Why did God create man? The first purpose was to have a being with whom He
could relate as His object. The second purpose was that God Himself had to have
a form through which to communicate with all things in the invisible world and
the substantial world.
From this viewpoint, what kind of being is Adam? The invisible God manifested
Himself in the substantial form of Adam, in order to stand as the subject in the
substantial world. God's third purpose for creating man was in order to fulfill
His ideal of love. In that ideal, the subject and the object were to become one.
God wanted the ideal world of love to remain forever. God created man centered
upon these three purposes.
In His act of creation, God had to pour out His power. Power is given from
God, who is the subject, to man, the object. God's power has to be given until
the object becomes perfect. God's ideal is accomplished only when the subject
and the object become one in this way.
In order to go up to the perfection level, as the Principle teaches us, we
must pass through three stages. This process is the period of growth and at the
same time it is the period in which God pours out His energy. When His power is
given totally, and when we stand as His objects, God's power can be returned to
him. Viewed from the ideal of creation, God's love is born on the level of
perfection. The power of God's love cannot return to Him unless the object's
ability to reciprocate is perfected. Without love, the energy which God has
poured out cannot return to Him.
To create the objective being, then, is the work of God Himself. In order to
make those beings exist, some power must be sacrificed. This is the original
reality of creation.
Accordingly, as human beings who have to go along the way of recreation and
restoration, we must go through that path of sacrifice. We cannot recreate
ourselves by ourselves; we must go with God's help along the path of pouring out
energy for the realization of the ideal self. We are standing in the position in
which God must pour out His power again, so there must be sacrifice. Since this
is the original standard of the Principle, a religion which seeks the ideal
world or the perfection of human beings must go the way of hardship. We must
sacrifice our self-centeredness; in proportion to the degree of that sacrifice,
our original nature from God is restored. As the result of the fall, we must go
this way of recreation; accordingly, religious people must go through the way of
hardships. This is the fundamental point of recreation.
In the development of His creation, God created the angelic world prior to
the physical substantial world. The angelic world is not the place in which God
could fulfill His ideal of substantial objective beings. The creation of the
angelic sphere was part of the process to the final purpose. Then God, together
with the angels, created the substantial objective sphere, the physical world of
all things.
God, together with the angels, created man. God's objects on the spiritual
level were the angels. Man as a substantial being is in a different position
from angels. God made angels to stand in the position of objects, admirers, and
consultants. In that way He could receive stimulation from the intermediary
angelic world in the process of the creation of man. In each stage of the
creation of man, angels as God's objects gave gratitude and stimulation to God,
so that God received joy in the process of creating man.
God was expending all of His energy in the process of creating man. But He
was able to receive joy because the archangel gave Him praise and comfort. Since
God created man with the angels, man must accomplish the value and purpose of
angels as well as the unique human purpose. Therefore, man has dual values. God
aims for man's perfection, while the archangel has hope for man and assists him.
In other words, Adam must become the perfected being of the ideal of the
archangel, and he must also become the perfected being of God's ideal.
Then why did God create Eve? God and the archangel and God and Adam are in a
one to one vertical relationship. It is an upper and lower relationship. They
stay at one point on the vertical line. If the archangel stands in the central
point, God also has to stand on the same point.
The objective sphere is needed because that is where the vertical
relationship is enlarged. The purpose of creation is to apply the vertical
relationship to the horizontal level.
When everything is perfected, God and the archangel, or God and Adam, will
stay only at one central point. God created Eve in order to enlarge this
vertical point on the horizontal plane. Thus, vertical love is developed into
horizontal love.
Adam is the being who stands in the position of perfecting the archangel's
purpose and he stands as the central person of God's ideal. Accordingly, it is
Adam who stands in the position of perfecting the purpose of the archangel and
of God.
