Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 170. The Human Fall
1 When you study the Bible carefully, you cannot deny that the first human ancestors were joined to the devil, Satan, through illicit love, and that their children came to be in a parent-child relationship with him. We human beings are so precious to God; in His absolute love we should have been born as God’s own sons and daughters and inherited His direct lineage. However, we instead ended up being born into the lineage of the devil, Satan, as his sons and daughters. (53-262, 1972.03.01)
2 How did the Fall begin? Between a man and a woman, what would constitute the Fall? Could it literally be the act of eating a physical fruit called the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, as the Holy Scripture describes it? Simply eating a fruit cannot be the cause of original sin. The only thing that could cause such a thing is wrongful love between people of the opposite sex. Could the mere sin of the human progenitors eating a literal fruit have caused their descendants for tens of thousands of years to be sinners? That result is possible only because the root of the sin was implanted in our lineage, and hence it can continue forever according to the laws of heredity. This occurred through illicit relationships, first when Eve became one with Lucifer and next when Adam became one with Eve, who was already one with Lucifer. Consequently, when Adam and Eve began their conjugal relationship and begot a family, they did so centering on Lucifer, not God. Thus, Adam and Eve’s descendants—all of humanity— received Satan’s lineage. (479-241, 2004.12.13)
The realm of God's indirect dominion and the realm of God's direct dominion
3 Adam and Eve should have been the substantial body of God and the Parents of all humankind. However, they fell before reaching maturity. This can be likened to good seeds that were sown in spring to produce good fruit in autumn, but before it was ripe the fruit fell off the branches in summer. The Fall refers to their dropping off at the midway point. (038-175, 1971.01.03)
4 Originally, Adam and Eve were meant to reach perfection, and in their perfection God would have entered into them and become one with them. After that, when the two of them became one physically and spiritually, they would have connected with God’s love in their union. However, Adam and Eve fell when they were still in their adolescence, before they reached maturity. That is to say, they fell when they were still underage, when they were not able to connect to God’s love in spirit and flesh. For this reason, they did not yet know love. They were like chestnut burrs that look normal on the outside but have no kernels inside. (99-232, 1978.09.25)
5 The universe cannot be based on deviation from the principle. Yet when Eve was still underage, it seemed to her that Lucifer understood all the principles of heaven and earth. Since Lucifer had been running errands for God, he knew how to talk about the creation of heaven and earth. Adam, on the other hand, was inattentive to her. He was preoccupied with everything around him, running around with a stick, catching birds, snakes and frogs. He was supposed to have dominion over all things in nature and manage them, so he sought to become close to them. Hence, he did not yet have any interest in Eve. (191-101, 1989.06.24)
6 If Adam and Eve had not fallen, they would have passed through their adolescence and upon reaching maturity they would have become one with each other naturally. It would have been natural; they would not have needed any guidance or education. Who would have been the center of their unity? It was neither Adam nor Eve. They would have become one centered on God, who is the root of love. It is the same as with a flower when it blooms; the blossom comes not from itself, but from the root. If these human beings had attained an ideal relationship with God, who is the root, their love would have been perfected. Then everything they would subsequently have done would have been approved by God and publically recognized. Life in the kingdom of heaven would have begun immediately right there. When seen from this perspective, the Fall means that God lost the standard of His ideal for the perfection of love, which was His dream for human beings. (130-021, 1983.12.11)
7 Why did God implement the human portion of responsibility? We human beings must grow; we are required to grow to maturity. During the ages of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, we must grow from adolescence to maturity, and wait for love until we are fully grown. That is why this period is called the realm of dominion based on the result of fulfilling the principle, or the period of God’s indirect dominion. Until we grow to maturity, we do not know what love is. For this reason, we must wait for love until we are mature. Once the time comes for two individuals, on either pole of the horizontal plane, to reach maturity and become one, God will arrive and conduct the marriage ceremony. Then God’s Will shall be done. (137-100, 1985.12.24)
8 Due to the Fall, human beings have remained in the realm of indirect dominion; they are not yet connected to the realm of God’s direct dominion. As a result of Adam and Eve’s inability to fulfill their portion of responsibility, they could not join the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of God’s direct dominion. Because of this problem related to the portion of responsibility, the providence of restoration has been prolonged again and again. In order for us to reach the realm of God’s love, the realm of His direct dominion—in other words, in order to achieve perfection—we must fulfill our portion of responsibility while in the realm of indirect dominion. (139-231, 1986.01.31)
9 In order to connect the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of God’s direct dominion, we must fulfill our portion of responsibility. Fulfilling this responsibility requires that both a man and a woman must reach maturity. Perfection in the Garden of Eden refers to knowing only God. Adam and Eve were to love God first and foremost. Then second, the man was to know the woman and the woman was to know the man. If they had become such people, Adam and Eve could have fulfilled their portion of responsibility and crossed from the realm of indirect dominion to a new dimension, the realm of God’s direct dominion. (165-105, 1987.05.20)
10 You have to set indemnity conditions in your families in order to complete your own portion of responsibility, by which you can reach from the realm of indirect dominion into the realm of God’s direct dominion. You must do so, because unless you connect to the realm of God’s direct dominion, you have no way to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is the principle. Why did God ordain for human beings a portion of responsibility? God has us set conditions of indemnity in order to allow us to inherit everything He has and to make us His object partners. Why, then, do we need the realm of God’s direct dominion? It is because the connection of love between God and human beings is made only in that realm. Without this connection of love, we cannot inherit the universe from God. It is only through love that we can inherit the universe. That is why all families in every nation try to bequeath what they have to their children. This is the principle that is centered on love. (135-326, 1985.12.15)
11 In the realm where we have fulfilled our portion of responsibility, we can unite based on God’s love. Having attained individual perfection by which we connect to the vertical love of God, we make the connection from the realm of indirect dominion to the realm of God’s direct dominion. Once these two realms are connected their realms of heart are also connected, and Satan cannot exist there. The Fall took place before human beings reached this level. This is the problem. Fallen human beings by themselves have no way of knowing this reality. Thus they are bound to go to hell. That is why, behind the scenes of history, God set up the course of the providence of restoration and worked through religion to cultivate the conscience as a middle ground. (172-198, 1988.01.21)
12 The realm of God’s direct dominion is where Adam and Eve can join together in love, while the realm of indirect dominion is the realm in which their portion of responsibility has yet to be completed. Thus, once they have fulfilled their responsibility, that is, after Adam and Eve have become husband and wife centered on love, God becomes the internal Parent and Adam and Eve become the external Parents. At that point, when God and Adam and Eve become one inside and out, the realm of God’s direct dominion is established for the first time. That is why marriage is absolutely necessary. No one can enter the realm of God's direct dominion as a single person. (139-263, 1986.01.31)
13 When God’s perfect love manifests, Satan cannot appear. This occurs at the point where human beings have fulfilled their portion of responsibility. In the state where it is fulfilled, a connection of love is made between the realm of indirect dominion and the realm of God’s direct dominion. This is where vertical love and horizontal love meet. Out of that vertical love and horizontal love, people emerge who have a bond with God’s lineage. His lineage is created. Satan cannot interfere with people whose lineage is bonded to the love of God, through the connection of vertical love and horizontal love. Such people have nothing to do with Satan. Therefore, in order to inherit God’s heart, you must inherit the lineage of the original tradition, centered on the pure love of God. (173-286, 1988.02.21) |