Part Three - The Path of Life
Chapter 17 Obedience and Sacrifice
3) Self-Sacrifice
Self-Sacrifice Is To Offer One’s Entire Self—body, mind and spirit—to the service of God and the fulfillment of His will. In times of oppression, self-sacrifice may mean literally to give up one’s life as a martyr. In times of relative ease, self-sacrifice means to be a “living sacrifice,” dedicating every action to the divine purpose.
Jesus offers a model of self-sacrifice in his death on the cross, and teaches the same by the commandment he gave his followers—“take up your cross and follow me.” As individuals, each of us has a cross to bear, maybe several, and religion commends that we deal with our burdens with an attitude of submission and selfsacrifice. However, Father Moon, like other great saints before him, takes up public crosses, putting his life on the line to save others and confront the evils of the world. This is the noblest way of life.
1. Offering Oneself as a Living Sacrifice
World Scripture
I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12.1
To Thee as a sacrifice Zarathustra offers the very life and being of his self; He dedicates the first fruits of his loving thoughts to Ahura Mazda;He offers the best of his words and deeds and willing obedience to the Divine Law. Avesta, Yasna 33.14 (Zoroastrianism)
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2.20
O Son of Man! If you love Me, turn away from yourself; and if you seek My pleasure, regard not your own; that you may die in Me and I may eternally live in you. Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Arabic 7 (Baha’i Faith)
Man, in truth, is himself a sacrifice. Chandogya Upanishad 3.16.1 (Hinduism)
Would that I were an offering, Taken up in the kami’s hand, Drawn near to my god, Drawn near to my god. Kagura-Uta (Shinto)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Human beings should present themselves as living offerings before God and become the fruits of goodness who can demonstrate Heavenly Father’s internal heart. (2:77, March 3, 1957)
An offering should not have any concept of possession. A person who would be an offering should sacrifice for his people; he should move forward for the purpose of the whole, not for his own purpose. As an offering, you should set a public goal and exert yourself for that, not for a private goal. As an offering, you should become a foundation, or good soil, upon which God can destroy evil and establish the way of goodness. (14:10, April 19, 1964)
The Chinese character for “righteousness,” 義 (eui in Korean), is a combination of two Chinese characters, 羊 (yang) meaning “sheep” and 我 (ah) meaning “self.” [In other words, when you put yourself in the position of a lamb, you will create the condition for righteousness.] (92:309, April 24, 1977)
All human beings have to travel a course of re-creation and restoration, and this requires that we walk the path of sacrifice. We cannot re-create ourselves by ourselves; we must walk a path by which God invests His energy to create our ideal selves. That is why we must sacrifice. We sacrifice so that God has room to re-create us as His partners. This is the original standard of the Principle. Therefore, a religion that seeks human perfection or the ideal world must inspire its followers to make extraordinary efforts. We sacrifice our self-centeredness, and in proportion to that sacrifice God restores our original nature. This course is necessary because we are products of the Fall. Accordingly, all religious people must walk a path of effort and endure hardships. It is the fundamental point of re-creation. (God’s Will and the World, September 11, 1972)
To reach the ideal of perfection is not easy. It requires a state of absolute self-denial. We cannot do this if we insist on our own viewpoint. (God’s Will and the World, April 3, 1983)
The God of goodness is the God of sacrifice and love. Love cannot exist apart from sacrifice. Love is the essence of sacrifice. If you sacrifice yourself for someone you love, you do not consider that sacrifice to be a sacrifice. The more you sacrifice yourself, the more fulfilled you feel. Love has this paradoxical nature. The size of one’s love always becomes apparent in the degree of sacrifice. That is what determines whether a love is great or small. The greater the sacrifice, the greater is the love. A small sacrifice only demonstrates a lowly love. (63:25, October 1, 1972)
When you see things with the mind of love, you do not think of yourself but deny yourself and go the way of sacrifice. You must become a perfect minus in front of a perfect plus. When a perfect minus appears in front of a perfect plus, another plus is attracted to it. For example, if I am a perfect minus before a nation, the ultimate plus, God, will be attracted… This is a principle of heaven and earth. Therefore, the tradition of patriots is one of blood, sweat and tears. The tradition of filial piety is one of blood, sweat and tears. It is the same with the way of virtuous women, virtuous men, patriots and saints. This is the mainstream tradition: only through sacrificing our blood, sweat and tears are we connected with the Kingdom of Heaven, the world of unity. This is an infallible truth. (113:118, May 1, 1981)
Many people worship Thee hoping for Heaven’s blessing;
others make devotions to become Thy children;
but today, even after six thousand years have passed,
it is difficult to find devoted people, Thy true sons and daughters,
who want to be offerings to Thee. (5:8, November 9, 1958)