The World Family Circle: A project of the Women's Federation for World Peace

by Laura Hornbeck-Center Point, TX

Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon, founder of the Women's Federation for World Peace, stated in her founding address to the women of the world:

"History is calling for reconciliation, compassion, love, service and sacrifice. Today's problems cannot be solved by the logic of power.... Our present problems can only be solved by the logic of love."

The World Family Circle was inspired not only by these words of Mrs. Moon, but also by her loving example of compassion and sacrifice for others which is the strength that sustains the women of WFWP.

This is a project initiated by Region 8 of WFWP, but which can easily be carried out by any chapter throughout the world. We offer it to anyone wishing to participate in it through our regional chapter, but at the same time, we would like to present this as a model for other chapters which may wish to undertake it from other parts of the world.

The World Family Circle is a project of the heart. As in any adoption (be it of a newborn baby, a foster child, a troubled friend or even a pet), the most valuable asset of an adoptive family is their ability to embrace, nurture and love unconditionally someone in need. More than likely, that someone has more needs in the beginning of the relationship than they have love to offer. Some do not even respond in the beginning. For this reason, WFC is a project for people with big hearts, tons of patience and compassion, and a very sincere desire to serve others just for the sake of loving them!

If you qualify, please prayerfully consider becoming an adoptive family. It's a commitment which will impact not only your own family, but the lives of people, families, communities, countries and the world. Truly, it is a project for world peace!

The seed for this project was planted by God in the heart of an American woman who worked in Latin America fifteen years ago. Seeing the poverty and spiritual conditions of these countries, she realized just how blessed America was and she determined to someday find a way to share these blessings substantially from America with the people of South America and other parts of the world. At that time she knew only a handful of people outside this country. However, God had planted this seed in her heart and He was going to open the way for her to bring it to fruition.

In the last ten years, God has silently guided her through her profession to meet people from all over the world and to develop very intimate and trusting relationships with them. A few months ago when she returned to South America, she was in a toy store purchasing souvenirs for her children when God spoke to her once again. She was asking the price of a coloring book and box of crayons (which in America sells for 89c) and was astounded to find the price almost $7! She later discovered that this coloring book and crayons (of which her children have dozens in their closet) are luxury items to many of the children of this country!

God had spoken to her once again. It was time to get on with this project which God had been nurturing in her heart for all these years and which He had carefully set up for her. She returned to America and three weeks later initiated the World Family Circle project. For several months the project has run on a pilot as a means of polishing it up to make it a workable endeavor.

We are proud to introduce this program to you and your family as a solid and loving service project that will bring God's blessings and love from your family and home to countless people throughout the world!

Following is the content of the World Family Circle flyer. You may write to this address for more information.

If you cannot directly participate at this time, we ask for your prayers for the success of this heavenly project. Thank you and may God bless you, your family and your home.

World Family Circle

The World Family Circle's purpose is to provide a means by which families can give each other spiritual, emotional and moral support. This is facilitated through a process of adoption. Basically, families adopt families in need from other parts of the world to love and care for them with the same commitment and heart with which one adopts a child into one's family.

A short prayer directed toward a family in a war-torn nation or in a poor ghetto on the other side of the globe is the beginning point of healing and of true world peace. The reason is that this tragic circumstance of war or poverty started with the lack of caring and concern of one human being for another.

Through our contacts in various parts of the world, we receive families which are available for adoption. We then prayerfully match these applicants with their adoptive families which are also put in touch with our World Family Circle contact in that particular country. Our contact support both families in their communication and exchange.

Adoptive families are encouraged to serve their families abroad through prayer and correspondence. Some families may wish to become personally involved with their adopted family by visiting them and learning about their needs and the needs of their community as a way to care more directly for them. The World Family Circle provides a clear structure and support system by which we can involve our whole family in a very meaningful and providential endeavor that advances world peace through love and service!

Our hope is that through this project, families can establish eternal bonds of love and unity which can span nations and generations to create a true world family under God!

If you are interested in participating in this project in some capacity (as an adoptive family or as a contact person* in a developing country), please submit the attached form. We will gladly supply you with an application for participation.

*A contact person finds families wishing to be adopted and helps them to submit their applications in English. This person must be capable of translating correspondence between the two families.

The Savings Cycle

by Simon Kinney-NYC

In American society, it is a commonly held notion that we are citizens of the world's most powerful and influential country. Over the past decade, we have become victors of the cold war and other global vagrances. We have gained a lead in global industries such as computers through our own breed of democratic empiricism, much to the chagrin of other nations less materially fortunate than ourselves. The Financial markets of the U.S. have also out-performed those of every other nation.

Which brings us to an embarrassing fact; out of all the developed nations, Americans are amongst the worst savers of their own finances. From disposable income which often times eclipses the average of many other nations, we save only 4.6 percent. That compares to 10.8 percent for Canadians, 12.3 percent for Germans, 14.1 percent for the French, and 15 percent for the Japanese.

