Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon
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Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon |
What was God's motivation in creating all things in heaven and earth? We have to consider the fundamentals of this. God needs no money. It was not for the sake of money, knowledge, or curiosity. It was not for the sake of power. There is nothing the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God does not know. He is the King of wisdom, the King of ability, and the King of gold. He can make as many diamonds as He wishes. But God does not need diamonds. Why would He need them when He has them all the time? One needs something only when it is missing.
Through His knowledge God created the laws that control the elements of the universe, which move and operate under certain principles. In comparison to God's efforts to create those laws, the investment a scientist makes to discover just one minute aspect of one of them amounts to nothing. The quantity of their work, the doctoral degrees earned, the boasting, and the fanfare pale in comparison.
Art is the same. Art is learned from nature; it originates from nowhere else. Everything is learned from nature, and there is nothing that cannot be found in nature. (182-121, 1988.10.16)
God is all-knowing and all-powerful, but what need does He have for power? Why would He need it when He is the one who can move the universe? He does not need power because He is the great King of power. In history, no matter how great the heroes were, they passed away, as did the kings and emperors of great nations; before their passing they were all dancing under God's authority. God does not need the money or knowledge that we human beings need. (176-165, 1988.5.9)
God Himself is absolute, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. There is nothing He does not know, and there is nothing He cannot do. Standing in such an absolute position as the Subject in possession of everything, what could He need? Although God is the Absolute Subject, He must have the heart to be an object partner as well as the subject partner. Why so? We do not need just the east; when there is east, we need west; when we have east and west, we need north and south; and when we have north and south, we need front and back and above and below. In this way, we seek to form a sphere. This is why the universe moves based on the model of a sphere. (201-12, 1990.2.28)
What kind of things do you think you would find in the universe? Do you think there would be diamond stars? If the all-knowing and almighty God created the universe, would He have created just one diamond star? (49-294, 1971.10.17)
What is it that God likes most? Famous scholars? There is nothing special about famous scholars. A scholar may say that he has researched this and that, but this is just reporting on the natural formulas and principles created by God -- the scholar did not create them.
God does not even like scholars. Next, what about presidents? Do you think God likes Reagan, the U.S. president? What about a world president? God is the president of the universe. What would the all-knowing, all-powerful and absolute being need? God does not like power, either. What's next? Money? Don't talk nonsense. (141-247, 1986.2.26)
God is all-knowing and almighty. If He were to get angry and strike the earth, everything would be shattered to pieces. Even presidents of nations and people who are proud of their position would disappear without a trace at one shout from God. Does God need power? He does not. Power may be something rank and file soldiers covet. Who likes power? The devil likes it. (210-18, 1990.11.30)
Why do you think God created heaven and earth? If God said, "I tried creating you just to show off my power and omniscience and omnipotence," would this sound good to you? Would creatures born through God's power say, "God, thank you for creating us with a stroke of your power"? If God said, "I created you because I am so wise," would you feel good? If God said, "I created you because I am rich with ability," wouldn't you think, "If God created me through His ability or wisdom, what is my joy, and what does it have to do with me? That's God's ability, not mine. That's God's wisdom, not mine. As for me, I am just so powerless..." Therein lies the problem with the emphasis on omniscience and omnipotence. (175-150, 1988.4.16)
Christianity today emphasizes "God, the all-knowing and the all-powerful Father," but omniscience and omnipotence work exclusively on the basis of principles. God does not do things arbitrarily or through unprincipled action. The laws established by the eternal God are eternal. He does not arbitrarily change what He has established. The authority and dignity of God, in His obedience to the law, is amazing. God is the first to follow, absolutely, the laws He has established regarding justice and the public good because they are in keeping with heavenly principles. After God, then all people are to follow, and then the universe. There is no alternative direction. Such is the ideal standard of man's creation. (162-184, 1987.4.12)
God cannot do it alone. Today's Christian ministers may think that the all-knowing and all-powerful God can do things arbitrarily any time with the power of creation. But that is far from the truth. All existing things in heaven and earth operate by laws and principles. Even God cannot break them and act on His own. The president of this country must cherish the laws based on the constitution and those enacted through legislation. There is a major commotion here because this is not happening; isn't that so? (166-99, 1987.5.30)
This may sound strange, but if God wanted love, why could He not simply create it at will? It is because if He did, He would not be able to stand in His proper position. This is why He does not create love, and this is the same as saying He could not create it. Do you understand what I am saying? You may say, "Ah, but how can the all-knowing and almighty God be unable to create love?" If He did, we might come to find that either dualism or polytheism were correct. You may doubt it, but this is how it is. (173-211, 1988.2.18)
