The Words of the Fleisher Family
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The Words of the Fleisher Family |
I will address the topic of the Blessing and the Mission of Jesus by utilizing the Divine Principle’s teaching about Jesus’ Mission, the process of rebirth and the Trinity, a perspective presented in Chapter 4 (The Messiah: His Advent and the Purpose of His Second Coming) and Chapter 7 (Christology).
Ultimately, the Divine Principle teaches that the purpose of Jesus’ coming can be summed up in the word, “True Parents” based on its understanding of Jesus’ primary mission and how that mission was to be accomplished. That mission was to bring complete salvation to all humanity and based on that accomplishment, to establish God’s Kingdom upon the earth during His lifetime. This overview of the Purpose of His Advent is initially stated in the Introduction to Chapter 4, page 111 and supported by key passages from the Bible:
“The Messiah comes to fulfill the purpose of God’s work of salvation. Human beings need salvation because of the Fall. Hence, before we can clarify the meaning of salvation, we must first understand the matter of the Fall. Furthermore, since the Fall implies the failure to accomplish God’s purpose of creation, before we can clarify the significance of the Fall, we must first understand the purpose of creation. God’s purpose of creation was to be fulfilled with the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. However, due to the human Fall, we have built hell on earth in place of God’s Kingdom. Since the Fall, God has been repeatedly working His providence to restore the Kingdom. Being the history of the providence of restoration, human history’s primary goal is to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.”
The focus upon Kingdom building and Kingdom living was absolutely dominant in the early ministry of Jesus. This Kingdom building and Kingdom living ministry was the underlying theme / message woven repeatedly throughout Jesus’ words, guidance, parables, teachings and deeds in those initial days of his public life. First came the shocking, urgent and electrifying proclamation by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-2),
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’"
Then Jesus public ministry began where He widely taught the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:17 and 23):
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.”
We need to underscore the fact that the ultimate purpose of Jesus coming was to qualify humanity to become citizens of a substantial Kingdom of Heaven and further, to build / establish that Kingdom. In that light, Jesus ministry to save humanity from sin must be clearly understood as a prerequisite priority or step needed for humanity and Jesus to accomplish that ultimate goal.
So, how was Jesus planning to save humanity from sin?
I think it would be quite valuable to examine this question by also looking at the whole issue of blood atonement. Essentially, the theory of Blood Atonement for sin argues that God cannot accept or “brook” sin and thus requires that the offending sin be cleansed. One method or way for that to be accomplished clearly specified in Scripture and supported by history and tradition was through the offering of sacrifices. The sacrifice required for the cleansing of sin involved the killing of animals (must be healthy and without physical deformities) or the offering of plants or grains -- essential from the realm of creation. The Blood Atonement theory is founded on the assertion that God absolutely requires and has a plan for the final and complete cleansing of sin that is so rampant throughout humanity.
Further it adamantly states that this complete and final cleansing of sin will only be accomplished through the method of offering sacrifices, but not just an ordinary sacrifice. Such an enormous and difficult task as the complete dissolution of sin can only be accomplished by an extraordinary and ultimate sacrifice. It further posits that such an ultimate sacrifice can only be accomplished by the ultimate being in the creation, the Christ and only Son of God. Since the Messiah also stands in the position of the High Priest, he is uniquely qualified to make such a pivotal sacrifice. According to this theory, Jesus death on the cross was that required sacrifice and thus through his death, and then resurrection, the full and complete redemption and cleansing of sin was finally accomplished. Such a theory holds that Jesus death was required and predestined as the only way for the problem of sin to be eliminated. A Biblical verse in support of Blood Atonement can be found in Romans 6: 10 - 11 -- “The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Also 2 Corinthians 5: 14 – 21:
“For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to the us message of reconciliation.”
An argument against such a theory that could be effectively used against a liberal Christian open to Biblical Criticism and an academic approach would be as follows:
There is no precedent in the Jewish Tradition and theology linking the tradition of animal or plant sacrifice to the Mission of the Messiah. Instead, Blood Atonement was a theory that was developed after the life and death of Jesus by some early Christians, and then utilized and widely propagated by St. Paul. In both cases, these early Christians and St. Paul were finding it difficult to convince the Jews that this crucified criminal Jesus was their long awaited messiah. It should be clearly emphasized that this theory was developed due to this first century resistance and disbelief to the Messiahship of Jesus.
