1) The Three Elements of Unification Faith

(Absolute Faith, Absolute Self-Denial, Absolute Love)

Because Adam fell, though he was the parent of humankind, his family was destroyed. Thus the broken family is to be recreated by the establishment of religion. The original family must be restored. Why did Adam fall? It was because of his disbelief. Disbelief was the first cause of the Fall. What was the next cause? He fell because of too much self-assertion. He was a self-centered person. He was centered on himself and he fell.

Next, he required the realm of love to be centered on himself. These were the three elements of the Fall. Disbelief, and what was next? Self-assertion, centering on himself, and expecting the realm of love be centered on himself. These became the stepping-stones for Satan. That is how the fallen angel emerged. For restoration through indemnity, we must deny these fallen natures. Then, how can we deny them?

By going the opposite way. It must be completely reversed. Absolute faith! Absolute faith originated from this. We must reverse the effects of our ancestors' fall due to lack of faith, and go upward. We must go upward and over the point where our ancestors fell. We must have absolute faith. What does absolute faith mean? It means that we should continue progressing until we die, while we are dying and even after our death. You don't really know absolute faith, do you? Where is the limit of absolute faith? To compare it with yourself as a living person, it means going forward even though you are dying. I will continue that way even if I am dying.

When I die, I fall not to the side, but to the front. What I mean is that if I deny my faith I am choosing the way of death. How about Unification Church members? For restoration through indemnity to occur, you must go the opposite way. And it begins with complete self-denial, not with self-recognition and self-affirmation. Perfect religion comes out of self-denial, denial of the fallen world. That's why you should deny the world, deny the nation, deny the tribe, deny wife and husband, deny man and woman, deny yourself, and deny your body and mind. You have to know denial covers a wide range. You should even deny your own body by centering on your mind. The body is Satan's first dwelling place.

This is the boundary line between mind and body. The struggle between mind and body was caused by the Fall. The Fall brought about this fight. Why did George Hegel address this concept of struggle? When we analyze the Fall itself, there is the concept of struggle within the human being. We have considered it as part of human nature. However, this was because we didn't understand the Fall. Behind it, good spirits and evil spirits are dropping anchors and putting up nets. Do you understand that? On a Korean ship, nets are hung on a big rope. But we don't know about the anchor and just put up the nets. The small fish in the net are human beings.

How sad this is! That's so miserable and tragic. There is no solution. No matter how hard we try, there is no way to slip out if it. We should tear the nets to pieces. We must destroy Satan's nets of the realm of the Fall. We must deny the whole world. Not by conciliation, but through breaking or reversing the old ways. They should be broken off. Cut the rope and even the anchor, and destroy them. Due to the ancestors' deed, religion cannot emerge with a positive concept. The first requirement is absolute faith to deny our ancestors' disbelief. Absolute faith. Is that clear? Well, do you have absolute faith? For this reason, we must investigate why the ascetic way is needed. Today, do you want this Reverend Moon to investigate the secret world of religions? If you ask the clergy only these three questions: "Why should you go the ascetic way, why should you sacrifice, and why should you believe absolutely?" they will be unable to respond with anything except "Well, all salvation is through belief......" Don't be deceived by Satan's dramatic smoke screen strategy. (126-35)

Absolute faith! It's the subject of my prayer these days. Peter's belief was not the problem. Absolute faith was; do you understand this? What's next? Sacrifice! Absolute what? Sacrifice! I am a person who knows my relationship with God well. What's the first rule? It's absolute faith, absolute faith. What should you do with absolute faith? You must go this way even when you are dying. Prison is nothing: you should go this way even though you are dying. Jesus prayed, "My father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Even though he died away from home, he died not for himself, but for the sake of God. He became a glorious offering. Do you understand? Do you understand what your limitations are? [Yes] You have to be bold even when you are dying. If you have the mind, "I am dead," then you should be placed in the other world. Can you follow me?

A leap will occur-a leap. The Unification Church has developed in that way. When you have made up your mind to die and go forward-even at the most difficult point where you can't escape down into the earth or up into the sky-God will surely appear. So it doesn't matter to me whether God is there or not. There are so many of His works, works that are like dreams. God always works as he desires, and with people who have absolute faith. What is the second rule? Self-denial. You have to one hundred percent deny your eyes.

Today, I know Unification Church members often go to the movies. When I was a young man, I didn't go to the movies. I didn't take a tram. When I lived in Noryangjin, I used to go downtown on foot, giving the money for the tram fare to beggars on the street. I prayed with tears that in the future they could devote themselves to realizing God's will on behalf of the Korean people. When I traveled to Japan for the first time, I pulled my coat over my head from Seoul-which was called Kyungsung then-to Pusan because I couldn't stop crying: "When liberation comes to this country, furthermore to the world, I can represent this people."

Concerned about people who had lost their internal and spiritual attitude, and the direction the nation was to take, I had stepped forward in the struggle against Japan.

When we are ready to be a plank, even a stick, sacrificed to build a bridge, God will come to us. Self-denial. The eyes desire something to see, the mouth desires something to eat! Until I was thirty years of age, I was hungry every day. Even if I knew something, I denied myself. You cannot imagine how hungry I was. Hunger is so terrible a thing. I stopped listening to things I wanted to, I stopped sleeping in a comfortable bed. (126-238)

You should deny yourself. Throw away all thoughts centering on yourself. Absolute what? Faith. And next? Absolute denial, self-denial. How should you deny yourself? Can you do it easily? Lower your head. Bow your head.

And why must you deny yourself? The enemy! You should digest the enemy, love the enemy. That's not easy. You must not only deny yourself ten times, a hundred times, but also confront the situation in which you must love the enemy. Otherwise, you can't be on God's side forever. You are on Satan's side, right? If so, we'll always be dragged toward Satan. That's the border line. Absolute denial: what's next? The third is absolute love. That means digesting the enemy. Revenge isn't forgiveness. After digesting the enemy, that enemy must willingly give us his nation, all his authority, and the rights of the elder son. And we must receive them. (126-41)

Finally, absolute love will remain when absolute faith and absolute obedience are gone. Belief, love and hope, there are always these three. Then what's the first? [Love.] After belief and hope have gone, in the end love will be left. Likewise, absolute faith will be gone. What is absolute faith? If you follow a certain religious leader, even though there may be a long time, perhaps thousands of years, between his time and yours, on the basis of your heart of faith you can be horizontally in the same age as him.

For that reason, you must believe absolutely! When you believe absolutely, you'll see that he is with you, and lives with you. It is the faith that reminds you of such a fact and encourages you. All of you should have absolute faith. You should go forward believing in the Unification Church absolutely. (46-99)