The Civil War Over Cultural Values

by Haven Bradford Gow

St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, set forth this enduring standard by which we can and should measure any work of art: "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

The problem, though, is that all too many of our popular artists, musicians, novelists, and TV and movie producers, directors and writers reject the standard of beauty set forth by St. Paul. Dr. Anthony O'Hear, philosophy teacher, Bradford University, England, observes: "When we look at our world at the end of the 20th century, we find little in it motivated by the desire for the beautiful.... Cultivating good taste and the making of beautiful things require the acquisition of standards, something alien to the spirit of an age hostile to distinctions of quality and anything to which an immediate cash value cannot be given.... But when our artistic community has lost faith with beauty, can we be surprised that the rest of our lives are relentlessly lacking in grace, manners and taste?"

Dr. Joseph Epstein is a social and literary critic, an English professor at Northwestern University and the author of Divorced in America; from 1984 to 1990 he was a member of the National Council of the National Endowment for the Arts. In his contribution to Dumbing Down: Essays on the Strip-Mining of American Culture (W.W. Norton & Co.), Dr. Epstein observes: "I could not help noticing...the special obligation which the people who worked at the NEA felt toward what passed for avant-garde or `cutting-edge' art. The cutting edge, almost invariably, was anti-capitalist, anti-middle-class, anti-American, the whole-earth catalogue of current antinomianism. What was new was that the artists who wanted to seem cutting-edge also wanted the government they despised to pay for the scissors."

Dr. Epstein adds: "Those NEA grants that issued in obscenity and horror-Karen Finley smearing her nakedness with chocolate, Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs of men with plumbing and other appurtenances up their rectums, a man spreading his HIV-positive blood on paper towels and then sending them skimming over an audience-have given the Endowment its most serious problems in the press and on Capitol Hill. Yet the NEA's defenders are correct in saying that these comprise only a minuscule proportion of the Endowment's total grants. What they do not say-possibly because they are themselves are unaware of it-is how mediocre have been so many of the artists who have received NEA grants."

Example of mediocre works of art can be found on TV and in the movies. To be sure, our TV and movie writers in Hollywood are talented people who have the ability to produce educational, heartwarming and inspiring works of art; but these well-paid writers apparently are satisfied with supplying the public with TV shows and movies of mediocre quality which cater to the voyeurs among us with scenes of gratuitous sex and violence.

As Syracuse University professor of public communications Dr. Robert Thompson explains in his new work Television's Second Golden Age, published by Continuum, TV's most popular and "best" programs have been and are saturated with sexual innuendo and sex-related story lines; he observes that popular shows like St. Elsewhere often contain sexual innuendo and subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) references to sex organs and oral sex; he maintains that some TV producers, directors and writers think sex and violence in their programs help them defy moral and religious conventions and achieve acclaim from their peers and notoriety from the public.

Certainly, TV and movie executives, producers, directors and writers should practice the Golden Rule: if they do not want their own children exposed to mindless sex, violence and exploitation, then they should not expose other people's children to the same, either. Consider:

*In the recent CBS-TV movie Sweet Temptation, a sexually frustrated teenage girl engages in verbal foreplay and sexual relations with the sleazy lover of her mother. As a kind of afterthought and as a way to "save face," the movie-after sexually titillating its viewers-later condemns the sexploitation which occurred.

*An episode of the CBS series Picket Fences highlighted two teenage girls kissing one another and exploring the idea of becoming lesbians while an episode of the NBC series Seinfeld examined the "life-and- death issue" of masturbation.

*The ABC series NYPD Blue boasts about being the first TV series to show nudity and broadcast profanities.

*Eight-seven percent of all sexual activity on prime-time programming on NBC, CBS and ABC is depicted outside marriage; a typical teenager watching TV for one year will witness nearly 14,000 sexual encounters.

Even those who contend TV shows and movies saturated with sex, violence, exploitation and anti-religious bigotry are harmless, must at least tacitly acknowledge the power and influence of words and ideas; otherwise, they never would attend school, go to the library or write letters, articles, books, advertising copy, and TV and movie scripts.

It is so very amazing to hear people who make their living by using words, ideas and images deny that words, ideas and images have any consequences or impact on thinking and conduct. Certainly, if TV programs and movies can educate, enlighten and inspire, they also can corrupt by glamorizing and encouraging pernicious ideas and behavior: ideas, after all, do have consequences.

The "Purity Plunge"

by Rev. Tim Henning

On Feb. 1, the Pure Love Alliance had its first Bungee Jump fund- raiser for the Ocean Challenge Youth At Risk Program.

The event featured costumed jumpers, Batman and Robin, Superman, a clown, the Volvo crash dummy, and many others, leaping from a 220-foot MegaBungee Tower, billed as the highest jump in America. The Pure Love Alliance (PLA) organized it as a fund-raiser for Ocean Challenge, our Long Beach youth-at-risk program. Humorous biographies of the characters were read, refreshments were served, PLA literature distributed, T-shirts emblazoned with the PLA and shell sun-catchers were sold, the Purity Pledge was featured and signed by over 100, and the carnival-like atmosphere prevailed for nearly four hours, twice as long as expected. Several students signed forms to join the PLA. Those who stayed and watched were captivated by the drum rolls and plummeting PLA members. Large 5'x4' posters, some warning of the danger of "Safe Sex" and others explaining the "Pure Love Advantage" drew small crowds of onlookers.

