Section 3. The Family Pledge and the Tradition of the Blessed Families

3.1. We must create the Kingdom of Heaven by serving others

God is not a fantasy or a conceptual God, nor is He an abstract God. With His leadership in our daily life, He is always with us as the master of our daily circumstances. He does not just receive attendance but is living together with us by sharing love. This sounds like a dream. (168-112, 09/13/1987)

My awareness, intuition, and even my sensory organs all belong to the Father. The view must be established that what you feel and perceive all belongs to the Father. You should know clearly that when this is not the case, the Father, who moves in accordance with heart, cannot belong to you. (8-295, 02/14/1960)

We must serve God with our mind and unite our mind with our body. Unless we make a foundation of this unity, we will not be able to eradicate evil from the world. Accordingly, it is now the age of attendance, the age of salvation through serving others. People can be saved by serving others. God does not live up in the air somewhere distant from our lives. He lives in our lives, and God must be served as the master of our lives. (144-274, 04/25/1986)

How many times during the day are you aware of God’s existence? How many times during twenty-four hours do you feel God’s presence? How can people who are determined to be saved through attendance, attend God just one or two hours in a day?
God is something you need more desperately than even the air. God is something you need more desperately than even water. God is more precious than your meals. Yet, do you really feel this? (33-229, 08/16/1970)

From now on, you must lead a life of attendance. People have believed that they could be saved by having faith. Now is the age of salvation through attendance. (161-218, 02/15/1987)

If our ancestors had not fallen, we would have lived our lives serving God. You must serve God with your heart, and in the course of your daily life. (150-294, 04/15/1961)

You must serve during your life. We have ushered in the heavenly kingdom of hope, but you have not yet experienced the life of attendance. That is, you have not known God, our subject being, in your daily life. (6-193, 05/17/1959)

Since God is the central being of heaven and earth, the more you are dominated by Him, the more you will want to be dominated by Him for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Since the principles of attendance centering on God work in that way, no one can be happier than the one who is being dominated by God. Until now, we have never even thought about this fact. (77-326, 04/30/1975)

You must live lives of service. Why do you have to serve? It is the way to be loved by God. Therefore, you must serve God first. You must serve God. (78-28, 05/01/1975)

Why do you look and listen to all the things within the twenty-four hours of your day? It is for the sake of God. We have to look and listen for God and even feel for His sake. Even though we are living on earth, we have to be connected with life in the heavenly world and live that way. (35-283, 10/25/1970)

Those who can feel God's joy and sorrow cannot possibly become evil or break the heavenly law. A man who is like this can never be seduced, even by the most beautiful woman in the world. There is no way that he can be pulled by that level of temptation. (40-294, 02/07/1971)

Why do so many young men and women break with their families these days? Because the love, that is one with heavenly law, is missing from their families. That is why the True Parents of heaven and earth, who can make God a living reality in those families, must come on earth. (21-155, 11/17/1968)

3.2. You must live united with True Parents

In the end, what will remain? The unified being of God and humankind (God-human), their life path, their view of daily life, and their worldview, will remain. I am not talking about the level where humankind can understand God vaguely, but the level where humankind is inseparable from God for eternity. Originally, humankind and God should not have been separated. We must reach a place that is higher than the original place. From such a place, we must seek the life stage and the world stage where God and humankind are united as one. (65-122, 11/05/1972)

You have to be focused in this age of service – that is, living the life of attendance. There are laws in serving God. When people break the laws, God can be extremely furious. Just as a word from a child can either wound his loving parents' feelings or please them, God too, since He loves humankind, can feel deeply hurt. That is why I, too, try to make God happy in my own way. (17-285, 02/15/1967)

Just as people seek the ones who care about them, God is the same way. The way you can capture God's heart is to think about God, and serve Him more than others do. God will seek someone like that. (128-172, 06/12/1983)

For humankind, loving God is the first commandment. So, should you love God your whole life or temporarily? Will you love God your entire life or not? You should love God even if a thunderbolt hits you and you die. You must love God with your life. If you love Him with your life, then, until your death, you can do anything.