People these days talk about God's nature and say that God is absolute, all-knowing, almighty, all-pervasive, unique, eternal, and unchanging. But what is God going to do with His absoluteness? What is He going to do with His uniqueness? What does God's uniqueness have to do with us? These are major questions. What is God going to do with His omniscience and omnipotence? What is the relevance? What is He going to do with His eternal and unchanging essence? It may be good for God Himself, but it has nothing to do with us. The discussion becomes futile and useless, yet we cannot have blind faith. We have to clarify these matters. (223-261, 1991.11.12)
There is nothing God does not know. He is all-knowing and all-powerful, has full authority, and is omnipresent. But what does this have to do with us? I am asking what it has to do with us. You may say, "Oh, since He has full authority, it should be easy for Him to rule over me. Since He is omnipresent, it should be easy for Him to monitor me. Since He knows everything, He will analyze me thoroughly and leave no escape for me." What good would come from God ruling over us through His omniscience and omnipotence? (130-209, 1984.1.22)
With what does God govern heaven and earth? He governs through law, a law of governance through love. The universal law exists in order to support the means or way of governance. God created humankind because He longs for love. He could have gone on alone, without us, but instead, for some purpose, He did create us. What was that purpose? He needed and needs love that is stimulating and impulsively expressed. (121-103, 1982.10.24)
There is one thing that immobilizes God. Is God not omniscient and omnipotent? Despite His omniscience and omnipotence, there is one thing He cannot do as He pleases. What do you think that is? Is it that He is unable to make gold or diamonds? Would He lack power? There is one thing this omniscient and omnipotent being cannot do as He pleases. What is it? It is love. Love. Do you think there is love in my heart? Is there love in your heart? Basically yes. But if you were to go around saying, "My love, my love, my love!" to yourself all the time, you would be a crazy person. (142-269, 1986.3.13)
Do you think God can attain love by Himself? Would the all-knowing, all-powerful and unique God say, "Oh, I feel so good!" all by Himself? Then we would have to say that God has also gone mad. Also, if I were to say, "Oh I'm so happy, my love!" based only on some feeling of love, people would call me crazy, wouldn't they? But if someone takes even a scrap of paper or handkerchief as his object and says, "Oh my beloved handkerchief!" who would speak ill of that person? The value and authority of an object partner that can represent the universe is possible only in the world of love. (142-31, 1986.3.3)
I am saying that even the absolute God cannot have love by Himself. Since love is found only in a mutual relationship, no matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, He cannot possess love alone. Of course, He has the potential for love, but the signs and stimulation of love come only through another, not to God alone. This is love, the power of love. (138-245, 1986.1.24)
We pity widows and widowers, but why do we pity them? It is because although they have love inside, they have nothing to stir it into motion. However omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God may be, love does not operate when there is no partner. With whom does God, the Creator of heaven and earth, wish to have a relationship? He wants to engage in love with Adam and Eve. (130-21, 1983.12.11)
God likes love. What kind of love does God like most? It is true love. But what is true love? Where would we say true love has its root? Its root does not lie in God. This sounds strange, doesn't it? The all-knowing and all-powerful God is the Master of true love, and yet God does not want the root of this love to begin from Him. God thinks that He will plant the root in a person who can be the object of this love. (177-269, 1988.5.20)
For whom did God create heaven and earth, for His own sake, or for His creatures as His partners? Of course, we can say that God created them for His own sake, but we should know that He attaches great importance to the object partner, and this is the standard for all the creation. The subject partner among all object partners is humankind. God's thoughts were focused on humankind and on the happiness of all people. As for God Himself, He is an all-knowing and all-powerful being, isn't He? (109-268, 1980.11.2)
God is absolute, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Then, can He also love as He pleases? No. God is also under the dominion of love. Then what can we say about God? Isn't God omniscient and omnipotent? If we ask Him, "God, are You not omnipotent?" God will answer, "I am omnipotent, but not when it comes to love." Why is God like that? (98-38, 1978.4.8)
God cannot be God by Himself. What fun could that be? Would He worry about food? Would He worry about sleep? Would He worry about clothes? He can have these supplied in whatever quantity He desires. He may want to get on a plane and fly around, but He would become bored within an hour. No matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, and no matter how much He prides Himself in being so special, He would not find it satisfying. He is just like us. And God has no other choice. He must find the joy that derives from seeing something valuable that He made effort to create. (161-116, 1987.1.11)
What longing was it that led God to create? I am asking what it was that the Absolute Being longed for that caused Him to create? He is an all-knowing and all-powerful being who needs neither gold nor knowledge. There is nothing He lacks, and so I am asking what need made Him create human beings?
