|
Book 7. True Parents' Course of Suffering and Victory
Chapter 2. The Ewha University and Yonsei University Incident and Suffering in Seodaemun Prison
Section 1. Ewha University and Yonsei University
Gathering young Christians
With the founding of HSA-UWC in 1954, the mainstream of God's providence in Korea was transferred from older Christians, the first generation, to younger Christians, the second generation. The Unification Principle began to circulate among university students. Among the universities, Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University, both with Christian church endowments, were the leading schools that educated the best of the young generation of Christianity. The so-called Ewha University-Yonsei University Expulsion Incident occurred due to Christian persecution and opposition to the Unification Church, with collaboration from the Korean government. It began in March 1955 and continued into July, becoming a major social issue.
1 Christianity is the bride religion. To prepare the Bride for the Bridegroom to come, early Christianity suffered great persecution from the Roman Empire. When Christianity reached the era of the worldwide Christian cultural sphere, the Bridegroom was to come and unite the world. That time was just after World War II.
After World War II, the world was supposed to unite centering on Christianity. The world was supposed to become one. There were to have been no more wars among nations. During World War II, the Allied powers of Great Britain, America and France fought and defeated the Axis powers of Japan, Germany and Italy. On the foundation of that victory, the Eve, Cain and Abel nations should have attended the Lord on his return. If those nations had attended him at that time, centering on Christianity, the world would have been unified. For this, these Christian nations were supposed to have received me. If they had, I would have taken care of the entire world with God's full authority. Starting with China, Russia, Japan and the United States, I would have brought all nations together.
However, because Christianity failed to accept and attend me, the incidents at Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University occurred. Yonsei and Ewha Universities represented the best men's and women's schools for educating the young generation. If God's plan for these two universities had been accomplished, they could have become the center of all the organizations in this nation. (233-122, 1992/07/31)
2 In Korea, my purpose in working at Yonsei University and Ewha Womans University was to connect the first and second generations based on the second generation. From a vertical perspective, the first generation, Christians, and the second generation, the students of the two schools, have a parent-child relationship. Horizontally, the two schools have a relationship as partners. We can consider the horizontal relationship between Yonsei University and Ewha Womans University like the position of Adam and Eve, man and woman, and the second generation as in the position of the children. If the second generation had united with me, the Parent, then not only the children of the second generation but also Christians in the position of the first generation could have united with me.
According to Principle of Restoration, if the first generation and the second generation become completely one, Cain is brought to surrender. This is because the second generation would stand on God's side and not on Satan's side. Had the second generation come into the realm of God's protection, then since the second generation, the realm of Abel, was united with me, on that day the first generation would have naturally become one with me as well. The first generation of Israelites died in the wilderness, but now both generations would be on God's side and in the realm of His protection. Hence, both the first and second generations could have entered the land of Canaan together. This is the Principle. In this way I tried to connect the first and second generations of Christianity centering on my work at these two Korean universities, but the Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University incident occurred. (137-023, 1986/01/01)
3 I had to unite the leaders of the Spirit-led Christian that had gone underground during Japanese rule. Then after the liberation of Korea, I had to gather the Christian ministers who had yielded to Japanese pressure and worshipped at the Shinto shrines. My responsibility was to bring these two types of Christian leaders together in order to build a foundation for the nation. However, the effort broke down because their beliefs were so different from each other. When I brought them together, the leaders who had been active underground fiercely refused to work with the ministers who had compromised by yielding to the Japanese.
Those ministers who had cooperated with the Japanese imperialists and now cooperated with the Korean government stood in the position of opposing me. This became a problem. The providential Will for the first generation of Christianity had been to unite all the Christian leaders. But because they were in complete opposition to God's Will, I had to lead a movement to gather the second generation. While doing this, the Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University incident transpired. (143-129, 1986/03/17)
4 Since the first generation of Christianity opposed me, the work I have been doing during my lifetime has been to gather together the second generation. This providence began with a focus on Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University. At the time, Korean President Syngman Rhee's wife was connected to Ewha Womans University through the university's vice president, Maria Park. The two were completely united with the government, based on the Christian missionary foundation. These powerful women made the same mistake as Eve when she influenced Adam.
To rectify the mistake of the first generation, I had to bring the second generation together and bring them into complete unity with me. Among the students in the position of the second generation were sons and daughters of all kinds of parents, including parents who were spiritually open, parents who had worshipped at the Japanese shrines, parents without any faith, and so on. They were all there together. Had I brought these students of the second generation into oneness with me, I could have corrected what the first generation had done to me. I could then have brought the nation and the churches together, and from there we would have moved onto the world stage. (143-130, 1986/03/17)
5 When the Lord came to Korea, the teaching that Christianity presented was too limited. It was not adequate to restore the world. So he had to develop something new that could lead humanity to make a leap to a higher dimension. For me, the issue was not only the independence of the nation; I was concerned to save the entire world. But Christianity did not have a teaching comprehensive enough to achieve this.
