necessary causes and conditions to appear out of nowhere in the dimension of time and space for no reason.

So, anyway, we ended up having this long conversation about God in a communist nation, with an atheist. And he said, “I never heard of trying to approach this mythological god by science.”

True Father’s Prophetic Message

What we are starting is the real battle – the ideological battle. One side says that there is a God from whom we can derive human value. The other position has no philosophical starting point to say that there are absolute morals, absolute human values.

Father says, in the Principle, World War III must happen. Father says it will appear in one of two ways. It will be either by military force, by killing each other with bombs and weapons, or it will be ideological. So, yes, I think Kook Jin Nim is doing wonderful things because he’s alerting the Korean people. We have to be aware of this threat – it’s real. We don’t just live in an idealistic world full of good people. There are evil people in this world, tyrants that love power and love to use it to destroy people. We see many groups coming up that lean toward dictatorships. With the rise of China, this is going to become a huge issue.

I want to bring you back to True Father’s words. You ready to take a rest now? You want to sit down now? You want to sleep? You want to keep running? [Audience: Yes!] Ok good.

Let’s read together.

“With the support and the protection of the American continent, the Korean peninsula should protect and defend the Pacific Rim region by bringing together all the islands nations of the Pacific. I say this because the future of humankind lies in the preservation of the Pacific Rim region centering on Korea, Japan, and the United States.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I ask that you clearly analyze the current state of affairs in the world. Although the days of communism are gone, nations such as China and Russia are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to aggressively pursue their own interests with the powerless and small island nations.”

This is 2007. Five years ago. Nobody imagined America would be this weak at this point. No one imagined the economic crisis in America and Europe. When I heard this five years ago, it didn’t make any sense. Island nations? I know they’re nice to visit and go surfing in, but I don’t see how they’re going to be the center of the Providence. Let’s take a look at the next paragraph. Let’s read together.

“Regardless of what nation it may be, no small island nation by itself can deal with these powerful surrounding nations and their economic, political or even military ambitions. Those nations are so powerful, that if they wanted to, they could dominate any of the smaller nations in a single day without shedding blood.

“Only when peace and security are settled in the Pacific Rim can peace for all humanity be guaranteed. As I have mentioned, the small island nations by themselves will not be able to stop the incredible tsunami of powerful nations moving into the region.

“The time has come. … The small island nations dispersed in both the northern and southern regions of the Pacific on either side of the equator, as well as Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Australia, New Zealand and other countries, should become as one country and form one union to sustain peace throughout the Pacific Rim civilization. This will secure peace and stability for all.”

Let’s give it up for True Parents! Five years ago! Amazing! You see how prophetic this is? Father doesn’t watch CNN, he doesn’t watch headline news, he doesn’t watch TV. How did he know this reality five years before the world actually hit it? Because he is who he is! He’s the messiah, from Christ’s sake! He knows it from God! He gave us a prophetic vision of how to save the world, of how to prevent World War III. He gave it to us five years ago, and we were sleeping. We had no idea. Run, run! Keeping running! And so, what we’re doing in UPF [Universal Peace Federation] is we’re gathering peace ambassadors who have experience as former defense ministers of nations to help us. We’re getting people who’ve worked on national treaties between nations so they can help us actually start this process. And this is the speech in which Father is talking about the Able UN. All our people are being mobilized so we can actualize this, and, with the Unification Church worldwide, truly create the Able UN, protect peace all around the world, create a 21st Century of not war and death and destruction, but peace, prosperity, freedom and hope! That’s what we’re talking about.

Determining the Character of the 21st Century

In the Able UN, religion is critical. It cannot be excluded from the peace-making process. OK, but what’s that got to do with you? We have all these older people in UPF: they’ve worked professional jobs, they have experience, they’re making the treaties and all this, but what about the young people? What are you going to do? Are you going to sit around and wait?

There’s a British scholar who did a paper on the teens, the early years, of centuries. What he found was that since the medieval ages, the character, the style, the direction of each century has been defined in its teens. You guys tired? Are you in your teens? Or out of your teens? He discovered that in the teens, a century can be determined. Think about it. Even for individuals, our personalities can be determined and affected in our teens or twenties.

