Hyung Jin Moon
April 4, 2010
Cheon Bok Gung, Seoul Korea
Today I would like to speak about "The God of True Love." Let's start with the World Scriptures today.
Let's start with Christianity. This is from the 1. Corinthians 13:6-7:
"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres."
Aju.
Let's take a look at Buddhism. This is from Nagarjuna, the Precious Garland 437. He is a second century very famous Indian Buddhist philosopher.
"Compassion is a mind that savors only mercy and love for all sentient beings."
Aju.
This is from Islam Today. It's from the Hadith of Baihaqi:
"All human creatures are God's children, and those dearest to God are those who treat His children kindly."
Aju.
True Parents' words from "Blessing and the Ideal Family", Book 1:3:8:
"Love cannot be true love if it is only for me. True Love cannot be my individual possession. True Love is for all people and for the whole universe. True Love is what connects the family, society, nation, world and universe."
Aju.
We will start with the core scripture today which is the Gospel of John 8:1-6. Let's begin by reading that together.
"But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him."
Aju.
Here we see one of the classic moments of Jesus' ministry. Although he had a very short three years of ministry, we know this story around the world as one of the great stories of Jesus' ministry. But many people do not understand the background to this story. Previously, in John 7, we find out that Jesus is attending what is known as the Feast of Tabernacles. That is a feast that commemorates the 40-year wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land that the Israelites had to walk.
Every day during the 40 years they had to set up tents that they would reside in the desert to withstand sandstorms and all sorts of natural elements, vagabonds and robbers. During the Feast of Tabernacle, up to this day, Jews will come together in a seven-day feast. In that feast every day they will set up temporary tents. Under those tents or tabernacles they will eat and feast in commemoration of their ancestors and in commemoration of the way God led their people out of slavery and to the Promised Land. This in Hebrew is called the Sukkoth and it is a very very important celebration. On the eighth day of this celebration is the rest day. After the seven days of feasting and eating under the tabernacles in remembrance of the ancestors, the eighth day is the day of rest. This is where we find Jesus. This is the context in which we find him at the temple at dawn on the eighth day which is a day of rest. You are actually prohibited to teach on this day.
So, Jesus is teaching but the Pharisees bring in a woman. They bring in a woman that they have been holding in order to trap Jesus. They humiliate the woman before the crowd, saying that the Law of Moses commends them to stone such a sinner. They have no care or compassion for her and they do not distinguish between the sin and the sinner. But the interesting thing here is that they are committing sin. Although they use the trope of the Law of Moses, the Law of Moses states that 'When caught in the act of adultery, both the man and woman will be stoned.' [Leviticus 20:10] In order for them to be stoned there has to first be a trial where they can repent before the community. Going against this was not recognizing the Law of Moses. In bringing the woman and accusing her, they did not shine the light on their own sin that they have created before their ancestor Moses.
Without looking inwards and internally towards themselves, they did not realize in their excitement to trap Jesus and accuse him and destroy him and get rid of him, they did not recognize that they were going against the Law, the very Law that they were saying that they were abiding by.
From a principled perspective we know that there are four types of sin. There is the hereditary sin, the collective sin, the individual sin and the original sin. It is important for us, just as the Pharisees, to understand that we have varying degrees of these sins. No matter how much we try, no matter how much effort we put in trying to indemnify these sins, on our own effort, it is not possible. Without sin, if everybody was pure, there would be no need for a Savior and no need for Jesus or the Messiah. But because we have sin in varying degrees, we need the Savior who comes to redeem us from the chains of sin, free us from the shackles of sin, so that we may enter into the new life that He has prepared for us. Aju! Oh, I know you believe it today, everybody.
John 8:6-8. Let's read together:
"But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground."
Aju.
It is important to note what Jesus says here and what he does not say. Before Jesus speaks, Jesus writes on the ground and after he speaks, he writes on the ground. We have to remember that this is the eighth day, the day of rest according to the Jewish law. It is unlawful to work on that day and in a very interesting law, it is unlawful to write more than two letters on that day! It is actually a law in the Mishna. But there is the interpretive tradition which is a real collection which in the Jewish tradition is known as the Mishna. According to that interpretive tradition that began in the 200s, we see in Chapter 7:2, in Chapter 12:5 that on the day of rest it is not permitted to write more than two letters anywhere else, but it is permitted to write in the dust. It is permitted, according to the Jewish interpretive tradition.