You have to be a bit stupid in order to follow this path. If you look at it in a certain way, loyal subjects were rather foolish people. They seemed to be somewhat stupid. They had the character of a bear. You have to have the kind of slow-wittedness that, if you had your arm cut off, you would simply say, “Oh, this is not cut enough. Please cut off some more.” If bears or wild boars get shot and are slowed down by the wound, they will chew off the wounded limb and run away. The last thing they think of is death, and the first thing on their minds is the wound that is slowing them down. You have to have this kind of slow-wittedness. Patriots and heroes were a bit foolish. You have to be a little stupid. (26-142, 10/19/1969)

What kind of person am I? I have only one thing I know how to do. I just walk straight ahead foolhardy. If I close my mouth and go around as I see fit, it will not bother anyone. Why do I keep working to the point of being disgraced? It is because I can only go over the hill, when I face opposition from many people. But you are thinking of going around, are you not? Why do you have to cut off from everything of the world? It is because you cannot follow this course if you are being pulled by your physical parents' love. Since God has been walking the straight path, you must go straight. (97-244, 03/19/1978)

I have gone forward, knowing that it was my mission to gather people who could serve God, even a little, in fulfilling His hopes and His will. Knowing that God is such a lonely and isolated being, I pledged my life to expand His foundation. The reason that I have endured with love, rather than wanting to take revenge after receiving insults and beatings, is because I was born as God's son and have the responsibility to establish His will. Staggering along, or with back bent, or crawling on my stomach, I have fought on with the determination that I will leave at least this tradition behind. (82-45, 12/30/1975)

You must live together with True Parents now. True Parents are in the position of grandparents and your parents, and you are in the first son's position. This is the difference. Three generations are living together in your family. You must live feeling and experiencing that God, True Parents and your own parents, are together with you. You have entered the time in which you cannot even conceive of the idea that “God is dead” or “God doesn't exist.”

What should you do to receive parents' love? You should love everything your parents love. Only after that can you receive their love. In your physical family, if you want to be loved by your parents, you must love everything about them. You must know this. Those who want to be loved by their parents, without doing this, are thieves. If you irresponsibly try to take over everything your parents value, you cannot be loved. (133-26, 07/01/1984)

You were bought with my blood and sweat. You were bought with my own flesh and blood. Therefore you should carry out the same work as me. I want to take pride in you members. To accomplish all this, let us make a commitment. (11-162, 07/02/1961)

You must cry, feeling an irresistible yearning for True Parents, who stand in the position of substantial God. You must want to see them over and over again. You must want to serve them after preparing a bowl of rice or a cup of water, however humble it might be. You must have that kind of sincere desire. You will be alright if your tears flow freely. In such a case, your heart and my heart will be united, and you and I will act in concert with one another. You will get to know my standard, the past that explains it, and the reasons and circumstances tied to it. Furthermore, you can inherit it and take it over. (38-75, 01/01/1971)

Because Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden and lived in the fallen realm, they could never experience the life of serving God directly. Those who have never been able to serve God are not qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. However, although you have inherited the false lineage, you are entitled to enter heaven due to the condition that you indemnified the course of restoration and attended God and the True Parents, whom Adam and Eve could not attend while on the earth. In that way, you have come to acquire citizenship in the heavenly kingdom. (150-315, 04/15/1961)

When you think of attending God, how should you think? You should live thinking of yourself as one with God, one with True Parents, and one with everything around you. Living like that, you should think, “All of these belong to God and to True Parents and to me too.” What belongs to True Parents belongs to the nation of True Parents, and what belongs to the nation of True Parents belongs to me. This universe belongs to True Parents. This house belongs to True Parents. This nation and the world also belong to True Parents. Since I am the child of True Parents, everything belongs to me. You will come to that conclusion. (161-231, 02/15/1987)

In the Completed Testament Age, God Himself will appear before all people in the form of True Parents. Because of this, no matter how much political powers try to control the Unification Church, they will be unable to do so. Repeatedly seeing the living God directly with our own eyes, and being in the realm where we can experience Him with our senses, we will move forward. That is the path of our Unification Church. (God's Will-286)

