This is the text of the introduction given on Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon’s American Hoon Dok Hwe Speaking Tour, April 1 - 16, 1998.
Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters. It is my privilege to share with you some excerpts from the teaching of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, taken from speeches which he gave from the 1950s through the 1990s. We can sense consistent themes which are very important for our lives and our world today. I pray that I may be able to convey them to you with my whole heart.
The term "true parents" is a simple term but has astonishing content. No libraries in the world have contained such content. Please reflect upon why it has taken Christianity 2,000 years to announce the simple fact that since our ancestors fell, they became false and bad parents, and that only parents who are not fallen can be true and good parents. History has waited until this moment for the declaration of this fact.
There may have been some person who thought of the term true parents, but that person had no way to discover what stands behind that term. By understanding the content of the Divine Principle, we can comprehend why no one could just decide to use the term "true parents." It is magnificent that we have a clear explanation of history through the Divine Principle, through which we can know the root of the original human nature.
What can we understand through knowing the meaning of the term "true parents"? We can understand that the fall of our first ancestors occurred through an illicit love relationship. We can understand that the Fall left us with a blood lineage unrelated to God, and with no true parents trying to realize the ideal of creation. This means that we are of a false lineage.
Therefore, we use the term "true parents" centering upon two ideas. One, that we will cleanse the history of our false blood lineage. Two, that we will connect to the new root of the original nature through love, life and lineage centering on God.
The origin and meaning of truth
Who in this universe is the original "true" person? He must be absolute. In Korean, we call the absolute being "One and only Lord." When it is shortened, "One (hana) and only Lord" becomes "Hananim" – God. God is our one and only Lord.
A true person should love not only one whom he likes, but even his enemy, who tries to kill him. He should be the person whom we can trust fully, with whom we want to share our problems, and with whom we can dream everything.
"Trueness" is not limited to individuals. "Trueness" must be everywhere because it is something which everyone loves and seeks. We should come together not for our private purpose, but for the sake of the whole. We should exist not for ourselves, but for the family, tribe, nation and world. Before trying to make yourself "true," you should first make your family "true," and the nation and world should also become "true."
The origin of trueness is God. Together with God, trueness can be realized. When God departs, trueness also departs. There comes into existence something not true. This is the origin of evil.
A true result can be realized only when there is an origin in truth. In other words, God’s ideal can be realized only together with God. Therefore, words such as "true" or "good" were made not centering upon human beings, but upon God.
From this perspective, too, we can tell that trueness is not something we can conceive based on ourselves. Trueness cannot be controlled by fallen humanity; rather, trueness should control us. Therefore we should always be obedient to the truth. We should prize it and follow it. Observing your physical life and your consciousness, you cannot deny the fact that truth belongs to Heaven.
When we pray, we very often pray habitually, "Precious Heavenly Father, our true God." But there has been no absolute trueness before today. Therefore, the origin, to which trueness is to be related, is not within the history of humankind but is located outside of history. Everything starts from there. The origin should be sought beyond circumstances; religions should not form beliefs centering upon a human being.
The origin of trueness cannot be grasped in relationship to human beings alone. Trueness must be an absolute standard. Questions of God or the Absolute must therefore enter the discussion. Why is it so? It is because there has been no "true" love on this earth. Man cannot find the motive to seek for truth solely within himself. At each turning point of human history, God intervened. The Absolute Being is necessary in such moments.
Therefore, the origin of trueness is not in the hands of man but should be in the hands of the Absolute being, God. Authentic religions cannot exist without God. Ethics correctly identifying "trueness" cannot deny God.
Where then is the truth established? Of course, Heaven, the origin of truth, will try to establish it on Earth. This is God’s Will. The next question, then, is, "Where among humankind will it be established?" It will be established within our ordinary life. Jesus therefore said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is in the midst of you." The Kingdom of Heaven, the "true" country, is within our hearts. It is in a deep valley where there are no evil motives.
