Section 1. The Meaning Of Religion
1. The meaning of the word "religion"
If one speaks about religion, in the languages of Korea and the East it is a basic teaching like the central wooden floor of a house. If one speaks about a home, one is speaking about the central wooden floor. In all teaching, in all teaming it means it is principled, it is basic, it is the central teaching.
If we see a house, we speak about the beam of the house, the central beam. Therefore, if God is removed, the entire universe suddenly collapses completely. What we call religion, we see as a providential foundation for building a new home of the universe. Therefore even if the land is leveled, the pillars raised, and everything provided, if the ridge beam, the central beam is not raised up, everything will come to naught. (102-230)
2. The Basic Teaching Of Religion
Until now there have been many religions in the world, but what should religions teach? All religions should first of all teach about God. Any religion which does not teach about God is not a religion. And if a religion teaches about God but does it vaguely, then it is not an authentic religion.
Then what is it that a religion teaches that makes it a true religion? If God exists, what He is like, what His character is like, and what His love is like-the religion that teaches about these things is a true religion. (18-108)
What is the first thing that religion teaches? It teaches about God. Then what does it teach? It teaches about God's purpose. And then what does it teach? It teaches about God's love. Seen through the teachings of religion, man should be the subject of God's purpose. That is to say, man should belong to God. In the midst of such a relationship, we want to prepare a place where our conscience can rest eternally and where we eternally want to be.
Therefore you need to know that you are being resurrected. When we consider this fact, our conscience is something we should be grateful for. Because of this, when people first come into the church they are deeply moved, saying, "Ah, life has this kind of value!" (16-48)
Even if man's conscience conquered the world, and realized God's purpose in heaven and on earth, and even conquered God Himself, it would not be satisfied. Even after conquering God it could not be satisfied. Even after capturing God who is the lord of the one world purpose it is not enough. You must understand this fact. Then what must we conquer? We must conquer even the love which is hidden in the center of God's heart. The conscience does not want to rest. Therefore today's religions must teach that. (16-47)
Religion must teach how to capture God's love. That is only possible through the teachings of religion. The more thoroughly a religion teaches the content of the closest love between God and man, the higher religion it is, the more world-level religion it is. If we compare religions by this standard, Christianity embraces that content the most.
In Christianity, God is taught as the Father. And it teaches that Jesus is the bridegroom and we are the brides. If we become bridegrooms and brides, we become God's sons and daughters. Christianity is the only religion which tried to establish families centered on God's love in this way. Therefore, it can be concluded that Christianity, both in name and reality, is the worldwide religion which God established. Religion reveals that God exists, and teaches the way to capture God's love. (18-327)
What does religion teach? It teaches God's love, and because it has the mission to realize the purpose of God's love, religion teaches sacrifice. That's natural. A religion must not rule the world centered on itself. The Unification Church is teaching people to sacrifice oneself. It is teaching Unification Church members to unite together and sacrifice for the nation which is larger than the Unification Church. If you sacrifice for the nation with a sacrificial heart which has not yet appeared to this people, this nation, then a patriotic spirit which has never existed in history will manifest itself. Do you understand?
When a new tradition of loving the people is established, the organization which established that tradition will not be destroyed. This is not recklessness. Today the Unification Church's sacrifice for the nation is in order to have the nation sacrifice for the world once the nation has been embraced. (57-25)
What is meant by the teaching of religions? Because two ways came into being due to the fall, it seeks to block people from going the evil way. Because people think about ways to put themselves in the forefront, in order to completely break that religion tells them, "Hey you, go to the place of death. Die for others!" If it succeeds in making people die for others, it spreads to the world immediately. Do you understand?
When one gives his life for others, when one sacrifices for public problems, then one can go anywhere in the world without any difficulties. Therefore Jesus came to this earth and taught that those who were willing to die would live and those who sought to live would die. If we think of this from a worldly viewpoint it is foolishness, it's the rambling of a madman. But if we look at it in view of this principle, we exclaim, "Wow, that's how it goes!" Those who seek to die live, and those who seek to live die. (56-180)
3. A True Religion
What religion can be called a true religion? First, it is the religion which monopolizes God's love. Then the one who is the subject of that religion and who should be able to monopolize God's love, what kind of being is the being who can monopolize God's love? A man loves his creative work. Then if there is a person who likes and loves that work, the creator will also like and love that person.
