The Background and Significance of the Founding of the Unification Church

Sun Myung Moon July 15, 1970 Unification Church Headquarters in Seoul to members of the Association of Religions in Korea

July 15, 1970 - Unification Church Headquarters in Seoul to members of the Association of Religions in Korea

Now, what I would like to briefly tell our guests here is how the Holy Spirit Association was founded. I believe the force behind my founding the Holy Spirit Association came from the will of God, or the Divine will, more than merely from human will.

As you well know, human society today and in history does not advance based just on the will of people. On the contrary, society advances toward one goal that is based on a greater will, which is centered on God. From that viewpoint, if the Holy Spirit Association were founded only by the will of human beings, I do not think it would contribute much to the world, to the future or to the flow of history. Accordingly, I founded this new religion based on the will of God.

Religion, I believe, is the institution that is able to combine the will of God and the will of humanity. Religion not only has to have God at its center, it has to embrace everything all people are longing for. Then, what is the will of God? The will of God is not focused on any particular society; it goes beyond societies and nations. We cannot complete the will that God desires unless we adopt such a viewpoint. We can understand this by looking at human history.

In this sense, the will of humanity also must not be focused on any individual’s will or single group’s will. To be one with the will of God, it must be put into a greater context at the world level. I believe the mission of religion is to unite these two wills internally and externally.

Then what is needed in order to bring God and humankind into oneness? There must be something that is able to unite the love of God and the love of human beings. The love through which human beings can become one with God is not centered on a particular individual, a particular society or a particular nation. Rather, people have to achieve a bond of heart that loves humankind and the world, going beyond particular nations.

In this sense, the will of God and the will of human beings must be bound together in the form of a religion, and the center of this religion must be love. This love must be a love that is not exclusively for any particular society or nation; rather it must be a love that goes beyond the world and beyond everything. Without this, a religion cannot be true and will lack the foundation to have a global presence.

This is why until now history has moved forward with saints at the center. These were people who took

their stand in relationship with the will of Heaven and not just the will of human beings. Their goal was to benefit not only a certain people, but the entire world, and even beyond the boundary of the world. It is the task of saints to teach this way of life. With this duty at its core, religion can connect the will of Heaven with the will of human beings.

So the saints established the standard for binding the human way to the foundation of heavenly law. However, only teachings that transcend the boundaries of the world can be called the teachings of the saints. Based on these ways, human beings today have established the way of humility and morality.

July 15, 1970 - Unification Church Headquarters in Seoul to members of the Association of Religions in Korea

God longs for a global family of love

When we look at things from this perspective, if God and human beings want to become one, what is the central point where the two can come together? What is the decisive center that can connect the love of God and the ideal love for which humankind hopes? If God exists, it can only be the place that is closest to God. The base to make contact with the love of God is not a base of love centering on the individual. Unless it is a base of love that can embrace the world, the love of God and the love of human beings will not be able to connect.

Then, where is the most intimate place where the love of God and the love of human beings can bind together? It is the place where God’s will is at the center and the will of human beings follows it. That is to say, it is the place where God’s love is at the center and the love of human beings adjusts to it. When we seek the position that can be the most intimate, with the love of God at the center, it would be the position of becoming a true son of God. If there were a true son of God like that, with that son at the center, a true daughter of God would be needed. Then with that son and daughter at the center, it would be necessary to seek a true family that God can love, a true tribe that God can love, a true society that God can love, a true nation that God can love and a true world that God can love. With this understanding, I started the Unification Church of today based on the issue of how to unite the relationship of love between God and human beings on a global standard.

The love of God is surely realized only after going through a historical course, and we know well that the saints pioneered that course at the cost of their lives. So the saints have been guiding humankind until now with the teachings of God, which are centered on the heavenly way. Then until now who would be the greatest saint among all the saints who have come and gone in history? Of course, the teachers of the Confucian classics would be important; but more importantly, we need a religion that teaches how God and humankind can be the most intimate.

So which religion teaches that content? When we consider the religions that have endured until today based on this question, it seems to me that Christianity was introduced from a dimension higher than

other religions. So, the Unification Church was started based on Christianity.

Let us examine Jesus in the context of this question. When he related with God, he did not relate with a nebulous being; he related with a tangible being who was an intimate part of his daily life. So when Jesus related to God, he called him “my Father.” In the realm of affection, there is no position higher than a father. So Jesus opened the way for the relationship between God and human beings to be that of parent and children, and he laid the foundation of heart to be able to bind them together. This tells us that in order to realize a world united by the love that God desires, there must surely be a foundation of affection, and this foundation of affection must be even beyond the parent–child relationship.

