Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 157. The first pledge of the Family Pledge
17. The first pledge of the Family Pledge is, "Our family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to seek our original homeland and build the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, the original ideal ofcreation, by centering on true love." You do not know how great it is that you are able to recite the Family Pledge ; it is the gospel of all gospels in history. Here, "the ideal of creation" refers to the ideal of creation centered on God. God's ideal of creation was to bring about the kingdom of God on earth and the kingdom of God in heaven. The Fall prevented this; hence, we now have to restore it. This means we have to build the kingdom of God on earth and the kingdom of God in heaven, which is the ideal of creation centered on the original homeland. (565-305, 20070613)
18. True love unfolds when a person achieves oneness in mind and body, when a couple attains oneness in their marriage, and when parents and their children are one. Unless you practice this level of love, you surely will be in trouble when you go to the spirit world. The Family Pledge is that serious. You have to live in accordance with the Family Pledge, always. In your family, if the father violates even one point of the Family Pledge, the mother has to take responsibility for that along with him, and the children also have to take responsibility. The family cannot help but share the responsibility. This is the lesson we take from the fact that, because Adam did not take responsibility for Eves fall, his whole family fell. (565-307, 20070613)
19. The phrase, "Our family...by centering on true love" implies that because people are fallen, they ended up not having true love and unable to form true families. Originally, a person without true love cannot have a family in the presence of God. True love is that which stands in relationship to God. It is not centered on oneself, the habits of the secular world, or a people's customs and traditions. It can only be based on God. Due to the Fall, human relationships have been connected to Satan's love. This is true in the family, the tribe, the people, the nation, the world, all throughout heaven and earth. If you are to encounter God's love, you must completely deny the habits and traditions that are based on self-centered love. (274-196, 19951103)
20. True love begins in the place where you invest everything, even your life, and then are ready to invest more. It is where you give and give again and forget how much you've given. True love penetrates heaven and earth. It pierces through even the world of death and ascends. It can penetrate and travel anywhere. There is nowhere love cannot go. Love can enter even secret places. (256-179, 19940313)
21. The original homeland is where we all want to go, what we all want to see, and where we all want to live. It is where both our minds and our bodies want to go. Thus we must find this original homeland, for which our minds and bodies yearn. It is where we can settle for eternity. It is the foundation for our happiness, a place in which we can take pride. Throughout the course of history so many people have longed for this original homeland. They sought it and revered it, yet they passed away without seeing it. Many people of deep faith and great wisdom have made tremendous efforts to find this original homeland, even to this day. That is why the original homeland will surely emerge. (023-074, 19690511)
22. The original garden is the ideal garden. It is where the spirit world and the physical world connect to each other, and where the feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood reaches to every corner of the universe. It is not like today's world, where people make an issue over differences of belief or ideology and where they dispute over ethnicity and national sovereignty. It is not a world where people quarrel with one another over differences of economic circumstances or culture. Rather, it is a world where people would discuss all matters with the heart of God, which enables peoples and nations to transcend their differences. (007-038, 19590705)
23. If our ancestors had not fallen, there is no doubt that the original hometown would have been in the Garden of Eden -- a village among the mountains and rivers where Adam and Eve lived. Today, when fallen people speak of their original hometown, they immediately think of their place of birth. They do not even think of the ideal hometown for which all humanity is seeking and longing. Even if they do, they think it is something beyond their reach, and that any effort to find it will be in vain. Today, however, the Unification Church must go out to seek and recover the lost original hometown. It is where our Heavenly Parent, our brothers and sisters, and all our relatives reside. When we get there they will welcome us, not in sadness but in eternal joy and happiness. Their joy will not be short-lived but will endure forever. We must find that original hometown. (023-074, 19690511)
24. We miss the hometown of our birth, where we can see our parents, siblings and relatives, who are closer to us than anyone else and who guide us and welcome us with an unchanging heart. They greet us joyfully whenever we go to see them; they sympathize with us and comfort us whenever we are in difficulty. If you were to find no one like that in the hometown of your birth, your feelings of deep yearning would dissipate. That place, which you fervently yearned for, hoping to find them, would instead give you cause for grief. When you come to the hometown of your birth, there should be people who will welcome you there. (023-080, 19690511)
25. If God could come down to a family on earth and live with them, that family would represent all humankind. Then that place would be the starting point of God's life with human beings, the base for the original hometown of all humanity. However, because of the Fall, we failed to make it to that starting point, where God would have been at the center. The family could not become such a place. That is why there has been no original hometown. That starting point was created only after I came and established the foundation whereupon God and True Parents could settle on earth, through unity in true love. That place of settlement can become the original hometown and homeland for all humanity. Although it is restored, it has the same form as the original starting place where God wanted all people to share God's love. As the base of true love, it can become the original hometown and homeland for all humankind. (289-142, 19980101)
26. Where is the homeland that God desires? Where is the original hometown of humankind? That historic, universal and global original hometown is the place where True Parents were born. You need to inherit these ancestors' worldview and traditions; otherwise you will be treated as stepchildren. At this time in history, the Korean people are called to become the chosen people. For this to happen, I have to turn things inside out. If Korea is truly to be the original homeland, the original fatherland, then all civilizations of the world will have to bear fruit in Korea. Further, if we are to make Korea into the original homeland, we must resolve to become offerings of loyalty, devotion, love and sacrifice. Otherwise Korea will lose the qualification to be the original homeland. It requires action to create something good. We must accomplish it, even at the cost of our blood, sweat and tears. (015-284, 19651102)
27. The first pledge of the Family Pledge, in speaking about the original homeland, mentions the restoration of all things. We are to restore through indemnity everything that was lost in the garden of Eden. Some religions encourage their followers to leave their homes and to live celibate lives. Yet the Unification Church, unlike those religions, instructs us to return to our hometowns or to our nations. This is an amazing thing, and it is happening throughout the world. For the world of religion, there is no greater news than this. (269-105, 19950409)
28. After finding our original homeland, our next task is to build the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. We, each one of us, must create it. Because it was lost, we must re-create it entirely. Because it was stolen, we must reclaim it and rebuild it, even if it takes thousands of years. That is why in the Unification Church we speak about returning to our hometowns. (288-324, 19980101)
29. We must build God's kingdom on earth and in heaven, which is the original ideal of creation. Because the family was lost, we must form families. Then our families, with true love and based on the original homeland, should build God's kingdom on earth and in heaven. The original homeland is based on the family, not on the nation. That is why you and your families need to return to your hometowns and substantiate God's kingdom on earth and in heaven there, with your families. Once you have recovered your hometowns, your nation and the whole world will unite automatically. Do not worry. If you fulfill this, God's kingdom on earth and in heaven will come. It all begins from within the family. (260-157, 19940501)
30. "Our family pledges...to build the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, the original ideal of creation." I used the word "build" with the meaning that we have to make it. It will not come about by itself ; we must create it. Since it was people who turned this world into hell on earth and in the spirit world, it is people, not God, who must re-create it and make it into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God on earth and in heaven emerges within the individual and then must be substantiated in the family. Since we must create this kingdom in our families, our families need the Family Pledge. Our families have to build the kingdom. We are the ones who must do it. (260-304, 19940519) |