In the same way, if there is a person who loves God's creation even more than God Himself, God will love that person most, and He will want to bequeath totally to him His fortune, His authority and even His love. But the only being who could love and cherish all of God's things more than God would be God's son. Therefore the being whom God loves most is His son who loves Him as His father. That son is the being who can monopolize God's love.
The son who monopolizes God's love has the same subjective authority as God. In that way we can understand that in the Garden of Eden, Adam, the being who was to become the true father of humankind, was the real body of God who had equal authority with God. The religion of this son who can monopolize the love of God, is the true religion.
Second, the religion which is seeking the masterpiece of God's creation which is monopolizing His love is the true religion. That is to say, the religion which is seeking God's son and seeking to establish a relationship with him is the true religion. In order to establish this new relationship, the religion which centers on the spirit and denies the body, and centering on the new relationship denies the old relationships, centering on the new family, tribe, nation and world while denying this world, that religion is a true religion.
Third, the religion which reveals God's love is a true religion. The religion which reveals God's love as parental love, which reveals God's love as conjugal love, and which reveals God's love as children's love is a true religion.
Then which religion is denying the world in order to find God's son and is revealing God's love? It is Christianity. By proclaiming God as the Father and saying He was God's son, Jesus proclaimed a deep realm of moral principles. And Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." And he said that we must love him more than anyone else. And in view of the fact that Christianity says he will come again in the Last Days as the King of Kings, in the glory of the Father and He will come in love, we can see that Christianity is the truest religion. For that reason we pray in the name of the True Parents. (23-188)
Then among the religions, which religion is the true religion? It is the religion which seeks to establish a Father-son relationship centered on God, and furthermore to establish brotherhood relationships, and seeks to realize one family on earth centered on God. It is the religion which has these truths. To the extent that a religion is like that, it is the great religion which God desires and the religion which humankind insists is best.
We must remember the main content of a true religion. It wouldn't do for Buddhism to not pass the test, nor for Islam, nor for Christianity.
Whichever religion can come close to this is close to God. As long as God exists, such a religion will develop worldwide. That religion will establish a foundation which will be able to move the world. This is most logical. (91-225)
Among the religions, which is the best religion? Which religion is the true religion? To be a true religion, it must fulfill the conditions for happiness. It must have the necessary requisites. Then what are the conditions for happiness? What is the absolute condition for happiness? It is God's love, isn't it? [Yes.]
Unless a religion is centered on God's love, and has in it the conditions to be able to possess the complete content of God's love and to teach it, it is not a true religion. That conclusion can be reached. (160-270)
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Section 2. The Need For Religion
1. The Reason Religion Is Needed
Each one of you is also a person of religion. There are many different kinds of religions. Our Unification Church is considered one denomination among them. We can see that for many religions, according to their cultural and environmental situations, many historical reformations came about.
Then why do we need such religions? Among all the things of creation, only man needs religion. This thing called religion, what does it call subject as it goes on its way? It is not a way centered on man alone. Centered on God, religion is what is realized by the relationship between God and man.
Then did man start religion, or if there is a God, did God start religion first? There are many different opinions about that. Which is it? It is God. Originally if there had been no fall religion would not have been necessary. Then who fell? If we consider the problem of what the being is which initiated the bringing of religion, the conclusion points to man. Then did fallen man try to go before God? When we consider that man did that to try to form a relationship with God, we find the words that it is not man but God who started first.
When we took at it this way, on the whole, what is the main reason for religion coming into existence? Of course, it is possible that having fallen, man could present such a cause, but we cannot help but see that the basic motivation presented by God is the initiating motivation. (92-296)
Because man fell religion is necessary and the Savior is necessary. If man had not fallen, then Jesus, or a Savior or religion would not have been necessary. Mankind would have at once become one with God and lived centered on the eternal God's love here on this earth, and the sons and daughters born of that kind of mother and father, their descendants and that country would all have come into the Kingdom of Heaven. Because after having lived like that on earth they would have gone to heaven, they would have gone from the Kingdom of Heaven on earth into the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven. Hell came into existence because of the fall, and Jesus, the Savior and things like religion came into existence. (53-296)
1) Religion Is Necessary to All Humankind
Then is religion necessary for all humankind? Or is it just necessary for some special people? What do you think? There are some people who say that it will be all right to go to church later when they are old and about to die and then they will believe in Jesus and go to heaven. Such people can never go to heaven.
