February 21, 2017 | 0 Comments

Scripture Leads Us Into Relationship With God and Each Other

Group of friends walking and having fun together in London. They are four girls and two boys in their twenties, friendship and lifestyle concepts, autumn clothing

We can gain many insights from the Bible and other sacred texts. The Bible and Divine Principle are books that describe the totality of all relationships: our relationship with God, God’s relationship with us, our relationship with each other.

They also contain discussion of what relationships are like in an ideal sense, why relationships don’t always work and how we can untangle the messy course of historical relationships and the complexity of relationships in our own lives.

Religions exist to mend and perfect relationships! Seen from this point of view who wouldn’t want to be “religious”!

The Relationship of God and Human Beings

It makes sense to start from the beginning with our relationship with God. Rev Moon has spoken extensively about God as a personal God. These are some of the things he said:

“In addition to His intellect, emotion, and will, God has His own hopes, circumstances and heart. What are God’s hopes, circumstances and heart? We need to know these fundamentals before considering humankind’s situation. Armed with this knowledge, you will naturally and immediately understand people’s original desire. Why? Because humankind’s purpose is God’s, and God’s purpose is humankind’s. Those who understand people’s circumstances, hopes, and heart can also understand God’s.” (151-208, 1962.12.15)

“We cannot talk about love unless God is a personal God. God needs to have the same qualities of emotion and character as human beings. Christianity, alone among religions, revealed that kind of God. The early Christians called God “Father.” Becoming free and able to call God “Father” marked a great religious discovery. My explanation of God, as the internal and external Father who seeks to create a unifying authority through love that is incarnated in substantial form, takes the conversation to a new level, but the Christian discovery of God as the Father is amazing. Furthermore, it has created the base upon which the nature of God, in love, can be peacefully discussed and explored. Christianity has also promoted monotheism. For these reasons, as I see it, Christianity serves as the global religion that can unite the world. It is paving the way to unify the world.” (139-239, 1986.1.31)

The Role of Religion and Philosophy

“Although there are many religious paths today, the one religion that can penetrate the heart has not appeared during the course of history. Because God exists, however, such a religion must inevitably appear. Some religions instruct in social ethics and morality and others teach about the infinite spirit world. However, there must be a religion that combines teachings on ethics and morality with those that describe the incorporeal world, uniting them upon the essential core of one heart. I have searched for such a religion and it is Christianity. Christianity is a religion of heart. Through the Fall, human beings lost God and forgot that God is our Father. We lost the substantial True Parents and Christianity is the religion that can reintroduce them.” (9-140, 1960.5.1)

“The final destination of philosophy is the discovery of God. What kind of God is He? He is absolute, unchanging and unique. In discovering God, we will find that He has to be a personal God, one needed by human beings. In order to have a relationship with us, God has to be a personal God who shares the inner and outer aspects of all our thoughts, ideals and will. He has to be someone who can deeply relate with us in all aspects of our being, emotional, volitional, or intellectual. Otherwise He has nothing to do with us. From this point of view, on the basis of the premise that He must be a God whose character includes human-like character, philosophy has not honored God.” (138-142, 1986.1.21)

“Whom does God resemble? His sons and daughters. Who are you? You are God’s sons and daughters. You take after God. And God is a personal God. Can God just be some shapeless entity? What is amazing about Christianity is that it has talked about a God of emotion and personality in terms of His character and love, and His intellect, emotion, and will. This is a great thing. It has also promoted monotheism.” (177-274, 1988.5.20)

What difference does a personal relationship with God make?

“If God is a personal God, do you think God needs love? When we human beings are born as God’s sons and daughters and call God “Father,” we need the Father just as He needs us, and the Father needs us just as we need Him.” (184-199, 1989.1.1)

“If God is a personal God, what should be connected to Him? When you say “God,” you are talking about something high, aren’t you? Then, can your body be connected to Him? No. It is your heart that is connected. Human beings are to live with a vertical heart with the First Cause, the personal God, at the axis. Just as the earth rotates on its angle-adjusted axis and moves in its day by day, 365 day course around the sun, we should live revolving around God. This is how we should see it.” (194-154, 1989.10.22)

“God’s existence leads naturally to the conclusion that this world has no hope for the future unless God’s providence advances and is fulfilled. The Unification Church has emerged at this time in history to acknowledge the personal God with His perfected intellect, emotion and will, and to work with Him to realize the ideal world based on the realm of heart. The Unification Church is clarifying, for the first time, the relationship between God and humankind.” (213-302, 1991.1.21)