Despite the absence of major media, there were some good results. Mrs. Wanda Draper, director of Options for Youth, expressed an interest in doing future events with the PLA, especially presentations of abstinence-based curriculum to her young people. Several ministers were impressed by the adventuresome spirit and have asked to see the absolute sex curriculum we're developing. The videotape footage of the event will be very helpful in portraying the PLA as daring, positive, fun, youthful and community-service oriented. Also, the event paid for itself and raised donations of approximately $400 for the Ocean Challenge non-profit youth program. Our members were most generous in pledging support and attending the event.

Perhaps the most obvious of the unexpected good results was the camaraderie of those who dared and jumped successfully. It will be a long time before the members and their guests are finished talking about it. It was indeed a formidable challenge to make the 220-foot leap, or even to look down from those heights. Going beyond one's limitations to fulfill a commitment is a good way to begin the year with the PLA.

Hyun Do, a.k.a. Batman, related bungee-jumping to the purity issue. "Jumping with a bungee cord is like absolute sex; you have a vertical connection and it's for a higher purpose. Free sex is like making the same jump without the bungee cord: tragedy every time."

Ivan, a.k.a Superman, says that it was very, very hard to jump. (He actually had very good form when he did it.) "If it weren't for the PLA, I wouldn't have done it. I would've backed out. Reaching the platform below and standing up, I was so overjoyed and surprised that I really did it!"

Malitzen Flores, dressed in a clown costume, was the first sister to make the jump. Her mother was crying to see her on the tower, but all smiles afterwards. David Stein, only 15 years old, braved the jump. His father was visibly nervous, but shook hands all around after a successful landing.

Our Children Are Our Inspiration: Families Helping Families

by Shirley Chimes-Northglenn, CO

My 10-year-old son, Daniel, is very concerned about homeless people and talks about it often to me. In prayer, I told God I didn't know what to do about it or where to begin.

The morning after the Super Bowl, a motel fire near our home killed five people and left 100 people homeless. Several days later I decided to go to the motel with Daniel to pray for those who had died there, and to look at the damage. It was also a chance for us to count our many blessings.

At the motel site, there were several men with their children waiting to get back into their rooms. I began to talk to each father. They were worried and destitute. I couldn't help but ask them what they would need to begin all over again. In the course of the next few days, I made a few calls to local businesses asking for their help. The response was phenomenal: new bedding, clothes, personal items, furniture, a $1,000 gift certificate, kitchen goods, and much else, came from stores and neighbors. The response overwhelmed me so, that I called our community newspaper to tell them the story of the local businesses and their generosities toward the people who survived the fire. By this time, my husband and both sons were involved with helping those families.

Initially, I didn't understand what was going on. After a few days of being on the phone and getting donations, I began to realize I was acting on Daniel's inspiration regarding homeless people and their situations. Daniel is always thinking about other people. One teacher at school approached him and told him he is the nicest boy she has ever met.

The following is from the newspaper article printed in our Northglenn- Thornton Sentinel, entitled "Neighbors, Businesses Rally Behind Fire Victims":

When disaster strikes, help is only a phone call away in the metro area.

That's what Shirley Chimes found when she reached out to the Hacienda Hotel fire victims, who were displaced from their homes and lost most of their belongings in the blaze.

The Northglenn resident stopped by the hotel a couple of days after the Jan. 27 fire to see if she could help anyone or perhaps offer a prayer on the victims' behalf. Five people were killed and 100 were left homeless.

Some hotel residents were waiting to go into their rooms to salvage what they could of their belongings, including a single father and his 13-year-old son. Chimes said she asked the father what he was going to do and what he needed to put their lives back together.

She found the pair and another family of six needed clothes, personal hygiene products and bedding. The father also needed furniture, as he was moving Feb. 1 into an apartment he had rented prior to the fire.

Not knowing where to begin, Chimes called bigg's Hypermarket in Thornton. "This was just a shot in the dark," she noted.

But Chimes hit the jackpot when bigg's offered up blankets, pillows and lots of clothes, which she split between the families. "The family with four children got the most," she said.

Tammy Parker, bigg's administrative assistant, said the store regularly donates to the Red Cross and had given $200 in cash to help fire victims. She noted she was unaware some of the Hacienda residents still needed the items Chimes requested.

Parker estimated the store donated between $300 and $400 in goods that were new but could not be sold because of packaging conditions or other reasons.

Chimes then called American Furniture Warehouse to see if the owner could make a contribution.

According to Mikala Brees, administrative assistant at the warehouse, the father was given a $1,000 gift certificate. He used it to buy a sofa and two reclining chairs.

She noted the employees at the warehouse were anxious to help out.

"It was a whole company thing," Brees said. "Everybody was concerned about the victims there. The families who lost their possessions in that fire were our neighbors. Being a part of the Thornton community, we are happy to lend a hand to make things easier for those victims."

The Bonanza restaurant also donated some steak dinners, and the Chapel Haven Seventh Day Adventist Church volunteered to be a drop-off point for donations, Chimes said.

The Ramada Limited Denver North has provided up to 50 rooms at a discounted price after the first two nights, which were paid by the Red Cross and the Hacienda management. Some of the displaced Hacienda tenants are still staying there, according to an employee.

"The community definitely helped out," said Red Cross public affairs supervisor Matt Bertram. "We had wonderful response from the community with the Hacienda fire and other disasters."

Many organizations have had food and clothing drives, and some have helped find temporary homes for displaced residents, he noted.

Bertram said the worst-case scenarios from the Hacienda fire is a man and woman who worked for the hotel and have three children.

"They've lost their homes and their jobs," he explained. "The situation that was tough about this is there were so many families."