Because God has come through thousands of years as the God of unity, a person who cannot unite with God's elements of goodness, can, not go into the united world of heaven. It is natural law that this world cannot be contacted through any special means or methods. Therefore, God resolved the sorrows of the world of humankind and established religion as a means to save humankind.
Then what kind of person needs religion? Today some university professors and some intellectuals say that religion is something weak people believe in. If we analyze those people from the standpoint of the original nature, they are not even human beings. They are usually evil people who oppose the elements of unity. As long as such people exist world peace is not possible.
Religion is not necessary for only a special small group of people; it is necessary for everyone. And it is not just necessary for the people of today, it was necessary for people in the past as well. They just died without knowing this content. And the people of the future will need to know this and religion will be necessary for them too. (18-3 20)
2) The Purpose of Religion
What is the purpose for establishing religion? It is to get rid of all the wild olive shoots of the world. Until now we didn't know this. Religion didn't know this. Then what is the mission of religious people? Transforming all the wild olive shoots into true olive shoots is the responsibility of the many religions and the religious people.
What is this asking us to do? Since we fell away from God and became sinners, for the first time we should become good people and return to God. It is a movement to return to God. Then what is the purpose of religion? It is to save humankind and to return to God. Then what is the individual purpose of the life of faith of religious people?
Until now religious people thought, "Ah, since I believe in a religion, I will be saved and I will be fine." Well, the proper way for a person of faith to think is: I believe in a religion in order to save the people of the world and to bring them back to God. What kind of people are true religious people, true people of faith? They are the people who think, "I believe in this religion in order to bring my nation back to God, in order to bring the world back to God. It's not to save my own sons and daughters and my descendants first. Rather, let's save the nation and the world first."
It's resolving this first before seeking my own sons and daughters. If the nation is saved, my family and my sons and daughters are saved together. If the world is saved, my country is saved at the same time. Then a true religion is one which seeks to save humankind. The person who saves humankind and brings humankind back to God is a true religious person. In saving this world, would God want to save America first or the whole world first? [The world first!] (80-201)
Then how can we distinguish a true religion? In Christianity, if you are Presbyterian you say the Presbyterian Church is right; if you are Methodist, you say the Methodist Church is right. In this way the 400 denominations of Christianity are fighting with each other and the Catholic Church says it is right. . . So in the religious wars around 500,000 people were slaughtered. Each of them says they are right and fights the others; then which one do you think is true?
And furthermore, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Islam all think they are the best, but do you know which one is the true religion? What is a true religion? It must advocate returning to the original world. God's providence of salvation. What is salvation? Saving a person who is ill is returning to the state prior to becoming ill. Until now no one knew what the purpose of salvation was. There has been no conclusion about the exact meaning of it.
In this confused world, the Unification Church put forth the exact meaning of religion. Then what is the providence of salvation? The Providence of Salvation is the Providence of Restoration. The discovery of the word "Restoration" is a great discovery. What is restoration? Let's return to the world before Adam and Eve sinned when they could receive God's love directly. This is the ultimate object of the providence of salvation. This is not just for all humankind; it includes heaven and earth,. . . . Therefore God's purpose of salvation and the messiah's purpose of salvation are one in that their purpose is to save us. They are all the same.
What is the reason we believe a religion? There is no other reason than to find a world without sin, the original world with God. The people of the world are brothers and sisters. They are brothers and sisters. Let's become one with them and return. Let's return to the world of God's love. (80-203)
The purpose behind God's providence of salvation is to find this world. Then why did He send the messiah? The reason for sending the messiah is also to find this world. Now we know the purpose of religion. Religion is for the world . . . to find it and next it is for the messiah . . . So the Messiah comes and gives all the people here the qualification of being sons and daughters. . . Originally only if one becomes God's sons and daughters can one go into heaven; adopted children cannot go in. That is to say, only if one qualifies as a son or daughter can one go in. (80-284)
3) The Highest Purpose That Religion is Heading For
Then what is the unfinished work that the creator wants to give to humankind? It is not the earth that people are living on. It is not the physical earth. What we need to inherit is not something limited to this earth. On the foundation of the earth, God wants to bequeath to humankind the everlasting, eternal world, the immense world without boundaries.
