The beginning of the third year of Cheon-gi

Hyung Jin Moon
January 21, 2012
National Leaders World Assembly
Korea

The wonderful tribute on True Parents' Birthday last year consisted of many different celebrations. We invited leaders from all the major religions to celebrate with and honor True Parents. They did not come only to observe. This was the key. Last year's festival was the first. This year, the celebration will be bigger. You may have heard about the parade that we're planning. This is the first time for us to hold a parade on True Parents' birthday. This is not just an internal parade in which we are walking through our church grounds. This will be held on the street. We had to fight with the government, because they didn't want to give us permission.

Gwanghwamun is the main street in the center of Seoul. The Carnegie Hall of Seoul (Sejong Performing Arts Center) is there. The big hotels are there. And there is a big statue of King Sejong that they've just erected. He is the king who democratized the Korean language; he gave the people the ability to read by creating the alphabet, hangul, moving the language away from just the Chinese characters that only the aristocrats could read, so that the national language could be written and read by everyone.

If we march in Seoul, we want to go right into the center. We want to do a parade that everybody will recognize every year. We want everyone to know that each year children of God come to the fatherland to celebrate one thing: God's fundamental presence in the world. That's huge. We had to fight a little bit for it, but through the grace of God and True Parents, we were able to get permission. I don't think they would have given permission to any other religion, so it is amazing that we have been given permission to march from Gwanghwamun through the city to celebrate True Parents' birthday and to celebrate who they are.

If you study Christian theology, you know that the most important theological question is, who is Christ? This is fundamental and critical to theology. What is the nature of Christ? Who is Christ? Of course, this is the whole discipline of Christology, which is trying to determine the nature of Christ -- how much of Christ is divine and how much of Christ is man. Is it 50/50? 70/30? 80/20? You may think this discussion is silly, but it's very important, because it will fundamentally change our relationship to Christ, and also our world.

At the World CARP Assembly, on 1.3 (January 25), Hyung Jin nim jogged all around the room as he spoke and asked everyone else to jog in place while listening. No one fell asleep.

You may have heard recently that True Father has been giving some remarkable teachings, which I see as progressive revelations. They seem like very mysterious teachings at first. When people first hear them, they are perplexed. They say that they can't understand them. For example, the teaching that Father has recently given, and still gives in his speeches, about the God of Night and the God of Day. Just a couple of days ago, one of the top leaders here in Korea asked Father, "Father, I don't understand this. The God of Night and the God of Day... Are there two Gods? I thought there was only one God. What are the God of Night and the God of Day?" Father simply said, "It's in here." [Indicating his most recent speech]

For me, when I first heard about the God of Night and God of Day, it also struck me as a very mysterious teaching. The God of Night and the God of Day! Something about it is extremely subtle and profound and mysterious. I thought,

Okay, we're not saying that there are two gods, are we? Maybe he's talking about the dual characteristics of God. Maybe that was it. At one point, I thought I had it: the God of Night is the God we can't see, and the God of Day is the God we can see, who is True Father. Okay, I got it! But then as I was listening to Father, I somehow felt that that was not exactly right. [Laughter] Very mysterious teaching!

Last week, Father concluded his speaking tour, which started and ended in the Seoul area. For the final three days, True Mother helped with the reading of the speech. But the reason the last day was the grand finale was not because of more confetti flying through the air; it was because of one statement Father made at the end of his speech that illuminated this whole God of Day–God of Night conundrum. Father said, "I am fundamentally different from all of you." And all of us were there. The True Family was there. He said, "I am fundamentally different. I am managed by the God of Night." He used the Korean word gum, meaning "manage." And he said, "You are all managed by the God of Day."

The Day of Victory of Love (1.2; January 24, 2012): True Father reads along while Hyo Jin nim's widow Yeon Ah nim gives the reading; Yeon Ah nim and Hoon Sook nim (who gave a speech honoring True Parents and the ascended True Children) light the candles.

This was a huge theological statement, because in theology, this is the whole issue of messianic identity. Does Christ know who he is? Does he know that he is (from the viewpoint of Christian theology) God? When does he come into an awareness of that? Does it come to him when he's born, or does it come to him when he's older, at sixteen, eighteen, or thirty? When does his messianic identity become clear? When is it revealed to the world? This is a huge issue.

