Authors
God is one Being
Christianity follows the absolute God but is divided into numerous denominations.
The ecumenical movement says that all denominations should hold hands under the one God and focus on their shared interests.
Indeed, True Parents emphasized that transcending denomination and attending God together is the essential duty and mission of all religious people. To bring this about, True Parents developed an ecumenical movement.
1. God, who created heaven and earth, is not two beings. If there is God who is two beings, then we would expect there also to be two purposes of creation. We cannot say that creation, which was made by the one God, has two different purposes.
God, who is a unique being, established one purpose of creation, and created everything to complete that one purpose. He carried out the Creation while striving for that one purpose.
As the one God made all heaven and earth centering on one purpose, though maelstroms and turbulence may occur along the way, His work will advance toward the fulfillment of that purpose. (016-108, 1996/01/02)
2. The God in whom humankind believes is my God and at the same time the God of everyone. He is our God, the God of the entire world, and the God of heaven and earth. In addition, God is the universal Parent.
There are many denominations in the world advocating for God. However, we no longer need the God whose only advocates are those found within the realm of denominations.
The only people who can truly call God “Father” are those who transcend denominations and understand that God is the center of heaven and earth, representing everything. Such people can attend God on earth.
(001-344, 1956/12/30)
3. God leads the providence for world salvation by establishing religions on earth; hence religions should be universal. We should seek for the one religion which presents the teaching to realize one world.
That one world cannot but be in a relationship with God. That religious teaching should enable us to realize oneness in heaven and on earth with God as the subject partner.
That teaching should not conflict with other religions and ideologies, but must have the capacity to encompass them as the subject partner. It must have the ability to embrace people not only from one single cultural background, but also people of other cultures, even those who believe opposite teachings.
It should embrace not only those people who agree; its content should win the hearts even of its enemies, and advocate concern for them. God wants this kind of living religion.
Jesus Christ came with such a teaching. Nonetheless, today's Christianity has become divided into many sects. If Christianity had been more concerned with loving and saving the entire world and the cosmos, it would not be as divided as it is today. (093-200, 1977/06/01)
4. When you pray, you must say, “Because God loves the Whole world, as God's child, I too will love the whole world.” How distressing it must be for God when people pray just for their country. To accommodate such a situation, hundreds of gods would have to exist.
However, God is the God of the whole world. Because God is the one who wants to embrace the world within the realm of His one love, if you deny loving the Republic of Korea, I will not harbor any bitterness. God will choose the world even if He must abandon the Republic of Korea.
Accordingly, the person who loves the world and struggles for its sake even if his or her country perishes will be able to inherit the world and resurrect his or her country. (022-138, 1969/02/02)
5. When God saves the world, He does not save the good people and throw away all the evil people. He induces good people to save wicked people.
If God spares only Christians and kills all the others that God would be a savage and brutal God. God is the original substance of truth and is a reasonable God.
Nonetheless, Christians usually think God belongs only to them. But God is not just the God of a certain group of people, He is the God of all of us.
(085-183, 1976/03/03)
Why we should transcend religions
True Parents intended to establish the Republic of Korea as the Abel-type nation, which would attend God, by bringing oneness between the Abel-realm Unification Church and the Cain-realm Christian denominations.
With this purpose, the ecumenical movement was developed in the mid-1960s. Securing its place as a model of harmony and consensus among denominations, the movement was like a breath of fresh air in the Korean religious world.
6. Abel must establish the foundation of substance by winning Cain's heart and bringing Cain to natural surrender. Abel must make the condition to restore children at the same time as restoring parents. Abel should not do this alone, but rather should first become one with Cain.
From this viewpoint, Christianity, which is the Cain-type religious group, must become one with the Unification Church, which is the Abel-type religious group. We are developing an ecumenical movement to set up the condition of Cain and Abel becoming one. (021-013, 1968/08/13)
7. Our need to advance the ecumenical movement is becoming increasingly urgent. The Unification Church has reached the standard of Abel, but our position is that of Jacob when he had to flee from Esau, and Joseph when he was sold by his brothers. Gradually we are rising from this position of being cast out.