This is why Jesus called God, “my Father.” He called out, “I am his only son, who had to come. In the whole universe I am the only person who can receive his love.” In view of this, Christianity more than any other religion is based on the heart of God, gives concrete guidance and envisions God clearly and intimately. Jesus said, in effect, “I am the bridegroom; you are the bride.” More than in any other religion, I consider that this illuminates the best starting point for developing the relationship of oneness with God. In addition, the first-century Christians who followed and believed called each other brother and sister. It was a new religious concept that all people are brothers and sisters.

The world of love that God is hoping for cannot be realized without absolutely achieving this standard of love. The world of love, the final goal, must be established through individuals whom God can love, through the family composed of such individuals, through the tribe composed of such families, through the society composed of such tribes, and through the nation composed of such societies. Without having that kind of loving foundation as a base, the world cannot be bound together in love. This surely has to happen in the course of history.

True Father with early members on May 1, 1954, the day of the Founding of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.

Restoring the original relationship between God and human beings

History has advanced through the guidance of the saints and righteous people. Therefore, the question now is how today’s societies, which represent the world and human history, are aligned with the teachings of the saints. If God exists, He would have had a purpose at the beginning, He would have gone through a process to achieve that purpose, and that process would head toward realizing one world. If Heaven is behind that providence, we cannot help but think about the issue of how to unite God’s purpose with the historical course of humankind, who must follow that providence.

This being so, how can we build the relationship God originally intended to have with humankind? And how can we bring human affairs to have God’s love at the center? We have to consider how we can unite our worldview with the will of God and with the overall relationships in the affairs of individuals, families, particular societies, and particular cultures. We formed the Holy Spirit Association with this original motivation. We will not just deal with those affairs; we will also bring it to the context of understanding that God is our Father. The issue of whether we have the intrinsic power to unite the world

into one depends on bringing the world to the position where it can receive Heavenly Parent’s love, centering on this teaching.

In a family, there are parents, husband and wife, and children. With these it becomes a base for happiness. The purpose for God seeking human beings is certainly so that God can find his own happiness. Accordingly, when God seeks happiness, it can only be found in a place with human beings. Only when God and human beings establish a relationship can there be a point of unity. Just as we feel happiness when we possess all the emotional content from our family, God too feels happiness when he dwells in such circumstances.

With this awareness, Jesus asserted Christ would have to return. For two thousand years Christians have embraced the ideal of the Second Coming and have been waiting for the time when Jesus would come again.

What is the centerpiece of the Second Coming? This can be considered to be the marriage of the Lamb. Then, what is the marriage of the Lamb? It is left vague, yet it is no less than the beginning of the love that is to unite God and human beings. From the human viewpoint, it is a man and a woman becoming one. These two people are bound together as one and head toward the ideal world. Without preparing the foundation in this way, where humankind can go forward searching for the love of God, the goal of a world centering on God’s love cannot be realized.

Therefore, when Jesus comes, he must establish the family that God is hoping for, and that family must be a true family. Until now, human beings have sought true love. False love must not be present in the The first official Unification Church is in the Buk-hak family or society. Therefore, one true Ward, Seongdong District of Seoul, South Korea family must appear that has at its center the love of God that all people can share, a true family whose core is the greatest love that all human beings are longing for. Without such a family of love, the tribe of love cannot be formed. If such a tribe is not formed, the society of love cannot emerge, and without such a society, the nation and the world of love cannot be realized.

Therefore, in the providence of salvation that God has bestowed upon humankind, I consider that the highest level human beings can experience and the highest ideal level God is seeking is in the family. Thus, in the Unification Church we have the terms “Blessing” and “holy wedding ceremonies.” I am sure you have heard these terms many times.

Then, through what principle is a true family bound together? A true, original man and a true, original woman must be brought together centering on God. The Unification Church is teaching this kind of concrete concept. Such a family does not center on the individual. Instead, its focus widens to represent and encompass the world.

Families with that kind of focus and accomplishment in the realm of daily life have to be established on earth. Unless this is done, a new society, nation and world cannot be established. Because I believe this, the Unification Church has become the church that is being talked about so much today. It is finding a starting point to make a new beginning for the world, with the love of God and the love of human beings at its center.