And that is not all. He wants to give of course the heavens and the earth and even the very creator of the cosmos himself. Where is the destination of a true religion? It is not the earth. It is not the earth. Everything is heading towards the one God who is at the center. God has directed history by establishing religion and heading towards that in the form of an individual, family, tribe, society, and nation.
Until now this God could not give the blessing of the heavens and the earth and God himself. He could not give the blessing, "All these things I give to you." What did God want to give to the Israelite people who prided themselves on being the chosen people? Before giving himself, God wanted to give his son. But they beat and killed that son. Because they were God's chosen people, through his son He wanted to give them all his unfinished works. Think about how hard God had worked to establish the Israelite people. After establishing them what did He want to give them? He wanted to give them His beloved only son. And that was not the end; later He wanted to give them Himself. This is the final goal, the purpose of religion. (10-326)
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Section 3. The Role And Mission Of Religion
1. Religion Is The Means Of Establishing A Relationship With The Absolute Being
What does religion do? It has the mission to connect with God and to connect with God's essence and mission. (89-171)
Humankind cannot be satisfied with the things of this world. We can obtain the highest happiness and be endowed with the highest value only in the place where we are serving the Absolute Being who can melt heaven and earth. It is for this that humankind is going its way today and tomorrow. Religion is to establish an internal relationship with this Absolute Being. Religion carries out the providence internally, not externally. The external is dominated by evil and the internal is dominated by good.
We must realize a world of ideology centered on goodness. The ideology of goodness is made of internal reflection. The pursuit of religion is to seek completely the internal aspect, to search for the world of ideology, and in the end to find the Creator and serve Him eternally and to live together with Him in joy. (11-85)
Today if we dig into the original source of religion, we see that it is God Himself. It is God who is in the subject position of that world of heart. But if we do not know what kind of situation God is in, or how God realizes His will, then what difference does it make if God's will is realized? It doesn't matter. (85-234)
2. Religion Is The Historical Way Of Looking For The Very Center Of Goodness
If history has been a process of history heading towards one center, it is acceptable; but if that is not so, history should be broken up and cast away. And now you too, if you are in such a process it is fortunate; but if not, it is reason for despair. Our conscience orders us to find one center to lead. It is pushing us. Then if you find a center to lead, will it be at an acceptable level where it can be led in the way you want it to be? The goal must be God.
The conscience is heading towards one goal, but because the body is going in the opposite direction the difference in degrees is felt as pain. If there is a purpose for heaven and earth, who is the lord of that purpose? You should know that the lord of that purpose is pulling you along. Then who is the lord of that purpose? There must be one place where the consciences of all humankind can reside. That center must be a being on a higher level than humankind. The center of that purpose does not accept evil. If it is not good, it cannot be led. If it is not good it cannot become one. You who are heading towards the goal, are you good or are you evil? What percent of you is good and what percent evil? We are middle beings who are fighting between good and evil.
Now in the world of humankind, is there a person who qualifies as good? No, there is none. Therefore all humankind must be led. Giving up everything you have and wanting to go together with another person is goodness, and keeping everything you have and wanting to go alone is evil. Our spirits want and like goodness, but our bodies dislike it. As we head along the way to goodness, our greatest enemy is our body. If there is a creator of goodness, he should struggle for the salvation of humankind; and he must be a being who works in addition to humankind's conscience. Only then does he qualify as the creator. The traces of power coming into history in addition to humankind's conscience remain, and that is religion.
Religion! The historical traces that the God of goodness worked His providence by moving the consciences of weak humankind are religion. Therefore, although history changed, and the world was transformed, the basic center of goodness did not change. If we look at the developing history of the civilized world, we can see that the creator of goodness exists. Since the beginning of history there have been many cultural realms centered on religions. According to the flow of history they were developing towards one goal. Now there are the Christian realm, the Muslim realm, the Hindu realm and the Buddhist realm, and these all are in the process of uniting centered on the Christian realm. This fact cannot be denied. (12-103)
3. The Important Standards Which Religion Must Demonstrate
Today if we consider what religion has come into existence in order to do, we see that religion came into existence in order to fulfill the responsibility of uniting the people of the world today, of making into one all humankind who have not been able to unite into one in the history of the world. Then what does religion assert? What should a religion assert? We must unite our individual selves into one. In order to make ourselves one, we must bring our mind and body into unity. But until now the directions of the minds of different individuals were all different according to their thought systems or concepts. If a person is a scholar and he dedicates his life in order to do research in his area of specialty, if his area is scholarship then the direction of his mind is towards scholarship and he gambles by bringing his body into unity with that idea.