The wish of humankind is to meet True Parents. Even if people have to walk the path of death, they must meet True Parents. You could lose all history, entire time periods or all of your descendants, and then will regain all this if you meet True Parents. That is how valuable True Parents are. (35-236, 10/19/1970)

When you think of the words Cham Bu Mo (참부모), you must understand that history is governed by the True Parents. The starting point to return to the new world comes from the True Parents. The internal power to subjugate Satan is found within the True Parents. Satan, who controls the external world, is defeated by the True Parents. Therefore, for the first time, the central person has been established who can liberate God and accomplish this work. You must first be grateful for the amazing grace of being able to live together with True Parents, which allows you to receive their directions and act upon them. (43-140, 04/29/1971)

We must liberate God. God should have been attended by the original ancestors and should have enjoyed limitless praise and happiness. He should have had absolute authority in the ideal environment, but this wasn't possible. Knowing this miserable fact, my suggestion is that we should liberate God with our own hands. What a wonderful concept this is. It is extremely happy news that such an idea has emerged from within the religious world. It is the good news of good news. From this perspective, God is the one who was behind the founding of Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam and Christianity. Therefore, all religions must welcome this message with both hands raised high. (176-243, 05/11/1988)

When you become completely one with True Parents, you truly have your nation, your people, your tribe and your family. True Parents are the substantial beings whose value is equal to all glory found in heaven and on earth. Would you exchange True Parents for all the money in the world? Could you exchange them for your life? No, therefore it's different from the past. Wherever you go, you must visit Korea to serve True Parents. Your sons and daughters and your descendants for thousands or tens of thousands of years must do so too. That is what makes the Unification Church unique. (30-236, 03/23/1970)

3.3. We must set up the correct family tradition and family law

What I am concerned about is not whether the name of the Unification Church will remain in the future, but whether there will be people who have inherited my tradition. That is why I have been educating people to be serious about tradition.

We have lived our lives thoughtlessly and have spoken carelessly. However, from now on, we must set up the family rules. No matter how angry parents are, they should not beat their children with clubs, or say things like “You stupid failure!” From now on, everyone should be renewed, centered on God, in the way they speak, behave and live their lives. (28-249, 01/22/1970)

Individuals and families should have a clear standard of how to live their lives. If you have lived your life with a vague knowledge of how you should do so, then you should become distinct and clear from now on. (24-29, 06/22/1969)

Parents exist for their children. If parents existed for their own sake, there would not have been the word parents. In the future, a view of ethics should be formed centering on the Principle of the Unification Church. Parents should live for the sake of their children. This is the first and foremost rule of ethics. It is self-explanatory. The position in which parents sacrifice for the sake of their children is not the place of misery, but the place of happiness. (62-212, 09/25/1972)

To whom do you belong? You belong both to your parents and your child. To whom do the parents belong? They belong to both the child and to God simultaneously. Therefore, first you belong to God, and then you belong to your child. After that, you belong to yourself. When you reach that stage, you will be perfect.
That is why the moral principle of showing respect to parents still remains in human life. The phrase “respect for your parents and love for your child” is derived from this principle. A person without parents is an orphan. Only after you have the experience of receiving parental love and of loving your children can you distinguish your position in the four horizontal directions and up and down.

We must leave our tradition behind, as well as good and outstanding descendants. You must not leave behind descendants who have small minds, but rather descendants who are strong, daring and great. If you do that, even if your country is in decline, it will not perish. You must realize that in the place where you perished, a new benefactor will appear. And in the place where you have been driven out, a new flag of victory will be waved. The tradition that should be left behind should not only be for Korea, but for all peoples of the world to rejoice in, and you must leave behind descendants of goodness. If you can't do this, you have nothing to offer to Heaven. (99-329, 10/01/1978)

It is a serious problem of how three generations of Blessed Families' children can live together with me. If the three generations can become loyal subjects, they can be the loyal subjects that never existed until this time in the heavenly world. Have you thought about this? Therefore, from now on, you must embrace and educate your children and make a sincere effort to implant such a thought into their minds. (51-265, 11/28/1971)

