Chambumo Gyeong - 494. Saving all of humankind
The purpose of religion is to restore people to their original, unfallen condition, through the providence of salvation. For this purpose, True Parents have been working both in the Unification Church and in the wider religious world. In our church they have been raising up family members with love and truth. In the wider religious world they have been spreading the truth through interfaith initiatives.
1 What do human beings want most? If we have a certain desire, that desire should not be for the sake of ourselves. Once we have been engrafted to God, we should start anew with desires that are connected to God's desire. We should find what God desires and go forth on the path to fulfill what He desires. As we pursue absolute value, we should pursue it not from our own viewpoint, but from the viewpoint that arises in our relationship with God, the absolute Being who governs us.
Unless fallen human beings take this position, they cannot break free of their bond to the Fall. If we do not break free from that bond, however much we want to establish all the conditions of happiness, we will never be able to attain eternal happiness. With God we must become people who step forward more strongly than does the evil one who created the fallen environment. Unless we do so, there is no way to solve the human predicament.
All human beings are in this miserable position. Yet, God, in His compassion, has been taking responsibility for that, by carrying out the providence of salvation in every age of history and teaching people the path to salvation. (032-094, 1970/06/28)
2 Ultimately, history has been pursuing the path of love. Because human beings began from Gods love, God has purposed that human beings arrive at the world of love and unity. However, it is the ones who guide humankind on that path who determine success or failure. I know that this is the right path of life. Because I understand this, I confidently report to you the personal experiences of the struggles that I have carried out for this quest at the risk of my life.
When we look into the history of religion, we find that Gods providence of salvation has been carried out in the midst of the many ups and downs of human history. Because the providence of salvation will continue up until the Last Days, there needs to be a mainstream of religious practice. Its final destination is to find the path of God's love and build the family of His love. Thereby, it is to establish the tribe of His love and then the nation of His love. (136-212, 1985/12/29)
3 This fallen world is occupied by evil. How can good people be raised up in this kind of world? If the Lord who created heaven and earth exists, this must be a daunting challenge for Him. In fact, nurturing good people is what God has been doing as He carries out the providence of salvation on earth. God set up religions as His means of nurturing good people. Human beings have needed religions ever since the day they fell.
Even though human beings fell, they still have a mind of goodness deep within them. It is because God endowed them with an original mind that can pursue religion and believe in God. God established the standard of goodness within human beings before evil arose, and this is the standard by which they can fulfill Gods purpose of creation.
This means that we all have an original nature through which Gods purpose of creation can be realized. Our original nature always strives for God's purpose of goodness. It is innate and works naturally within us. The workings of conscience direct us in such a way that we will inevitably advance toward goodness. (016-108, 1966/01/02)
4 The purpose of religion is salvation. It is to save us from the state of conflict. Salvation means to go beyond the world of conflict into the world of peace. Since the root of the word "salvation" means "save," we can understand that originally human beings were not meant to be in a state of conflict.
If you are admitted to the hospital, when you recover your health and are discharged you say, "I am healed." Healing someone means restoring that person from a damaged condition to their original condition. Accordingly, because humankind fell, we must recover our original unfallen state. What happens when we return to that position? The relationship between God and us can be formed anew. (273-213, 1995/10/29)
5 God established religions to transform the fallen people of the world, who are wild olive trees. The mission of religions and religidus people is to transform those wild olive trees into true olive trees that can attain perfection. Since human beings fell away from God and became sinners, religion strives to bring us back to God.
In fact, religion s role is to bring all humankind back to God. This is salvation. Thus far, religious people living a life of faith have thought, "It is enough if I believe in religion and gain my salvation." However, the correct path for people of faith reaches farther than this; it is to save all humanity, and help all people return to God. Thus, true religious people should think, "The reason I believe in religion is to return my nation to God and return the world to God. Before I save my own sons and daughters and descendants, first I will save my nation and the world."
By doing this, once our nation receives salvation, our family will also be saved. Likewise, once the world receives salvation, our own nation will also be saved. That is why a true religion seeks to save all humankind, and people of true faith return to God while striving to bring all humanity with them. (080-201, 1975/10/23)
6 Is it Gods desire and hope to lift up Christianity to Himself and sweep away all other religions like garbage? Those who think that way misunderstand Gods view of salvation. God wants to save the entire world, not only Christianity. Therefore, once God unites Christianity with Himself, He will strive to unite all other religions with Himself as well.
More than that, Gods providence of salvation is to save not only the earth but the entire cosmos. He wants to save all the people of the past, present and future. He wants to save all the people who once lived on earth and are now in the spirit world, even the people who went to hell. If God is the true owner and subject partner of true love and compassion, then after uniting all religions of the world, He would go on to bring the entire world into oneness and save every single soul without fail. (209-067, 1990/11/27)
7 Religion seeks God's kingdom, the God-centered nation. In the course of history, human beings also have been seeking God's kingdom, which must be built in this world. To accomplish this, we must place God at the center. We were born to build such a world; we are meant to live for it and die for it. If we do this, we will truly be the patriots of God's nation. Not only that, we will be filial children before the Heavenly Parent. We should live by this teaching, so that we can provide for humankind a shortcut that everyone can take to enter God's kingdom. We are pioneering the path that the world's people will universally yearn to follow. It is the path by which unity will begin. (034-346, 1970/09/20) |