The Red Cross is still looking for permanent or even temporary homes for a few Hacienda tenants, to help them get their lives back to where they were before the disaster, Bertram said.

Meanwhile, Chimes and her neighbors have been able to collect dishes, utensils and even a bed for the 13-year-old boy. She said she was pleased by the response she got when she started making phone calls.

"It really is very heartwarming that the business community cares for its citizenship so nicely," Chimes noted. "It just happened because we asked."

My Experience as a Student in Korea

by Tamiko Nakamura

I came to Korea when I was only twelve years old. I came with a lot of fear, anxiety and excitement. Everything was so different from what I expected. After going through General Orientation Program and Prep, and then entering middle school, I was given more responsibility. Many times I ran away from my responsibilities. Looking back at myself, I feel ashamed. I didn't set good examples as an elder and I also didn't have such a good relationship with the teachers. Until I became the eldest student, I was very irresponsible. Becoming the oldest student was a big pressure to me, because I knew I couldn't run away any more. In July I went to Chung Pyung for a weekend seminar. Through that workshop I was able to realize my big mistake. I cried and cried to repent for my mistake. After the workshop I determined to change. I tried to build a better relationship with the teachers, and I tried to be a good elder sister to the younger students. I should have done that earlier and I have regret, but I'm glad I was able to realize my mistake and repent for it. Although I'm leaving this dorm soon, I plan to remain in Korea longer, and little by little I want to change myself. I couldn't accomplish so much in this dormitory and I really want to apologize to all the teachers and students in the dorm for not being a good student and for not being a good sister. I also want to thank my parents for letting me have this kind of wonderful experience. I'm very grateful to all of the teachers for helping me so much. I want to thank everyone in this dorm for everything they have done for me to be able to have such a wonderful experience.

Moses and Myself as a Providential Person

by Marilyn Morris

The following is expanded notes from a sermon given at Chung Pyung Lake 40-day workshop, January 14-February 23.

"For what purpose did God give the tablets of stone, the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant? When the Israelites set out for the wilderness after completing the four-hundred year indemnity period incurred due to Abraham's mistake in the offering, God struck the Egyptians with signs and plagues and drowned a host of Egyptian soldiers who tried to follow the Israelites across the Red Sea. The Israelites could not return to Egypt, not only because God's Will forbade it, but because they had become bitter enemies of the Egyptians. They had no choice but to complete the journey to Canaan. God had driven them to the point of no return. Nevertheless, the Israelites repeatedly fell into faithlessness during their journey. In the end, there was danger that even Moses might act faithlessly. To cope with this situation, God set up an object of faith, one which would remain unchanged even though the people might change." (Divine Principle, p. 247)

It is understandable that the Israelites acted faithlessly throughout their wilderness journey. Although they wanted freedom from slavery, they had no clear idea of what that meant. They had never seen Canaan and had no idea if it really was a land of milk and honey. All they knew was what they had experienced in Egypt, and while they grasped from time to time that God wanted much more for them, they could not keep such a vague vision burning in their hearts as the journey became more complex, and took longer and longer to complete.

What is surprising as we read the Divine Principle is that God worried even Moses might act faithlessly. What kind of faithlessness could Moses possibly have had? Here at Chung Pyung we have learned there are four clear categories in which we most commonly make mistakes in God's providence and thus create sin. Those categories are: Sexual Misconduct (do not think, look, touch or eat of the fruit); Tithing (attending the public purpose); Fallen Nature (failure to see from God's point of view, etc.); and Hurting the Heart of Others (failing to live for the sake of others).

Was Moses like Solomon? Did he have many wives and concubines? No. The Bible records no sexual misconduct according to the standards of his time. Also, did he fail in his zeal toward the public mission? No. Even when Moses had to go to Midian for 40 years, all he did was long for and prepare to return to his people still enslaved in Egypt. He never wavered in dedication to the vision that God had inspired within him. He was not like John the Baptist, proclaiming one day that Jesus was the "lamb of God" and then sending disciples another day to ask if Jesus was the messiah or not.

We can say with assurance that Moses was not faithless in his personal life, nor was he faithless in his attendance to the public vision. Rather, Moses' faithlessness fell into the other two categories of which we have been made more aware in our experience here at Chung Pyung.

If we look closely at Moses' life we can see a certain pattern which reveals that Moses had a serious character flaw. Whenever Moses let that character flaw take over he expressed a real fallen nature which led him to hurt very deeply the heart of his followers. In this way, Moses set up a difficult pattern for Jesus to overcome in his day as he walked the same providential course to take his people out of bondage to Satan and into freedom under God.

What kind of fallen nature did Moses suffer with? I cannot say for you, but I will honestly say for myself that I resonate with Moses' problem because it permeates my life.

Moses was an angry man.

Why was Moses so angry? Think about his life. He grew up in a luxurious but very fallen environment--the palace. His mother was nearby, and he knew that she was his mother, but she could never dare to act as his mother. He could not dare to act as her son. Throughout his life he knew that he had to carry out an awesome responsibility, but no one could truly support him or help him. No one could understand what was going on in his heart.

There are some parallels here to what the older children of Rev. Moon's family have had to endure. America is just like the Pharaoh's palace. Their parents were nearby, but for the sake of raising up members in difficult times of persecution, they did not dare pay so much attention to their children. On the other hand, the children wanted their parents love, but with leaders and members constantly, morning, noon and night, coming in and out of their home, they could not even hope to interfere and act as children. They had to retreat to their own rooms and take care of each other as best as they could. They knew they had an awesome responsibility to fulfill, but they were often overwhelmed by loneliness.

