In Jin Moon
June 6, 2011
1. In Jin Nim greeted everyone. She wished us all a happy Memorial Day weekend.
2. We had a wonderful Las Vegas event with our True Parents last week. On the day that the world was prophesied to end, May 21, 2011 – and in a sense the world did end and we experienced a regeneration of sorts together with our True Parents. They were in great spirits. The profundity of their being in Las Vegas at that time to single the new era, starting in Las Vegas, the parched desert lands of Nevada, to give the water of life, of truth, and of growth and prosperity.
3. The fact that we had them there on the day that it was prophesied that the Lord of the Second Advent would return … well the Second Coming did return, but in a better form, with a beautiful wife at his side. We were able to experience the full physical manifestation and glory of our Heavenly Parent in heaven – not just the majestic powerful masculine, but the beautiful and compassionate feminine.
4. In the form of our True Parents we can experience something incredible and profound. They truly are an example for all of us to follow and aspire to. Whenever In Jin Nim spends time with them she can't help but feel grateful. Not only does she feel that we are lottery winners living with our True Parents at this breaking news time, but to take hold and to seize the day, that was prophesied, together with our True Parents and to celebrate their coming and the ushering in of the new millennia – In Jin Nim felt that we could not be bigger lottery winners. We were even able to dine with True Parents on that day.
5. The Las Vegas event which was the culmination of the European tour, which actually started in Seoul Korea – representing the soul and heart of our True Parents – and taking that soul and heart and love to all parts of Europe and then culminating in Las Vegas, the city known as Sin City – but with our True Parents their injecting a bit of heaven – is now called the Shining City on the hill, or the Sun City.
6. Our True Father is helping us to re-imagine Sin City into something beautiful, to re-imagine the world, that at times is not beautiful, it is something fantastic, something we can look forward to and celebrate.
7. True Parents' presence, and when they are visiting – heaven's fortune accompanies them everywhere – and so In Jin Nim knows that a lot of good things will come out of Las Vegas. If we can truly unite, as the American movement, with our True Parents at this incredible time, so much can be accomplished.
8. Following on the theme of the end of the world and its rebirth – the theme of life and death is carried forward in this weekend, Memorial Day, when we truly honor those soldiers who have given their lives to give us the freedom that we so enjoy in our daily lives in America.
9. For In Jin Nim, the daughter of the man who was sentenced to die in the Hungnam prison, the concentration camp in North Korea, after serving two years and eight months. It was the Allied Forces with the support of the UN who liberated that concentration camp and saved In Jin Nim's father from his scheduled execution the next day. The daughter of this man who lives because of the sacrifices that were made by the great men and woman, represented by the Allied Forces, to the cause of freedom, to safeguard the world against communism. Because of them her father lives, and therefore she has the opportunity to live.
10. This weekend is incredibly significant for In Jin Nim. As she remembers the soldiers who gave their lives – when the war broke out on June 25, 1950 – 70,000 North Korean troops poured over the 38th parallel trying to take over the South and claim it as their own – it was the allied forces that defeated this attempt. Even though Korea is still divided at least South Korea could remain free and democratic.
11. When In Jin Nim thinks about all the civilians and soldiers, 5 million who were lost in the Korean War, she cannot help but find herself in a moment of reflection and gratitude for Heavenly Father allowing her father to survive and South Korea to remain free so that her father could continue the great work that he has done – preparing the way for him to come to America, and give thanks to the Allied Forces and the United Nations – who were instrumental in allowing him to carry on in his mission as the Messiah and True Parents of mankind.
12. In Jin Nim was thinking, how difficult it must be, because every person, every one of the 5 million who were sacrificed during the Korean War, had a family. For every loved one that was lost, each member of the family who knew that person was changed, was altered forever.
13. In Jin Nim, in her life, who had three brothers pass on before her, their death signaled a huge change in her life as well. When she lost her younger brother, when he was 17 and she was 18 – of course they had a beautiful Seunghwa ceremony, and True Parents taught us that death is not something we should be sorrowful and shed tears over – but that we should have a grateful attitude so that we can send our loved one back into the arms of our Heavenly Parent in a joyful manner. But in all honesty, as beautiful as the Seunghwa ceremony was, it was incredibly difficult for In Jin Nim to lose her loved one. And she is sure it is incredibly difficult for any family to lose their loved ones in war, and in particular the Korean War.