The Jewish leadership and people existing at the time of the first century of the Christian Movement did not believe that Jesus was their long awaited Messiah and this belief continued to be the majority view of those in the Jewish faith going forward in time until modern days. The fate of Jesus, death at the hands of the Romans due to his causing civil unrest (having been turned over to the Romans by the Jewish Leadership for the preaching of supposed blasphemy and his “supposedly false” claims to be the Messiah), might have actually seemed to be justified to the general populace at Jesus time. In retrospect, Jesus’ Messiahship could easily be viewed as one of many such False Saviors that occurred in Jewish history and his death, being a typical fate of such men, would convey no particular remorse or monumental blame to the Jewish people.
In fact, the punishment of death was “in theory” applied to many infractions against the law and society in the history of Judaism, particularly during Jesus time. The events surrounding the life and death of Jesus were the antithesis of the widespread expectations held by Jews for their Messiah In his utilization of the theory, Paul hearkened to the tradition of animal blood offerings, made to cleanse the person making the offering from their sins, and then applied these Biblical references and traditions to the death of Jesus on the Cross. He did this to try to give a Biblical context and justification and explanation for Jesus’ course. However, the spirit, history and meaning of the Biblical tradition and ritual of offering sacrifices actually precludes it every being applied in such a manner.
No respectable Jewish scholar or teacher would ever think of applying these traditions to the course of the Messiah. Animal and Plant sacrifices were to be offered in the place of or representing a sinning human, so that the human could be cleansed. To equate and compare a human Messiah with an animal or a plant is ridiculous, demeaning and is quite a stretch.. It should be pointed out that Paul never knew Jesus in the flesh and thus was not really grounded in His words, guidance or view related to the cross or His mission.
The above argument, however, will not work for 90% of the Bible based, Christian world because of the mentality that “If it’s in the Bible it is the Word of God and the Truth” -- i.e: this theory of St. Paul is absolutely in the Bible and now has the status of being Cannon. Such a perspective precludes any rebuttal based on logic. Interpretations and theories that are constructed and then supported with Scriptural references can only be countered by illuminating the flaws in the theory’s underlying logic and then further providing strong Scriptural support as part of the rebuttal.
Fortunately, there are a number of Scripture based arguments that can be made against the Blood Atonement theory. The first can be found in the tradition of the Prophets. Books like Samuel and Hosea show us that God does not hold the ritual of offering sacrifices in as high a regard as such things as right action, mercy or obedience. In other words, God does not rule out the possibility that His Will can be accomplished without reverting to the offering of sacrifices. These passages clearly show that in history, while the offering of sacrifices was a viable method to deal with sin, it was not the solution preferred by God. Such an argument leaves open the possibility that God and Jesus would have been able to resolve the problem of sin if the Jews had been able to obey, accept and believe in Jesus. Following are a number of Scriptural references in support of this argument:
I Samuel, Chapter 15: 22-23:
“And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”
Hosea, Chapter 6: 6:
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.”
Psalms 51: 15-17:
“O Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou has no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased, the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise”.
Proverbs 21:2-3:
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
There are also Biblical references that support the understanding that Jesus did not have to die to deal with the problem of sin. One of the most powerful ones can be found in the Book of Mark, Chapter 2:1-10 which clearly shows that Jesus had the authority and power to forgive sins while he was still alive, which we understands ultimately alludes to the Blessing:
“And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, ‘Why do you question thus in your hears? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Yours sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ -- he said to the paralytic-‘I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home’ and he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’
In addition to the above Biblical based arguments, we can also refer to the words of Jesus on the cross when he asked God to forgive those who were putting him to death (found in Luke 23:34: “And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’”. Surely this poignant plea by Jesus shows that anyone contributing to His death needed God’s forgiveness. Such a statement undermines the portion of the Blood Atonement theory that asserts Jesus death was predestined and the only avenue for God to deal with humanity’s sinful state.