Brothers and sisters, if you have something you hold most precious, where do you want to keep it? You may want to keep it in a place no one knows about, where no one can touch it, and where you yourself can absolutely protect it. Where is that place? It is somewhere deep within your heart. Bury it in the deepest recesses of your heart. Place it where you feel it is very safe, as in a drawer for valuables. Trueness should settle in the deepest recesses of your heart.
The standard of truth
It is the "true" heart that does not change. This is why without it you cannot set a true standard and you cannot render true judgment. If you do not have a true standard, everything valued according to whatever your standard is will float away.
A measurement, such as the meter, has a primary standard. We can measure any deviation from that standard. We refer to that original standard whenever we need to settle an argument about distance.
There is neither revolution nor change in love. Changeability means imperfection. Diamonds are treasured for their unchanging hardness. Gold is precious for its unchanging color. A pearl is precious for its unchanging harmonious elegance. Why do we base the standard for physical value upon the constancy of an object? It is because that is the universal standard for evaluation.
On Earth there is a standard location for measuring latitude and longitude. Zero longitude is located at the astronomical observatory in Greenwich, England. It is unchanging. The point where longitude and latitude meet at 90 degrees should also be an absolute standard.
We can say that love is created by God; however, He cannot possess love by Himself. Love can be possessed only by two persons. Even God cannot realize love alone. Accordingly, the fundamental standard for evaluating everything in the universe and in the eternal world is indeed love. True love is not affected by any changes.
Therefore, is there or has there ever been a true man among all humanity, a man whose color did not change for thousands, ten of thousands and hundreds of millions of years? That is the question. Has there been a true woman? What do you think?
Religions understand that humanity fell. Religions have different backgrounds, of course, but all of them are seeking a new person of value in order to find salvation. They have always pursued this, for they could not attain the image of the true original person. It was the same hundreds of millions of years ago. It is the same now and will be in any future environment. No matter the time, religions are to pursue this.
Each one of you is also searching for that true person, for the true man and true woman. All the men and women who came into the world throughout the ages of history were destined to strive for it, even at the risk of their lives.
The Messiah and True Parents
When God led the people of Israel in the wilderness, did they not follow a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud? (Ex 13:21-22) The pillar of cloud guided them during the day and the pillar of fire guided them during the night. What do these represent? They symbolize the coming of parents in the Last Days, whom the chosen people are to follow. As with Israel in the wilderness, those who do not follow the guidance of these pillars will perish.
God called Moses to Mt. Sinai, to give him two tablets of stone after his forty-day fast because He worried that the people of Israel might die if they lost their direction in the wilderness. You should know that these two tablets of stone symbolize Adam and Eve, the true parents. That is why the tablets were placed in the ark of the covenant. (Ex 40:20)
What do we desire? We desire to be the beloved sons and daughters in the place where God, the vertical (non-temporal) parent, and Adam and Eve, the horizontal (historical) parents, become one and rejoice. It is our deepest sorrow that we have not been able to do this. Everyone fervently desires to receive such love once and for all. All the religions seek this.
Have there been any parents who could love on the horizontal plane in unity with the vertical God? No, there have not. Because of the Fall, all became false parents. Since all became false parents, such parents of perfect love never existed. True Parents need to appear in history.
Who is the being denoted by the term "True Parent," who is to carry out such a historic mission? This is the being called the Savior, the being called the Messiah. When we say "save," what is to be saved? He is not coming to save the body, but rather to fulfill our desire for true love.
To do that, what has to be done? For salvation to be accomplished, as what kind of being must the Messiah come? It is without question that the Messiah needs to come as true parents.
Christianity believes in Jesus as the Messiah, as the Savior. Then what does it mean to be a Christian? Christians seek to become the children of God and establish a beloved family. Thus, Jesus said that he was the only begotten son of God.
It would be a serious matter for the only begotten son to live alone. There must be an "only begotten daughter" of God. Therefore, he had to search for the only begotten daughter, and they had to marry in a place of happiness centering on God. They had to marry, becoming the bridegroom and the bride who could rejoice as horizontal parents, with God rejoicing as the vertical parent, and multiply children on Earth. Then their tribe would start to expand. Is that not what could have been?