14. In Jin Nim thought about life and death quite a bit. When she lost her older brother [Hyo Jin Moon] – which changed her life again, changing her from a home-schooling mother to someone who is running the Manhattan Center, and later running HSA-UWC. Her life has changed and it has changed forever.
15. At times when she found herself dealing with something that is living – that transitions into something that is dead, the transition between life and death, smack in the middle of the transition is this thing called change.
16. When In Jin Nim was younger she was incredibly afraid of any kind of change, perhaps because she was raised by eight different nannies before she came to this country. It was a new nanny every year. Just when she became accustomed to one nanny, she had to let her go – it was as though one nanny died and then another one would come. This sense of loss, of change, was incredibly difficult for her.
17. When she contemplates on the changes that have taken place in the course of her life, and the changes that have taken place in the course of a lot of people's lives and families, she realized that change is something that is inevitable, it is a part of our life, it is something that can help us transition from one to the other, something that can help us grow from one level to another, something that moves us toward something else.
18. In Jin Nim has often thought that this concept of change is very much like rain. Rain has the power to create floods, a situation where we can drown. In Jin Nim remembers when she was a little girl, spending time at Cheong Pyung during the monsoon time. It would rain so hard and so ferociously that basically the roads would disappear and things would be swept away, houses and animals would be swept away. And many people lost their lives.
19. As much as people in the East look forward to the power and beauty of the April rain, that rain also has the power to kill, destroy, and drown. But rain, the April rain, has the power to cleanse, to cleanse the soul, to cleanse the heart, to cleanse the loss that one is feeling. And it has the power to nourish and help us grow.
20. When In Jin Nim thought about this she thought, here she is in her mid-40s and she has four or five more decades of life ahead of her, and life continues on. Life presents wonderful opportunities, glorious victories, as well as incredible suffering and an incredible amount of pain. So how does she tackle this thing called change? She thought about it for quite some time.
21. In Jin Nim shared an event she went through the previous night while dining at a restaurant. She was thinking about the message she would give, and this thing called change was looming large over her mind. At one point she went downstairs to the bathroom and there she saw in the ladies bathroom a tall gentleman with a young woman. The woman was unconscious and almost naked and the man was trying to revive her, shaking her. She saw the gentleman lift the woman over his shoulder and carry her upstairs. In Jin Nim approached the manager, insisting that they must do something, but he was not willing to get involved. Outside In Jin Nim watched as the tall gentleman called for a taxi and flopped the woman into the backseat. He then went to a restaurant next door and there he spoke for some time with several other gentlemen whom he was with. As In Jin Nim examined these events she realized that this gentleman and his friends did not truly care about this woman. Most likely they had done something wrong, perhaps they had drugged her and had taken advantage of her, but it went badly and now they were trying to figure out what to do. When In Jin Nim approached the gentleman, asking him what had happened he would only say that she had drunk too much. But if that were the case there would be no problem for them to take her to the hospital. In Jin Nim tried again and again to convince the taxi driver to take the woman to the hospital, that her life may be in danger. But he was unwilling to do anything without the presence and direction of the gentleman. In Jin Nim again approached the gentleman asking him to take the woman to a hospital, but he would not. He spent some time texting someone, and continued to refuse to take her to the hospital. In Jin Nim felt as though the scene, and what was taking place, were such that she was watching a movie, but these were real people and a real person's life was in jeopardy. During this event In Jin Nim realized her life was changing – that it would never be the same.
22. Everyone involved had their life changed. The girl could live or die, the gentlemen and his buddies, who had planned something for themselves with this young lady were in a panic, not knowing what to do, and the cab driver, thinking he was going to make some money driving people home – was suddenly faced with making a decision that might mean life or death for this young lady, and then there was In Jin Nim and her friends who felt helpless in their effort to make a difference.
23. What kind of the world are we living in, where every day groups of men feel like they can take advantage of a young girl, drug her, abuse. Is she garbage to be tossed aside? Is she not a person, a divine daughter of God? The atrocity that was taking place is a manifestation of the world that we live in, a world that does not see her as an eternal daughter of God because the world does not recognize the existence of God as our Heavenly Parent, or an understanding of True Parents and the teaching of true love, living for the sake of others. It was almost like a YouTube clip – of how incredibly ugly the world can be and how helpless people are in this ugly world, simply deciding to not do anything. "Don't deal with it, it's their business."
24. It's their business? Just let the girl die? Where is our responsibility? Can we not be the change that saves this girl from death to life – by forcing these people to take the girl to the emergency room. Why would people do nothing? Why are they so apathetic to other people's misery and suffering?