So here Jesus is doing something very powerful without saying a word. He is teaching the message without saying a single thing. By him writing in the ground on the day of rest, he is saying to them in essence: "I know the Law of Moses quite well and I know the interpretive traditions quite well." So he is showing that they are performing hypocrisy, that they are claiming to follow the Law of Moses, but they are not following the Law of Moses. He shows that he recognizes that they are going against the Law of Moses, that they only bring the woman and not the man; that they do not have a trial before in order so that she may repent and he may repent; that they did not abide by those laws.
In so doing, he reveals the Pharisees' hypocrisy. At this instance the Pharisees do not recognize what he is doing and they keep questioning him. They keep on challenging him and judging him. At that point he stands and says to them, "If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw the first stone." Here Jesus already knows the outcome because he knows that already he has revealed that they have committed sin before the Law of Moses and by so doing they cannot throw the stone. In fact, the only person that could have thrown a stone was Jesus in that scene. So Jesus again confidently stoops back down and writes again in the earth. He again is returning back to his knowledge, the fact that he understands the Law and the fact that he has revealed them to be not abiding by the Law of Moses.
In essence they are condemned in that situation. They have a choice to either repent or not repent before the Lord. They choose, of course, as we know, to be unrepentant.
Let us take a look at the next scene, in John 8:9-11. Let's read it together:
"At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 'No one, sir,' she said. 'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Now go and leave your life of sin.'"
Aju.
Here, by leaving, the Pharisees already admit that they have sinned. They know that they have been revealed. And notice that the older ones leave first. The most advanced, they highest teachers of the Law have to exit first, out of shame. They are totally embarrassed. They know that they have been revealed by Jesus. Then Jesus asks the woman, "Have they all gone? Have they condemned you?" He asked if the hypocrites have gone.
This woman was thrown in front of Jesus but she did something that the Pharisees did not do. She did not deny the fact that she has sinned. She could have made a scene before Jesus. She could have said that she has been falsely accused. She could have said that this was a setup but, she accepted the fact that she was at the mercy of Jesus. And Jesus says to her, "I do not condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin."
This is a very important part because here we actually have to look at the text. Jesus actually does not forgive her. Many people look at this text and think "Jesus forgives." Jesus actually did not forgive her. He didn't say, "You have no sin; I forgive you." He says, "I do not condemn you." That is a big difference.
In a modern day court of law when one is tried for a particular crime and then there is acquittal where it is decided that the person is innocent, then that person is without sin in the court of law. But when the person is guilty and is imprisoned and is pardoned by the President or the Head of State, then it is a different story. They have committed a crime but they are pardoned. That is different from an acquittal. This is the difference that Jesus is showing. It is not an acquittal that Jesus is giving. He is offering the pardon, the grace of God.
When we understand, we see that Jesus doesn't condemn her. He says, "The sin is the sin." It may be not even forgivable but, the Lord Jesus gives her the grace and frees her from the punishment and condemnation that the sinner should have received. Many people look at this chapter and say, "Look, Jesus forgave an adulterer, so if I practice adultery, I'll be forgiven." I'm sorry. It does not work that way. That is not what Jesus said and is not the case here.
A sin is only forgiven when true repentance and the indemnity conditions are made. For us who are not perfect and who are with sin, that is everybody, at varying degrees. The whole sin that we have accumulated over history, over time, over wars in the battles and in all of history from the Fall, this kind of sin, can never be paid for. But through the seven deaths and resurrections, the Messiah comes. True Parents come. They paid the price, not only like Jesus for individual sin, but the price for our family sin, the clan, society, nation, world, cosmic sin. If we repent and we accept them, we resemble them and we walk with them in the path of truth, the path of true love.
Many people misunderstand the scripture in the Bible that says, in I John 4:8 that "God is love." "God is love, so God cannot hate me. God is love, so He cannot hate. God is love, so He cannot condemn me." This is what people will say without a strong theological understanding. But this is not true. This is actually the opposite of true. Because God is love, God must hate. "What? How can God of love hate? How is that possible? That makes me angry!" Because God is love, He must hate. He must hate sin, because sin has no part to do with love. God is good, so He must hate evil. He has no part to do in evil. God is faithful, so He must hate adultery because He has no place in adultery. God is truthful, so He must hate falseness.
When we understand in this chapter, Jesus, in essence, shows us that God forgives the sinner. The sin is not the thing, but grace is given to the sinner which is actually all of us. Notice that to the woman Jesus says, "Go, and sin no more." He knows and acknowledges that she has sin and that that is displeasing to God. Adultery is displeasing to God but He offers grace and does not condemn the sinner. In the normal way that we hear it, He hates the sin but is compassionate towards the sinner.