For three and a half years immediately after Korea was liberated from Japan, I went to all the prepared Christian leaders to bring them to understand this teaching, but every one of them opposed me and I was driven away and left alone. Had Christianity united with me, I could have led the people of the nation, and Korea would not have been subjected to the American military administration.
Even after that, if the Ewha Womans University incident had not occurred, then the government policy of religious freedom would have allowed me to go to a position above the Cain-Abel relationship with the support of the government of Syngman Rhee and the president of Ewha University. However, because of the Ewha University and Yonsei University incident, this was not realized. Had they accepted me, then based on the Cain-Abel relationship between the United States and President Syngman Rhee, we could have made an incredible leap to a new dimension that the world had never known. Then the entire world would have been united by the time I reached the age of 40. (321-045, 2000/02/14)
6 It was my destiny to start on the foundation of Christianity, but because Christianity rejected me I had to establish a church that was on an equal level with Christianity. This is the Unification Church. Those who established the foundation of this church through hardships were those second generation students who were chased out by the first generation Christians. These students of the second generation had to go out and suffer and indemnify everything in history. Because Christianity could not fulfill its responsibility centering on the standard of saving the world, the Christians all became the enemies of this new church. Hence, even though the Christians were to break down the walls of the individual, family, tribe and people, the Unification Church had to offer the sacrificial price to build the spiritual and physical foundation on a par with what had been lost. (105-252, 1979/10/26)
7 Yonsei University and Ewha Womans University were in the positions of a pure young man and pure young woman, like Adam and Eve who had not fallen. If they had become one with me in a father-child relationship, it would have been like forming a family-level four-position foundation. From that foundation could have emerged individuals, families, tribes and the Korean people aligned with me. Next, if the Korean people had become one with the government of Syngman Rhee, since the nation was centered on Christianity, True Parents could have stood on the national level. Then, centering on Korea, the ideal of True Parents could have embarked on a solid foundation.
The missionaries and America were the backdrop of Christianity in this nation. The commander in charge of the US military administration was the representative of the American nation, and the ones in charge of the churches were the American missionaries. But because of the opposition of these missionaries, everything went wrong. It was the same as Judaisms opposition at the time of Jesus. As a result, I was expelled and driven out as a contemptible heretic. I was driven out into the wilderness. Therefore, the foundation that heaven had prepared for 4,000 years was lost.
In order to rebuild it and climb back up, I had to carry out the collective responsibilities that American Christianity and America could not accomplish, and that Korean Christianity and the Republic of Korea could not fulfill. In the Republic of Korea, Christianity and the government stood on the national level. In the global era, I must take charge of Christianity and the nation on the global level. (137-023, 1986/01/01)
The expulsion of professors and students
From March to July 1955, Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University harassed the students and professors who attended the Unification Church to the point where they had to choose between their school and the Unification Church. Fourteen students from Ewha Womans University resolutely accepted expulsion and five professors were forced to resign their positions. Also, two students were expelled from Yonsei University and one professor was dismissed. The press published articles critical of the conduct of the universities. If at that time Christianity and the government had recognized the Unification Church as a legitimate religion to which the students had a right to belong, it would have created a foundation enabling a new start for God's providence on the national level.
8 The Ewha Womans University incident that took place in 1955 was a national event. Five cabinet ministers of Syngman Rhee's administration who were united with Christianity conspired to eliminate the Unification Church. Nevertheless, we overcame that period of conflict and quietly built up a new foundation internally and externally. By succeeding at this we restructured and solidified our movement so that we could face any opposition, whether from Christianity, the Korean people or the government. In other words, those expelled second generation students made it possible for us to form a new people, the new membership of the Unification Church. (110-119, 1980/11/10)
9 Representing humanity, I became a sacrificial offering for God. Although I was attacked ruthlessly, I would not let go of humanity. I alone took responsibility to fight for the Will.
What would have happened if the established Christianity had accepted me? If Christianity had only listened to what the Unification Church was saying, it could have turned around. Within a matter of seven years, Korea could have stood at the center of the Will. Then it could have guided world Christianity in a single direction, and Christianity united with my worldwide teaching would have brought about the kingdom of heaven on earth.
Yonsei and Ewha Universities were as Adam and Eve. They were also the second generation of Christianity. I claimed them as the core of the second generation, while half of the first generation was tangled up in the fallen world. In the past Satan took everything that was precious, but this time God claimed what was precious. (136-236, 1985/12/29)
10 During the Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University incident, Ewha University was in an uproar for three months. During that three-month period, about 100 students came to the Unification Church. Because they could not leave campus due to opposition from the school, cases arose where some students went to the Unification Church after saying they were going to a public bathhouse. Therefore, the school administration responded with emergency countermeasures to protect itself. They demanded that the students and the professors make a choice between the Unification Church and the university. To do something like that, how desperate they must have been!