25. This is when In Jin Nim realized the incredible importance of having True Parents in our lives. We need God in our lives. It does not matter how great this country of America is, or how free and independent this country is, because our soldiers fought the wars and saved this country and protected it so that we could enjoy these freedoms. These freedoms without God can quickly degenerate into something in which people do whatever they want without any regard to life or to other people, or to what kind of a life this girl is going to have when she has been gang raped. Do they even think about the kind of life this girl will have to bear – when a trauma like that has occurred? They are not thinking about her freedom or her rights, and her dignity, to be that free daughter of God. What about her freedom?
26. If we live our life, not being centered on God, our Heavenly Parent, not realizing that we belong to the same family – once we start thinking that we belong to the same family and we start looking at each other as brothers and sisters – can a brother look at his sister as something that he can abuse, rape, and take advantage of? Can a sister look at a brother as someone they can turn into a commercial product to be abused?
27. It's interesting if you talk to people on death row and ask them "why are you here?" They may say it is because they murdered or raped someone. But if you ask them the question – "imagine that the person who was raped is your sister, or the person you raped is your mother, how would you feel about it?" Even the worst criminals would say that that is absolutely wrong – because she is a member of their family.
28. If we don't have a concept of God it is very difficult to take our own understanding of family and extend it to the world. But when we understand God as our Heavenly Parent and we see all the men and women of the world as our brothers and sisters, then we can see them as part of our own families – and then you will think twice before doing something like that. You'd think three times before you decide to go out with your maties (friends) for a rowdy night of entertainment.
29. And what is entertainment? Is gang rape entertainment? That is not entertainment! But it is what takes place each and every day. And yesterday was one of those moments when it brings the story home to you in a very real way, a tangible way, you ask "how are we going to solve these problems that exist?"
30. The effects of selfishness, of not regarding other human beings as divine, how do we deal with it? Our True Father says that the cure for the effect is found by going back to the cause, the root of the problem. The root of the problem is that we no longer see ourselves as the children of God. We no longer see ourselves as belonging to one family, as brothers and sisters, and therefore when we are confronted in this critical moment, when we are confronted by a crisis …
31. Crises are a good way to check our instincts, our initial response, how we react. So many people do nothing. But In Jin Nim knows what her True Father would have done. He would have done the same thing that they did, tried to get her to the hospital, he would have been proactive. He would have taken the situation as it was, like a warrior, accept it, assess it, analyze it, and deal with how he is going to carry forth helping this person survive after something like that.
32. All night long and all morning In Jin Nim was praying for this lady – that they did take her to the emergency room, and that she will recover. But, recovering from something like that, she will be changed forever. She'll be confronted with herself and with the reality of what took place and she will have to decide for herself what she is going to do with her life. Is she going to just buckle under and continue the cycle of being abused, seeing herself as nothing worthy, just some garbage that will be used and then tossed aside. Or will she claim her life as the eternal daughter of God and say, "no more! I am changing my life. Yesterday my life ended as I knew it. Today I am going to start living differently. I'm going to start being that warrior of life. I no longer am going to be victimized, no longer allow people to victimize me or to see me as something worthless, something that should be tossed aside. I decide today that I am God's daughter and I am going to live my life, fulfilling the destiny that God intended for me."
33. When In Jin Nim prays about this lady, thinking about her, she empathizes with her in that many times In Jin Nim found herself in traumatic situations in which she had to decide, "am I going to buckle under and let something destroy me for life or am I going to take the situation that I find myself in and through my divine creativity and through my own desire of wanting to be that excellent person, be the change that I want to be."
34. In Jin Nim decided many years ago that she wants to be the change that is going to determine the new "me". The "me" that is going to fulfill her destiny, her life.
35. When In Jin Nim was dealing with something traumatic that had happened – she gave it a lot of thought. She used to joke with her younger brother – one of the most difficult things was being ridiculed all the time at school for being a Moonie. So she and her younger brother formed a group, Warriors of True Love. They would prepare themselves to go into battle. Their battlefield was school. They would tell themselves exactly what they are going to do. They are going in, not to be victimized or ridiculed. And even if they are ridiculed, they are not going to let that kill them or drown them. They are going to use that negativity to fuel their desire to want to create something positive out of the experience. So every time they called them Moonie, they said, "yes absolutely," because Moonie, in Korean, means a beautiful design. "I want to be a beautiful design on this world." Taking the sheer force of negativity – they decided to be that agent of change, so that once it entered them – it would come out as this beautiful design. They decided this a long time ago.