What should you do in order to live a good life in the future? Living a good life as an individual is not the important point. You must educate your descendants. You must leave something behind for their sake. Not only have I, who have been leading the Unification Church, but also you, undergone a miserable course. Like refugees, we have not been able to settle down. We have undergone the wilderness course. From now, we must settle down. In order to do so, we must fight and win. Just like destroying the seven Canaanite tribes, we must fight and win; otherwise we cannot settle. We must win the battle with these people. (77-246, 04/13/1975)

Even if parents die, they should leave behind the heavenly law. Why does the family exist? Even if you live for the sake of your children, you should live first for the sake of God and the nation. That is ultimately the way to live for the sake of your children, because only in that way can your children benefit from the fortune of the nation, the world and God. Therefore, even if your precious children, who were born from the Blessing, suffer, you should not adjust to their situation but rather adjust to the destiny of the nation, the world and God. (21-86, 11/03/1968)

We should be seriously concerned about how to keep the pure lineage that we have inherited from God. Even in the uncontaminated Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell. It is very difficult to maintain purity in this sinful world. No matter how difficult it may be, parents must create for their children, who were born from the Blessing, an environment that is not contaminated by the sinful world. Even if parents have to be sacrificed, we must create such an environment for the second generation as soon as possible. We must hurry. (Japan-550)

Your families must not be conventional and secular. You should not think simply that your families are the way they are, and that things will be better in the future. They should already be perfect. The problem is in the now. Only when the past and present are perfect, will your future be perfect too. The fact that Adam and Eve did not have even one day of perfection in the Garden of Eden is proof of the Fall. The ideal is if the past, the present and the future would all be consistent. You must be able to offer yourself in the present. God's hope for you is that you become the eternal foundation on earth. That will be the concluding point of history. (21-76, 10/20/1968)

The reason that the Israelites perished after fulfilling the restoration of Canaan, was that they were accustomed to and assimilated into their environment. They put all their effort into living well, eating well and acquiring luxuries that led to their downfall. They intermarried with wealthy non-Israelites.
Also, they lusted after power and thirsted for knowledge. In the end, they were completely assimilated into the Canaanite culture and sold off their spirit as the chosen people. This was the cause of their destruction. (144-134, 04/12/1986)

Chronic habits can be the most difficult things to change. While raising your children, if you let them lead a conventional life, those habits will become hardened within them. In such an environment, you will not have time to make special prayer conditions. You will not be able to pray because your children will make a lot of commotion beside you. (30-125, 03/21/1970)

We do not put individuals first in importance, but rather families. However, we are not trying to solve everything based on the family, but rather on the whole. Past efforts made by people who individually sought the truth, will no longer do. You must invest several times more effort, determination and resolution compared to the past. When you are leading a life challenging evil, you might easily get worn out and retreat. You must invest several times more effort when you have a family, compared to the time when you were single. The family becomes your focus. You cannot ignore that reality. You must realize the relationships between front and back, left and right, and up and down within the family. You cannot do this with the faiths of the past. It will not work with the one-sided religious attitudes of the past. (27-84, 11/26/1969)

You should be the family living for the world and eternity, not just for the sake of your own generation. Your family should broaden the basis of love, gather the heart of all humanity, light a candle and burn incense to invoke God’s help, and become a family that can live in partnership with heaven and earth and humankind. If you become such a family, God will protect you from trouble and misfortune. God will keep your family as the main seed. (100-306, 10/22/1978)

The Blessed Families must set up the family tradition and establish the heavenly laws. In addition, you must establish a standard of education and family regulations for your children. Otherwise, if parents ever make mistakes, there would be no standard for accountability in front of their children. (21-86, 11/03/1968)

From now on, using a dagger, we have to cut out whatever has to be cut out and dissect whatever has to be dissected. You cannot do things as you please. Since the Unification Church is the church that will realize the heavenly kingdom, we must restore families, not individuals. Those who do not become good examples in their families will be accused by the world. They will be accused by heaven and earth. (30-229, 03/23/1970)