Therefore, there was something Jesus had to find above all, even at the risk of disobeying the nation of Israel and Judaism. What was it? And what is the subjective motivation that enables him to seek it again? It was certainly a woman. There must be a woman to relate to a man.
Jesus referred to himself as the bridegroom, and Christians are the bride, but he died unable to accomplish the Marriage of the Lamb. (Mt 9:15; Eph 5:25-27, Rev 21:2) This is why Christianity has been struggling to become the bride, waiting 2,000 years for Jesus the bridegroom.
What is Christianity’s standard? It is the Messiah in the position of true parents. That is the meaning of the Marriage of the Lamb.
The love of God, man and woman
If there had been no Fall, God would have become the Parent in the internal position and Adam and Eve would have been the parents in the external position. Where internal and external parents become one through love, we attend the internal Parent and have external parents. With the cooperative relationship of love between God and human beings, true parents, the perfected man and woman, are to be established. Without that cooperation of love, there can be no perfected person.
Our original ancestors, the original man and woman whom God created, should have been true parents. We should have been born from such parents–parents with divine nature. Then we would have inherited God’s divine nature and our parents’ human nature.
The perfection of Adam and Eve appears externally only when they are connected to the love of God. Without that connection, their love is not good. The point at which God’s vertical love and human physical love connect was to have been the root of our ancestral lineage. That point was to have been the beginning point of our ancestors’ lineage. All of humanity was to have descended from there.
The Fall separated the love of man, woman and God. Because of the Fall, the love of man, the love of woman and the love of God were disconnected.
When you review the ages in the providence, you find that the providence for restoration is completed through the Last Days. The closer to the end it comes, the nearer the time when the purpose of religion will be accomplished. The final moment, in which the purpose of religion will be accomplished, is the time when true parents appear.
Where did the Fall begin? It began with one pair, Adam and Eve. All the problems came about because Adam and Eve fell and became false parents. Because of this, the problems of heart, lineage, personality, language, daily life, nations and the world came about. The original lineage begins centering on true parents; original personality begins centering on true parents; language returns to its original position centering on true parents; life can return to its original form centering on true parents; the formation of a nation and world according to the ideal can be established only centering on true parents.
The realization of mature individuality
Is the body or the mind more important? The mind is important and the body is also important. However, much more significant than either of them separately is the unity between them. That is important. Those who cannot accomplish this unity will be in the wrong even if the world is fully unified.
Now, the body is different from the mind, and the mind is also different from the body. So when can they be united? Neither today nor at any time in human history could anyone declare that he had unified his conflicting body and mind.
Where does the conflict between mind and body originate? To describe the kind of person God is, He is the vertical subject of love, which becomes the origin of this universe. If a heavy burden has fallen on the earth, God cannot lift it simply by thinking. Even God, to pour out His love on the horizontal plane, needs a power that can lift it up.
Where does God enter? He must enter through vertical love. For vertical love to have value, a horizontal foundation must be established. This applies to both men and women. Until the age of discretion, you do not understand anything; however, upon growing up, women want to possess the world and men do as well. To have the world, what do we do? When should we meet? We should grow up completely and become mature; then we can meet. To do so, we have to reach the stage at which we can say that the world, through true love, is ours.
What can enable God, as the internal, invisible mind, and a person, as the external, visible body, to live in oneness? It is not power, knowledge or authority. What is it? It is love. The individual is the model for the unification of internal and external characteristics. Therefore, the origin must have the characteristics of a father who is likened to the body and also of a father who is likened to the mind. Then, the internal father’s position is the position of God, and the external father’s position is the position of the first ancestor of humankind.
Then in what sort of place do the first ancestor and God become one? Where do they unite? They should unite in the core of the sphere of love. This means that man and woman meet each other horizontally, centering on vertical love.
Through True Parents we meet God
The concept of true parents implies the idea of salvation. This means the liberation of hell and the evil, satanic world. Think about this. You are standing in Satan’s world, in the place of death, and true parents can become the power which can shield you from death. Because of this, how glorious it will be when Heaven and Earth recognize true parents formally and history recognizes them officially. The true parents are protected by God and history!