Then centered on God, what should be the standard for the highest heaven which humankind are longing for? The standard is hearts or minds which do not change. However history may change or develop, the standard of the mind which does not develop and does not change no matter how rapidly the environment and the times may change, a standard of one mind which is not dominated and which never changes is necessary.
That standard of mind is not according to my own standard of thinking. It must be the standard of the common mind of mankind. And not only that, if there is an absolute being who created the heavens and the earth, that standard must contain the content which will allow a reciprocal relationship to be formed with that absolute being and will allow becoming one with Him. From that position, we see that it is God's subjective standard of conscience which must be established.
Therefore religion should gamble on uniting our standard of conscience centered on God. If there is a being called God, then the standard of my conscience must not change in relation to Him. Therefore it seems to me that the important standard which religion should assert is how to establish an absolute, unchanging standard of heart in front of the absolute God. If this deviates, if this changes according to the age or according to one's situation, then I don't see that the mission of a religion to accomplish God's will can be fulfilled. In that sense, it is the mission of religion, which has crossed through the course of history of human society, to unite our standard of conscience with the absolute God. (82-272)
4. Religion Is The Place Where Broken Humankind Is Reborn
Through the fall, humankind became people whose minds and bodies are fighting. Inside me are fighting the elements which are heading towards two purposes. When we form a family, this becomes four. If there are ten people, it becomes twenty.
From this viewpoint, we cannot deny the statement that our world is a world of unhappiness. It is made of such people. Then if the absolute God exists, He cannot just leave such people as they are. If God just left them as they are, then that is not God. Because humankind is broken like this, behind the scenes in human history, God began to create a repair shop to repair them. That is religion. Religion teaches humankind to return to God. There is no religion which is not centered on God. Because we do not have a relationship with God, if we don't form a relationship there is no way to return.
Therefore, many different forms of religions were placed in the different cultures, different traditions, different races and different backgrounds. In that way centered on God humankind headed towards the purpose of God, the purpose God desired. (53-115)
The exalted concept of love which God gave us as a great under, taking, we lost that concept of absolute value. We should know that today we are pitiful people living and moaning as beings between two opposite, phenomenal worlds. In other words, we are broken people. But because the absolute God cannot help but relate to us, and because He could not just leave mankind this way, through the course of history He worked to give mankind rebirth. That is to say it was necessary to make a repair shop. And that is religion. (52-321)
5. The Place Of Rebirth Which Restores Broken Mankind
Then is God a good being or an evil being? [A good being.] If he is a good being then he will be a nice being. If someone is good, then he is nice; but can a good being watching humankind fight be a good being? Can he be a good being or not? No, he can't. Then if God is good, He has to stop the fighting between fallen humankind, between these evil beings whose minds and bodies are fighting.
In order to correct this and take it apart and fix it above this earth's historical providential course, God is doing a reconstruction movement. Only if there are actual results making these into one can we say that God exists. What is the organization which is working to make these into one? It is religion. Then do people need religion or not? They absolutely need it. People who are here for the first time, maybe the girl students over there are thinking, "Why do people need religion? That is for weak people to believe in."
These days the people in the alienated intellectual class say, "People like us who are at the top of the world, why do we need religion? It's only weak people who believe in that. God? Oh? I'm God." But things are not that way. The strength of religion. . . What is religion supposed to do? What has God placed religion here to do? It is to restore humankind which is broken. It is to restore and to reconstruct. As it is a place where restoration is going on it is a restoration place.