36. When In Jin Nim thought about what are the qualities that make a person a true warrior, a warrior of true love. A few things came to her mind.
37. One thing In Jin Nim realized, when you are hit with a traumatic life-changing situation, it is always good to refer to the Good Book. In 1 Corinthians 7:17 it says you must accept – however difficult it is, however traumatic the situation might be, however life altering a situation it might be. The Bible is asking us to accept the situation that God put us in. And, not just accept. Accept means to receive it in a grateful way. Not only should you accept with a grateful attitude, but the Bible goes on to say, "continue on as you were when God first called you."
38. When In Jin Nim read this passage it was one of the most difficult passages for her to wrestle with. How do you accept something traumatic and as life altering as losing a loved one or dealing with something that is incredibly painful. How do you accept it? And how do you maintain a grateful heart?
39. In Jin Nim realized that one of the first steps she needed to take, as difficult as it was, was to remain heartistic, emotionally, spiritually – she had to decide mentally in her mind "I will accept." Starting with her brain she had to somehow work it into her heart and into her life. She realized, the best way to go about it – every individual has an idea or a strategy toward life, we all want to live our life in a certain way. If you are a musician and you love music – you can't live without your piano, you live for the sake of music. That is your strategy or grand plan for your life. But what if something life altering takes place. What if you were in a car accident and you lost your ability to move your fingers and you can no longer play the piano. How would you deal with something as traumatic as that, unable to ever play the piano again?
40. The Bible is saying, don't give up, accept the situation that God has put you in. Meaning, in a graceful way, try to receive it. Perhaps God has put you in that situation for a reason. Perhaps you can no longer tickle the ivories as you used to, but instead of being a pianist perhaps you could become a composer, you could be a singer, you could be myriad different things.
41. As long as we can maintain a grateful heart, and receive the situation in a loving way, and continue as we were when God first called us, that sheer excitement of discovering God for the first time, of really being grateful for the opportunity to meet God for the first time – if we can face all adversity, every difficulty or traumatic situation in that way, the Bible is saying, something good can come out of it. By accepting the change we can decide to alter our strategy of life, just as we alter the garments as our children grow through the years. The same pieces of clothing, but depending on the changes that are taking place, here is a little alteration on the sleeves, here is an alteration of the length of the pants, or the width – and as long as we maintain that initial understanding of God, that inspired state of being, then regardless of where we find ourselves, we can turn the force of something negative to a great deal of positivity.
42. A warrior has this mentality. A warrior going into battle, into combat, knows that, regardless of how great the strategy is, every general and soldier knows – you go in with a strategy, but you have to be flexible enough to react on the spot. You have to have the capacity to alter the garment, to alter the strategy. Instead of saying, I cannot execute my plan. When you are a soldier going into combat you are going there to win. You go with a strategy to win. If something deters you, you accept gratefully the change in the situation and, very simply, alter the strategy as you stay the course.
43. What is another character of a warrior? A warrior going into battle does not just accept, and become flexible enough to alter the strategy and execute the plan, but the person going into battle takes full responsibility for the change. In other words, they go in, and yes it's a different situation, the maps that were drawn were not right, the enemy is one step ahead of us, we are in enemy territory not knowing exactly where we are, but at that time you take responsibility for your platoon, your group, your family, and you come together in unity and you say, "as long as we stick together, as long as we can be responsible," not freaking out or becoming overcome with insecurity and fears so we cannot act. If we were a responsible cab driver in last night's situation and not overcome by insecurities and the newness of the situation at hand – a responsible cab driver would've immediately taken the girl to the emergency room.
44. If you are in combat and you are faced with a situation in which everything is changing, and what you thought is not what you see, what you planned is not what you're experiencing on the ground level – then you have to be responsible for yourself and have the ability to transform yourself.
45. In Jin Nim gets these SOS, 911 e-mails from parents who are freaking out about their teenage sons and daughters. They are calling out "senior pastor, senior pastor, 911 – my child is dragging me up the wazooo. Major crisis! What do I do?" insecurities are flying. "Is it something I did? Was I inadequate as a parent? Was it the environment I created? Was the child possessed by the devil? Were they influenced badly by their peers?" These parents are in panic mode.
46. But if we follow the example of the warrior of true love, the warrior of life, what that warrior or parent would do is – stay calm, be responsible for the situation at hand – meaning you are in full control, as long as you are willing to work through it, slowly, cautiously, rationally, logically. There are ways to deal with any situation.