When Jacob returned to his hometown, everything was restored to the state it was in before he left. When Joseph's brothers came to Egypt seeking aid, Joseph took care of them using his belongings and whatever was under his jurisdiction.
Because of Joseph's love, he was able to liberate his brothers from all those difficult circumstances.
After giving an offering like this, Joseph intended to receive the inheritance of heaven from his father, just as Jacob intended to receive the blessing from his father.
That was the purpose. Once older brothers rejoice over their younger brother receiving such an inheritance, worldly material is no longer a problem.
If the younger brothers win over their older brothers, all the material of Satan's world can come to them. It is included. This is how everything is restored through indemnity. (157-279, 1967/04/10)
8. The time has come when we can meet Cain, our older brother. Because we can now meet Christianity, we must advance the ecumenical movement.
Just as Jacob worked to save his older brother by making material sacrifices, we must render material service in this country to save the Republic of Korea. If we do not emphasize principled conditions and pay indemnity, we will be driven out.
This is why we are conducting the ecumenical movement. We are treating Christianity as our older brother. When Jacob, who had taken refuge in Haran, returned to his hometown, he offered Esau all the property and servants he had acquired through his 21 years of arduous work.
Thus, Esau came to possess material things and God's blessing. Even if I go into debt, I will do the same as Jacob. (157-175, 1967/04/02)
9. Now, even religious groups must connect globally; philosophers too must connect to the world's philosophical standard, and politicians must connect with global governance. We should establish and solidify this standard nationally. If we do not do that, heaven will attack us instead of defending us.
To achieve that, the Unification Church must join many religions, including Christianity. To accomplish this, we engaged with the ecumenical movement in 1966.
By coming to know our movement, others should come to acknowledge that our position has much in common with theirs and that the Unification Church doctrine encompasses and embraces all the doctrines of religions in Korea. (019-080, 1967/12/29)
10. While bearing my historic and cosmic responsibility, I have agonized over how we can become one with the people of this nation, and with Christianity. We must become one. In the providence of restoration, when God sent people to shoulder the mission of the age, the problem was always how to establish a starting point for dominion through oneness with the nation and its established religions.
We should find one direction that established religions can welcome. We must become one. (031-079, 1970/04/19)
11. This ecumenical movement is for the sake of saving all churches. We must restore the Cain of ancient times, who killed his younger brother Abel. If Abel strikes Cain, Abel will perish.
We must embrace with love. This is the movement of the Unification Church. Thus, I am carrying this out even while incurring debt.
Our task is to gather religions together. It involves a level of emotional suffering that you do not understand. If money is required, I must prepare the foundation even if I go into debt. Even before loving my children, I must pour myself out until my enemies surrender.
Putting my beloved children behind, I must love my enemies first. I must be in the position where I have loved my enemies more than I have loved my children. When I do that, the gates of liberation will open. The Unification Church has been trying to do this to this day. (031-082, 1970/04/19)
12. Originally, the Messiah was to complete the foundation of substance with the church and with the realm of the people. Accordingly, if Judaism and the people of Israel had been able to receive Jesus, the providence would have reached the perfection level of the growth stage.
It follows that the Unification Church must give new impetus both to the nation and to Christianity. By doing so, we will achieve the standard of Jesus and Judaism becoming one, and of Jesus and the people of Israel becoming one.
Historically, Judaism and the people of Israel took the position of striking Jesus, but that should not happen now. We must complete the position of Jesus gaining influence over Judaism and the nation of Israel.
Our ecumenical engagement and the association of religious activities serve this mission. (063-198, 1972/10/14)
13. We must persuade Christians by saying, “Don't we all believe in God as our Father? There is a small difference between us, like that between cultivated grapevines and wild grapevines.
