Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 171. The human portion of responsibility and the Fall
14 If only Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden had obeyed God’s commandment, the Fall would not have occurred. If those two individuals had obeyed God’s commandment and given birth to a family, and if from that family a nation and a world had been formed, they would have established the kingdom of heaven on earth, a world where God alone would have had dominion. But because Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment, and even betrayed Him, the individuals, families, tribes, peoples and nations that came about were centered on Satan instead. Consequently, the kingdom that God had originally intended has yet to be formed. A world opposite to God’s original intention came about, with Satan, God’s main opponent, at its helm. Thus the individual, the family and the world all came to be under the dominion of Satan. (72-074, 1974.05.19)
15 Had Adam and Eve consulted God before they fell, there would have been no Fall. They should have asked Him, “Satan is saying such and such, so what shall we do?” If they had done that, God in answering them would have guided them not to fall. Their portion of responsibility was to ask. They were free to do so. But instead they engaged in a horizontal relationship without asking God. That was the problem. Since they acted without asking, a problem arose. This is always the case. Do all of you have the confidence to fulfill your own 5-percent portion of responsibility? There are all kinds of people who go around pretending to be great, yet they do not have confidence to fulfill their portion of responsibility. (33-241, 1970.08.16)
16 Why did Adam and Eve fall? It is because they failed to fulfill their portion of responsibility. Could Adam and Eve have accomplished it by themselves? First, they should have become one with God. Without becoming one with God, they could not have fulfilled their portion of responsibility. Next, they should have become one with the Principle. They had to meet these two conditions. Therefore people of faith are instructed: “You must absolutely believe in God! You must turn to God, and stand firmly centered on God!” This is the first article of faith. No matter what the religion, this is the first article for people of faith. Next comes the Principle. People are instructed that they must completely unite with the laws that God has established. (87-122, 1976.05.23)
17 Due to the human portion of responsibility, indemnity came to exist. Had there been no human portion of responsibility, God could have exercised His dominion at any time. At the time of the Fall, He could have said, “Hey, you! You should not do that!” But because of the human portion of responsibility, God was not in a position to intervene to prevent the Fall or to prevent Satan’s activities. Adam and Eve were unable to fulfill their portion of responsibility. However, the impact of their failure did not end with Adam and Eve themselves. If we liken Adam and Eve to the root and all humankind to the trunk, branches and leaves, then it is clear that all human beings remain in the position of having failed to fulfill their responsibility. (87-122, 1976.05.23)
18 Once Adam and Eve had committed sin, God could not work with them as He had desired. On the other hand, Satan was free to do whatever he liked with sinful Adam and Eve, in order to have them ruin God’s Will. God cannot liberate Himself. He cannot be liberated until that day in history when the Lord of the Second Advent, the Messiah, comes to this world and subjugates Satan. Most religious people do not even dream of this. They simply believe that God is omniscient and omnipresent and can do whatever He likes. However, no matter how powerful God may be, He must abide by the laws that He established. God is not the kind of being who does what He pleases if it means going against the laws that He established according to the great principles He used to create heaven and earth. That is the reason He could not intervene with Adam and Eve at the time of the Fall. Intervention is permissible only at the state of perfection. God could have intervened to care for them if they had reached the perfection level, but He could not intervene with Adam and Eve because they were still at the completion level of the growth stage. An unripe fruit that is still in the process of maturing has no seeds that can be harvested. God can gather only absolutely ripened fruit, fruit that is fully mature, to spread its seed. He cannot intervene if it is not fully mature. (252-233, 1994.01.01)
19 Since Adam committed the sin, Adam must resolve it. Because Adam was immature, he fell while in a state of ignorance. Thus a perfect, mature Adam must appear and bring to light all the secrets of God and Satan. He must bring the devil before God to be charged. For us to enter the kingdom of heaven, it is not enough that Jesus stamps our pass. We need to present a certificate of victory over the devil; otherwise we will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, Adam must disclose all of Satan’s hidden secrets and God’s unknown truth. He must unearth the unprincipled acts that Satan committed throughout history. He must present logical arguments along with all the evidence of how Satan violated God’s laws and principles. He must censure Satan by bringing to light all the facts about him, with clear evidence of how Satan violated the individual, the family, the tribe, the people, the nation, the world, and God’s ideal of the kingdom of heaven in heaven and the kingdom of heaven on earth. When he presents that evidence, then Satan, the devil who committed those sins, will have to surrender. (252-234, 1994.01.01)
20 How can we explain concretely how sin, the Fall, evil and hell came to exist? In order to answer these questions, we need to think about what happened back at the time of Adam and Eve. Delving into the fundamental reasons why Adam and Eve fell, we can say the first reason was that they disregarded God’s commandment not to eat the fruit of good and evil. The second reason was that they were self-centered. The third was that they engaged in self-centered love. Since these are the core issues of the Fall, we can conclude that anyone who engages in this kind of behavior is on Satan’s side. All fallen people tend to be faithless and self-centered. In the final analysis, it can be seen that the people of this world profess and engage in self- centered love. (079-198, 1975.07.27)
21 When God said, “Do not eat,” what is it that God said not to eat? The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden refer to Adam and Eve. Specifically, the tree of life symbolizes Adam’s reproductive organ. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes Eves love. In the world, if a woman loves a member of the Mafia, the fruit she bears will be the Mafioso’s children, and if she loves a king, the fruit she bears will be the king’s children. By the same token, because of whom Eve loved, it was the devil’s lineage that humankind inherited. (275-219, 1995.12.30)
22 The tree of the knowledge of good and evil refers to immature Eve’s love, and one step further, to her reproductive organ. When a patriot bears good sons and daughters and raises them well, the foundation of their upbringing is love. Where does this love take place? It is in the reproductive organs of the father and mother. Those are not bad things; rather, they are extremely holy. How was the kingship of the kingdom of heaven lost? It was lost when Adam and Eve lost their chastity. How were God’s family and the realm of His ideal lost? When their chastity was shattered, everything was shattered. If their reproductive organs had not been violated, they would have become the original place for the building of the palace in God’s kingdom. Therefore, we say that the reproductive organs are the palace of love, the palace of life and the palace of lineage. It is through this palace door that patriots are born; it is through this palace door that saints are born, and it was to have been through this door that God’s sons and daughters would have been born. God wanted to plant His lineage through this door. (348-036, 2001.07.06)
23 The Bible states that Adam and Eve fell by eating the fruit of good and evil. Then what does it mean that they covered their lower parts? If only Christians interpreted the Bible a bit more rationally, they would know the origin of the Fall right away. Why were Adam and Eve ashamed of their lower parts? If they had eaten a literal fruit, they would have covered their mouths or their hands. Why did they cover their lower parts? The lower parts were not meant to be something to be ashamed of, but because they were used during the Fall, they became the palace of shame, where Heaven’s love was trampled on. A fountain of true love should have sprung forth there, but instead a fountain of false love, the devil’s love, gushed out. It became the den of the most iniquitous love. (202-200, 1990.05.24) |