Had they seen in us a deep heart of gratitude from which we loved and served God's providence, it might have made their loss worth bearing. However, they personally received a great deal of complaint and criticism throughout their youth. Sometimes members foolishly unloaded their heavy situations upon them. It was inappropriate, but it happened. It must have been incredibly painful to see members living such dirty lives, knowing that their parents were constantly sacrificing in order to resurrect them. Finally, they despaired, "are these people worth the loss of my parents love?" They looked at us and thought, "Maybe not."

Even so, their parents love is still coming first to us and only second or even as a third reference to them. They still have to stand in line, receiving their parents love indirectly much of the time. How deep the hurt, the anger. It is something for us to think and pray about.

Let us focus upon this very real problem of anger in Moses' life. I believe it is a central problem in everyone's life and runs through history like a cable cord, linking us all directly to the fall of humankind.

According to the Principle, "God commenced the dispensation to start the course with Moses act of killing an Egyptian." (p. 235). Let me point out something here. The Divine Principle explains that God could use this act, but it does not necessarily say that God directed Moses to commit murder.

In the biblical account of this story we read that Moses, "....looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." (Exo 2:12) It is clear that Moses knew his deed was not good. Had he beaten the Egyptian and chased him away, it would have had the same effect. The Israelites would have witnessed his love for them, and the palace would have still have cut him off.

Murder was excessive on Moses' part. It is true that his people were suffering. However, his anger took hold of him and held sway over him. It was probably not the first time that Moses had been angry in his life and it certainly would not be the last time that this anger would defeat Moses and cause harm to God's providence.

When do we encounter this problem again with Moses? "When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets of stone and went before the Israelites, he found them worshipping a golden calf....Moses' anger burned hot when he saw this. He threw down the tablets of stone and broke them at the foot of the mountain." (p. 245).

The Divine Principle doesn't mention this, but Moses' anger carried even further. In the Bible we read, "Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it." (Exo 32:20) Even that was not enough to soothe Moses' rage as he instructed the Levites to smite them down by the sword. About 3,000 men died in one day. (Exo 32:27-28) I am sure those who were spared recommitted themselves and followed Moses more faithfully after this severe punishment. But with what kind of heart did they do so? They followed with a heart of fear and terror, not of loyalty and love. Think about it. Husbands, fathers, brothers and sons died. Wives, daughters, sisters and mothers mourned. Such anguish in the camp that day. It was not easy to follow Moses. One had to weigh which was more harsh, the deadly desert or Moses' temperament.

Moses had just come down from the mountain. Had he not just received the Ten Commandments, a new truth from God? Had he not just been inspired with the significance of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle? Had Aaron received anything about these matters? Had the people? No. Only Moses knew of these tremendous new things of God's providence.

The contrast between the scene before him at the base of the mountain and the beatific encounter that had just occurred would have discouraged anyone. However, should he have thrown down the tablets? In the final analysis, with whom was God more concerned? Moses or the people? Did God tell Moses to have the people fast for 40 more days, or did Moses have to fast again for those days? Did the people have to write upon the tablets, or did Moses? It is clear that God was more concerned with Moses' mistakes than with the foolishness of the people.

The Israelites certainly disturbed God and caused God to express frustration, but Moses was their leader. If Moses were to fail, then his people could not hope to succeed. In fact, this did indeed happen. Moses would eventually fail and neither he nor the generation that he led out of Egypt were able to enter the promised land.

How about ourselves? We are supposed to be leaders within our church movement. How many times have we been privileged to hear Rev. Moon's sermons? How many workshops have we attended before prior to this one? Some of us have to been to more than one 40-day workshop. All those times God carved the Principle into our hearts, but we came down from the mountain and dashed God's hopes upon the ground.

Now, after so many failures, Rev. and Mrs. Moon have asked us to come to Chung Pyung and carve the Principle into our own hearts. That is why no one is giving us lecture here, but rather we stand and read it out loud to ourselves. We have to plant it deeply into our hearts by our own effort this time. They have asked us to create the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle within our own daily lives. The Ark and the Tabernacle are symbols of the Messiah. (p. 246) The Tabernacle is symbolic of the Messiah's body and the Ark is symbolic of the Messiah's spirit or mind. The schedule here at Chung Pyung is to remind us that we have been called, as Tribal Messiahs, to live by the physically and spiritually demanding standard of the Messiah. We were given the opportunity seven years ago to realize the ideal of

Tribal Messiahship. However, we know that no Blessed Family lived up to that standard. We should have been the most sacrificial families in our hometowns. Instead, we all thought about our past years of struggling and following the strict requirements of our movement. We thought to ourselves, "We live in our own homes now and no one is checking up on us, so we can relax."

Is that the way to become the Messiah for others? Did we resurrect our hometown? There is only one way to be the Messiah for others. Jesus set the standard, and Rev. Moon lived by that standard, and more than once nearly died by that standard. With his wife and family suffering for the public purpose every hour of their lives, that standard was extended until now it can cover the world, spiritually and physically.

Should we pay attention to that standard more or less than traditional Christians? The messianic standard is absolute faith, absolute obedience, absolute love. Either we have that standard or we do not. Our time at Chung Pyung is to reflect about many points, but I believe this is the main point.

Although Moses had reason enough to feel righteous anger toward his people, he should have come down from the mountain and had pity upon them. He should have taken Aaron aside and taught him the Commandments. Then, with Aaron at his side, he should have paid indemnity with sweat and tears, patiently teaching the people God's word.