One of the main controversies of the early church is centered on the issue, what is the nature of Christ? At the Council of Chalcedon [451 AD], this was one of the main issues. At every council -- the Council of Nicaea, and Constantinople in 381 AD -- this was being discussed. What is the nature of Christ? Who was Jesus? Some say he's not fully man, or that he's divine, or he's half man, half God.

As you may know, Judaism and Islam are very strong on this issue. They very clearly say that the creation cannot be the Creator. They have a very strong polemic against the common Christian view that God is man and that Jesus Christ was God. In Islam and in Judaism there is a total rejection of that. Sent by God -- yes; is God -- no. The way you see this will impact not only the way you see Christ, but how you will relate to him; that is, how you will mold your life around him, or not. This issue, which is so theologically rich and important, is, I believe, one of the main issues of the God of Night and the God of Day teaching.

Father also gave us another mysterious teaching. He said the God of Night is man; male. The God of Day is female! I was thinking that this was maybe sung-sang and hyung sang (internal nature and external form), or masculine -- feminine, dual characteristics again. But then he said, "I am managed by the God of Night. You all (the world) are managed by the God of Day."

Fundamentally, for me (and I told Father this yesterday), when I heard Father say that he was of the God of Night and we are of the God of Day, I found much more clarity in my mind.

1.2 (January 24, 2012): After arriving at Cheong Bok Gung, True Parents wrote a message on lanterns to be hung with the hundreds of others in the forecourt.

The God of Night (I said this clearly in front of Father yesterday) is what the theologians have referred to as the Godhead. That's what Thomas Aquinas is talking about, what Alfred Whitehead is talking about. Theologians all talk about the Godhead. When we talk about the Godhead, we are looking at the essential being of God, the essential nature of God. Christology is different from that, and rather is concerned with the nature of Christ, so we are looking at Christ as a living person and determining how much of Christ is man and how much of Christ is God. Christology and looking at the Godhead are two different disciplines. One is peering into the Godhead, which is transcendent of time and space, eternal and present before the creation of the universe (and before time and space) and the other is historically located in the person of Christ. You're looking at that and asking, "Within that being -- Christ, or Jesus -- how much is God and how much is man?"

When I heard Father say those words, I realized that Father was talking about the Godhead. The God of Night is what theologians usually call the Godhead, God as He existed before the Creation and is eternal. I hate to anthropomorphize God, but we do say that He is a personal God in the sense that He has personal characteristics. If you say, for example, a being comes from the Godhead, or a being is created by the Godhead, or by God, these are two hugely different things. That would be like the difference between bearing a child and making pottery with your hands. Hugely different things... If you told your child, "Your being born was not really different from my making a pot," there might be rebellion in your house!

You can use a metaphor and say that the God of Night is the unseen face of God. We cannot see it clearly, because it is hidden in the God of Night before the Creation, the darkness before the Creation. And the God of Day is God's hands in the world, creating time and space. The hands are creating the mountains, the rivers, and so forth. But it is very different to say that we come from the hands (with their creative power that gave birth to creation) and to say that we come from the essence of God.

When Father was saying that, he was talking about the God of Night as the Godhead from which Christ comes. It is so important that Christ comes from the Godhead, and not from God's hands in creation. Why? Because all of your lives are connected to that; deeply connected to it. If Father is coming from the hands of creation, he would then be post-Fall, in the fallen lineage. If Father comes from the fallen lineage, he cannot purify that lineage and bring it to become the true lineage. And what's the whole lineage thing connected to our movement? The blessing! All of our lives are connected to it. The blessing allows our transference from the fallen lineage to the true lineage. But if Father is a descendant of the Fall, how would that be possible? If Christ were a descendant of the Fall, he would also have a fallen lineage. How would you purify it? That's the huge difference. And that's why Father says that he comes from the God of Night, the Godhead. It shows that he brings the pure lineage. It shows why [Jesus] Christ brought the true lineage. This is critical.

Christ comes from the Godhead; he comes from the essence of God. We talk about Logos. We related that to John, chapter 1, which says that the word was with God, the word was one with God, the word was God and the word became flesh. So from the Logos comes the seed from which came first Adam, and secondly [Jesus] Christ, and finally True Father. Huge; beyond-the-universe huge!