Fortunately alternative theories to the Blood Atonement theory do exist. One possible theory, called the ransom theory, explains that God ransomed all of his children (the Jews simply represented all of humankind because God always begins in providence with a symbolic few) from the dominion of Satan through Jesus death. This theory posits that Satan demanded the death of sinning (especially the sin of rejecting the Messiah) humanity; a death Satan had the right to demand. To avert the destruction of humanity, God allowed Satan to take dominion of and kill Jesus. Thus the words of Jesus on the cross, as recorded in Matthew 27: 46: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”
By offering His only True Son to Satan, God gave humanity another chance for life, salvation and faith. This, of course, worked because God knew something that Satan didn’t, that Satan couldn’t keep his dominion over Jesus since hate cannot dominate true sacrificial love -- thus the resurrection. This theory is more palatable as it focuses on the exchange of a sinless human for sinful humans (rather than comparing the sinless human’s sacrifice to the practice of the sacrifice of animals). There is some reference to the above theory in the Divine Principle in Part II, Chapter 2, section 3.3.1, page 279:
“God had personally been guiding His beloved chosen people until the time Jesus appeared as the Messiah. Yet from the moment they turned against His only begotten Son, God tearfully had to turn His back and allow Satan to lay claim to them. Nonetheless, God’s purpose in sending the Messiah was to save the Jewish people and all humanity. God was determined to save humankind, even though it meant delivering Jesus into the hands of Satan. Satan, on the other hand, was fixed on killing one man, Jesus Christ, even though he might have to hand back all of humanity, including the Jewish people, to God. Satan knew that the primary goal of God’s four-thousand-year providence of restoration was to send the Messiah. He thought that by killing the Messiah he could destroy the entire providence of god.
In the end, God handed over Jesus to Satan as the condition of indemnity to save all humankind, including the Jewish people who had turned against Jesus and fallen into Satan’s realm. Satan exercised his maximum power to crucify Jesus, thereby attaining the goal he had sought throughout the four-thousand-year course of history. On the other hand, by delivering Jesus to Satan, God set up as compensation the condition to save sinful humanity. How did God achieve this? Because Satan had already exercised his maximum power in killing Jesus, according to the principle of restoration through indemnity, God was entitled to exercise His maximum power. While Satan uses his power to kill, God uses His power to bring the dead to life. As compensation for Satan’s exercise of his maximum power in killing Jesus, God exercised His maximum power and resurrected Jesus. God thus opened the way for all humanity to be engrafted with the resurrected Jesus, and thereby receive salvation and rebirth.”
In Section I, Chapter 4 of the Divine Principle makes it very clear that since Jesus’ followers, the Jewish religious leaders and people, the Roman leaders who actually put Jesus to death and ultimately all humanity did not fulfill their portion of responsibility, Jesus became vulnerable to the attack of Satan. Thus it was the failure of humanity’s portion of responsibility that was directly responsible for Jesus’ death on the Cross. This is important to emphasize, important because it clarifies God’s reason for sending Jesus to his death. He did not do so because it was the only method of dealing with sin, but in order to bring about the fulfillment of His Will through the spiritual salvation that would be available to humanity through the Resurrected Christ and the complete physical and spiritual salvation of humanity at the time of the Second Coming. Jesus’ death on the cross did advance God’s providence of restoration but it was not God’s primary / initial plan for Jesus’ Ministry and did not complete God’s Providence of salvation. The following quote from Chapter 4, section 1.5, pp 120-121:
“To send the Messiah is God’s portion of responsibility. However, belief in the Messiah is the human portion of responsibility. The Jewish people could either believe in the Messiah as God wished or not believe in him in opposition to His desire. To cope with the contingency of human responsibility, God gave two kinds of prophecies concerning the accomplishment of His Will through Jesus. One kind foretold that Jesus would die due to the disbelief of the people. Another kind foretold that the people would believe in and honor Jesus as the Messiah and help him to accomplish God’s Will in glory…”
So, let’s ask that question again -- how was Jesus planning to save humanity from sin and even more, build the Kingdom of God.
Jesus Kingdom building mission was a progressive providence that could only advance to the Kingdom building stage if Satan could be made to relinquish his dominion and ownership of humanity. Clearly, sinful humanity would not be allowed to enter into God’s Kingdom -- sin has no place is such a realm. The method by which this providence to separate humanity from Satan, thereby allowing a saved individual to enter into God’s Kingdom, was to be accomplished through a process call “Rebirth” in Biblical terminology and the Blessing in Unificationist’ terminology. The importance of this step was clearly revealed by Jesus during His ministry.