Then he does something further. He calls her to the new life. "Go and sin no more." He calls us to a life that is free from the shackles of sin. Because of the pardon of grace, she can now move into her life unshackled with sin, and move and become the best person that she can become.
In any democratic society we understand with freedom comes responsibility. Any freedom entails a certain type of responsibility. I remember there is one wonderful quote that says, "There is nothing that can destroy freedom more quickly than the abuse of freedom."
If you abuse freedom you are doing everything to destroy that freedom. Freedom comes with responsibility. Jesus is showing here that it does [take responsibility]; "go now and sin no more". Your life is that now you have to be responsible for your life. I have pardoned you here, but this is not a ticket to sin again. You see, when we receive forgiveness, it is not that ticket, that free pass to just keep on behaving in a sinful manner, behaving badly towards people, hurting other people, etcetera. God gives us the laws. He gives us prescriptions, not so that He just trains us arbitrarily but He gives us these laws so we can resemble Him; so that we become more like Him. God is faithful so He commands us not to practice adultery which is unfaithfulness. This is not like God. He calls us to be faithful. God is good, so He commands us to do good and not evil so we become more like Him.
This is the new path that Jesus calls this woman to; the good life, the true life. When we have people who have repented of sin and have come and received God and True Parents forgiveness, we as the followers of God and True Parents must also learn to forgive our brothers and sisters. When people go against what True Parents have taught us, of course that is sin; we know that. But if they repent with a truthful heart and they are forgiven by True Parents, then as the faithful we must of course not condone the sin, but we must also forgive the sinner. For all of us, including myself, all of us have sinned. Everybody accumulates [sin] in varying degrees every single day that we live and not one of us is totally righteous to stand before the pureness and perfection of God. This is what the grace of True Parents gives us; it gives us the opportunity to stand before the throne of God, even though we do not deserve to be in that position. That is what grace is all about.
I met some families that feel like big failures. Every Tuesday we meet families morning to night and many families are very sad because they, for example, have children who married outside and went against True Parents teaching. For years those families have been condemned and the parents blame themselves; "I am terrible we should have raised them better, etcetera; I hope they come back". We have to remember, of course, there are some of these children who have gotten married outside of the church that are unrepentant; "I have nothing to repent about. I don't need True Parents forgiveness". There are these kinds of individuals, but there are also people who come back and have repented and participated in the forgiveness ceremony by the grace given by True Parents.
They have received the forgiveness of True Parents and have received the blessing of True Parents. They have received the blessing. When True Parents and God forgive such people and, brothers and sisters, we as the flock of True Parents also have the responsibility to do the same; to invite them back into our community. Also the parents who have received the forgiveness of True Parents must come back, not continue to blame themselves over and over but understand they have been given the grace to start into the new life. Of course we are inadequate, nobody is perfect, but God and True Parents forgave us. That is how great grace is. Let's give it up for grace, let's give it up for incredible grace, amazing grace like we heard in the song, Amazing Grace. See, when somebody sins before God and denies it and continues to do so then this is the attitude that the Archangel Lucifer had; continue to sin before God, continue to be blatantly opposed to God and unrepentant. Then of course God does not forgive such [people] or the Archangel or an individual. With that kind of unrepentant posture, neither God nor True Parents can, even if they want to, forgive that person.
I know an individual, a blessed child, who married outside and continues to the bitter and to be very unrepentant. "I am not going to apologize, I live my life, I will not seek repentance or forgiveness". I know this person; this person is very dear to my heart. I tell him please, with that kind of attitude, nobody will forgive. Even if God wanted to forgive, we have to know that we are not perfect. If we are deluded and think we are perfect that is totally not true, everybody has something to repent about. In that case when we seek True Parents forgiveness, they will forgive. But to the bitter end -- staunch to the very end, I will not seek repentance. If that posture was so great then that person would be so happy. But I love that person and that person is miserable; every time the mention of Unification Church comes up. Every time their parents call, every time etcetera, etcetera. It is weeping, weeping; "why don't they forgive me, why don't they forgive me". It is because of this attitude we cannot receive that kind of forgiveness.
I have many people say, many people, even some of our ministers in Korea say, "you know we should just forgive everything. Why don't we just forgive everything? Haven't True Parents forgiven, why don't we just forgive everything? Why don't we just embrace everyone; that is what we should be doing". That feels great, but we have to understand that we are looking with our spiritual eyes. When we are looking with our physical eyes that is fine; we can forgive somebody on a personal level and get along with them great, invite them to coffee and all kinds of things like that. But if we truly love that person and truly look at their eternal life and we know that that person is unrepentant of their sin then we know that they will not be forgiven of that sin. So if we are truly compassionate, the easy way is of course to say I forgive you and let's just be fine. But the more compassionate way is to lead them to the person who can forgive them of their sin which is only God and True Parents.