Opening the Cheon Bok Festival: The Lantern-Lighting Ceremony in the Cheon Bok Gung forecourt was attended by many national church leaders, among others. The lanterns remained lit for three weeks, heralding the Messiah's presence among us.

One of the issues is this: Let's say, if we have an unnuanced view of the Trinity, that within the Godhead (from the Christian perspective of Father, Son and Holy Spirit) the second person of the Trinity is Christ, though he is also the Father and also the Holy Spirit. Yet, the second person [Jesus] is the one who actually enters into history -- but is also the Father and the Holy Spirit. If the second person comes into history as Jesus Christ, does the second person also come into history as True Father? As Adam?

We know that in the spirit world Jesus Christ, Adam and True Father each have their own spiritual body. From the Logos come different actual spiritual beings. Jesus is a different spiritual being from Father. We see, through the spiritual messages, that he exists in the spirit world. We know he's working in the spirit world.

It means that from the Logos comes the seed. Adam was a seed that did not mature greatly. We would say that he couldn't fulfill his mission. Jesus Christ went farther than Adam but could not fulfill the mission of bringing God's seed to the world.

True Father comes from the Logos. And through the perfection of True Mother, her unity with True Father -- that is, with True Parents' victory -- they are able to fulfill the mission and, metaphorically speaking, the seed can come into its fullest maturation.

Left: Kook Jin nim speaks at the World CARP Assembly at Cheon Bok Gung on 1.3 (January 25, 2012); Right: The assembly featured a debate between students, some supporting the notion that God exists, others arguing against the notion.

There are three different spiritual beings [Adam, Jesus, and True Father] but all are from the Godhead. They are different from God who created -- the God of Day, as we say, who creates in time and space. This teaching illuminates Christology, although at first it appears di-theistic. It is so very rich, theologically. What Father is now teaching is one of the central teachings. This is Christ revealing himself. Not only is Christ aware of his Christology, not only does he understand his identity, but he is revealing it clearly.

One point of confusion is that in the Principle, it clearly says that the Messiah is not God. So if you look at the Principle text we stand -- at least on the surface -- more with the Muslims and with the Jews [than with Christians] on that question. The Messiah, Christ, is not God, as Christians believe. Christ is a man; we've taught this maybe since the outset. How can Father be the substantial God? How can he be God when in the Principle it says the Messiah is not God? Well, it depends on your Christology. In certain forms of Christology it is said to be 50/50, he's half man, half God. He's a man-god, or he's a god-man. Or 80/20. No 82/18! We don't need to have a debate about that.

I think one of the clearest forms of Christology is this perspective: Christ is 100 percent man, and he's 100 percent God. It's not 50/50; it's not 80/20. It's 100/100. From one perspective he's only man; from another perspective he's not only man, he's also God. With this Christological perspective of the 100/100 concept, you can grasp this seeming paradox. It is actually very profound.

This is a huge development in our movement because I think most lay members do not have an understanding of True Father in the way he is describing now. This is such a new teaching, and it's such a revolutionary teaching that seemingly contradicts the Principle. So, if you are not really thinking hard, you may say, Oh, this is a contradiction, this is wrong.

Brazilian CARP offer a special song and dance in front of True Parents at the luncheon on 1.1 (January 23, 2012) at Cheon Jeong Gung. Forty- eight CARP members came to Korea from Brazil for the events.

But no, it is not. At first people may think this teaching is very strange, but actually this is huge. In terms of progressive revelation and Messianic awareness, it is huge. It is historic. It is changing history. All the cosmic conditions that would have led to one way and one future are being reformulated, and all the cosmic conditions are now leading in a different direction, which actually brings us much closer to Christianity and closes the huge chasm that has existed between our Christian brethren and us.

If you have a nuanced Christological vision and viewpoint when you are in the presence of True Father, you will experience a different reality because you are using all the senses of emotion, intellect, and will -- centered on the Principle and centered on Father's word -- to engage with his being. It is a totally different experience.

Similarly, if you see your children as constant problems, you will have one kind of experience with your children, but if you have experiences with your children where you feel that the challenges you face will make you stronger and bring you closer together -- and that this is the process of growing -- it is totally different. Or, let's say between spouses; just by that simple shift in viewpoint you will experience a different reality. Yes, or no? It's not that your spouse is suddenly a different person, that now suddenly she looks ten times more amazing and beautiful; it's because you shifted your constantly nagging perspective about your spouse ("I don't like this, I don't like that!") and now see her from a different perspective ("Amazing, amazing, amazing"). You will actually have a totally different experience, and your life will be different. That's the same thing. I would say it's an even bigger thing [with the Messiah] because your whole eternal life is in question. Huge!