As church members who are often involved in missionary work, it is sometimes difficult to imagine planning for the long term in any shape or form, however sometimes a little stricture in resources and a little structure in the way ahead could add up to be more than you might first imagine.

To show the mistakes that people make, I am going to start by taking the example of someone whose cash flow appears to be relatively abundant. Take Joe Apple, a financial planner working on Wall Street in Manhattan. He is 45 years old. In recent years, his income has accelerated to its present level of around $80,000 a year. He has just traded up to a 3,000 sq. ft. loft in Tribeca and spent more than $40,000 on renovating his home in Long Island which badly needed repairs; but his total savings last year came to less than $2,000.

He still has not started saving for his retirement or his two children's college education. He knows that he's not saving anything but feels that there is always something that needs to be bought for the family.

Sound familiar? The average household in America has a net worth of $9,505 according to the Government. By the time people reach age 65, it's no more than $25,000.

Even with current inflation, which is fairly low, people will accumulate on average around 30% of what they need by the time they retire. If you take out social security and a pension (which may not be there in the future anyway), it drops to a delightful 11%.

Financial planners will generally tell you that if you're over 40, you will need to save 70 to 80% of your income to start retirement when you're 65. That means that the bread winner who today earns $50,000 per year will have to save around $37,500. If you assume 3% for inflation, that translates into $58,423 per year in 2011 dollars.

The person who is 40 years old who needs $37,500 in today's climate will need $78,516 in 2021 dollars.

Buy Now, Save later (maybe)

Even if our resources are very limited, which for many of us it may be, no saving at all now means threatening the future of our collective society. Even after we rightly tithe and assist in as many important areas as possible, a very small but consistent savings plan can bring relief later on, especially for our children. It's not so much a matter of how much is coming in the door that really counts, but how much of a sound planning strategy you might make, even if it is $100 or $200 a month. Over an extended period of one or two decades, it becomes quite considerable with compound interest and wise placement of the funds.

America is gripped by consumerism gone mad. The syndrome of instant gratification and the "we want it now" battle cry are guaranteed to throw you into the ditch.

The Big Bull, Merrill Lynch tells us that 62% of people aged between 25 and 45 know that they could save twice as much if they just put their mind to it, irrespective of what kind of income they have.

The notion of spending today at the cost of tomorrow might be the only alternative in some situations, and for certain we especially face this on numerous occasions. However it may still be possible to bring some balance into the ball park.

Let's take John, a construction consultant on the West coast who is affiliated with the movement and his wife Barbara, who runs a flower business. Combined, their income is $85,000. They had to recently run for help after piling up a massive $64,000 in credit card debt. It may sound outrageous, but its very easy to do if you have an abundance of plastic in you wallet.

How did it happen? Well, it's a surreptitious process. Little by little you get use to a certain pattern of living which may not be within your means.

Their expenditures included $155 a month for cat food!, food for their pet bird, a trip to Africa, a foreign time share which they wanted to get out of, but it cost more to get out than it did to stay in, and a satellite dish on their roof.

Another member in another part of the country, accumulated $50,000 in credit card debt because he could not find another way to pay for what he needed. At 21% interest per annum that becomes rather unwieldy. Most definitely, many lending agents are culpable of lending money at high rates of interest to people who are not in a position to carry the burden, which adds to the inflationary spiral and the national debt.

The increasing cost of College education for our children is another reason for some careful planning where possible, especially for people thinking about Ivy league institutions which have become outrageously expensive.

It has become an increasing tendency for families who have two incomes, albeit moderate, to spend a lot of their money on services. This is because they are trying to save time. A family might spend a considerable amount on take-out meals, child care, and other expensive services that free the adults to have a job and an income. People feel so rushed all the time that it is a matter of convenience to use services of this nature.

Unfortunately, a lot of these expedient services are charged to the little plastic magnet in the wallet. As a result, credit card debt in America has grown from $151 Billion to $281 Billion in the last five years, and the average household has a dozen or so cards.

Many lenders have become lax about the requirements for having a card, and everyday, the mailbox is stuffed full of "great" offers and rates which promise an opportunity of a lifetime. They advertise a rate of 6%, but then in very small print is the fact that after 6 months, it reverts to 20%. Of course they don't want you to see that, so they put it in small print. Most of the time they manage to dupe the unsuspecting customer. Beware!

What are the best ways to save?

Many of us don't realize that you can reduce the burden of saving by investing in what is commonly called tax-advantaged accounts or growth oriented investments that can make your money grow quickly. Remember, you don't need a lot of money to do this. Any amount, no matter how small, can be utilized this way.

For example, a large percentage of us earn under $30,000 per year. However a lot of people in that bracket don't realize that, at that income level, you can deduct contributions to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). As a general rule in America, and this would also be the case in the church, less than one person in every ten would feel knowledgeable in selecting between different investment options.

Becoming knowledgeable does not mean that one has to become a financial guru by any stretch of the imagination. It is simply is a matter of having a basic understanding.