Other than that, aren't we the same?” If we do that, our ecumenical movement and the association of religions movement will develop. After becoming one with Christians, we must bring non-believers to believe in God.
Once we take the leadership role, we must witness to non-believers. For that purpose, when Christians hold revivals, Unificationists must witness with them. Indeed, we must do activities that build friendships with them.
(033-203, 1970/08/12)
14. The people who were involved in the ecumenical movement originally were my enemies. We could only afford to eat boiled barley, but how great it is that we were able to feel compassion for them. How great the people are who are concerned to comfort and pray for their enemies. If religious people do not do this, who will?
Accordingly, when Gocanto says about me, “For the first time in history, I have found a person I can love,” I will respond, “Those are overwhelming words. Please let me withdraw into the background; please love this Unification Church group first.” This is my perspective, “Even if I do not receive your love, it is all right.” This is also God's philosophy and Jesus Christ's philosophy.
(108-262, 1980/10/16)
15. We are standing at the dividing point of good and evil. We must always think about this. I am returning. Therefore, what is the fastest path? Loving one's enemies can change them 180 degrees.
Jesus deeply understood this kind of heart. Since I explored everything in the spirit world and investigated and brought to light everything about human life from top to bottom, I understand the truth, the deep inner connections of the true world.
Accordingly, I am incurring more expenses for the sake of Christianity, for the sake of ecumenical work, than for the sake of the Unification Church.
Even while our members are hungry and suffering, I am doing this. Why would I do this? By loving the established churches and the enemies of the nation, our common base is growing wider. (109-306, 1980/11/02)
16. From the perspective of Christianity, Judaism is in the position of the older brother; from the perspective of the Unification Church, Christianity is in the position of the older brother. If Christianity and Judaism could have become one, today's world would not be so miserable.
Centering on the will of Jesus, after paying the price through much historical sacrifice, the concept of the Second Coming is entering into public thinking. The Unification Church is considered a new religion in this age and has become a concern for Christianity and the world, but no one should ever think that it started based on the thought of one individual. Undoubtedly, God was working in the background.
Every time I have experienced difficulties wherein I could not achieve my goal, I passed through the critical moments by adapting and following solutions provided directly from heaven. In this way, the Unification Church has endured. Judaism, Christianity, and the Unification Church are going on that path to accomplish the Will of God. (110-212, 1980/11/18)
Movement toward oneness
A series of three seminars, where representatives of the Unification Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the Methodist Church appeared as speakers, was held in Seoul beginning August 15, 1966.
Taking this opportunity, True Parents founded a Christian ecumenical office on November 11, 1966, and inaugurated the Supra-Denominational Christian Association in 1974. On March 28, 1981, they founded the International Christian Professors Association (ICPA,) and on August 14, 1981, the International Christian Student Association (ICSA).
17. On September 9, 1968, at the Christian Academy House, the Unification Church held a dialogue with some 40 Christian leaders at a meeting entitled “Current Research on New Religions.”
Participants included the highest leaders of the Christian world, people who had opposed me for many years. To them, I appeared worthless, but as the meeting proceeded, they saw that I was not what they had expected.
I have come to hold a heart of real compassion for them. The fact that they consented to meet me and were able to hear the truth of the Unification Church is evidence that they had come to a stage where they could reconsider.
We had aroused extraordinary interest throughout Korea. They said, “The Unification Church frightens us. We can never match its theories.” Amid persecution, the Unification Church pioneered the path of restoration.
Even if the whole country stands up to oppose us, I will express love as broad as the sea to embrace and welcome everyone. (022-196, 1969/02/02)
18. If the Unification Church is to become Abel, it must restore the Cain churches. We must pour out everything in our capacity for the sake of Cain, not for the sake of Abel. This is why the Unification Church has held seminars on the Unification Principle for Christian ministers since 1971.