You should know how the term "True Parent" came about. It does not mean that the Reverend and Mrs. Moon decided to be true parents and then started this work. It means that this work cannot be done without true parents, therefore we are compelled by our consciences to do it.
Even if all our ancestors were to revive and praise the glory of their resurrection, their praise and glory could not rise beyond the realm of the Fall. However, we should be proud of the term "true parents." We should also know that by meeting true parents, the way to meet God is opened. Further, the place where you meet the Unification Church connects you to the way on which you can find, in the near future, the kingdom of God, the homeland for which all humankind is longing.
Who is the Messiah? The Messiah is Adam who has fully substantiated God’s love. Therefore, he has the qualification to be the original father. God’s original love, centering on father’s love and mother’s love, is the center of this foundation. Building on this foundation, by centering on true love, the right of true loving ownership for all individuals, families, peoples and nations is returned to God through the Messiah. Then true, godly ownership will expand for nations, peoples, families and individuals.
Based upon this, please realize how great, among all words in history, are the term "true love" and "true parents." They are the only basis for breaking through the realm of the Fall and the satanic world. Therefore, we all are grateful for the term "true parents."
We lost our original hometown because of the Fall. We also lost our original country and world. We even lost God and His love. The one starting point from which we can search for these enormous things which we lost is this amazing term "true parents."
From God’s viewpoint, what is the goal of the providence? For what has God longed throughout history? It is the standard of true parents. For what has He been enduring the history of indemnity, from the human fall to this day? It is the search for true parents. Many Christians are waiting for the coming of the Lord at the Second Advent; it is because of this goal. Many religions are longing for this day, because this is the goal of history. From this fact, you must know that the birth of true parents is a formidable event.
True Parents divide good and evil
The term "true parents," which is used in the Unification Church, is an amazing term. False parents had false love, reflecting Satan’s love. On the other hand, true parents appear centering on God’s love; therefore, they naturally create the world of true love.
Then why do we desire to find this love? It is because love is a great thing, and love is the same eternally. We just hear the word love and we can be immediately lifted up to a higher plane. A woman who does not even know how to spell and a man who is a world-level scholar are equal in the realm of love.
You should know how amazing it is that we came to this earth with the term "true parents." Those words are the most blessed words in this world. For fallen humankind, seeking the words "true parents" is more important than seeking a nation or the entire world. It is more precious than anything on Earth or in Heaven.
Why is Satan afraid of the term "true parents"? If people believe in this term and follow it, then they will destroy everything satanic and defeat Satan. That is why these words are very frightening to Satan.
Satan always hinders true parents’ progress, and he hopes that we will fall and become evil. Therefore, you will have difficulties if you follow the way of true love, however much you believe in and are obedient to the true parents. Once you take a stand going this way, you should do your best for God’s Will and go forward joyfully. You should know deeply that there is no other way to go.
The Gospel of Gospels
Through studying the providence for restoration, we know that for God’s Will to be fulfilled, true parents, not fallen parents, must exist and come to the Earth. You should understand that the term "true parents" was discovered in a situation far beyond what you can imagine. You will never encounter this term by following this world’s traditions. The emergence of this term is more than revolutionary. It is a miraculous event. You are able to learn and speak the words "true parents" because the true parents have actually emerged, with absolute love which surpasses the love of the billions of parents this world has seen. For the first time, you can receive the love of true parents, which is comparable to God’s love. You can stand in an ideal position which Jesus could only imagine.
Where does true love start? It starts from true parents. This is the Gospel of Gospels. No matter how many good words exist in this world, and no matter how wonderful the term "husband and wife" is, there is nothing better than the words "true parents." After all, if true parents do not emerge in the fallen world, true husband and wife cannot come about.
Historical sorrow and the indemnity which demanded the sacrifice of life are vindicated when the true family is found. Throughout history, miserable conditions for indemnity had to be established. Accordingly, the emergence of the true family made possible by so many sacrifices is the most valuable and happiest event.
There must exist true parents in order to establish a true family. For that, a true couple must emerge. After the true couple is established, true children must be born.