God created dual objective beings in order to develop His vertical love on
the horizontal plane. Adam and Eve were to become one, centered on God, to allow
that power of vertical love to be connected horizontally. However, since this
was not accomplished due to the fall of man, God's dispensation up until now has
been to restore this position again.
The archangel's mission must be fulfilled first, since God created the
archangelic world first. Next must be the accomplishment of the purpose of Adam,
who should stand in the position of God's objective being. If he stands as the
perfected being of God's ideal, the ideal of vertical love can be developed
horizontally. This is the objective world of creation which is the Heavenly
Kingdom centered upon God.
Children have a vertical relationship with their parents. Through their
experience of love with the parents, children learn how to love others. After
they are united with the parents on the vertical level, they know the way to
unite on the horizontal level. The vertical relationship is the subjective one
and the horizontal relationship is in the objective sphere.
God created the objective beings, Adam and Eve, in order to develop vertical
love on the horizontal level. If Eve had not been created, man would have stayed
only in the vertical relationship to God and in the same position as the angelic
world. That was not God's ideal for the substantial world. God had to create the
substantial world in order to develop His horizontal ideal. The representative
of this horizontal ideal is Eve.
When Adam and Eve become one, they form a reciprocal subject object
relationship with each other. On the basis of unity between Adam and Eve, God
becomes the vertical subject. Accordingly, they should function as the
intermediary beings of God's love both vertically and horizontally. So Adam must
have Eve beside him. When they become one on the horizontal level they naturally
become one on the vertical level.
Once Adam becomes perfect, the power which God expended in Adam's behalf can
return to God even stronger than before. This power, which stimulates God, is
what we call love. The love returned to God is a much stronger love than the
love which God has given. Therefore, God can feel great joy.
Parents love their children, and they don't mind sacrificing for them. The
heart of love is contained in their sacrifice; therefore, no matter how much
energy they pour out, it returns to them as stimulating love. The more they give
out, the more joy they feel. That is the power by which they can overcome the
pain of sacrifice.
A man and a woman as well feel joy, even if they must make sacrifices for
each other, to the point of giving their lives. One can feel infinite joy, even
if one pours out infinite power. By the same token, love returns to God as a
stronger power than that which God initially gave out. Through this stimulation,
God can feel joy.
Sacrifice in itself is consumptive; it is a minus force. How can one feel joy
by becoming diminished? Viewed from the horizontal standard of the secular
world, it is absolutely impossible. However, it is possible because of love.
Why did God pour out His love? Because through a relationship of love between
subject and object, an eternal give and take action is set in motion which
multiplies God's power Therefore, we can conclude that eternity is not
established without love and we can also say that God is love.
According to mechanical or physical laws, there is no time when output is
greater than the input. But in the realm of God's power, the result is more than
the original.
Accordingly, a true parent child relationship, a true husband wife
relationship, and a true brotherly relationship cannot be established unless we
relate with sacrificial love. The genuineness of those relationships depends
upon that standard.
Children know that their parents truly love them when they truly sacrifice
themselves for them. Although the sacrificial position is a sorrowful one, if
the children perfectly appreciate it and return love to the parents, then the
parents can feel more joy.
Likewise if a true couple sacrifices for each other, then love can constantly
be restored in addition to the power of sacrifice. Therefore, husband and wife
can become one eternally if they share their suffering with each other. True
friends are those who sacrifice themselves for each other. The position of love
can be established when one sacrifices oneself and gives himself for others.
Thus sacrifice accompanies love.
God could not truly love man up until now because man fell and did not
achieve his perfection. Thus God's love could not be returned by a perfect
object.
If someone truly desires love, he should stand in the same position as God
and give everything until the perfection of his object of love, as God does.
Parents give everything until their children grow up and get married. They have
to sacrifice everything and give everything until their children understand the
sphere of parental heart. If the children appreciate it and give filial piety to
their parents, then the parents feel joy, forgetting all of their sacrifice.
This is the way of love.
