[128] World Scripture - Ignorance and Atheism - 1. Ignorance of God

[대태양/김현수]

World Scripture Ⅱ

Part Two - Sin and Salvation
Chapter 6 - Evil, Sin and the Human Fall

10) Ignorance and Atheism

Many religions regard ignorance as the cause of evil in human life. Being ignorant of God and the purpose of life, people’s values become confused, and consequently they act wrongly. The apostle Paul taught that ignorance of God lay at the root of all forms of license and immorality. In Islam it is called “forgetting God,” causing people to deviate from the path and lose their souls. In Buddhism, this ignorance leads to grasping after self and begets delusion (moha). Many scriptures warn against the illusory goals and vanities that infect worldly life.

In their search for knowledge, people have embraced various philosophies, yet it is clear that none of them have illuminated the truth one hundred percent. Oftentimes, valid insights are mixed with false views, leading to confusion and conflict over values, to skepticism and even atheism. This too is the result of humanity’s fundamental ignorance, whose source stems from the Human Fall, according to Father Moon. As a prophet of the twentieth century who lived through the struggle with communism, he is particularly concerned about this contemporary form of ignorance.

The concluding passages describe humanity’s spiritual blindness. They describe ignorance as a veil that obscures the faculty of insight. The Buddha used metaphors such as moths drawn to perish in a lamp to represent people’s attraction to the illusory vanities of this world. In Hinduism and Jainism, this blindness (avidya) is what binds people to the wheel of birth-and-death (samsara), binding them sense pleasures instead of seeking Reality itself. Plato’s famous Myth of the Cave speaks to this topic. Father Moon likewise describes a pervasive delusion, born of the Human Fall, that leaves human beings blind to spiritual truth and totally unable to know God’s inner heart.

1. Ignorance of God

World Scripture

Be not like those who forget God, and therefore He made them forget their own souls! Qur’an 59.19

Although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. Romans 1.21-25

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are all corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one. Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? Psalm 14.1-4

Whoever wants to do some evil against another does not remember God. Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

He who does not clearly understand Heaven will not be pure in virtue. He who has not mastered the Way will find himself without any acceptable path of approach. He who does not understand the Way is pitiable indeed! Chuang Tzu 11 (Taoism)

No man lies to his neighbor until he has denied the Root. It happened once that Rabbi Reuben was in Tiberias on the Sabbath, and a philosopher asked him, “Who is the most hateful man in the world?” He replied, “The man who denies his Creator.” “How so?” asked the philosopher. Rabbi Reuben answered, “‘Honor thy father and thy mother, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, thou shalt not covet.’ No man denies the derivative [the Ten Commandments] until he has previously denied the Root [God], and no man sins unless he has denied Him who commanded him not to commit that sin.” Tosefta Shevuot 3.6 (Judaism)

The demonic do things they should avoid and avoid the things they should do. They have no sense of uprightness, purity, or truth.

“There is no God,” they say, “no truth, no spiritual law, no moral order. The basis of life is sex; what else can it be?” Holding such distorted views, possessing scant discrimination, they become enemies of the world, causing suffering and destruction.

Hypocritical, proud, and arrogant, living in delusion and clinging to deluded ideas, insatiable in their desires, they pursue their unclean ends. Although burdened with fears that end only with death, they still maintain with complete assurance, “Gratification of lust is the highest that life can offer.”

Bound on all sides by scheming and anxiety, driven by anger and greed, they amass by any means they can a hoard of money for the satisfaction of their cravings.

“I got this today,” they say; “tomorrow I shall get that. This wealth is mine, and that will be mine too. I have destroyed my enemies. I shall destroy others too! Am I not like God? I enjoy what I want. I am successful. I am powerful. I am happy. I am rich and well-born. Who is equal to me? I will perform sacrifices and give gifts, and rejoice in my own generosity.”

This is how they go on, deluded by ignorance. Bound by their greed and entangled in a web of delusion, whirled about by a fragmented mind, they fall into a dark hell. Bhagavad-Gita 16.7-16 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Humanity fell into ignorance of God at its beginning, and we are still ignorant of God today. We do not know God, God’s ideal of creation, or the family that was to be the basis of our fulfillment. For this reason, everything goes wrong. Human life, from the family level to the world level, is a mess. (325:220, July 1, 2000)

Many people think that food, clothing and survival are the chief ends of life. Of course, they do develop some good elements through moral human relationships with each other. However, the standards of their morality and social arrangements differ according to culture and background. Hence, while everyone has an innate desire to establish the original standard of morality, we face the reality that existing moralities and ways of life are scattered in many directions. There is no consensus about it—this is a problem.

People are unsure about their ultimate destination after earthly life is finished. They are uncertain about the existence of the spirit world. They are even ignorant of the existence of God. (140:122-23, February 9, 1986)

When people believe there is nothing after death, they want to experience everything they possibly can of earthly life. They want to excel everyone else in building an ideal environment for themselves before they die. They want to do something significant on the world stage and to experience all manner of relationships. Inevitably, their life becomes nothing but the pursuit of physical pleasure. That is why in affluent countries like the United States today, ethics and morality have all become decadent.

The loss of values is serious, even to the extent that people reject their historical traditions and destroy the family structure of parents, siblings, husband and wife. In their pursuit of physical pleasures, people throw away what is needed for lasting relationships. Children pursue these pleasures and their parents oppose; husbands seek them out and their wives object. People lose the desire to marry, as life becomes more casual every day. (172:15-16, January 3, 1988)

Adam and Eve fell into a state of ignorance: ignorant of the ideal world of oneness and ignorant of God’s purpose to realize that world. Born as descendants of ancestors who fell into ignorance, we also do not know where we are supposed to go. (140:14, February 1, 1986)

If we are created in such a way that we cannot live apart from God, then surely our ignorance of God consigns us to walk miserable paths. Although we may diligently study the Bible, can we claim that we really know the reality of God? Can we ever grasp the heart of God? (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Introduction)

Religions have helped fallen people gradually overcome their spiritual ignorance by stimulating their latent original mind to activity. They have been teaching people to focus their lives on the invisible, causal world of God. Since not everyone feels an immediate need for religion, only a few exceptional people attain spiritual knowledge rapidly. For the vast majority, spiritual growth remains a slow process. We see this from the fact that even today, with religions widespread throughout the world, people’s spiritual level is often no better than that of people in ancient times. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Parallels 7.2.2)

Ask young people whether they really love God. If they are honest their answer must be “No.” Why? Because their views are different from God’s. Young people like to enjoy their life, indulging in free sex and drugs, but God does not allow it. As long as they are doing those things, they cannot say they love God. (91:22, January 16, 1977)