If we don't have anything, social security will help us

Hmm, sorry, but that's a big mistake. The bad news on that front is that by the year 2013, the social security system will be paying out more than it takes in. By 2029, the program will be out of money completely, and that doesn't even count for the fact that the Government is already spending the social security surplus to balance the budget. That makes sense. Huh!?

The Government doesn't really help

Unfortunately, the U.S. Government doesn't really offer much incentive to save for the long term. They restrict the amount you can make in IRA's etc. which unfortunately causes less people to put their money in those places.

Solving the problem

Irrespective of the nation's predicament, there is quite a lot we can do to help our personal and community situation.

Talk to a financial adviser as to how much you and your family could reasonably save. The result will vary depending on the different income bracket and different ages.

By the time one is in their 40s and 50s, you might want to come up with a precise figure that fits your goals, which takes into account any sudden changes in lifestyle that we may face even on a regular basis.

It's not difficult to come up with the numbers yourself, taking in the various factors of inflation, interest rates and other variables. Get a personal finance software program like Quicken for example. You can also use a common financial calculator, which has the preset values to compute the effect of inflation in different scenarios. If you don't want to spend the $40 to get one, ask a real estate broker or an accountant to lend you one.

When talking to a financial adviser, there are four basic things to clarify:

1. Decide how much you will you need when you are beyond working age.
2. Calculate the size of the savings you will need to meet your income goal.
3. Find out if your plan is on track.
4. Figure out how to catch up.

For most people, the biggest reason for not saving is simply procrastination. The answer is to start now. Even if it is a very small amount, consistency is the key.

The Last Daze

by Evans Johnson

This review originally ran in "The Mountain Sun," a weekly newspaper in Kerrville, Texas, where Evans and his family live. He is the theater/movie reviewer for the paper.

This summer's hit films are finally bringing into focus what's really going on in Hollywood: the seers of America's Babylon realize these are the Last Days. As Crosby, Stills and Nash sing it: "We've got to get ourselves back to the Garden."

At the beginning of history, religious texts state, something was lost: innocence. God lost His children, and we lost our Father. But as a rule parents do not abandon their children, and the basic tenet of Judeo-Christianity is that God longs for our return. For that homecoming to leap from faith into reality, we have to restore what was lost by the act of the fall.

And that act was sexual. Why else did Adam and Eve cover their "lower parts?" If eating a fruit had been the ultimate sin, would they not have covered their mouths? But what does this have to do with the movies?

A singular theme links many recent films: the redemption through goodness of women who have made their living through sex. Consider "Leaving Las Vegas," "Casino" or "Mighty Aphrodite." More immediately, consider these three summer blockbusters.

"Independence Day," which features a terrific cast-especially Brent "Data" Spiner and Judd Hirsch-spins out one plot involving a pilot and an exotic dancer. Asked why she strips, the young mother responds that the job pays well, and her little boy "is worth it." She has just saved several victims of the cataclysmic alien attack. At movie's end, she and her boyfriend are wed.

Disney's animated treat this summer is "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." The studio has had a powerful string of hits over the past decade, each featuring a voluptuous lass showing ample cleavage. Perhaps this is a ploy to entice dads to bring their offspring to the movies.

Whatever. In "Hunchback," the gypsy Esmerelda is voiced by and modeled on current pinup queen Demi Moore. She is a street dancer, and the artist who drew her left very little to the imagination.

As the arch-villain-and much of Paris-lusts after her, Esmerelda emerges as a death-defying heroine for her people.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's summer smash (ouch!) has him guarding a federal witness in "Eraser." Who plays her? Why, it's Vanessa Williams, who is rebuilding a career once thought doomed by pornographic photos taken a good while before she won-and was stripped of (ouch, again!)-the title of Miss America.

Each of these movies is well made, and the elements I've cited are not central. However, they are there. Each strives to summon scenes of human goodness, of trust, of sacrifice. Each succeeds.

True, "Eraser" treats violent death as occasionally humorous, and thereby is the least attractive of the three. "Independence Day" does not. The audience's fear of the aliens grows with the actors toward anger, rebellion and ultimately victory-at a cost of millions of lives.

This movie harkens back to Frank Capra's stirring films from the depression and the war years. The violence is not so graphic that you need to cover your children's eyes. The patriotism-to earth, on a worldwide level at the climax-is stirring. And, as has been widely noted, the special effects are, well, very special.

Disney's artists are so good that "Hunchback" lifts you away from the animation frequently-even from the violence done Quasimodo's mother. Several critics have praised this as Disney's finest effort.

But through each film there is this subtle message: it is time to retire the oldest profession. For Hollywood to even hint at this, the Last Days must have arrived.

The Double Language of Naturalism and Humanism

by L. Guyenot-Kremlin-Bicetre, France

Given that the attacks against family values, in the great majority, are of atheistic inspiration, it is important to clarify the ideological path which, in the West, has led from the rejection of God to the rejection of traditional morality, that is, from atheism to "amoralism."

In its vast diversity, atheistic thought rests upon two pillars. The purpose of this article is to expose in the open this often hidden base of our dominant culture. I have called these two pillars naturalism and humanism, independently of other possible definitions of these terms. They have been expressed since ancient Greece, but it is during the Renaissance, and even more during the Enlightenment, that they built new roots in the West. I will only deal with their modern formulations.