If it is a place of restoration, what happens? It must be taken apart and fixed. Can something be fixed by just leaving it alone? If you want to fix something, you have to take it apart. Completely, all of it. Don't you have to take it apart? Do you just leave it that way as good as it is? You must take it completely apart and fix it. (160-33)
Then what has been accomplished through religion is the reconstruction of what was broken. It has proceeded through a movement of individual reconstruction, family reconstruction, national reconstruction, world reconstruction, and reconstruction of the whole. If there is a God we cannot deny the fact that there must definitely be traces of this in the historical periods. Otherwise there cannot be any connection between God and humankind.
If you think of it, religion has managed to carry out such a mission. It has formed the civilized world through expanding, centering on God and centering on humankind.
6. The Unification Church Is A General Repair Shop
The purpose of religion is not to give all the bodies to Satan. Isn't that right? The purpose of religion is to have also the body be loved by God in the realm of perfection on heaven's side through ruling even the body centering on the mind. But Christianity consists of only the spiritual side. It has gathered only spiritual people in a world form. Therefore we must unite all the bodies together in a game in which they can be loved. Because they cannot be made into one without a unifying plan which can bring the mind and body into unity through a new thought system, the lord who comes will come in order to make heaven and earth one.
The making of the unity is not done by force. It's like Ssang Hwa Tang. It's like the Ssang Hwa Tang of heaven and earth. Do you know what Ssang Hwa Tang is? Its Chinese characters mean that two (Ssang) become harmonized together (Hwa ) into one drink (Tang). Therefore it becomes a medicine.
In the same way the Lord who comes must harmonize and make into one everything which was divided when heaven and earth were divided by the fall. Then what on earth is this Unification Church? From which point will the unity advocated by the unification plan of the Unification Church be realized? It is first applied to the individual and then it is just adapted to the family, and that which is adapted to the family is applied to the society, and that which is adapted to the society is applied to the people, and that which is adapted to the people is applied to the nation and that which is adapted to the nation is applied to the world.
The Unification Church has the ideology which can be applied to the very end like that. If the Unification Church is that kind of Unification Church it will surely become the Unification Church. That is to say the Unification Church will surely become the Unification Church. Do you understand what that means? God made repair shops; everything that was spread about is being gathered into the four great religious cultural realms in the repair shops. . . If they are just repaired, legs are made, and arms are made, everything is divided up.
Therefore at the end in the last days that must be gathered together. A general repair shop must appear. A general repair shop. Do you understand? That which is seeking to do the mission of the general repair shop is the Unification Church. Do the people who are here for the first time understand? What is the Unification Church doing? It is a general repair shop. Then are only individuals repaired in this general repair work? No. Individuals must be repaired; families must also be repaired; tribes must also be repaired; peoples must also be repaired; nations must also be repaired; the world must also be repaired; communism must also be repaired. This is what it is. Do you understand?
The repair shop which has the mission to repair everything is the Unification Church. Therefore if one comes into the Unification Church and is completely repaired, even if that person is thrown back into Satan's world, he does not retreat but becomes an individual who can win over Satan. If you just leave him in the family, it will not be ruined; it will become a family which receives God's love. And if children are born they will become the sons and daughters whom God loves. They are different.
It is the Unification Church which advocates that families unite and form a tribe, that tribes unite and form a nation, and that nations unite and form the world. When one fully has the thought of the Unification Church, no matter where you leave that person, without any relationship to Satan he stands sturdily as an individual, forms a family and when children are born into that family Satan cannot invade them. And centered on those sons and daughters, if they are Kims, they form the Kim clan and Satan cannot relate to it. The church which is advocating becoming that kind of clan is the Unification Church. When clans which cannot be invaded by Satan unite, they become a people. In this way let's make a people which can never be destroyed and let's make a heavenly nation which will never be destroyed! This is the thought of the Unification Church. (56-190)
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Section 4. The Place Making The World Of God's Will
What in the world is religion? What religion does is work to make the world of God's Will. That's the main point. If we express the main point, that's the title. The World of the Will. (86-28)
Religion is a training center for finding the world of love, of God and of the ideal. The world religions have divided between them the mission of raising people level by level back to the original position. If the human ancestors had not fallen and had become one with God's love, this would have been the eternal starting point of happiness. But because this was lost, it must be found again and people must match themselves to it. The central being who comes as the representative of the human ancestors in order to put back together that which was lost is the messiah. Being equal to that task is the mission of the messiah who comes. (87-177)
The mission of religion is to prepare for the true son who is coming the family he needs, to prepare the tribe, the people, the nation, and the world which he needs. It is to subjugate the entire nation of Satan and prepare it all to be ready to be taken. This is the mission of religion. Does the Messiah need to take only this world? Does he need to take this entire fallen world? Does he need to take the whole world or just part of it? Which is it? He must take all of it. From here we can know what the meaning of the providence of salvation is and the meaning of religion. The meaning of the providence of salvation is to save the entire world. We need to know that since God created mankind as his beloved sons, God cannot just beat and kill them nor just send them to hell. Therefore the providence of salvation is to not leave a single person in the world of Satan and to banish Satan... Only Satan shall be left in Satan's world. All those called people shall be taken back by God. (80-283)
Then what is desired by good or by religion? What do they want to do? What do religions do and what does good want to do? What does good want us to have, and what does a true religion want us to have? We should know that system distinguishes the great goodnesses and small goodnesses by whether they are centered on the condition of helping to bring about the world of oneness.