What was God's fundamental motivation for creating? It was not power, knowledge, or possessions. What did God lack? God lacked the basis for love. God, too, is unable to achieve love by Himself. This is why love is the origin, the alpha - the motivation for the creation of heaven and earth. (149-149, 1986.11.21)
What kind of love does God need? God has love, but He can love only when there is a partner. All of you here, do you have love? But do you like saying, "Oh, wonderful! Oh my love!" all alone? Love only works when you have a partner. This is the basic rule of the universe. No matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, without a partner He is a lonely and sad God. (94-262, 1977.10.1)
No matter how wonderful, absolute, all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, good things cannot happen when God is alone. The words "happiness" or "that's nice" do not make sense when you are alone; you can talk about joy and happiness only where there is a relationship with an object partner. No matter how all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, He cannot be happy when He stays alone doing nothing. Let's say that a good singer sings a song by himself. Would this make him happy? He needs someone to hear his song. We need to have give and take to feel good. Likewise, God cannot feel good by Himself. (65-20, 1972.11.13)
What is the origin from which God came into existence? From what could God have come? What is His beginning point? Is it omniscience and omnipotence, or absolute authority? What's the use of absolute authority? When He is alone, what's the point of having absolute authority? There is nobody else anyway. If He, as the Absolute Being, is alone what is the use of knowledge? The important question relates to God's essence. And that is love, not a love that seeks to be served, but a love that seeks to serve. (218-263, 1991.8.19)
Even the all-knowing and all-powerful God surrenders in front of true love. No matter how great the president of Korea may be, he also surrenders helplessly in front of true love. When you really love your wife, would you want to bow down to her or not? You would do more than bow down. You would think, "Where in this universe did my wife come from? I cannot help loving her so truly." The thought of being without her would paralyze your limbs. It is painful to think of her not being there. How happy her presence makes you! Even the president will happily say, "My darling, please love me; I love you!" as he bows to the ground. At that moment, would that small lady sitting in front of him feel good or bad? (211-83, 1991.12.29)
No matter how all-knowing and all- powerful God maybe, He cannot love all by Himself as He pleases. You may say that God can love as He pleases because He is all-knowing and all-powerful, but this thinking creates a big problem, because it leads to the argument that an object of love is not needed. For this reason, in order for God, as the absolute, central being, to feel the stimulation and joy of His own love, He needs a partner in love. (208-233, 1990.11.20)
Even God Himself needs a partner. He cannot realize love by Himself, either. If I were to exclaim enthusiastically, "Oh, I feel so good today," when no one is there, people would call me crazy, wouldn't they? But when there is a partner, even if I were to speak with enthusiasm it would make sense and fit the circumstances. However all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, what would be the point if He were dancing alone, saying, "That's good, good; oh, I like my love"? You must understand this. Even God cannot achieve love by Himself. He can feel stimulating love only when He has a partner. This is the issue. (141-106, 1986.2.19)
Among the existing things in the world there is no power that can match God's because God is all-knowing, all- powerful, and absolute. God is also eternal, immortal and self-existing. But what is it that God desires? It is not money, knowledge, or power; so what does God desire? There is only one thing God absolutely needs, something absolutely needed by both humankind and God. It is true love. (Blessed Family - 302)
Since God likes love, can He become crazy for love? Can the all-knowing, almighty, and marvelous God, who created heaven and earth, become crazy for love? There are times when a grandfather, who normally dominates like a tiger, meekly comes under the control of the small grandmother. What makes him do this? He does it because he is caught on the hook of love. Love has great power. This is why God helplessly surrenders in front of love. (137-84, 1985.12.24)
If the capable, all-knowing and almighty God exists, what kind of things would He like? The most logical conclusion is that, since God is better than human beings, He would inevitably like love. Then what on earth is God's love? Even before the beginning of time, God had the love that lived unceasingly for others, and He sought to practice that kind of love. (90-86, 1976.12.19)
You should be sons of God. In being God's sons, which path do you want to take? The path of money? Would God say, "I am all-knowing and all-powerful, and based on my great power you have to come into the parent-child relationship"? What about knowledge? These are peripheral matters. God wants to focus on love, and says, "I must be one with that love." You should say, "Only that love is the best." When you have completely occupied this love, even the powerful God of this universe will say, "Yes, yes!" (69-181, 1973.11.12)
However all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, can He order men and women to absolutely obey true love? To have a commanding presence as the Father, God should command, "I too absolutely obey true love, so obey true love just as I do." If God were to tell His sons and daughters to absolutely obey true love without doing it Himself, would it make sense?