Naturalism

Naturalism is the theory according to which man is exclusively governed by natural laws, like animals and the rest of the natural world. It emphasizes the role of deterministic processes in human behavior. It is, of course, Charles Darwin (1809-1882), who provided the modern pseudo-scientific foundation of naturalist thought, claiming that there is no discontinuity between animals and man, the later being a product of pure chance and natural selection among animals. Most biologists since Darwin have espoused this view, projecting on man the methods and conclusions which they apply to their study on animal behaviors. Alfred Kinsey, originally a specialist of insects, is a famous example; by classifying human sexual behaviors (from masturbation to sex with animals) without any consideration on the psychological motives behind them, he implicitly presented them as < natural >. Philosophically, naturalists generally attempt to prove that human freedom is an illusion and that man is really governed by his instincts or conditioned reflexes. Freud, an unconditional darwinist, added the practical notion of the subconscious to support this view.

From the naturalist viewpoint, sexuality is an instinct and love is a disguised instinct, designed for the survival of the species. This view is represented, for example, by Desmond Morris' The Naked Monkey or, more recently, Robert Wright's The Moral Animal, in which we learn that man is genetically programmed for adultery. Since an instinct requires no education, the only acceptable sexual morality, for a coherent naturalist, is: no morality (or, for a politically correct naturalist: use of a condom for hygienic purpose).

Humanism

Humanism is a philosophical tradition affirming the absolute self- determination of man. Humanism exalts human liberty to the extreme, proclaiming that man creates himself, individually or collectively, in function of his cultural, political and scientific choices.

Theoretically humanism is opposed to naturalism : where the naturalist says "everything is Nature," the humanist says "everything is Culture," and sometimes goes as far as to deny that there exist such a thing as "human nature." Note that, if naturalism comes from scientific theories, humanism is rather a philosophical proclamation. Since the Enlightenment, that is, since western philosophy has separated from theology, the vast majority of philosophers are humanists.

It is probably Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872), a left wing disciple of Hegel, who gave humanism its most radical formulation, in The Essence of Christianity: man is not created by God, rather he creates himself; God is only "the projected essence of man"; in other words, man is God. Feuerbach had precursors, especially among French revolutionaries. The debate between theism and humanism can even be traced back to Plato and Protagoras.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) can be counted as a humanist, one of a mystic kind, although his thought contains elements of naturalism (and even Darwinism). He declared that "God is dead" and foresaw the emergence of a new self-created humanity, the "superman," who is "beyond good and evil."

However, it is surely Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) who pushed the humanistic logic to its most extreme and individualistic conclusions. For Sartre, human nature doesn't exist ("existence precedes essence"), nor is there any absolute criterion of good and evil. Unlike Feuerbach, however, Sartre saw little hope in man, whose life is a "useless passion."

The double language of atheism

Naturalism and humanism are two forms of atheism. The naturalist rejects God and replaces Him by Nature. The humanist rejects God and replaces Him by Man, or Humanity. The naturalist thinks that man is controlled by determinism, the humanist upholds man's absolute self- determination. These two positions are radically opposed. Yet, in the realm of mass-communication, they are constantly mixed and superimposed on each other, adding to the confusion. They constitute the double language "or the split tongue, or perhaps the collective "double bind," for those who know this psychological theory" of our atheistic culture. It tells us, on one line: "you're an animal, controlled by your genetically programmed instincts, such you might just accept it," and on the next line: "you are your own absolute standard, you have the right to live exactly as you choose." In brief, it proclaims, like some silly absurd wizard: "you are free to be dominated by your instincts."

Note that, in the monotheistic tradition, naturalism and humanism are the two foundations of sin: the sin of flesh (identifying with our animal nature) and the sin of pride (usurping the place of God).

Humanism (a la sauce) evolutionist

Naturalism and humanism are often combined in the following two step logic: 1. man is the product of a natural biological evolution on which he had no conscious control; 2. however, since natural evolution has given him conscience (and science), man can master his own evolution.

Evolution is not anymore merely "natural," it has become "cultural" and scientific. Culture has taken the relay from Nature. This simplistic synthesis of naturalism and humanism is very widespread among atheistic thinkers. It was the general doctrine of the nineteenth century quasi-religious and messianic faith in Science.

A classic example of this humano-evolutionist cocktail is eugenism, an idea invented by Francis Galton (1822-1911), a cousin and disciple of Darwin. Galton defined his "eugenic" science as "the science of the improvement of the lineage." With recent progress in genetic science, such frightening utopia reappears in some medical circles.

Marxism is another combination between naturalism and humanism. Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) were influenced by Darwin (from whom Marx had asked a preface for his Capital, which Darwin refused) but also by Feuerbach (whom they blamed for not completely doing away with the notion of God). The theory of class struggle and revolution is the transposition in human history of the law of natural selection, while the project of the workers' paradise and of the "new man" is an expression of the humanist dream, as shaped by French utopic socialists.