The ministers in the church don't have the authority to free people from sin. I, as the International President don't have the authority to free people from sin. Only the Messiah has the power, the spiritual authority to free us from sin and the condemnation that we should receive. So the truly compassionate action would be to lead them to realize that they are not perfect; everybody can do that action because it is true and see that through repentance we can find a new life. We can let go of the chains of sin. See that this is the call of Jesus; this is the call of the Messiah, the True Parents. This is the heart of True Parents. To go out to the world that is full of sin and to redeem that world; to allow them to escape the shackles of sin and to be free. That is how the heart, the very nature of why the Messiah comes.
If human beings had no sin there would be no need for a savior. But we have the original, and the collective and hereditary and individual sin. And if we give repentance, if we can admit that we aren't perfect, we can be offered Grace into a new life. A life where we can reach the potential that we were supposed to reach from the beginning when we were created. In essence, we are called to become like Christ and True Parents; to resemble the True Parents heart. The heart that will die and die and die and die through the seven deaths and go and go and go to the lowest hells for the sake of the salvation of the children of the world. This is the heart that we need in order to truly create the culture of forgiveness in our church.
Many people want the culture of forgiveness. We should have a greater culture of forgiveness; we should have a greater culture of grace. But truly only until we actually live and actualize the heart of True Parents will we ever know the greatness of grace, will we ever know what we have received in the eternal realm.
You see, the true way to create the culture of forgiveness is by witnessing; by saving the souls of others. When we witness many just look at it with physical eyes. We are trying to grow in membership; we are just trying to expand the church. This is just physical eyes. This is not the purpose of witnessing. The purpose of witnessing is a spiritual practice. It is a practice to open our spiritual eyes and heart so that when we see the person to who we are witnessing, we view their eternal soul and wish to save that person. That is the heart of True Parents. That is what True Parents do when they seek the person and try to save the world. This is the true witnessing heart, the practice and actualization of the greatest love. It is even greater than service, because in service we are attending to people's physical needs; attending the person's physical needs. But when we witness, when we testify, when we seek to save, although we cannot personally save that person, it is to lead them to the person that can. Let's give it up for True Parents everybody. Before we all fall asleep.
See, when we do this as a community, we understand. Ah, what kind of amazing grace I have received. Just like the woman who stood before Jesus 2000 years ago. Who really truly realized the power of Grace? That, although she was a sinner in committing adultery and she should have been stoned and that the Lord did not condemn her, freed her from her punishment and led her into a new life. When we do this we understand that we are called to live the blessed life. The life that is full of grace and miracles and incredible love that we can feel from God and True Parents. That call us to be in their words, small messiahs; national messiahs, tribal messiahs, small messiahs.
What is a messiah? A messiah one who seeks to save the world, save souls. When we go out with that type of love to help and love and save this world from sin, to lead them to the only person who can redeem them from that sin, then we open our spiritual eyes. We see all; we see that all need the savior and we participate in the freedom, participate in the eternal life that is bestowed upon those that can see the Lord. Let's give it up for God and True Parents everybody.
I want to end with True Father's words. Let's read all together True Parent's words: Sermons of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Vol. 49, p. 52:
"Love can go beyond all things. It can go beyond the law. Going beyond the law means the freedom to face death, to freely face death often. Even if there is a barrier that has stood for millions of years, a barrier that no one has been able to go beyond, the thing that can safely move aside that barrier is love. We sacrifice everything for love; we invest everything and from that place we can go beyond any barrier."
Aju.
True Father Prayer:
"Glory be unto the Holy True Father, King of Kings, Liberator of God's heart, Returning Christ, and perfected inheritor of God's True Love! We bow before your sacrifice for us! For our trespasses you suffered and died, descending into Hell seven times to indemnify our sin from the individual to the cosmic level. We bow down before you in utmost gratitude and give you all the glory! Aju!"
True Mother Prayer:
"Glory be unto the Holy True Mother, Perfected Eve, and mover of the Holy Spirit! Blessed is your sacred womb from which we are born again of the Holy Spirit. Pray for us, your children, and permit us to come closer to our Holy True Father, and God now and when we ascend to the spirit world, Aju!"
Notes:
John, chapter 7
1: After this Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.
