Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 224. The Family Is the Textbook of God's Kingdom
1 The family is a textbook for how to build an ideal land and an ideal nation. The nation is a textbook for how to build an ideal world. There are four textbooks—the family, the nation, the world and the universe. Yet you have to teach about these textbooks at home. This basic education should begin in the family. (118-234, 1982.06.06)
2 The family is a textbook to connect us to the kingdom of heaven. It is the educational textbook. When you apply it to the nation, you will become a patriot; when you apply it to the world, you will become a saint, and when you practice it in the context of heaven and earth, you will become God’s child, His divine son or daughter. All people have that desire. (137-078, 1985.12.18)
The family is the school of love 3 Parents should be the center of the family, and teachers should be the center of the educational institutions of society. Parents rear children by nourishing them, supporting their physical development as well as their emotional development. The school prepares people for their future life in society. If the family is the emotional training ground, the school is the social training ground, like a laboratory. The family is the training ground of heart. Thus, at school we must interact with love and affection as brothers and sisters, and do so in the nation as well. Parents’ education at home is to prepare the children to love their school, their society and their nation. Parents should pass on everything in the realm of heart to their children, who are their heirs. They should lay the foundation of heart for their children by teaching them to follow their way of life in the family, society and nation. (180-130, 1988.08.22)
4 Do we ever need to be taught how to go the way of evil? People do not need education to go the way of evil. Even without any education, they naturally go that way. This is because history started from evil. People were born with an evil inclination. That is why they need education to act according to the standard of conscience based on morals and ethics. What is the center of that education? It is goodness, based on following the conscience. Although people are educated about goodness, how many live up to the standards they are taught? People will still tend to do evil things. In doing evil, anyone can get a perfect score. (36-057, 1970.11.15)
5 Parents who stay awake at night out of love for their children are close to Heaven. You need to establish an absolute foundation in your family, and say, “This family is like a factory, a production base for the kingdom of heaven.” That is why I am telling you to educate and protect your sons and daughters in order to make a happy family. (194-132, 1989.10.17)
6 The family is the model, the foothold on earth for the kingdom of heaven. It has been God’s sorrow that He has been unable to prepare a textbook with which to educate human beings to become His true sons and daughters. Why? It is due to the Fall. When will God be able to raise us up to be His true sons and daughters? This has been His hope throughout history. His further sorrow is that He could not prepare a textbook to guide human beings to build a world of love. Among siblings there are brothers and sisters, not necessarily only two; there could be ten or even twenty. But God could not teach brothers and sisters how to live. After Adam and Eve were born as God’s son and daughter, they grew as brother and sister. Through them God wanted to produce the textbook for all brothers and sisters. He then wanted to produce one for husband and wife. But He had no chance to do either, and to this day we have no such books. After becoming a couple, Adam and Eve soon became a father and mother. Yet again, God could not produce the textbook to clarify the tradition of parents. (224-268, 1991.12.15)
7 The system in the ideal world is based on the family unit. The family is the foundation for the kingdom of heaven; it is the cornerstone, the foundation on which to build that kingdom. It does not matter how many people there are; if you love them as your family you are welcome everywhere in the kingdom of heaven. That is why you should base your life on the education you receive in your family. In the family are grandfathers and grandmothers, father and mother, husband and wife, and sons and daughters. These represent four generations. We can apply this wherever we go throughout the world. We will meet people the age of our grandparents, the age of our parents, the age of our spouse, and the age of our children. Therefore, those who have experienced love according to the textbook in their family will have no problem wherever they go. Since their way of life accords with the book, they will pass every test. The time will come when everyone will provide food and lodging to those who are living like this. All that matters is this education in the family. That is why I am saying the family is absolutely the most fundamental textbook. If you live according to the way you were taught in the family, no matter where you go, you will not face any barriers and no one will oppose you. (225-224, 1992.01.20)
8 The family is the center of education. In it you pass the test that qualifies you to enter the kingdom in the other world. Who is the head of the family? The head is the one who most loves the whole family. Who is the head of this world? If you view the heavenly nation as one huge family, the one who most loves the people on earth is the head. Each race may think they are the best, but that is not the case. Although both the East and the West exist, each thinks it is best. Yet neither can exist without the other. The two are bound in a partner relationship. (247-312, 1993.06.01)
9 Earthly families are like production plants that create citizens destined for the heavenly nation. We act as the owners of these plants until we enter the spirit world. The path of life we set up will naturally educate our children. We will not need to intervene; they will naturally learn to walk the right path. Everyone has God within; we do not need education to put Him there. But we are where we are now because of the Fall. As a result of the Fall, humanity has been ignorant of the fundamentals. (254-246, 1994.02.13)
10 The family is the standard of perfection for the individual and the standard of perfection for the church. No matter how well you do as an individual in pursuing the Will of God, if you do not succeed with your family, it is a problem. That is why the family is the issue. In the family there is not only one side, there are two. There are man and woman, and on the foundation of one man and one woman, there are parents and children. Therefore, four directions appear. Looking at this four-directional pattern, we see that it is not human will that creates the family. The family is the place God designed for the perfection of the individual, as well as the starting point of the church. If a problem occurs in the family, you should find the solution in the family, not in the church. If anything goes wrong, you should seek the solution in the family itself, not the church. If you cannot resolve this at home, neither can the church provide a fundamental solution. The kingdom of heaven appears not centered on the individual, but on the family, where four directions and three dimensions meet. (45-216, 1971.07.01)
11 If not for the Fall, men and women would have received perfect love from God as His true sons and daughters in the family. Then we would have been completely one with God. In fact, such men and women would have united totally in love. Such couples would not exist only for their own sake but to educate their children, because they would want to complete all four directions. (53-069, 1972.02.09)
12 The family is the most important school of love in our life. The education of the emotions that only parents can provide equips children with depth and breadth of heart. This is the cornerstone upon which children’s character is built. The family is also the school in which virtues and principles are taught. Children should receive intellectual, physical and technical education upon this foundation of emotional and principled education. This is the heavenly way. (271-080, 1995.08.22) |