There are two kinds of anger. It is so easy to slip from righteous anger into fallen anger whenever we let anger take hold of us, rather than control it for God's purpose.

There are moments when we do feel righteous anger, and if we can keep everything under control and express ourselves fairly calmly from God's point of view, we can express anger. However, the very split second that we let anger control us, we immediately slip out of righteous anger into fallen anger. Immediately. We must be so careful with this aspect of fallen nature. It is so closely tied to the original sin that we all have a very difficult time keeping it under control.

Can we afford such anger toward our members? We have to step very carefully. How carefully? Rev. Moon once confessed that he spoke abruptly to one old woman during the early church years and for seven years this one moment hurt his conscience. Do we have that kind of standard?

It is true that Rev. Moon expresses himself forcefully in front of leaders, but did that ever destroy anyone? I have been to a few leaders' meetings and while it was difficult to digest Father's deep felt emotions, afterwards on the way home I felt renewed and could re- determine myself to work harder for God. I can say for sure that I have never had to drink melted gold, nor have I ever seen Father tear apart the Divine Principle in rage.

How about ourselves as leaders? Are we clear in which column we stand? How about at home. Have we spoken quickly, harshly to our wives or husbands? How about our children? We may not lose it in front of babies, but when they are older and more resistant, how have we measured up? These are Blessed children. How about members who are struggling with their fallen nature and especially in America, their horizontal culture?

Can we afford to yell at them out of our frustration because they will not respond to sermons about tithing or attending to the church? They may not worship golden calves, but there are many things in their life more important than living by the strict standards of the Principle.

How about Dr. Shimiyo, the President of our seminary in America? What about his students who have not attended Chung Pyung? What shall he do when they make mistakes or show a poor attitude?

I am not saying that we can never be angry. I am only saying that we have to be so very, very careful with this deep feeling. Anger, even righteous anger is something from the wellspring of the fall. Without the fall, would God have needed righteous anger?

If we think about the real source of anger, we can understand that Lucifer was the first being in the universe to feel and act upon anger. Did Lucifer have the right to such a feeling? From God's point of view, more love than Lucifer could ever imagine was coming his way once Adam and Eve reached perfection. Only from Lucifer's limited, personal point of view was anger a possible emotion to choose. How could Lucifer have escaped his personal frustration and anger over what he so badly misunderstood as to be God's plan for his life?

The fall carries with it a great deal of anger, and our expressions of anger many times only tie us closer to fallen nature rather than separate us from it. How can we hope to escape from the anger that we feel and the uncontrollable rage that so often accompanies it? I do not know about anyone else here, but I have prayed about this point so many times with tears, crying out to God because I want to escape from all that to which anger binds me.

Once Adam and Eve had fallen, they felt deeply disappointed in themselves and in each other. That disappointment led to accusation and resentment. How angry they must have been when they left the Garden of Eden in fear and shame. They must have had so many fights, blaming each other for being no longer able to live in the Garden. That is how Cain and Abel learned to deal with their problems toward each other.

There was one slim chance for God to catch them as they left the Garden. God called out for them, but they ran away from God and hid themselves in shame. When God finally engaged them in conversation, they could not repent for their mistake, but rather pointed the finger at each other and refused to take responsibility for their actions.

They could not recognize the opportunity of that moment. They simply could not realize that God was God. In other words, had they come to God and cried out for God to help them, then all the power in the universe would have been unleased upon them at that very moment. I have no doubt about that. In my prayers here at Chung Pyung, whenever I have cried out sincerely to God, I have felt so much love coming into me, even as I reveal truly disgusting things. I feel so empowered to take care of all those situations and problems that I created up to now.

God was reaching out to Adam and Eve, giving them a chance to reconcile. What an amazing moment it would have been if Adam or Eve had hung their heads and cried out to God, "I did such a shameful thing, My Father, please help me to clean it up!" Tragically, they could not believe that God was God. They could not allow God to help them solve their dilemma. Thus, they sealed their relationship with Lucifer by denying the existence of God within their lives. Only Lucifer could help them from that moment on. God had to follow his children out of the Garden and throughout history work behind the scenes to repair the damage they had done.

Finally, let us return to the story of Moses. Why did God give Moses the inspiration about the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, the two tablets of stone and the Ten Commandments in his first ascent up the mountain?

There is one rather obscure sentence in the Divine Principle that answers this question. "Yet when the Israelites lost faith even after witnessing these [ten plagues], God attempted to restore the ten plagues through indemnity by giving the Ten Commandments." (p. 253-4) The Ten Commandments were a replacement for the ten plagues.

Why did God give those awful plagues? Did he care so little for the Egyptians and love so much the Israelites that he would condemn one and save the other? The Divine Principle has a simple and clear answer. "....by repeatedly manifesting His powers, God wanted to show the Israelites that He was God." (p. 241) Furthermore, God wanted to show the Pharaoh that He was God! In this way, the Pharaoh was to willingly, not reluctantly, release the Israelites. Had the Pharaoh truly realized that God was God, he would have never chased after the Israelites which resulted in further death to his people.

We have been here for over 30 days at Chung Pyung, and we have been praying about all these points. We have misused our bodies, we have cheated the public purpose and we have not kept a high standard at home where we thought no one was looking.

We are carving it all into our hearts. Every day we have been reading the Divine Principle, and hopefully, we have come to realize that the Divine Principle is not enough. Are you shocked when I say that? We desperately need to have the real experience of God in our lives, in our bones, in our marrow. That is why we have been asked so many times to "open our hearts" and let God come in.