Does goodness stress individualism? When we say a person is a good person, do we say it about someone who always does everything for himself? In the realm of conditions of living for the whole, the limit of what one may possess and have is determined, and there is a great and wide difference. The higher the personality, the more valuable is the being . Isn't that true? Why is that? One communicates with God, is together with God and seeks to become one with God. We should know that. All ideologies which advocate goodness belong to ideologies for the whole. They are among the ideologies for the whole which are centered on God. We are able to find this kind of concept here.
So great religions are worldwide. They go beyond one people. That religion does not belong to any nation. It is such that it is beyond the interference of any nation. Then what does God want to do through religion? Through religion God's purpose cannot help but be to gather the world under his dominion and to gather it under his sovereignty. What is that asking us to do? It is placing the world under God and at the same time under man. God wants to have dominion over the world through man. (93-77)
1. The Training Center Which Teaches The Laws Of The Original Home Town
Because the world of our original home town is the original world where God lives, where the lord of heaven and earth lives, what is the place for training one to live according to the laws of the original home town? We should know that it is religion. It is not God's will to live for one's own denomination like the ecclesiastical authorities of today. The denominations should go beyond their own denomination and live for God and for mankind. One should not fight for one's church nor live for one's church; one should fight against Satan and be a denomination which works for humankind. You should known this.
Therefore the religions of today are training people to be in line with the laws which will allow them to return to the world of the original hometown. So in the future history the many religions which have been following God's will shall deny themselves. "Sacrifice and serve others!" Until now we have not known why that was. We didn't know why we had to sacrifice and serve. It is because this is the original home, town which is for the original world.
In order to go to that world we must have the preparation and training to get there. Accordingly, through the fact that the higher a religion is the more it emphasizes sacrifice and service, we can recognize the historical fact that God carried out his Providence through a historical course in historical periods. Through this we can recognize that God exists. (77-270)
Then that heaven where God lives, that spirit world where God lives, what kind of system does it have? That system's order is very simple. The people who can go to heaven, who can go to paradise, are not people who have lived for themselves. That kind of people cannot go there. Heaven is the place that people who were born for the whole and who live for the whole go. I don't know whether you have never experiences the spiritual world, but by the grace of heaven I experienced the rich spiritual world.
If you go into that world, there is not a single person who lives for himself. Those who lived for God and those who lived for humankind, they all have gone to that world. Because God established this kind of ideal beginning, this kind of ideal principle, it is for sure that the land of the original hometown which is the origin is the world realized by these laws. Therefore, those laws of the original hometown must be taught to the multitudes of mankind who hope to find and go to that world. Here on earth, where is the stage for training in and teaching about these laws? It is religion. Religion is what trains our personalities to adjust to the laws of the original hometown here on earth while we are still alive so that when we go there we know the laws.
We should know that this is the duty of today's religious life. The higher the religion, the less one stresses oneself. The higher the religion, the more it stresses meekness and humility. And furthermore, it stresses sacrifice and service. Why must it do that? Because those are the laws of the original hometown. At any rate humankind is like a wanderer searching for the land of its original hometown. Since religion must train people in the laws which will allow them to live there, the higher the religion, the more it has taught people to sacrifice. When we see that the religions of history have had this mission over and over again, we cannot deny that God has worked his providence through religions in the course of history. (77-189)