47. You become a responsible parent. At the same time you exercise your ability to transform. What a parent was when the child is five or six, is like an elementary teacher telling the child to do this and that and the child executes. But when the child becomes middle school or high school, that teacher needs to transform as a middle school and high school teacher to accommodate the growth that is taking place in the child. If a child were a butterfly and they were crawling all about in elementary school – but we as parents know that someday they'll become a beautiful butterfly. We will encourage this child, not to just crawl around for the rest of their life, but to reach their full potential – and in allowing the child to grow we have to let go, and give the child over to middle school, so that they can go through a period of being a chrysalis (the cocoon stage), and then we as a parent have to let go again to allow them to be the butterfly that they were meant to be in high school, in their young adult life.
48. In this way the parents transform along with the growth of the child. We are responsible, we are still the guiding light, but we are there to take a child from a crawling caterpillar, to a chrysalis, to the beautiful butterfly. We are responsible, we are in control, and we are working together, transforming our abilities to accommodate the situation at hand – not changing who we are, not changing our absolute love for the child, but transforming the way we go about relating to the child.
49. Many parents, when their child is little say, "I want you to tell me that you love me." And they love to hear the child say back to them "I love you." And the parents say "tell me I need you." And the child says, "I need you." But as the child grows up, although they might still cling on to "I love you mom." But they very quickly dispense of, "I need you." The need for parents is quickly replaced by friends and other things in their life.
50. Many times a parent might feel like, "I was only loved when I was needed, but now that my child no longer needs me …" instead, realizing that, that is the time to let the child go, so that the child realizes that it is not the need that keeps a child with her parents, but it's the love. Many times parents fail to see that and continually keep the child a captive of their needs, because they need to hear, "I need you in my life" – thereby suffocating the poor child. Even as the beautiful butterfly wings are being born and are extending, waiting to fly into the air, the parents say I need you, you must love me – they do not let the child go. This results in a disastrous conclusion for both the parent and the child.
51. A true warrior of true love understands that the core of who we are is that loving parent who never changes, it is absolute, no matter what the child does, no matter whether the child cries or laughs, whether the child poops, or sings, our love is absolute for that child. But in the way we relate to the child, there has to be a certain level of transformation that takes place. Our ability to relate to an elementary school child will be vastly different from how we relate to a high school or college student. A true warrior of life does not just accept and learn how to alter strategy on the spot, but also tends to be responsible for change, and takes responsibility in transforming their abilities to accommodate the job at hand – which is really being there for the child.
52. The next thing this warrior of true love really exercises when they are in battle – is that they understand the need to learn from the change. They need to learn on the spot. We need to learn each and every day. We must not be so haughty or arrogant to think that, just because we have a vast amount of experience from four or five decades of life, that we have nothing else to learn. What keeps human beings stimulated and alive is that capacity to learn. So the true warrior of true love understands that they have to learn from change. We must continually be growing, continually be learning. And in learning – when a warrior goes into battle and sizes up the situation, alters the strategy, understands that there has to be a transforming of abilities, maybe when emphasizing hand-to-hand combat – I but you are up against a bazooka – you have to be able to learn from the situation that you are put in and convert your situation from paucity, meaning something that is few, to the vast capacity, or something that is capacious, something that can accommodate a large amount of resources. In other words taking something that is incredibly negative – like the sheer negative force of a traumatic situation, and with the desire to learn, with the confidence that we are able to tackle the situation at hand – we can change that sheer power of negativity into something positive. In a way, take on the small, minor defeats of battle – know when your battle is long, you are not aiming to win every battle, but you want to win the war.
53. A truly wise warrior knows that we learn as we lose our minor battles and we learn from our minor battles, and in learning we learn how to convert our minor battles into incredible victories – for the minor battles become fodder for the great victory of war.