God went looking for Adam and Eve. God is always looking for us. Why? Because God wants to invade our privacy? NO! It is simply because God wants us to know that He is God! That's it. That's all. That's everything.

God wants to experience the great power and love of God in tangible, not theoretical ways. It is not enough to go to a seminary and study about God. Look at Dr. Hendricks, the President of our church in America. When he finished his doctorate program, Rev. Moon sent him out fishing for several months. Nothing less than real relationship will ever satisfy God. And nothing less will ever satisfy us. Until we have these experiences with God, we will always be frustrated within ourselves, and anger will eventually bubble up and overwhelm us. We have to learn carefully the lesson that Moses' course teaches us. When Moses ended his career by striking the rock twice in anger, a major pattern was already deeply ingrained within the Israelite people. After Moses there were many prophets. They were all righteous and many were very, very angry. The people had learned to respond with resentment to each and every one of them. Finally, when Jesus had to lower himself into John the Baptist's role, it meant that he had to speak to the people as a prophet. This put Jesus in an extremely dangerous position.

As a prophet, he would have to speak to the people directly about their faithlessness to God. That is why he had to clean out the temple. They knew that the temple was for worship, not for changing money and selling chickens. Jesus' cleaning of the temple only stirred up ancient feelings, even though he accurately confronted them with how low they had let things slide. It was not too long after this that the Jewish leaders plotted to collaborate with the Romans to get rid of Jesus.

Can we see how anger runs from generation to generation? The Divine Principle is so clear on this point: "Hence, Moses' act of striking the rock twice was the remote cause which, should John lose faith, would compel Jesus to a forty-day fast and face three temptations in the wilderness for the purpose of restoring the foundation of faith. John the Baptist actually did become faithless and Satan invaded the

foundation of faith which John had laid. This was the immediate cause of Jesus undertaking a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan by fasting for forty days and overcoming the three temptations." (p. 271)

Moses could not enter into Canaan because he allowed his problems to overwhelm him. Jesus could not bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth in his lifetime because the people around him allowed their problems to overwhelm them. We live in the precarious position of both of the above positions.

Here at Chung Pyung, we can confront this problem and cry out to God over each time we let anger take hold of us rather than the other way around. Let us allow God to enter into those moments as we repent for them. Let us allow God to take over those moments. Let us stop gazing over the hill, hoping to somehow get there, but secretly despairing that we will ever reach the standard of heart required for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let us race over the top of the mountain that separates us from God. I cannot say for you, but I know who will be on the other side waiting to embrace us as sons and daughters with arms as wide as the cosmos.

In Memoriam Trudi Schenk-Dunser

The Seung Hwa Ceremony of Trudi Schenk-Dunser was held Nov. 12, 1996 in Maarssen, The Netherlands. In the last years of her life, she was an example of faith, courage and determination to overcome pain and depression. She suffered with cancer, but never lost her trust in God and True Parents, even in the most painful and loneliest moments of her sickness.

Her Seung Hwa Ceremony took place in the Catholic Church of Maarssen, conducted by the president of the Family Federation for World Peace, Netherlands chapter, in cooperation with the parish priest, Father Boerkamp. The spirit of unity felt during the ceremony was one of intense joy and gratefulness. Trudi had a strong witnessing spirit, which could also be felt strongly during the service. We remember her when she was healthy and energetic, the way she will be from now on.

One sister had a dream of her the night after she passed into the spirit world. Trudi was dressed in white and looked bright and beautiful. She talked to that sister about her life and asked her to read a poem written by this sister for her at the Seung Hwa. The poem, entitled "The Crystal of the Mountains," brought back to her all the beautiful memories of the high and serene mountains of her Austrian homeland. She asked also for the Austrian sisters to sing her a song, "In die Berg bin ich gern." Trudi did not approach life on earth in a casual manner. She always knew her purpose; she cared deeply for God, True Parents and the Unification Church. She cared also very much for her husband Guus and his company, Tong Il, and was a dedicated mother to their three children.

There is something else significant in her life. It was her big heart winning people over in the church, her homechurch neighborhood and her husband's family. She joined the Unification Church in the early '70s in Austria at a time when government and police often persecuted the Unified Family and its members. She loved Peter Koch, the Austrian national leader, as a father, and tried to follow his example of serving and being a good friend in her position as leader of Voralberg, and then later in the Netherlands. In May 1978, Trudi was blessed with Guus Schenk at the Holy Wedding of 118 Couples in Great Britain, officiated by True Father and eldest True Daughter Ye Jin Nim. Trudi never forgot the sentence in True Father's speech in which he asked the newly-blessed couples: "Please make a success out of your Blessing; then you will witness the downfall of communism!"

Let us remember Trudi with this old English poem: Years can't erase the pleasure that the joy of friendship gives, for friendship is a priceless gift that can't be bought or sold, but to have an understanding friend is worth far more than gold. Friendship is a golden chain, the links are friends so dear, and like a rare and precious jewel, it's treasured more each year.

Father's Speech in Atlanta Newspaper

by Carmen Kimura-Atlanta, GA

On Monday, Dec. 30, 1996, Father's speech ran in our daily paper, The Atlanta Constitution. I was surprised to open the front section and find it there, SO BIG. And True Parents' picture, too.

The next day, I received a call from a lady who wanted to have a copy of the speech. I sent one to her. We also received two postcards for more information, and a call from a lesbian who accused us of being homophobic. However, one man called and said that he and his wife had read the speech three times, and he wanted to come over right away to get more information about us. He could hardly contain himself, he was so excited.