From the Principle and God's point of view, it is absolutely impossible for
us to reach the perfection level unless we go through sacrifice. It is the way
of restoration to work and recreate the ideal self so that one can reach God's
standard.
God created the archangel and Adam in order to achieve His ideal of love. In
the course of restoration, therefore, we must go through the principle of
recreation. We human beings must restore the sphere of the archangel first.
The way of faith requires the restoration of the invisible substantial
sphere, or the realm of the archangel. This is the sphere of process, during
which we need to have a life of faith. In the process of our life of faith, we
must restore the path of the archangel through history.
Viewed from the principle of restoration, we go up from the age of servant of
servants to the age of servant. After that, we must go up to the level of
adopted son and into the realm of true son, which is the original standard of
perfection. This is the standard upon which the bridegroom and bride, perfected
Adam and Eve, can establish ideal horizontal love.
We must go through the process of the archangel and the process of Adam's
growth, receiving God's vertical love until we reach perfection. Then we can
make a departure to the horizontal level. Accordingly, God's goal in history up
until now has been to complete one person, Adam, who can stand in the position
of God's object. Thus, Adam becomes the central figure on the horizontal level.
If God and Adam become one and Adam and Eve become one, then God and Adam and
Eve become one. At that point the vertical and the horizontal are perfectly
united by love. Wherever they go, they are filled with joy. We call this
environment the Heavenly Kingdom.
Since God's ideal of the Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed because of the fall,
we must recreate it.
Here the problem is the existence of Satan, but if the archangelic sphere is
perfected, Satan must disappear. The perfection of the archangel is not done by
the archangel but by the perfection of Adam. If Adam is perfected, the ideal of
the archangel is also perfected, and Satan has no place to exist in this cosmos.
Since the archangelic sphere is imperfect, Satan can still exist, but once
perfection is accomplished, he cannot remain. Therefore, the perfection of Adam
is the ultimate and most important task. That is why God has been working up
until now to achieve the perfection of Adam. The perfected Adam is the Messiah.
To go back to God, fallen man must first become the servant of the servant,
who is the archangel. The best master is the master who works for the sake of
the servant. And the servant must find this master
The fall destroyed God's ideal by centering love upon oneself. God's ideal is
love. Therefore, where one's love is self-centered, the way of restoration can
never be born.
Why does God require us to have obedience? It is not for the sake of God's
joy but for the sake of man's joy. God puts man in the position of His ideal
object and gives him the responsibility of completing the purpose of recreation.
Thus, man must push away and overcome the factors of the fall. Because the fall
originated from disobedience, God must order us to have absolute obedience as a
necessary condition to restore this. Therefore in our religious way of life we
cannot complain. We have no excuse; we must have absolute obedience.
Absolute obedience is a hardship, but the purpose of hardship is to set
conditions to allow us to stand in the perfected position, and achieve God's
original goal of creation. Therefore, if we undergo hardships and sacrifice, we
can come to stand in the perfection sphere. We must go this way because there is
no other way, and religion cannot but emphasize the necessity of the way of
hardships.
In order to overcome the way of the fall, there is no way other than the way
of absolute obedience. God has no choice but to require this of us. In the way
of restoration, complaint is never permissible.
To follow in the path of absolute faith and obedience, we must go hopefully
and joyfully. This is the way of recreation, and therefore it is the way of
hope. We cannot go this way crying and weeping with despair. Sacrifice and
hardships are the instruments by which we give everything and gain everything.
Which religion has shown the greatest love in history? A religion which
teaches the greatest self sacrifice is the one which is able to love the entire
world. Christianity is a religion founded upon martyrdom. It has spread
throughout the world by the sacrificial shedding of blood. Therefore, among all
the religions, Christianity has shown the greatest filial piety in front of God.
We can conclude that the world must return to God centering upon Christianity.