To perfect Abel, we must restore the Cain realm. Failure to do so means we cannot return to our victorious position as Abel. Thus, the Unification Church cannot exist just for itself. This is its historical destiny.
Due to the failure of the first Cain and Abel, the cancer of the Fall spread. We cannot go back unless we resolve that. So the Unification Church, as the Abel group, must push on until the Cain group gives in willingly. When Cain and Abel unite and go forward in the same direction, together they will absorb Korea, which will become an Abel-type country.
On the foundation of Christianity and the Unification Church becoming one and advancing in the same direction, we will be able to absorb the Republic of Korea and make it a channel-type nation.
On the foundation of Christianity and the Unification Church becoming one, the nation and people will take the center, and together we will be able to take responsibility for the mission of Abel. (046-122, 1971/08/13)
19. The Unification Church has been fiercely opposed so far, but now at the end of 1971, the situation is such that individuals in positions representing that of a chief priest come to study the Principle and afterward write confidential reports. Many people say they will join our association.
Christianity has changed. Pastors who used to burst out in anger if a Unification Church believer so much as appeared on their church doorstep now welcome our members. Many welcome us. These days they say that they want our religious workers to hold public presentations on the Divine Principle, not just for pastors but even for lay ministers. (051-255, 1971/11/28)
20. About 100 pastors have heard the Principle of the Unification Church. They were moved and said things like, “For a long time I did not understand the kind of person Reverend Moon is.”
They said that in the past they did not know anything about us, and tried to get rid of this Mr. Moon. The world has changed. Now, even pastors in their pulpits cannot warn people against visiting the Unification Church.
Eminent pastors themselves visit the Unification Church. If they are learning the Principle, they certainly cannot tell their members not to visit the Unification Church. (041-296, 1971/02/17)
21. Recently, a famous Korean theologian lectured about us at a church in Seoul. After he finished, the audience came to realize that the Unification Church was not going to go away, and a group of attendees even became possessed with fear of us. But Christian leaders are becoming highly interested in our ecumenical movement.
Because we have arrived in this position, we must expeditiously develop activities at Christian universities, even a university student movement.
From the ideological perspective, we must bring about awareness of the Unification Church throughout the country. Now the song of unification must go forth around the world. (027-135, 1969/12/03)
22. The day is dawning when we can be welcomed throughout the country. Therefore, we will work to stir up a fresh breeze. The fastest way is by holding seminars. If we hold these in Seoul, the breeze will spread to the whole country. If we cannot hold them in Seoul, then we must hold them in each district.
Even if we have them in only one province, we must concentrate on that place and carry out a movement to bring harmony between Unificationists and Christians. That is the only way the nation and the world can survive.
The direction of the providence can be determined from a single point. When Korea becomes that one point, we can raise a banner that announces to the world that we have completed the mission in our homeland. (122-161, 1982/11/02)
23. If Christian students hear the Principal just once, they become elite troops for heaven. In contrast, ordinary people need to spend six months to a year and a half to learn the Principle. Now the issue is, who can move Christians in the university towns? So far, working to impact professors through PWPA and students through CARP has not worked so well.
But when we center on the Christians on university campuses, bringing the Christian professors and Christian students into oneness, we will be able to move the non-Christian professors. (115-230, 1981/11/19)
24. When I told major Christian leaders, that I would sponsor a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, an uproar broke out in Christian circles. I am working for the sake of reviving Christianity. When church elders or pastors listen to my words, even for only eight hours, they come to our side.
They do not offer any counter-arguments, but say it is all good. In a sense, for them, the sun is already setting and night is falling, while rays of light are shining upon the Unification Church. People of faith will find no alternative that equals us. In this sense, we are seeing the destinies of Christianity and the Unification Church reaching a crossing point.
This shift in Christianity is an important opportunity in history. We have had nothing but a spiritual foundation, but we are entering the age in which we can inherit a foundation in this physical world. (115-150, 1981/11/08)