2: Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
3: So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing.
4: For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."
5: For even his brothers did not believe in him.
6: Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.
7: The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil.
8: Go to the feast yourselves; I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come."
9: So saying, he remained in Galilee.
10: But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.
11: The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, "Where is he?"
12: And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, "He is a good man," others said, "No, he is leading the people astray."
13: Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14: About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
15: The Jews marveled at it, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?"
16: So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me;
17: if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
18: He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
19: Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?"
20: The people answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"
21: Jesus answered them, "I did one deed, and you all marvel at it.
22: Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man upon the sabbath.
23: If on the sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the sabbath I made a man's whole body well?
24: Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
25: Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?
26: And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
27: Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from."
28: So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know.
29: I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me."
30: So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.
31: Yet many of the people believed in him; they said, "When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?"
32: The Pharisees heard the crowd thus muttering about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
33: Jesus then said, "I shall be with you a little longer, and then I go to him who sent me;
34: you will seek me and you will not find me; where I am you cannot come."
35: The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we shall not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
36: What does he mean by saying, `You will seek me and you will not find me,' and, `Where I am you cannot come'?"
37: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.
38: He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, `Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"
39: Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40: When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This is really the prophet."
41: Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
42: Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"
43: So there was a division among the people over him.
44: Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45: The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?"
46: The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!"
47: The Pharisees answered them, "Are you led astray, you also?
48: Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?
49: But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed."
50: Nicode'mus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,
51: "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?"
52: They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee."
53: They went each to his own house,
John, chapter 8
1: but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2: Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
3: The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst
4: they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
5: Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?"
6: This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
7: And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
8: And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
9: But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
10: Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11: She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."
12: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
13: The Pharisees then said to him, "You are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not true."
14: Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, for I know whence I have come and whither I am going, but you do not know whence I come or whither I am going.
15: You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one.
16: Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone that judge, but I and he who sent me.
17: In your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true;
18: I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me."
19: They said to him therefore, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father also."
20: These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
21: Again he said to them, "I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come."
22: Then said the Jews, "Will he kill himself, since he says, `Where I am going, you cannot come'?"
23: He said to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
24: I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he."
25: They said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Even what I have told you from the beginning.
26: I have much to say about you and much to judge; but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him."
27: They did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father.
28: So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me.
29: And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him."
30: As he spoke thus, many believed in him.
31: Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32: and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
33: They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is it that you say, `You will be made free'?"
34: Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin.
35: The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever.
36: So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
37: I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.
38: I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father."
39: They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did,
40: but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God; this is not what Abraham did.
41: You do what your father did." They said to him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God."
42: Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
43: Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
44: You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45: But, because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
46: Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47: He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God."
48: The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
49: Jesus answered, "I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
50: Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it and he will be the judge.
51: Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death."
52: The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, `If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.'
53: Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you claim to be?"
54: Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God.
55: But you have not known him; I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word.
56: Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad."
57: The Jews then said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?"
58: Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."
59: So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.
Leviticus, chapter 20
1: The LORD said to Moses,
2: "Say to the people of Israel, Any man of the people of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech shall be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3: I myself will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name.
4: And if the people of the land do at all hide their eyes from that man, when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,
5: then I will set my face against that man and against his family, and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in playing the harlot after Molech.
6: "If a person turns to mediums and wizards, playing the harlot after them, I will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people.
7: Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God.
8: Keep my statutes, and do them; I am the LORD who sanctify you.
9: For every one who curses his father or his mother shall be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his blood is upon him.
10: "If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.
11: The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall be put to death, their blood is upon them.
12: If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed incest, their blood is upon them.
13: If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them.
14: If a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is wickedness; they shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you.
15: If a man lies with a beast, he shall be put to death; and you shall kill the beast.
16: If a woman approaches any beast and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them.
17: "If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a shameful thing, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people; he has uncovered his sister's nakedness, he shall bear his iniquity.
18: If a man lies with a woman having her sickness, and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood; both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
19: You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for that is to make naked one's near kin; they shall bear their iniquity.
20: If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they shall bear their sin, they shall die childless.
21: If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness, they shall be childless.
22: "You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them; that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out.
23: And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
24: But I have said to you, `You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.' I am the LORD your God, who have separated you from the peoples.
25: You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.
26: You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
27: "A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their blood shall be upon them."
1 John, chapter 4
1: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3: and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
4: Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
5: They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them.
6: We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.
8: He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.
9: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
10: In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.
11: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12: No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13: By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit.
14: And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.
15: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16: So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17: In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world.
18: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love.
19: We love, because he first loved us.
20: If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21: And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.