In actuality, Christian Salvation can only be accomplished through the opportunity for rebirth that was made available to humanity after Jesus resurrection, beginning at the time of the Pentecost and continuing until this day. The providence of the cross actually gave humanity a second chance to receive rebirth -- the first chance being during Jesus years of public ministry prior to his death on the Cross. Christians have become fixated on the cross as the required providence to save humanity from sin, but have largely overlooked the actual method by which this was to be accomplished -- rebirth. This rebirth providence, required of all individuals before they could enter into the Kingdom (indicative of their being in a sinless state) He so urgently heralded, was revealed by Jesus to a Pharisees whose name was Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, as recorded in the Book of John, chapter 3: 1-12:
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him’. Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’
Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew. The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither is goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can this be?’ Jesus answered him ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?’”
One of the Divine Principle incredible and monumental insights is its clarification of the process and the sacrament of rebirth. This insight stems from the Divine Principle’s revelation that the process of salvation is integrally connected to the persons of Adam and Eve. The Divine Principle explains that God’s initial plan for His creation required that these two individuals, His first and true son and daughter, if tempted, avoid the Fall, reach perfection and become the originators, prototype, standard and model for all subsequent humanity who would be Born through them, the True Parents of humanity.
When Adam and Eve did not fulfill this plan of God, he did not discard it, but put into play the Providence of Restoration to reclaim the position of Adam and Eve or that of the True Parents of Humanity. At its core, the persons of the reclaimed Adam and Eve are synonymous with the persons and mission of the Messiah. This is the root and reason for the Bible’s identification of Jesus as a second Adam, found in I Corinthians 15: 21-23:
“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.”
This is also the essential reason, in answer to topic of this question, why the purpose of Jesus’ coming is summed up in the word, “True Parents”.We can suppose that the offspring who are to be born from the new and fully perfected Adam and Eve or True Parents of Humanity, and the subsequent generations from this lineage, would be born “correctly” or in accordance with God’s initial Plan for His Creation, and having nothing to do with sin. But how is God to save the issue from the first and fallen Adam and Eve? The Bible is clear that humanity needs to be engrafted onto the True Adam, and Jesus introduced the understanding of being born again.
We can extrapolate from this that salvation is not just a vague process by which the Messiah lovingly and willfully forgives humanity of their sins or that by taking those sins upon Himself, one who was sinless and thus undeserving of that burden, He magically canceled out the debt. Not at all! We do affirm that just as one cannot be cleansed by taking a bath in muddy water, only a person who has no sin can cleanse humanity of sin, but to describe the process in the imagery of the birth process is revolutionary. In fact, there is an equal connection between salvation, engrafting and rebirth, i.e.: salvation = engrafting = rebirth.
This insight clarifies that salvation involves a process likened to being born, but the question then becomes why? The answer lies in the revelation that being a sinner is not just about behavior or activity but, at its root, our state of sinfulness exists because we owe our life and birth to that first fallen action and thus belonging to the realm that developed as a result of it. Humanity was incorrectly initiated because of a mistake (remember, the children of Adam and Eve were not born in the Garden of Eden but after Adam and Eve had fallen and been expelled). So the cure for this illness must involve humanity being born from an Adam and Eve who avoided the trap of Satan and acted according to God’s original plan.
Such a solution to this fallen state attacks sin at its root cause by effecting a transition and transformational process away from that evil, ill-conceived root. What a stroke of genius and incredible strategy, a prescription / cure targeting the nature of the illness! Humanity needs to be born again to correctly and entirely circumvent the realm and history of the Fall. At the very center of this re-birth or right-birth process is the position of the alternative and new life and birth givers, the good and True Parents. This is also why humanity must be born again through the New Adam and Eve, the True Parents who will give “birth” to a new humanity destined to dwell in God’s realm or Kingdom.
To repeat, it is only by this process and sacrament that all humanity can be distanced from the reality and realm of sin, especially the original sin, which can only be restored by those responsible for that sin, Adam and Eve, and stand as new beings. Was this salvation / re-birth process and sacrament accomplished by Jesus? The Divine Principle clearly states that the complete rebirth process needed to be accomplished by the new Adam and Eve within the corporeal world as a way of binding it in the incorporeal world.