At the time, all the students who were attending the Unification Church said they were willing to be expelled from the university. After I dissuaded them, only 14 of them were expelled. If I had let them do as they wished, more than 40 students would have left the school. If this had happened, there could have been a serious problem in the history of our church. That was the situation at the time. (287-164, 1997/10/03)
11 At the time of the Ewha Womans University incident, if only six more months had passed, the dormitory where 300 students were living would have been turned around completely. Our church was spreading like a prairie fire. How desperate the administration must have felt when it had no way to block the students from leaving, and had to demand that they choose between the church and the school! In what democratic nation in the world would we find such a situation?
The university students were from all kinds of religious backgrounds, yet they were told not to go to the Unification Church, that it was Satan's work. Helen (Hwal-lan) Kim, the president of Ewha, sent Dr. Young Oon Kim, who was the director of the Department of Christian Social Work and a professor who had complete authority on theological and religious matters, to investigate the Unification Church.
Professor Kim went to our church, but within one week she turned around 180 degrees. She went back to the school and talked about the Unification Church. Christians there would come and ask her in whispers, "What is this Principle all about?" As the school authorities watched, they saw that those who listened to the Unification Principle would change. The school authorities began to fear that everyone would turn to the Unification Church. So they turned against us. (191-117, 1989/06/24)
12 Among the 300 students living in the Ewha University dormitory were many intelligent young people who listened to the Divine Principle lectures of the Unification Church. Many of them changed so quickly it was as if a volcano had erupted at Ewha. It became a big problem. The university was the recipient of diverse forms of support, including literally hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from the American Methodist Foundation. The school feared they faced the possibility that this support could be cut off, and this was unthinkable. For this reason, they mobilized even the president of Korea to have the government attack me. (438-300, 2004/02/18)
13 The springtime in 6,000 years of history comes only once. It does not come at just any time. The springtime for Adam and Eve was only once. The spring breeze is felt when the time of marriage has come. Thousands of thousands of years have gone by in the providence of restoration, and finally that spring breeze is blowing through the land of Korea.
The Ewha Womans University incident was a manifestation of that spring breeze. That breeze touched more than 300 female college students. This is why they climbed over the school wall or made an excuse that they were going to the bathhouse, and came running to the church. (163-258, 1987/05/01)
14 After Korea was liberated from its 40 years of tribulation under Japanese rule, Korea and the missionaries from America should have completely united with me. That would have happened if the Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University incident had not occurred.
The students at those universities were the second generation. I understand well the work of restoration. It progresses in reverse, from the second generation to the first. If the Yonsei and Ewha University incident had not occurred, we would have connected with the presidential residence in Seoul and all of Christianity would have connected with us. At that time, Dr. Young Oon Kim was director of the Christian Social Work Department at Ewha Womans University. Because important professors like her joined our church, Helen Kim, the president of Ewha, should not have opposed us. However, despite Professor Kim's reports, several highly placed Christians at the university opposed our church and created a problem for her.
If Ewha and Yonsei had turned around and had not opposed us, Korean Christianity would have turned around too. But instead an unprecedented event took place in which five professors were forced to resign and 14 students were expelled from the school. The history of restoration is that difficult.
You must understand how fearful a hardened belief can be. To bear a habitual, traditional mind-set is truly a frightening thing. Even though you joined the church, the habits and the mind-set that you used to have when you lived in society remain with you. God does not accept them. It is indeed difficult to make a new beginning with the standard that we are newly born. (170-306, 1987/12/04)
15 If you ask who was behind Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University's effort to eliminate the Unification Church in Korea, I would tell you it was the missionary organizations. If at that time these universities had turned around and united with me, then, working with top leaders such as Ewha University Vice President Maria Park and Korean President Syngman Rhee, we would have been able to carry the flag throughout the world and lead the procession to the kingdom of heaven. If this had happened, then with the heavenly fortune that had come to us through the merit of those who offered their lives down through Korea's 5,000-year history, our land would have received God's blessing for all time. Then I would have stood in the position of the Lord, with worldwide authority. Then we would have established God's nation. However, when they thwarted our growth, that chance was lost. (136-170, 1985/12/22)
16 What happened to President Helen (Hwal-lan) Kim of the Ewha Womans University, the key person in this situation? Indeed she suffered hwallan, meaning disaster in Korean. With the authority of her school, she moved to sacrifice a religion and sacrifice her students. Her move was not based on righteousness. It was based on unrighteousness. This is why she was required to pay the price.
Had Helen Kim welcomed the Unification Church, Korea would have become the nation that could have won over all the nations and moved the world. The outcome of the events at Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University, which were at the center of Korean Christianity, was critical for determining whether Korea would go over the hill of its 40-year history under Japanese occupation. However, it ended with the students' expulsion, with the result that 40 years of the Korean people's suffering was wasted. (172-176, 1988/01/10)
|