Feminism also exploited the humano-evolutionist type of discourse. They used a theory first formulated by Johann Bachofen and Lewis Morgan at the end of last century (and discredited by modern anthropologists), according to which monogamy and fidelity were imposed by males when they decided to control their lineage (and pass on their private property). With contraception and abortion, feminists say, women have now gained control of procreation, and monogamy and marriage have lost their function. A new mankind is in the making, which has transformed its own nature by separating sexuality from procreation.

The defense of "sexual minorities"

As already said, if naturalism and humanism, although contradictory, are so often combined, it is because they have both the same starting point "atheism" and the same outcome "moral relativism. In the naturalist sense, any behavior is considered a priori as a natural instinct; in the humanist sense, it is a cultural choice. And any moral criteria is attacked as, either a repression of our instincts, or a repression of our freedom (or rights).

This double language is used, on one side, to relativize the notion of family (understood, in the past, as including two parents of different sexes, but no more), and on the other side, to promote alternative sexual mores. Arguments used in favor of homosexuality illustrate well the contradiction of naturalism and humanism.

On the naturalist (scientific) tune, homosexual activists try to prove that their way of life is genetically determined (which, by the way, does not fit with Darwinism, since homosexuality, being infertile, should have been eliminated by natural selection).

On the humanist tune, they advocate freedom to choose one's sexuality. With great seriousness, one lesbian activist declared, at the United Nations Conference on Women in Peking in 1995: "Even though many people wrongly think that men and women are the natural expression of a genetic plan, sexual identity is in fact the product of human thought and culture, a social construction that creates the `true nature' of all individuals."

L. Guyenot graduated from U.T.S. in 1990 and is now working as a publisher in France.

The Classical inheritance and early Christianity

by Simon Kinney-NYC

Considering the singular nature of its doctrine and message, Christianity spread at an astonishing rate from its tiny Galilean beginnings, to eventually encompass the entire Western world. Within a generation after Jesus' death, his followers had forged a religious and intellectual synthesis within the framework of their new faith that not only inspired many to undertake the often dangerous mission of extending that faith into the surrounding pagan environment, but was also capable of addressing the religious and philosophical aspirations of a sophisticated and urbanized world empire.

Yet what it is interesting is that Christianity's self-conception as a world religion was substantially facilitated by its relation to the larger Hellenistic world.

Ancient Christians considered it no accident that the Incarnation of Christ occurred at the historical moment of conjunction between the Jewish religion, Greek Philosophy, and the Roman Empire.

It was not the Jews of Galilee who had been closest to Jesus in spirit, but Paul, the Roman citizen of Greek cultural background, who, for his largely misguided interpretations and heavily personalized view of Jesus' physical destiny, had effectively turned Christianity towards its universal mission.

Although virtually all of the earliest Christians were Jewish, only a relatively small fraction of Jews eventually became Christian. The new religion appealed much more broadly and successfully to the larger Hellenistic world.

While the Christians in Jerusalem, under the leadership of James and Peter, continued for some time to insist on the observance of traditional Jewish rules against common eating, in an attempt to circumscribe the new religion into Judaic framework, Paul on the other had asserted, amidst heavy opposition, that the new Christian freedom and hope for the future was already a universal presence, and not just for Jews but for everyone.

In this first fundamental controversy of doctrine within the early church, it was Paul's wider ideals that prevailed over Judaic exclusivism, which had large repercussions for the classical world. Because of the reluctance on the part of most Jews to embrace the Christian revelation, and because of the success of Paul's reaction; it brought Christianity to the Gentiles.

More importantly, it combined with political events to shift the center of gravity from Palestine to the larger Hellenistic world.

Compared with Judaism, Greco-Roman culture was in many respects far less sectarian and more universal in its practice and vision. The Roman Empire and its laws transcended all nationalities and previous political boundaries, granting citizenship and rights to conquered people as well as Romans. The colorful and cosmopolitan Hellenistic age, with its sophisticated urban centers and trade and travel, had joined together the civilized world as never before. The idea of the brotherhood of mankind and the `World City' affirmed that all human beings are free and equal children of God.

Above all, a universal Christian religion of world proportions was made feasible by the prior existence of the Alexandrian and Roman empires, without which the lands and peoples surrounding the Mediterranean would still have been divided into an enormous multiplicity of separate ethnic cultures with a wide divergence of language, politics, and cosmological predispositions.

Despite the antagonisms felt by many early Christians towards their Roman rulers, it was precisely the Pax Romana that afforded the freedom of movement and communication that was indispensable to the propagation of the Christian faith. From Paul, at the start of Christianity, to Augustine, its influential protagonist at the end of the classical era, the character and aspiration of the new religion were molded with conviction by its Greco-Roman context.

Importantly, these things apply not only to the practical side of Christianity's dissemination but also to the expanding and elaborated Christian world view as it came to rule the Western mind.