54. These are some of the things that we need to think in our minds when we ourselves are literally going into battle every day. And many times working here, smack in the middle of midtown Manhattan In Jin Nim feels like a warrior going into battle. And yesterday was no exception. But hopefully, if this lady can come out of her situation – accepting what happened, but realizing now she has a chance to alter her strategy for life. Perhaps she should not party as much, and she should be more selective about the company that she is keeping. She needs to understand that she needs to be responsible for her life. She is her own guardian – guided by God our Heavenly Parent. She needs to transform her abilities, from someone who flirts from one bar to another – to that eternal daughter of God who can be the agent of change and leave the world a better place than when she found it. She can learn from her mistakes. Take what happened yesterday as that minor defeat, and learning from her mistake, knowing that she as a divine person can convert something that is incredibly negative into something that is incredibly powerful and positive. Then she can turn that minor battle into an incredible victory. Perhaps she can go on to become a great social worker, working in the area of abused woman, encouraging the woman to seek their own dignity, to uncover the divinity – men and women and children alike. Perhaps it will compel her to become a great scholar of literature, writing books that will help society understand the need for God in our lives, the need to understand the world as one family under God, to really solve the world of the ugliness that surrounds us each and every day. Perhaps if she can turn her minor defeat into a great victory then she can one day help a lot of other young people who might be led astray, but leaning on her experience, that she went through, can give insight and inspiration and direction to a lot of youth who are still looking for a purpose or a direction in life.
55. Yesterday was a very interesting experience. In Jin Nim was able to see life and death hanging on a thread, up close and personal. And she realized that every day we live is truly a gift. Anything can happen, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, but the fact that we can share today, and tomorrow with our loved ones is an incredible blessing. Regardless of what changes occur in our life, regardless of whether change can sometime feel like rain that drowns you or nourishes you or cleanses you – we have to remember that the word change hangs on God.
56. What In Jin Nim means by that – if you look at the letters of the word change – there is the letter C and then the word 'hang', and then the letter E. So, when In Jin Nim sees the word change she sees it as something that takes place, that is inevitable, that hangs on God – and that many times, if we can approach change, or receive change with a grateful heart it can be an incredible opportunity for us to be creative with our lives. It forces us, many times, to be creative and to seek alternate routes, to alter our strategy and our plans in life – and many times it leads us to a place that we would never have gone to ourselves, but we realize that perhaps we were meant to be there after all. And we realize that the letter E symbolizes, that when we continue to hang on God while all this change is taking place and we have this opportunity to express our own individual creativity, to be responsible for our situation and transform ourselves into that beautiful butterfly, that we all are – it's asking us and reminding us to work towards being that eternal and excellent son and daughter of God.
57. "So brothers and sisters don't be afraid of change. Change or growth is a natural part of the process. But if we can have the right kind of attitude we can change many, many things for the better. And what can initially seem like an awful thing, or something traumatic, something horrendous, if we can have the courage to look at our own destiny and beyond and say, 'I am going to be my own agent of change and own up to it' there is an infinite possibility of what we can be and what we can do in service for the world."
58. The great thing is that we have True Parents with us at this time, and they are truly the true warriors of love. They exemplify what these characteristics of what In Jin Nim calls Warriors of True Love is all about – regardless of what happens on the path that our True Parents, our True Father and True Mother, had to walk, they accepted gratefully, they were responsible for the lives, they were learning, but at the same time converting the negative into the positive, and truly brought our movement to where it is now.
59. If the second generation can truly wake up to the fact that, there is a whole lot of cleansing that needs to take place in the world, there is a whole lot of beauty, but also a whole lot of ugliness – like what In Jin Nim experienced yesterday. If we can work hard to share in the breaking news and in the need for us to have divinity in our life, to have God and True Parents in our life – then we can start sharing in the process, we can start celebrating each other, truly as brothers and sisters. We can start living and applying the principle, truly as a brother and a sister, and heal the world in the process – so that as we look toward the next millennium we can look forward to a world of peace, love, and harmony.
60. "So brothers and sisters please remember our true parents on this day. Please know that you are blessed and you are so lucky to be alive at this time and have a great week!"
Notes:
1 Corinthians, chapter 7
1: Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well for a man not to touch a woman.
2: But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
3: The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
4: For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does.
5: Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control.
6: I say this by way of concession, not of command.
7: I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
8: To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do.
9: But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
10: To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband
11: (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband) -- and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
12: To the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.
13: If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
14: For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.
15: But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has called us to peace.
16: Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?
17: Only, let every one lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him, and in which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
18: Was any one at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was any one at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.
19: For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
20: Every one should remain in the state in which he was called.
21: Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.
22: For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.
23: You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
24: So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God.
25: Now concerning the unmarried, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.
26: I think that in view of the present distress it is well for a person to remain as he is.
27: Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek marriage.
28: But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.
29: I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,
30: and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,
31: and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away.
32: I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
33: but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife,
34: and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband.
35: I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
36: If any one thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry -- it is no sin.
37: But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.
38: So that he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.
39: A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
40: But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I have the Spirit of God.
