Love your enemies with the heart of true love

Sun Myung Moon March 8, 2000 Cheon Seong Gyeong; Book Thirteen - Restoration of the True God’s Homeland; Chapter 6. True Parents’ Textbook for the Unification of Korea and the World; Section 5. The Course of Life for the Princes and Princesses of God

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What do you suppose a person who seeks to inherit the will of God must advocate? There is absolutely no way he or she could tell the people of this world to just go the way they enjoy. In fact he or she would have to tell the people of this world to go in the opposite direction. A saying that expresses this fact is the motto, “Love your enemies with the heart of true love.” Love your enemies! These words can turn around our false history; they are the same as an anchor, and an anchor chain for a ship being blown before a howling typhoon. However, throughout the history of the providence of restoration, there has been no one who has actually practiced the words “Love your enemies.” If there were people who could love their enemies, we would have to raise them up to the world stage using some form of systematic organization. Because this is the logical conclusion, each of you needs to understand that God actually has to present this kind of movement to the world, and that the religious movements that have arisen in history are a reflection of this.

Who is the person God has been able to love the most in history? It is Jesus. Jesus presented a new direction for this conflict-ridden world. High walls are created between oppressor nations and oppressed nations, such as between Rome and Israel, by them viewing each other as enemies. Jesus’ philosophy is that these walls need to be demolished. Jesus thought, “You in Rome want to conquer me by force, but I will conquer you in the opposite way — with love.” That is why he even sought blessing for his enemies when he was hanging on the cross.

We need to recognize that when Jesus said of the Roman soldiers, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” he was expressing this kind of amazing philosophy. Because Jesus made this plea, he became a model and archetype for all nations of the world to transcend the way they see each other as enemies, and also a model for transcending the borders between any two nations.

Jesus knew that individual enemies were not the only enemies. He knew that family enemies, clan enemies, ethnic enemies, national enemies, and global enemies surrounded him on all four sides. This means that there are many enemies awaiting those who want to follow his path. It also means that if you go the family path, there are family enemies waiting, and if you go the clan path, there are clan enemies waiting. You can expect fierce battles, but you must love those enemies whenever you encounter them. If you possess this kind of spirit, someday victory can be yours.

From what point will God’s ideal nation be realized? Where will the restoration of the homeland take place? It starts from the individuals who live by the philosophy to love their enemies. Therefore, as long as God exists, there is no way Christianity can avoid becoming a global religion, because Christianity offers a movement to break down national borders with love, to transcend all environments and cultural barriers, and to embrace even one’s enemies. If you plant beans, you get beans, because kidney beans come from kidney bean seeds, and red flowers bloom from red flower seeds. In the same way, if you plant a satanic seed, a seed of taking revenge on your enemies, you will get a tree of evil — a tree of vengeance. But if you plant the seeds of goodness, the seeds of loving your enemies, you will get a tree of goodness, a tree of love for enemies. This is just a natural principle.

Where did I say God’s homeland begins from? By what path does it come? It comes by the path of loving one’s enemies. It comes by the path of leaving behind a tradition of loving the individual’s enemies, loving the family’s enemies, loving the clan enemies, loving the national and global enemies. You all need to understand that God’s homeland cannot appear except by this path.