Fundamentally, the Christian world view was informed by its classical predecessors. With the convenient reshaping of religious truth, humanistic empiricism and religious experience had been interwoven. As a means of justifying and rationalizing the apocalyptic events of their recent history, Christianity found Greek philosophy not to be an alien pagan intellectual system which it was forced to contend with, but in the view of many early Christian theologians, a divinely pre- arranged matrix for the rational explication of the Christian faith.

As we know, the essence of Paul's faith was that Jesus was not an ordinary man, that he was the eternal son of God, that the very principle of divine wisdom came through him; that the word was in him and came through him.

The correspondences between this conception of Christ and that of the Greek `Logos' did not go unnoticed by Hellenistic Christians. It was the opening of the words of the Gospel according to John, "In the beginning was the Logos", that Christianity's relationship to Hellenic Philosophy was potently initiated.

Soon afterward, an extraordinary convergence of Greek thought and Christian Religion was in progress that would change the course of Western thinking.

Faced with the fact that there already existed in the greater Mediterranean culture a sophisticated philosophical tradition from the Greeks, the educated class of early Christians rapidly saw the need for integrating that tradition with their religious faith. This integration was pursued both for their own satisfaction and to assist the Greco-Roman culture in understanding the so-called `Christian mystery'. However the educated world did not see it as a marriage of convenience, for the spiritually resonant Platonic philosophy not only harmonized with, it also elaborated and enhanced the Christian conceptions found in the revelations of the New Testament.

Conversely, the fundamental Platonic principles now found new meaning in the Christian context: the existence of a transcendent reality of eternal perfection, the center of Plato's philosophy; the sovereignty of divine wisdom; the primacy of the spiritual over the material; and the importance of scrupulous self-examination.

Christianity was regarded as the consummation of philosophy, with the gospel as the meeting ground of Hellenism and Judaism. In terms strongly reminiscent of Platonism with its transcendent ideas, Christian theologians taught that to discover Christ was to discover the truth of the cosmos and the essence of ones illumination. In fact Augustine held that the Platonic forms existed within the creative mind of God and that the ground of reality lay beyond the world of the senses, given the sorry state of humanity.

It was Augustine's formulation of `Christian Platonism' that was to permeate virtually all of Christian thought in the west.

So enthusiastic was the Christian integration of the Greek spirit that Socrates and Plato were frequently regarded as divinely inspired pre- Christian saints, communicators of the divine Logos already present in pagan times; sometimes referred to as "Christians before Christ".

Yet however profound this affinity with Platonic thought, the essential thrust of Christianity derived from its Judaic foundation. In contrast to the Greek's atemporal balancing of archetypal beings, Judaic monotheism gave to Christianity a particularly forceful sense of the divine as a single and most importantly personal being with a specific historical plan for salvation.

In comparison with the Greeks, Judaism condensed and intensified the sense of the holy and sacred, emanating from a single and omnipotent God who was both creator and redeemer. Unlike the Platonic conception which shared many similarities, the God of Moses was by his own declaration unique in his divinity, and was more personal in his relationship to humanity and more freely active in human history than was the transcendent Platonic absolute.

While the Hellenic sense of history was generally cyclical, the Judaic sense was decisively linear and progressive, being the gradual fulfillment in time of God's plan for man.

The cyclical sense of history founded in Hellenistic ideas, is essentially humanistic in nature and has forcefully impacted and influenced the arts of the modern world, right through to the philosophy of the post-modernist era in the twentieth century.

Teenagers Serve in Haiti

by Clive Wright-NYC

The International Relief Friendship Foundation conducted its first service project for Unification Church high school students this summer in Haiti with 21 teenagers ages 14 to 17. Staff and students gathered at the Unification Church's headquarters in New York for orientation on June 29, 1996 before leaving for Haiti the following day. This began a week of what, for many of the students, was their first serious experience in living for the sake of others.

The project site was the Haitian Academy located just outside of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Directed by Dr. Marie Rene, the Academy serves as both a boarding school for students of Haitian parents as well as a day school for local Haitian children. The school covers grades 1 through 12 and recently began its university courses. The Academy also plans to develop a clinic for the surrounding rural community. Dr. Rene's vision is to create a premier educational facility that will fulfill the needs of the Haitian people. Included in this vision is a view of education that is not just intellectual but also spiritual, moral, and ethical as well.

The work schedule for the teenagers centered mainly around the preparation of a basketball court and landscaping. A level foundation needed to be laid so that the concrete could be poured. This sounds simple, but it took a lot of hard work and persistence. The landscape is unforgiving, rocky, and hard and so it took all the students' energy to prepare the field.

Our day began early in the morning and ended in the early afternoon so as to avoid the hot July sun of Haiti. Even then, we quickly learned how hot Haiti can get. All of us developed a profound appreciation for water and breezes. Throughout the project, the students learned that service projects sometime require a great deal of ingenuity - especially when tools are scarce. The teens learned creative and unique uses for such items as rakes, snow shovels and dust pans.