True parents cannot leave any condition by which Satan can accuse them. True couples are not to moan, trapped by a condition which Satan can accuse. Children of a true family cannot be true sons and daughters of this family if they leave any condition of accusation in the satanic world.
You already speak the words "true parents" and know the meaning of the adjective "true." Throughout history, no one was able to call out the word "true parents" or even conceive of it. Accordingly, we should understand that we are standing in the happiest and noblest position that has existed in human history. So many sacrifices were made in order to prepare the foundation for true parents. We should know that the most precious Gospel for all humankind is that of "true parents."
When you think about the term "true parents," and that the starting point from which we can enter a new world has been established by true parents, and that the internal condition through which we can subjugate Satan has been established by true parents, and that with true parents we can subjugate Satan, who has dominated the external world, and finally that for the first time ever the center has been founded upon which we can liberate God, you should appreciate the amazing grace of being able to live with true parents, and you should learn from what they are doing.
If you stand in the position to serve on behalf of true parents and your nation, and if you think that your nation and your people can find happiness through your heart, then you will know that it is you, holding the banner of true parental heart, who can revive human history. You can be the vehicle to realize the world for which we are longing.
Our historic responsibility
God’s providence must have a focus. Through that focus, God’s ideal can be established. That is the very point at which we meet true parents, who were sacrificed. Therefore, that focus is the center of everything. Try to think how important it is. All the saints fought to gain this point as their foundation. God thinks it is significant, as do all the spirit persons in the spirit world. Therefore, all people on this earth will recognize that it is important.
This foundation will be starting point for the future. From here, the past history will be completed, the present history will be preserved, and the future world will begin. If you can understand this point, this position, you can conquer everything as an individual. Are you such a person?
Then, how great is the value of this position? How wonderful is it? How much do you love it, admire it, respect it and revere it? This position should be the apex of all history. No matter how great the great people of history may be, they bear no comparison with it. If you come to see it, you will undoubtedly be so moved.
The content which can solve the problem of becoming substantial true parents in Heaven and on Earth accomplishes many things. It clarifies Heaven and Earth, liberates all historical entanglements and pulls out the nails which were pounded into God’s heart. The liberation of love which God desires is for giving joy to others, dancing and laughing while warmly embracing, and for loving joyous sons and daughters. Do you not think that the creation must be filled with joy, and that its voice must be full, from the level of all things to the level of the entire cosmos, for one thousand and ten thousand years?
True Parents cannot appear on earth without presenting affirmative alternatives to the limitations of the past. This is so dreadfully serious that Jesus, Confucius and Buddha gathered and gave me an examination. I triumphed in the test and God approved my answers.
God has an indescribable heart with respect to His ideal of creation. As he grows to maturity, Adam must realize God’s Will and make Satan surrender voluntarily. He must be a sovereign of liberation. The person who is the ruler of all nations, who is the master of salvation, and who is the elder son among all brothers, is the true Adam. Since God is the judge, he must receive God’s judgment that he is righteous. It was only after receiving this judgment of righteousness that the Reverend Sun Myung Moon began his ministry.
How can you dedicate your appreciation for God, for true parents, and for your new creation? Human beings inherited the satanic blood lineage through the Fall. This is the problem. We inherited the satanic blood lineage, which is not God’s, passed down for thousands of years. How can we atone for it? How can we clean up the dirty lineage bequeathed through the Fall?
The true parents appear centered on true love, true life and true lineage, to indemnify the Fall. We were brought into this world through the satanic lineage. However, in the era of new resurrection, we will find new life through true love: God’s love, life and lineage. From here, God is with us and we can separate from Satan eternally.
No one thought that God has pain in His heart. Because He appeared in history, and has appeared through us now here, and has clarified the profound responsibility we all have, we can understand it. How amazing this is! Jesus told us that he could not say what was in his heart. (John 16:12, 25) No other religious leaders understood the secret of the cosmos, which was suppressed. True parents appeared in the world and revealed the secret of the cosmos.
Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, I hope we can all consider and reflect deeply upon what Reverend and Mrs. Moon asked me to share tonight. Thank you for your kind attention, and God bless you.