He said it was his birthday and he was going to treat himself to anything that he could get about us. He was calling to make sure that we were there. His name is Bernard Mitchell.

When he came, we were in the middle of our True God's Day preparations. The front door of the church was locked because, except for Sunday, we always used the back door. He stood at the front door pounding on it until one sister heard him and let him in. She and I were able to talk with him for about 30 minutes and loaded him up with literature and an old Divine Principle book (we were all out of the new editions).

I called him two days later to see how he was doing. He said he and his wife were both sitting up until 3:30am reading the Principle together! He had her promise that she would read it after he finished.

I invited them to come and join us for Sunday service on a Sunday when they were free. When they came, they were so happy! They stayed to talk to Rev. An, our regional director, for a long time afterwards.

We didn't see them again for several weeks after that. Mr. Mitchell is a car salesman and his wife works for an insurance company. I called them every week to see how they were. Mr. Mitchell told me that he brings his Principle book to work with him every day so he can read it. He said he didn't want to get caught up in the secular give and take of car salesmen when business is slow.

On one of my calls to them, I mentioned the marriage rededication ceremony. Mr. Mitchell started yelling for his wife to pick up the other phone. He said that she had been talking about that for a long time. On their second visit to church, they received the pre-Blessing. Mrs. Mitchell was really excited. She said she felt like a new bride.

We had dinner and entertainment afterwards and Mr. Mitchell said, "God spoke to me and said, `Son, this is what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like'." He was pointing down the row of tables to all of our brothers and sisters. Although our church family here isn't huge, we represent over 20 nations. For new guests, that's always so amazing.

As they were leaving, Mrs. Mitchell said, "I feel like we should be heading for a cruise!" (They have a four-year-old daughter.)

Since then, they have been diligent in giving tithes and offerings. When the second order of Divine Principle books came in, I called the Mitchells at 6am to let them know. Mr. Mitchell came down on his lunch hour to buy one because he didn't want to wait until Sunday.

I am very grateful for this couple. They have made me look at myself and have caused me to repent. I can't remember the last time I felt like they do. Mrs. Mitchell said, "After reading the book, I felt I

had to go door to door and tell everyone about it."

Thank you, Father and Mother! Thank you, Rev. Pak and headquarters staff!

We are continuing our efforts here in Atlanta. It's truly the harvest time and we feel a lot of hope.

Expressions of Faith

In order for faith to be tangible and real, it cannot exist in a vacuum. On the one hand, faith cannot come into being without some reason as a basis for it; and on the other hand it also cannot exist without a form of expression for it. Faith needs to take shape and be expressed in some form, and it also needs periodically to be reaffirmed and renewed in its expression.

Forms in which faith is expressed will invariably change over time, particularly religious faith. In fact, when we look at a group of people in a particular society over a long period of time, we may see that certain aspects of religious faith will remain constant (such as, for instance, the belief in the existence of God, the Scriptures, life after death, etc.), while the way in which that belief is understood and expressed will be time-period sensitive, and subject to subtle changes.

When certain expressions of religious faith lose their meaning and power, we can also observe that they are then replaced more radically by different forms. This particularly happens when forms of religious faith start to negate reason, fall behind common sense, or start to block or contradict new developments within society. As a result, particular forms of religious faith will either start to disintegrate altogether, or simply take a different form.

To give an example: even though Martin Luther was a person who had faith in God and in the Bible, he could no longer tolerate conditions under which that faith was expressed in his time. In his mind, the expression of faith was in contradiction to what he perceived to be truthful. Martin Luther held on to his faith, but changed the model and pattern in which it was expressed by forming a new expression in starting what we now know as the Reformation. In response to the Protestant reformation, the Catholic Church also followed with its internal reformation.

So even though religious faith may take different forms over time, certain aspects do provide a constant-and form its foundation. These constants (such as the need for religion based on the belief in the existence of God) are heavily rooted in traditions as well as in a collective understanding which is largely subconscious.

These constants can neither be erased, nor easily manipulated. Nevertheless, in history we have seen many attempts to do so. Notorious in our time is the Marxist-Leninist attempt to erase religion completely and to provide a purely materialistic explanation of reality. In the end, however, the immense attempts to replace long- held beliefs with a materialistic philosophical base, and the efforts to adjust the psychological and sociological reality to that philosophy, were unsuccessful.

The failure of these social experiments to manipulate human reality are a clear indication that there are firm underpinnings in the human psyche which go beyond all philosophical reasoning and resist deliberate psychological and sociological manipulations. These elements in the human psyche give root to a universal belief in the existence of a spiritual reality which transcends our visible reality. In fact, the very basis of religion itself is primarily rooted in these feelings or intuitions.

Faith and Spiritual Understanding

In my view, distinctions must be made to distinguish faith which is based on authoritarianism (external rules and dogma) from faith based on individual conscience (a personal sense of right and wrong) and faith grounded in spiritual understanding (universal, eternal principles).

Faith which is driven externally by religious authoritarianism, doctrine and dogma implies ways of thinking and acting almost exclusively based on following the directions of other people. Faith based in conscience means faith founded on conformity to one's own individual sense of proper conduct.

Most people will agree that faith based on one's own sense of right and wrong (individual conscience) is preferable to faith based solely on following the directions of others. In Kohlberg's "Theory of Moral Development," the highest phase of moral development is where one is guided by one's own individual conscience rather than the personal opinions of others, or by the conventions of the group. Noteworthy in this regard is the fact that, according to this theory, most adults never reach this ultimate developmental phase of following their own conscience in their life. It is believed that the majority of all people remain at a level where they will allow their convictions and actions to be determined mainly by dogmatic and legalistic thinking and/or the level of acceptance they can gain in the eyes of others.