However, the project wasn't all work. The program enabled the volunteers to meet other Haitian students, learn about the culture, and see first hand the beauty of the Haitian countryside. Each afternoon, a different activity was planned. On some days, they were able to play sports and talk with some of the boarding school students who were in residence. One memorable afternoon was spent hiking up the mountain that was near the school. What we thought was going to be a 2-3 hour hike became a 5 hour hike. However, the view from the top was worth every agonizing minute of it!

Living at the Academy, the students experienced facets of Haitian culture that contrasted sharply with their daily experience in America. Certain comforts and luxuries that are taken for granted at home were missing. Conserving water, for instance, was something we learned from the first day. Electricity was another. Missing also were traditional foods such as hamburgers, potato chips and foods that are the usual fare of American teenagers. However, we quickly forgot about the differences because of the loving care of the kitchen staff and the Academy staff. Of course, the succulent fresh mangoes also helped!

When the time came to return to home, some of the students were sad to leave because of the bonds they had formed with Haiti and the Haitian people. While the volunteers had a lot of souvenirs from their project - rashes, cuts and bruises, blisters, sunburns, and mosquito bites the size of Mt. Olympus - they also took back with them an experience that enabled them to personally feel God's heart. Not only did they learn about the problems of Haiti, but they learned some other valuable things as well. First, they learned to recognize that everyone has something to offer to God, regardless of their circumstances. The young volunteers also discovered their own strengths and limitations. They also developed a deeper appreciation for their own lives and blessings. Finally, they discovered the power that comes from working together as a loving and supportive community.

IRFF hopes to take future groups of teenage and young adult volunteers on similar projects. Together with retreats and workshops, service projects such as the one in Haiti are the best way for the next generations to really understand who we are and to recognize the need to genuinely live for the sake of others. At least for this group, when they tell their friends about how they spent their summer vacation, no one will be falling asleep!

Clive Wright is a summer intern at IRFF HQ in NYC.

Spiritual Healing

by Deanna Cooper-Sandy Bay, Tasmania

Over many years of interest in the healing field, I have come to the conclusion that restoration of health can be approached from any level, physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, but the most effective course to restore one's health would be to address each of these aspects, as problems often manifest themselves on all levels simultaneously.

One of the least known healing methods, spiritual healing is one modality which can support and affect all aspects at once. Spiritual healers deal with emotional and mental problems as much as physical ones. Before explaining what spiritual healing is, and how it works, it is important to look at the cause of illness from a spiritual viewpoint.

On a fundamental level, the cause of illness is separation from God resulting in a disconnection from our intuitive inner selves. What is sometimes known as the "fall of man" was much more than just eating a fruit, and has had profound ramifications throughout all of human history.

Dr. Joseph Sheftick describes the most important result of the fall as being the distortion of mankind's consciousness which subsequently distorted the energy patterns of the spirit, mind and body. Once the inner aspect of our being was affected, it was eventually reflected in the outer aspect, our bodies, as disease and imbalance. Only our conscience or "original mind" remained free from the effects of the fall, and serves to connect each person to God.

Since our original mind remains linked with God, every person has the natural ability, to a greater or lesser degree, to receive and to be able to be a channel for healing energy which originates from God and is constantly available to us as an energy of love and healing. The most common method for transferring this energy is through the hands, though I personally know some healers who are so proficient that they achieve the same results using their minds.

Evidence exists that spiritual healing was used thousands of years ago in Egypt, and also by the Kahunas of Polynesia, and the early peoples of Australia and America. Artifacts from an ancient civilization prior to the Incas in Peru depict scenes of healers using their hands in healing gestures over those that lay ill. There is further evidence of spiritual healing in the Sanskrit, Chinese, and Aramaic texts, and there are numerous examples of it in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

More recently, the pioneering efforts of Harry Edwards around the middle of this century gave birth to many spiritual healing organizations that steadily became more and more accepted.

Spiritual healers work based on a person's request for healing, either in person, by phone or by letter. The request can also be made by a person acting on someone's else's behalf. The request forms a link between the healer and the patient that allows healing energies to flow. The healer attunes him or herself to the universal energies and those who are able to direct them, then attunes to the patient which facilitates the person's own link with God, the source of healing.

As mentioned earlier, we all have the ability to connect with these energies, but in times of trouble or ill health it is difficult to allow healing to flow directly to us because of blockages. By contacting a healer we create the conditions for this flow to be re- established.

As the energy flows into the patient's system, it is accepted at a spiritual level, opening up the connection between the spirit and the patient's own life force. The life force interpenetrates every level of our being giving us life, from the very atomic structure of our physical cells to our thinking and emotions. Thus the healing energies from God interacting with our life force can transform negative conditions on the spiritual, mental, and emotional level, and even effect our physical regenerative process. Spiritual healing is complementary to all other forms of therapy.

I can testify, both as a patient and as a practitioner, that substantial positive changes occurred when conditions in both parties were right. However, for these changes to remain permanently, the patient's fervent desire to get well and willingness to work at it are paramount. Guiding the patient to recognize and fulfil their own portion of responsibility is crucial to the process of healing.