What happens in 1517? Martin Luther. The whole Protestant Reformation explodes. What happens in 1618? The most devastating war in European history. What’s the big nation at that time? It’s the Ottoman Empire – the most powerful nation in the world. But it starts weakening in the 1700s. That gives rise to different types of thinking. No more tyrannical kings. What’s happening in America? What happens in 1812? The Americans are fighting the British. The independence movement spreads. What happens in 1914, in the 20th century? World War I. In that century, we saw the most people die in one year.

Is Father announcing that something is going to happen in the teens of the 21st century? He could have chosen 2021 or 2001 or 2005, but what is the date of D-Day? January 13, 2013. Last time I checked, that is the teens.

This character of this century will be determined in its teens. Question is, which group of teens are going to influence the teens of the century? Is it going to be an atheistic group? A group that is inculcated from a regime that has clearly oppressed people, not allowed freedom, not allowed people to believe? Maybe it’ll be the Christian teens, Muslim teens, Buddhist teens, Peace Corps teens. I kind of want it to be the Unification teens! I’m praying that it’s the Unificationist teens that are going to change this century, that will save this world; that will bring it to peace! That’s what I’m hoping for. You know why? Because we already have the vision. Father gave it to us. Five years ago. We’re moving forward; we’re going to create the Able UN, we’re going to create the coalition that’s going to protect the Pacific Rim.

Young people, we’ve got to be at a new level. We’re dealing with way more advanced adversaries. We have to be ready, not only militarily. We have to be able to fight the new, rising communism clothed in atheism, we have to be ready to battle this new ideology that’s dominating Europe, that’s dominating America, that’s dominating other parts of the world. But we can’t do it if we don’t put our blood, sweat, and tears into it.

You guys have been running with me for one hour! We did a one-hour run! If you just sat there watching, you didn’t burn any calories. You have what you had when you ate your strawberry cake this morning. It’s still sitting inside. But for the rest of us, that strawberry cake is gone! We put the sweat in. We got it healthy. It’s the same thing about the mind, people. What I love about theology and philosophy is that it’s like mental, martial arts. It’s all about training the mind. We have to be ready on the campuses to go against the smartest kids, we have to be ready to show that the theistic position is a real position, and the Principle is true, and Rev. Moon is who he said he is. Five years ago he said we can build the kingdom, and we can! It’s up to us. I’m praying there’s a new generation, not just interested in getting rich and doing whatever, but one that is really ready to change this world and do it for the glory of True Parents. True Parents, we love you! OK, people, give it up for True Parents! Shake it out, shake it out. We did one hour. Isn’t that incredible? That’s a way to do a lecture. Let’s pray.

Concluding Prayer

Dearest most beloved Heavenly Father,

Father you prepared a new century, Father we’re on the precipice of a new era, and Father, all this lies in one decision, it’s lying in the one decision of whether we are going to choose to be the ones to change this century. Are we going to be the young people that stand up and defend you in the midst of this chaos? Father it all hangs on this one question and we’re going to be strong in our bodies, we’re going to be strong in our minds, we’re going to be strong in our faith.

Father we pray that you may give these young people – all of us, for we all want to be young – wisdom. Father, prepare us for the blood, sweat and tears that need to be shed to prepare. We have to put in the work to become the pros. Father give us the strength, the perseverance, the courage, the love, the wisdom, the compassion, the practical minds. Father lead us, lead Your children.

Father, True Parents have given us the way, five years ago they showed it. We now have to actualize it. That’s our homework now. Father we pray we can do it and bring glory to You and True Parents, that we can stand proud as we did in the parade yesterday in the middle of Seoul in front of all those people. They could be smiling, laughing, mocking us, spitting on us – we don’t care, we’re proud of who we are, what we believe, and we believe in True Parents. They are the saviors of this world, they’re teaching us how to save it. Father we pray that we can take their words to heart.

Father, the 21st Century will not descend into tyranny, atheism, war, domination and slavery. We pray with your guidance that Able can be strong, Able can be wise, Able can be connected to you, connected to his parents, the True Parents. Guide us, let us be the ones, let these young people be the catalysts to their nations, to revive them so that we can change the nations, change people’s minds and we can lead them to You. We pray in our names as Blessed Central Families, we are grateful and we love You and True Parents with all our hearts. We pray, Aju.

Everybody, let’s give it up for True Parents one more time! Eog-mansei! God bless you!