It is interesting to note that Father in recent months has specifically emphasized that our conscience should be our point of reference. Father even made the startling proclamation that "our own conscience knows us better than God knows us." In my view, this means that we need to develop the attitude that we have to take individual responsibility for what we believe, and that we all have to be accountable for our own actions rather than measuring ourselves against the judgments of others.

The problem with conscience (in the way it is generally defined and understood) is that conscience alone will not necessarily imply proper understanding and conduct. For instance, there are many people involved in criminal conduct who are very much in harmony with their own consciences. The reason is that conscience is for the most part formed on the basis of good and/or bad values and attitudes which we adopted, and that we have subconsciously internalized through our environment. Therefore, what a certain person will see as objectionable behavior may be seen as perfectly justifiable and conscientious behavior by another person.

For this reason, there must be a standard of values and principles which embraces individual conscience but goes beyond it. This more inclusive standard must therefore be based on an understanding of the "common good of all," rooted in "universal/eternal principles."

Only faith based in spirituality will embrace universality in values and principles based on the implicit understanding of a principle or guiding force (God, if you will) which embraces all of life. Spiritual faith therefore implies that a person has an internal understanding of a power and principles higher than oneself-and an understanding of the way this power or these principles apply to one's life and guide one in one's spiritual growth. It implies that we have an absolute certainty that God exists, have developed a personal relationship with Him, feel the freedom to further develop that relationship based on our own individual conscience, but are also guided in our behavior toward others by principles which may be universally applied.

Faith based on spirituality does not mean that such a person would not support a certain religious point of view, but rather that in spite of his support of that viewpoint, one is no longer dominated by the views of others in one's thinking and actions. Rather than letting our actions be determined by the opinions of others, we allow our own conscience and spiritual intuition to be our guides.

The Power of Faith

It appears that faith instills great power and allows people to accomplish great deeds. There are many stories of people who through faith overcame severe handicaps, eliminated physical and emotional pain, and found great courage in difficult and challenging situations. On the basis of faith, many people have been able to deny themselves and made enormous sacrifices, even to the point of giving up their lives without hesitation for a greater cause.

In fact, it is faith which inspires people to act over and beyond their immediate self-interest and their immediate circumstances. And it is faith which allows people to take a long-range view of themselves and others.

Faith as the Power to Create

A very important consideration in the existence of faith is that in order to continue to grow and develop, it also seems to be inherently necessary for us to imagine, hope and believe. Nothing is created unless we can conceive it in our mind first and purposefully create an image of it, hold on to that image, and project it both inward and outward with a certain energy, devotion and conviction. It is our ability to imagine and believe in the possibility of making that image actual, as well as our determination in holding on to these images and beliefs, which allows us to develop entirely new creations.

My own definition of faith therefore would be: "through conviction in belief and determination in action, giving shape to an ideal which has not been established yet in reality."

The Model of Faith in our Time

Throughout history every society has always been inspired by the models which people of faith have provided in establishing a new ideal or carrying ideals to a new level of progress, in spite of the great odds against them or the sacrifices asked of them.

In our lifetime it is both the image of True Parents as a concept and ideal and the embodiment of True Parents in Rev. and Mrs. Moon which serve as new models of faith and selflessness. In the face of great odds and through self-sacrifice, True Parents continue to be the carriers of the conviction that the perfect family and the worldwide family of mankind is an ideal which can become reality for all mankind. They have held on to this vision in spite of the many obstacles and continuing setbacks in making that vision tangible and real. In following the ideals, example and image of True Parents in our own lives, we have adopted the same faith in the belief that the ideal person, ideal family and ideal world are possible and immanent.

In the course of many years trying to understand and live this vision, we may also have become somewhat disillusioned in the actual reality we have encountered. Perhaps we are disappointed in our ability to change ourselves into better people, and perhaps we have become disillusioned in others in a similar way. Perhaps our expectation that the ideal circumstances would appear in a certain way and at a particular point in time has become deflated. Perhaps we stepped into a marriage hoping to fulfill the dream of an ideal marriage and an ideal family, and instead we have woken up under the realization that it is very difficult to make that an actual reality. Or perhaps we have become somewhat disillusioned and critical of the organizational aspects of our religion.

All this can cause our faith to diminish and in the process our minds can become clouded and our hearts can become somewhat closed. Yet in spite of our lack of comprehension and disappointments, we need to

give impetus and form to our faith in one way or another, because faith ultimately means actively calling something into being and giving shape to that which has not materialized yet.

In our commitment of faith, each person must balance the internal and external aspects of faith. We must all come to a certain commitment of faith based on our level of understanding, our limitations, our abilities and a willingness to stand for what we believe.

At present, the ideal family is a concept and an ideal waiting to be actualized, and in a way the Blessing symbolically represents the coming into being of the ideal family. This symbolic representation can help in guiding us to the substantial fulfillment of that ideal. However, the substantial coming into being of the ideal family within our own families and the communities in which we live is dependent on the fulfillment of our responsibilities in an act of faith.

Ultimately, the act of faith is a commitment to something which cannot be fully understood initially. To have faith is a little like stepping into an abyss expecting that the bridge will appear under our feet. The conviction that by stepping into the ravine the bridge will appear is in itself the very mechanism which causes the bridge to appear under our feet and allow us to cross to the other side. In this sense, faith ultimately is the act of creation itself.