Spiritual healing can be effective whether the patient is physically present or at a distance, which is known as "absent healing", or "distance healing." I have found that absent healing works as well as healing in person, and in some cases, works better. Both are a labor of love which transcends barriers and mobilizes Heavenly energies that exist solely for the healing and betterment of all.

Deanna Cooper can be contacted at P.O. Box 817, Sandy Bay, TAS. 7005

RYS: A Model of Village Harmony - RYS Village Project

During the Wesak festive season of the month of May, RYS organized a village project in the Kaluthara district. It was a project organized by an RYS alumnus in his village at the Yatadola Vivekaramaya temple, Apr. 30.

The work consisted of cleaning the temple premises and bringing unity between the head monk and the villagers through service, example and sharing the RYS vision among the villagers.

The interesting gesture of the project was that the temple needed five bags of cement to do some restoration work, and the temple had requested from the RYS alumnus: Can RYS fulfill this request? The request was brought forward to the RYS director, and later to the former RYS alumni in the country. Interestingly, one former RYS alumnus had bought five cement bags to do some house repairs, and it was lying in his house for some time. So when the request came to him, he was so happy and obliged to offer the cement bags, without any attachment. The fact was: a Hindu Brahmin was making a noble donation to a Buddhist temple, without any conditions, which shows us that in RYS there is no caste, creed or religious barrier blocking us from accomplishing the goals of RYS, in which it enriches the participant to be unselfish.

The program began with a diversity of religious faiths from Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Unificationist backgrounds. They left by van on the evening of the 29th at 6pm, heading to Yatadola, about 25 km south of Colombo in the Kaluthara district. They were warmly welcomed by the RYS alumni and villagers, in which they had dinner prepared for the participants. Before dinner commenced, the participants were asked to share a spiritual experience encountered during their lifetime. And many of them shared their experiences in a unique way reflecting their different religious backgrounds. It was enriching to the participants as it broadened their perspectives about life.

Later, dinner was taken and preparation work was planned for the Yatadola Vivekaramaya the next day. Lights were off at 10pm, and all the participants went to bed as scheduled, ready for the sweaty service day to come, with joy and laughter.

All the villagers gathered at the temple premises at 9am, and prepared to work alongside the RYS participants and alumni. The RYS banner was hung up in the temple premises and a few fliers were distributed to the villagers explaining the vision and hope of RYS. They showed interest in what RYS is all about. A prayer was then said by the head monk of the temple, and work was begun with the RYS participants and villagers divided into work groups to clean different parts of the temple premises. Each working hard feeling the need for unity and tidiness of the temple, to look pleasant for worship by the villagers, during the important festive season, Wesak. They worked till 3pm in the afternoon, breaking for lunch, with the villagers giving the best hospitality that they could afford. The lunch they served was all the produce from the village plantations, gracefully offered by the villagers when requested by the RYS alumni for the project. They were very happy to meet and work with an international community of Japanese and Koreans, and a locally mixed ethnic community of Singhalese, Tamils and Burghers. This gave diversity and uniqueness to the service project in the village.

After lunch there was a tree-planting program, planting Mahara trees along the road leading to the temple, which are supposed to give shade and beauty to the village in the future. And some of the excess trees that were in the temple premises were given to the participating RYS guest as a token of gratitude by the village head monk. Later final work session began with the villagers and RYS participants giving the final touches to the temple premises to look splendid and pleasant for worship during the festive Wesak season.

The final session of the day was the family gathering in which songs were sung by the village participants, Japanese participants and the RYS alumni of the village, in which it gave a warm and friendly atmosphere. Later speeches were delivered by the participating monk, the head monk, the RYS alumni of the village, the Gramaseveka of the village and the director of RYS in Sri Lanka.

The participating monk gave a very strong message to the villagers, that they must unite with the head monk, and must maintain the tidiness of the temple premises at all times. And the village needs the temple and the people for it to be a healthy and prosperous village. The villagers should forget their differences and take care of the head monk for the well-being of themselves and the village. Which gave hope and reconciliation to the villagers as they have not cited the temple since RYS was present to carry out its service project. The head monk showed his gratitude to the RYS participants who had come to serve his community, in his village from faraway lands without any attachment, which is an example that we should all learn and adore. The next speech was given by the Gramasevaka (local leader) she expressed that we should be thankful and proud in the village that RYS alumnae have done such a noble thing to the village by bringing an international community to serve and bridge the gap between the temple and the village. Through cleaning the temple and premises and bringing a sparkling look to the temple, the hosting villagers could feel a sense of accomplishment.

The RYS alumnae spoke, thanking all the people who participated, stating that RYS came to the village to bridge the gap between the temple and people, and among one another through humble service and vision. The director of RYS spoke, giving his thanks and appreciation for such a project, which hardly cost anything but the sincere heart of the people who want to see RYS grow and RYS alumnae took the responsibility of organizing a project without any funds from outside, but from within the RYS community, and this was a great achievement and growth for RYS. As Sri Lankans we should all be proud of the noble efforts done by the RYS alumnae in village areas for it is giving vision and hope to all in the village, pointing the way to a bright and prosperous future.