(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
Reverend Moon and Mrs. Moon are heads of the Unification Church, and have
also founded and supported dozens of initiatives for world peace, such
as the Inter–Religious Federation for World Peace, The International Federation
for World Peace and the Women’s Federation for World Peace. The teaching
that guides the Unification community is known as the Divine Principle,
which Sun Myung Moon wrote over a nine year period from researching the
Bible, the spiritual world, and the natural world.
Reverend Moon was born in a period of brutal Japanese occupation in the 1920’s.
His family was well respected for their generosity and his religious foundations
were a combination of the ancient traditions of Korea and of messages brought
by Christian missionaries. According to Reverend Moon, on Easter 1936 he
was in deep prayer and Jesus appeared to him. Jesus then asked him to complete
the responsibility left unfinished since the origin of humankind.
The Divine Principle is divided into three sections which
are, Creation, Fall, and Restoration. It says that God’s original ideal is
expressed in “the three great blessings” found in the Genesis account of
human origins. Dr. Frank Kaufmann explains further in the Sourcebook
Of The World’s Religions (2000), “To ‘be fruitful’ is understood as
the commission for each person to perfect his or her unique individuality
by uniting mind and body and being in full union with God. These perfected
individuals, man and woman, were to ‘multiply,’ forming families born of
the unconditional love of a husband for his wife, of a wife for her husband.”
The idea is that this ever-expanding family should “have
dominion,” and begin a perfect ecological relationship with the natural universe.
The first human ancestors did not achieve this ideal, they violated God’s
commandment and “ate the forbidden fruit” by engaging in physical love without
receiving God’s blessing to do so. The Archangel Lucifer played a part in
this act of disobedience and it created the personage of Satan and bound
the first humans with him. Salvation providence reveals God’s work to first
recreate the conditions to bring fulfillment of the original three blessings,
and to liberate the descendants of Adam and Eve from their bondage to Satan.
Dr. Frank Kaufmann expands on this by saying, “This task constitutes the
mission of the Messiah, who by fulfillment of his own responsibility obeys
the commandment and fulfills the purpose of creation. Thus Jesus came both
as ‘Adam’ and as the Savior to fulfill the three blessings and to liberate
all of humankind. The faithlessness of those around Jesus led to his crucifixion,
thus preventing him from his opportunity to fulfill the three great blessings.”
Jesus told of a second coming. He knew that the original will of God, the
three blessings, were still unfulfilled. Sun Myung Moon claims that this
is the mission Jesus asked him to finish fulfilling. He came as the return
of Christ at the end of World War II, in 1945, and was rejected. When this
occurred Reverend Moon had to start a religious community to carry out the
mission of Christianity and serve as the Bride of Christ. The community became
known as the Unification Church, it was founded in 1954. In 1960 He married
Hak Ja Han Moon, and believed that he was fulfilling the original mission
of True Parents for the first time in human history. Members of the Church
and members of other religions have their marriages “blessed” by Reverend
and Mrs. Moon. They believe this gives them the potential of becoming True
Parents. The Unification Church does not strive to be just an enduring religious
body. The Unification Church believes they exist to teach the Divine Principle and
help in the effort of the True Parents to freely give the blessing.