How long can you continue to sacrifice with a heart of love? This is what
determines whether you have victory or defeat. However, if God is our true
Parent, does He rejoice or feel sorrow when His children have to suffer? Even in
the parent child relationship of this fallen world, no parents want to cause
suffering for their children.
Then, why does God make man walk this path of hardship? God's situation has
been most painful as He has to lead this dispensation! If we can
understand God's situation, we can feel how miserable He is. No matter how much
hardship we may have to go through, it is only our lifetime; our life on the
earth is within one century.
Therefore, it is the way of filial piety and loyalty to offer daily
encouragement to God. Those who complain selfishly at this point are
cosmically unforgiven and unfortunate.
When we try to bridge the gap between ourselves and God, Satan is always
working to destroy this bridge. Who defends this bridge? Only God and the
spiritual world know. People do not realize how miserable are God and the
angelic world, who have to do recreation and go the purpose of restoration. The
longer the delay of perfection, the more God must stand in His unspeakably
miserable position.
What would you do if you had to stand in God's position? Even though we go
through hardships, it is not longer than the few decades of our lifetime.
Fallen men have the miserable destiny to carry the cosmic debt, yet cannot
find the way to repay it. It is unthinkable even in a dream that we should raise
our faces to God in complaint.
We who understand the misery of God's position must show filial piety to the
parent. When one tries to alleviate the suffering of his parents, he becomes the
man of the greatest filial piety.
Who is Abel? It is Abel who can restore God's objects of love to God by going
through the way of hardships. Thus, he must subjugate Cain by the heart of love.
On the horizontal level, Abel stands in the position of God. Just as God loves
fallen man, Abel must have the heart of love toward Cain and restore him at the
risk of his own life. The way of Abel is the way of sacrifice. In that way,
God's love can be actualized on the earth. Everyone bows his head to the one who
offered his life. Thus, the history of Abel became the history of shedding
blood. This is the fundamental teaching of the Bible.
How miserable is God who has been standing in that position, driving the
historical dispensation! The Messiah is the one who carries the responsibilities
of the entire world and says to God, "Please take a rest. Give me the whole
cross, the way of all indemnity." This is why Jesus could pray in the garden of
Gethsemane, "Please, not as I will, but as You will." If God is suffering in the
spiritual world or in the earthly world, then the Messiah has the sense of
mission to shoulder all the sufferings of God. Therefore, even though the
Messiah suffers he doesn't even think of it as suffering.
No matter how much we do, we must feel sorry before God. As fallen men in the
way of faith, we cannot find anything like self pride no matter how we search
for it.
What was the fall? Everything was observed from the self-centered viewpoint
and the result was complaint. Finally, there was rebellion. Therefore, complaint
is not permissible for believers.
Once you begin the life of faith, you must deny the consciousness of self.
Don't compare! Peter had to learn the same lesson. When he was told about the
cross from Jesus, Peter asked Jesus what would happen to John. Jesus told him,
"It doesn't matter. Just follow me." Once you begin to compare your situation
with others, you begin to have complaint. The eyes with which you compare are
the eyes of Satan. Those eyes inherited the blood lineage of the archangel.
So, erase every bit of self-centeredness. When you completely deny yourself
centering upon God, you can be completely vindicated by God as a result.
Complete liquidation will result in complete indemnity; complete indemnity opens
the way to recreation.
This is where the essence of religion lies. If one does not know this
essence, it is really hard to follow a religious way. Religious scriptures
cannot be clearly understood.
If one makes a tremendous sacrifice for the sake of God, even God himself
bows his head before this offering. Through such an indemnity condition, both
God and Satan come to bow their heads.
Perfect recreation becomes possible through perfect denial. Therefore, don't
complain in the life of faith. You may say, "I can't give anymore." But, you
should conclude whether or not you can give more only after you have done your
very best until death.
To complain is essentially to accuse God. But man has to repay God, so, we
human beings must absolutely not complain or say such things to God.
Don't complain. Be grateful and let us go our way in silence.
