[432] World Scripture - Asceticism, Monasticism and Celibacy - 3. Celibacy

[대태양/김현수]

Part Three - The Path of Life

Chapter 18 Humility and Self-Denial

10) Asceticism, Monasticism and Celibacy

3. Celibacy

World Scripture

[Jesus] said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.” Matthew 19.12

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Matthew 22.30

Both learning and the practice of the Teaching are lost to him who is given to sexual intercourse. He employs himself wrongly. That is what is ignoble in him. Sutta Nipata 815 (Buddhism)

The unmarried man is anxious about the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or virgin is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7.32-35

Free from selfish attachment, they do not get compulsively entangled even in home and family… Enjoying solitude and not following the crowd, they seek only me. Bhagavad-Gita 13.9-10 (Hinduism)

I renounce all sexual pleasures, either with gods or men or animals. I shall not give way to sensuality, nor cause others to give way to it, nor consent to their giving way to it, as long as I live. Acarangasutra 24 (Jainism)

Having abandoned the different kinds of desire, founded on child, wife, father, mother, wealth, corn, relations, let one walk alone like a rhinoceros. Sutta Nipata 60 (Buddhism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

[Due to the Fall,] the human ancestors were caught in the enemy’s trap. Can God publicly recognize families formed in this realm? This is why religions have emphasized celibacy. Some of you gathered here have many sons and daughters, but you also should have led celibate lives. This is not just my word; is it not taught in Buddhism and Catholicism? Do you know why? It brings people closer to God.

The first ancestors of humankind were unable to have their proper wedding ceremony before God. In that sense, none of us human beings have truly been born; how then can we have weddings? As descendants of the Fall, we must first go the path of restoration and receive the grace of salvation. (21:45-46, September 1, 1968)

In order to uphold the heavenly ideal of love, God had no choice but to form religions that exalted the celibate life. Men and women are meant to follow true love and become husbands and wives who meet the heavenly standard, but because of our ancestors’ mistake that betrayed Heaven’s love, they cannot. Therefore, God set up the way of celibacy, so that at least single persons could receive the love of God by following the celibate way of life. (Blessing and Ideal Family 2.2.4)

From the perspective of the Divine Principle, all men and women in this world are offspring of the archangel. Therefore, they are not qualified to marry. For this reason, God encouraged people to live a life of celibacy. God could not marry the first parents. How then can He approve of marriages between impure, slovenly people who have fallen into a puddle of sewage? Such love is unprincipled. This is why the higher religions emphasize celibacy. (25:203, October 4, 1969)

Do angels have spouses? No. That is why religions so far have encouraged the celibate life. The Buddha’s original standard that monks and nuns should not marry is in accord with the Principle. These days some Buddhist monks and nuns marry, but by doing so they fall short of the standard. In fact, married Protestant clergy also fall short. (Blessing and Ideal Family 2.2.4)

Archangels are not yet qualified to marry. In the Bible, the Sadducees asked Jesus, “There were seven brothers; the first married, and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother. So too the second and the third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection to which of the seven will she be wife? For they all had her.” Jesus answered, “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matt. 22:25-30)

Jesus answered that way because it was still the age of restoring the archangelic realm, a realm where people cannot yet have a marriage partner. Because religion has been in the archangelic realm, it could not exalt marriage. This is the reason higher religions have emphasized the celibate life. (50:193, November 7, 1971)