Based on these criteria, the fact that Jesus never established the position of the second Eve through His marriage tells us that He did not establish the substantial position of True Parents, and therefore that He was not able to fulfill this crucial mission during his lifetime on the earth. The Divine Principle does explain that there is a sacrament of rebirth open to Christians, one that is gained through their connection to the Resurrected Jesus in partnership with the Holy Spirit. This sacrament is called spiritual rebirth or spiritual salvation. The Divine Principle, however, clarifies that the need to establish a substantial rebirth sacrament as well as to finally establish a True Birth Process is one of the crucial reasons why the mission of the Messiah must be repeated and completed -- why the Messiah must come again.
So, not only can the purpose of Jesus’ coming be summed up in the words True Parents, but also the purpose of the Second Advent. The Second Advent comes to establish the Position of True Parents, establish the True Birth Process centered on the True Couple that He will establish and also to engraft fallen humanity onto that couple, thus letting them be born again or stand as one of the True Parents issue and thereby saving them from the pseudo lineage initiated by Satan and the realm of sin. This dynamic process is described in the Chapter on Christology (Chapter 7), Section 4.1, pages 169-170 and also in Chapter 2 (Moses and Jesus) of Part II, section 3.3.1.3, page 180:
Had Adam and Eve realized the ideal of creation and become the True Parents of humanity, they would have borne good children without original sin and formed the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. However, Adam and Eve fell and became evil parents, multiplying evil children who created this hell on earth. Hence, as Jesus told Nicodemus, fallen people cannot see the Kingdom of God unless they are first born anew -- as children without original sin. We cannot be born without parents. Who, then, are the good parents through whom we can be born again, cleansed of original sin and able to enter the Kingdom of God?
Parents who have original sin cannot give birth to good children who do not have original sin. Certainly, it is impossible to find sinless parents among fallen humankind. These parents must descend from Heaven. Jesus was the Parent who came from Heaven. He came as the True Father in order to give rebirth to fallen people, transforming them into good children, thoroughly cleansed of original sin and fit to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Thus, it is written in the Bible, “By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (I Peter 1:3). Jesus came as the True Father who Adam had failed to become. For this reason, the Bible speaks of him as “the last Adam" and the “Everlasting Father." (I Cor. 15:45; Isa. 9:6). However, a father alone cannot give birth to children. There must be a True Mother, as well as a True Father, for fallen children to be reborn as good children.
“Upon Jesus’ crucifixion, his eleven remaining disciples were demoralized and scattered. After his resurrection, however, Jesus gathered them in one place and commenced a new phase of the providence: the restoration of spiritual Canaan. The disciples chose Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot and fill the vacancy among the twelve. By believing in Jesus and following him at the cost of their lives, they laid the spiritual foundation of substance and the spiritual foundation for the Messiah. Upon this foundation, Jesus ascended from the position of the spiritual mission-bearer for John the Baptist to the position of the spiritual Messiah and sent the Holy Spirit. Thereupon, Jesus and the Holy Spirit became the spiritual True Parents and began the work of giving rebirth. Ever since the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost, the resurrected Jesus as the spiritual True Father and the Holy Spirit as the spiritual True Mother have worked in oneness to grant spiritual rebirth by spiritually engrafting believers with them. This is the work of spiritual salvation, which established a realm of resurrection inviolable by Satan. Even though we may by faith unite with Jesus in spirit, our bodies are still liable to Satan’s attack, as was the case with Jesus himself. In other words, our physical salvation still remains unaccomplished. Still, if we believe in the resurrected Jesus, he will guide us to enter spiritually his realm of resurrection, which is invulnerable to satanic invasion. There we are released from the conditions which allow Satan to accuse us, and we are spiritually saved.”
Also, from True Parents speech, “The True Owners in Establishing the Kingdom of Peace and Unity in Heaven and on Earth II -- October 14, 2006:
“When we come to think of it, the purpose for Jesus’ coming to earth did not lie elsewhere. It was to restore the Fall. If Jesus, who came as the second Adam, had not lost his life on the cross, he would have restored the original lineage of God, unrelated to the Fall, and would have reversed the failure of the first Adam, established the true family as the Savior of humankind, and founded on earth the original human homeland. This would have been the kingdom of the world embodying the ideal of peace, the kingdom of heaven on earth. However, the disciples, the Jewish leaders and the leaders of the nation of Israel all failed to recognize the Christ, and their disbelief caused Jesus’ life to come to an end in such a wretched and tragic way.”