God, who occupies true love, would become a dictator. Only when God says, "Just as I eternally and absolutely obey true love, you sons and daughters must eternally obey true love," will they say, "Amen!" Otherwise, they would scoff, saying, "The Father lives as He pleases, and we have nothing to do but obey? Pooh!" There will be problems. Hence, we must establish the view that God, too, absolutely obeys true love. (211-84, 1990.12.29)
However all-knowing and all-powerful God may be, He absolutely obeys true love. How does that sound: good or bad? Would this true love be good when heard from the east and bad when heard from the west? It is good whether you hear it from the west, from the south, or from the north, from above, or from below. Day and night, throughout the four seasons, and beyond the time of our youth and old age, it will, for all eternity, be pleasing to hear the sound of true love. (211-75, 1990.12.29)
God, who asserts absolute power, is also looking for a place where love can settle, a place where love can stand. God, too, absolutely likes love. How much does He like it? More than His absoluteness, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. God will absolutely obey the laws of true love even if He abandons everything else. Only then, will it all make sense.
We say God is the Father of humankind, don't we? Then, can this Father tell His sons and daughters to absolutely obey true love if His own life is not centered on love? This root principle is indispensable. Therefore, only when God Himself lives in absolute obedience to love can He educate His children saying, "You should live like this because I am living this way myself." (207-261, 1990.11.11)
The absolute God also thinks, "Although I am absolute, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and have everything, I also want to live in obedience to something absolute." God, also, has the desire to live for the sake of others. Since God is like this, His love does not demand that others serve Him. He should not love in such a way that He asks to be served. (201-115, 1990.3.27)
On what basis will unity be achieved? Since God is omniscient and omnipotent, will it come based on His omniscience? How about knowledge? No. Then what? Power? Power won't work, either. No matter how powerful spring may be, it cannot be other than a season in which flowers bloom. Although summer may be said to be powerful, it cannot be other than a season when the trees grow thick with leaves. In autumn, they will all wither away. Although autumn is said to be the season of harvest, it is unable to overcome winter. In order to overcome these limitations, the seasons need to always serve the sun as their center. In that way, serving the center, the four seasons all triumph; in no other way can they unite.
What does this mean? When God, with the tradition of the Parent, enters a scene where the sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers are fighting and stands at the center and says "Do it this way," will they not unite? Those who say otherwise are out of their minds. (221-190, 1991.10.24)
Modern theology is doomed because it says that since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, He can also love as He pleases. Can I love as I please alone -- without my dear wife? Can I? Those who say that I can are crazy. Then, can God love all by Himself? (209-81, 1990.11.27)
God is all-knowing and all-powerful. What would the world be like if there were another all-knowing and almighty being just like God, and the two came to love each other? They would not balance each other, and would instead run away from each other. Anything that became stuck between them would be unable to go back and forth; it would slip out at the side.
The weak gravitate to the strong, and the strong to the weak and only then will they fit exactly in the center, riveted together. The weak desires the strong, and the strong desires the weak.
Women who like effeminate men may as well die. The same goes for women who want to love effeminate men. When a woman touches another woman's hand, does she feel good? When women hold hands do they feel good? When a woman's soft hand holds another soft hand, how bad that must feel! How bad the feeling of the two soft hands must be! It is worse than dying. So we can say it is like dying. (167-300, 1987.8.20)