So, if we understand who Christ is, who True Father is, we understand that True Mother -- although she comes from the God of Day, as Father said -- has been perfected and is victorious in all of the trials and tribulations that the True Mother must go through. We understand that she is perfected into God as God's wife through True Father, the Christ. Then we have immense victory. Immense victory! Cosmic victory! Incredible. No person on earth could have done it, except for True Mother. Then we can understand the value of True Mother. Nobody else could have walked that course.

Members of CARP USA at the CARP Assembly, 1.3 (January 25, 2012)

I have been following Father around for nine or ten months now. I'd never been sick for a month in my entire life before, but during this period I was ill for one month straight, with multiple ailments. This is exactly the point. Following Father around is so extremely challenging. Not only is he physically transcendent of human limitations... I've been with a lot of religious leaders in my life, but I've never been with one who has spoken for twenty-three and a half hours -- never. There's also a lot of mental, psychological, spiritual temptations when we see Father with just our physical eyes and not with our trained spiritual eyes.

With Father he's not expressing one emotion all the time. He's extremely unpredictable. If you have an appointment, cancel it, because you are not going to be able to keep it if you're trailing the Lord. You just have to release all your desire to follow your own agenda. You have to throw it completely away. What is of paramount importance is being with the Lord.

What value is it to be in the presence of the Lord? How many excuses do we want to make not to be there, when we say we want to be there? I have this problem on a daily basis. How vigorous are we at our own self-reflection, reflecting on how we see ourselves with as much objectivity as possible?

When you examine your emotions and your mind-states, you realize that being with Father is not easy. It is not a calm, placid lake in your mind. No, it is a constant struggle. It's like the ocean, always churning and boiling, never doing what you expect it to do.

International Leadership Conference (ILC) 2012 was held from January 21 to 25 at the Lotte World Hotel in Seoul. Cheon Bok Gung hosted the opening plenary, which included religious leaders' prayers and participants' remarks on the cause of peace.

I honestly do not like fishing at all. I was a vegetarian for six years. I don't like catching fish, and Father knows it. My kids love fishing, but I don't. But I have to go fishing all the time because I'm always chasing Father around now. I realized on the boat, that you have to choose one of two possibilities. Number one, try to stay vertically centered as the boat is rocking to keep from getting sick. Or number two, you surrender, lie down and die! Well, that's just like our life of faith. There's always the rocking of the boat on the ocean. It's not like sitting next to a beautiful stream on a mountain where nothing is moving under you. You can sit and listen to the stream, and listen to the birds, and you can see the warm moss with the sunlight on it, and the little mushrooms under the pine tree. But when you're on the ocean, it doesn't stay still. It never ceases to move. Even on a very calm day, it's still moving. And you have the aftereffects of being on the ocean, where you are still rocking even when you come back to solid land. If you've ever done serious ocean fishing you've felt that. If I yell at the ocean, Stay still! it doesn't listen to me. I am not the Lord. Then I thought, yes, this is just like our faith life.

I've often asked why Father likes fishing so much. Why doesn't he like meditating near a stream in a nice mountain (with no bears) or whatever? But Father likes the ocean, where things are constantly moving. We have a choice; we can try to stay upright and centered. In our life of faith, we are not 100 percent centered all the time but we are always trying to keep our balance, and not get seasick. Or we can surrender and let God take control and take us wherever the boat goes. Actually, we have to do both. I have done both while on a boat.

National leaders, I feel it is very important that we have a deep understanding of True Father. Of who he is, who Christ is. This is the most fundamental theological question because it's related to who God is.

For the new congregants in your countries, who are coming to grips with these new teachings and may be confused, this is a great opportunity to help clarify things, to uplift members, and to glorify God and the son whom He has sent.

It's my hope that you have come with that kind of heart to participate in the birthday celebrations, and when you're walking in the parade. It's going to be wonderful. We are going to be declaring what we believe. We are not going to be shy about it anymore. We're not hiding it anymore. We are declaring who True Parents are. There's no shame in that, because it's true.