Why God established religions
54 God has been seeking to recover His relationship with fallen human beings and the lost ideal garden. Through the course of restoration, He is striving to rebuild the garden where once, prior to the Fall, He joyfully related to Adam and Eve. From that state of joy, He wants to create and build a world through which He can realize His ideal. This is the history of the providence of salvation that God has been leading, and this is the history of restoration we must pass through. Therefore, as you go through the course of restoration, surrender yourself to the ways of Heaven. Examine yourself objectively from that standpoint and then reflect seriously about where you stand and the situations in which you struggle. God established religions out of His love. It is through religions that God has been trying to teach human beings their proper position and give them direction. Throughout history God has been looking for us, seeking, through the path of religion and based on our faith, to bring us back to Him. (4-069, 1958.03.09)
55 If Adam and Eve had not eaten the fruit of good and evil and had not fallen, they would have married within God's realm, inherited His love, life and lineage, and become His children. Such people would have had no need for the Savior. They would have had no need for spiritual nurturing. As God's children in the original world of creation, they would naturally have connected to God, totally one with Him in mind and body. The problem arises from the struggle between mind and body. If your mind and body are not united on earth, you will have to make them one in the spirit world even if it takes millions of years. They need to be united based on true love. Without true love it is impossible to make oneness. True Parents are the representatives of true love, who teach the way of true love. The teaching that they bring can uproot all the sins of history. When we practice it, we can finally achieve liberation. (232-089, 1992.07.03)
56 Religion does not exist to fulfill people's desires; it exists to fulfill the Will of God. Once we have fulfilled God's Will, then it becomes possible to fulfill our human desires. This is the Principle of Creation, the purpose for which God created human beings. The fallen world has not seen an age when God's Will was fulfilled; hence it has not seen an age when human desires were fulfilled. Therefore, to this day human history has been focused toward the ideal world, the original world of a higher dimension of life. The goal of this pursuit is not to fulfill any one purpose based on human desire; it is to fulfill God's Will. From that point, pursuits for the fulfillment of human desire can begin. This is God's providential view of history. God's Will is, first of all, the perfection of Adam and Eve. Then it is the perfection of the spirit world, the perfection of the angelic world. God is the center, and it is He who has been leading the providence of salvation toward the fulfillment of His Will. (115-237, 1981.11.22)
57 The fulfillment of God's Will is not what the people of this world are pursuing. God's Will has nothing to do with material conditions. It has nothing to do with worldly knowledge or power. What is the condition that God is seeking? It is the standard of perfection based on love. The world's various religions, although from different historical backgrounds and different ages, have been pursuing this purpose. That is why every religion teaches a concept of benevolence or love. What kind of love meets the standard for perfection? The love of God for Adam is not only for Adam, and the love of God for Eve is not only for Eve. The love of God for Adam and Eve is to flow through the family, tribe, people and nation, and through all their future descendants. From one ideal husband and wife centered on this love, the ideal family of love, the ideal tribe, people, nation and world of love can arise. (115-238, 1981.11.22)
58 Religions were established by God; among them are the mainstream religions of His mainstream people. To advance the providence to realize God's ideal, God wants to connect a mainstream religion with a central people and a mainstream thought. God's plan is to set up a mainstream religion as the foundation for the realization of His ideal, and then on that foundation to establish a people and a nation through which to bring His ideal into reality. Without these two, a mainstream religion and a central people, there is no way for the human race to inherit God's ideal of creation. Therefore, in history, God sets up a people who can inherit His ideal, based on the religion that is closest to Him. That religion connects individuals, families, tribes, peoples and nations to the world that can inherit God's ideal. This is the way of God's Will and the path by which humankind is to inherit God's ideal. (172-263, 1988.01.24)
59 The path of religion is to enable people to start living centered on God's Will. Therefore, religions exist for people to follow the way of God's Will. Because God's Will is absolute, it is eternally one. It cannot be two. Therefore, the person who lives centered on God's absolute Will is living the life of the kingdom of heaven on the individual level. A family that lives that way is living the life of the kingdom of heaven on the family level, together with God. If all people throughout the world live in unity, focusing on God's Will for the world—beyond the levels of one people or one nation—the world will become the kingdom of heaven on earth. (182-050, 1988.10.14) |