"The Christians are not out to establish Christendom, as it were. New culture, yes—coup, no."—C. Kavin Rowe https://t.co/1dSG3dducR
— unificationism today (@utblog) December 23, 2015
unificationism today
independent personal comparative view of
Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church
with the purpose of provoking thought and promoting understanding.
Companion blog for the essay: "UNIFICATIONISM a critique & counterproposal"
"A religion does not need to be interpreted literally
in order to be valuable and taken seriously."
—Anonymous
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
World Upside Down : Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age By C. Kavin Rowe Assistant Professor of New Testament Duke University Divinity School
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
BOOK: World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age by C. Kavin Rowe, Oxford University Press
BOOK: World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age by C. Kavin Rowe https://t.co/xLYyhiw3MC via @amazon
— unificationism today (@utblog) December 23, 2015Monday, December 21, 2015
VIDEO CLIP: Mary and Joseph Travel to Bethlehem. Thank you Mormon Channel!
VIDEO CLIP: Mary and Joseph Travel to Bethlehem. Thank you Mormon Channel! @mormonchannel https://t.co/NFSndLbwKk https://t.co/dHeaWbDSOA
— unificationism today (@utblog) December 20, 2015Friday, December 11, 2015
BOOK: Signs and Symbols in Christian Art by George Ferguson, Oxford University Press
BOOK: Signs and Symbols in Christian Art by George Ferguson, Oxford University Press https://t.co/NnTmGsfkcF via @amazon
— unificationism today (@utblog) December 11, 2015Tuesday, December 8, 2015
COMMENTS ON: God, Sex and Me, DPLife.info (Unification Church) - December 8, 2015
ARTICLE LINK: http://dplife.info/blog/view/god-sex-and-me/
Dear brother
Thank you for your comments.
What is "selfish sex" in your view? "Sexual misbehavior"?
Respectfully
Thank you for your reply!
I agree with your great comment "living for each other in a marriage including sex and all sorts of emotional love is the highest."
What you named above as examples of "selfish sex" are pathological crimes and the exception to the rule, I would say. I think the vast majority of young people (reading this article) are not criminals.
Usually the pathology is in the criminal before the crime. Pathology can have many sources in a person. Even very good parents can give birth to a person with severe problems.
When sex is used for a selfish reason, the selfishness was there before the sex.
The "root of all evils" would also be there before the sex, right?
There are other ways selfishness can be expressed other than through sex.
One of the biggest problems we face in our world today is when otherwise very good people are persuaded, beforehand and inwardly, by their beliefs and ideology, that they're justified in violating and denying the human rights of others.
Respectfully and with love
Thank you very much for your candid give and take.
I appreciate it very much.
I receive great joy in satisfying my "lust" (sexual hunger). It's fun.
I would think "unselfish" means trying to do no harm to others in the process, at the least, and, at its best, bring joy and happiness to another.
A kind of "selfish sex," in my view, would be insisting my way is the only allowed way for all to satiate sexual hunger.
Respectfully and with love.
Dear brother
Thank you for your comments.
What is "selfish sex" in your view? "Sexual misbehavior"?
Respectfully
Thank you for your reply!
I agree with your great comment "living for each other in a marriage including sex and all sorts of emotional love is the highest."
What you named above as examples of "selfish sex" are pathological crimes and the exception to the rule, I would say. I think the vast majority of young people (reading this article) are not criminals.
Usually the pathology is in the criminal before the crime. Pathology can have many sources in a person. Even very good parents can give birth to a person with severe problems.
When sex is used for a selfish reason, the selfishness was there before the sex.
The "root of all evils" would also be there before the sex, right?
There are other ways selfishness can be expressed other than through sex.
One of the biggest problems we face in our world today is when otherwise very good people are persuaded, beforehand and inwardly, by their beliefs and ideology, that they're justified in violating and denying the human rights of others.
Respectfully and with love
Thank you very much for your candid give and take.
I appreciate it very much.
I receive great joy in satisfying my "lust" (sexual hunger). It's fun.
I would think "unselfish" means trying to do no harm to others in the process, at the least, and, at its best, bring joy and happiness to another.
A kind of "selfish sex," in my view, would be insisting my way is the only allowed way for all to satiate sexual hunger.
Respectfully and with love.
Monday, November 23, 2015
COMMENTS ON: God, Sex and Me (Unification Church)
ARTICLE LINK: http://dplife.info/blog/view/god-sex-and-me/
Thank you for your comments.
I agree with your lovely statement that "respect, honor, loyalty and affection are deep expressions of love."
Isn't sexual intercourse also "affection" and "deep expressions of love"? Is sexuality and the above values mutually exclusive of one another?
Doesn't painting "sexual intercourse" as primarily a biological function take away from it's sacredness and part of the vitality of existence?
Do we say that eating is just a biological function "fundamental to species survival, it wanes in the latter years of life"?
With respect, I don't think there is any one-size-fits-all when it comes to sexuality. I'm going on 64 and my sexuality seems to be gaining momentum as I grow older.
The Divine Principle itself teaches that "physical body" "give and take" is essential for the "vitality elements" necessary for spiritual growth.
The Divine Principle also states "love is the source of life, the key to happiness, and the essence of the ideal to which all beings aspire." It's talking about the sexual attraction between Lucifer and Eve in this section.
Do we think God's sexuality "wanes" as He/She gets older?
Is it wise for us to give young people the idea that a vibrant, alive and exuberant sexual life is somehow less than, or unprincipled?
Sexual wisdom doesn't have to be anti-sexual, does it?
Thank you again.
Respectfully and with love.
PS
I want to say more about this series of anonymous articles, but I want to wait until the end.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Opinions, Should God be obeyed? Should the government? By Robert A. Burt
"Whenever God veers toward a command approach, humanity pushes back... "—Robert A. Burt https://t.co/dftNxPcovE
— unificationism today (@utblog) November 19, 2015Tuesday, November 17, 2015
BOOK: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Audible – Unabridged, Anthony Heald (Narrator), Blackstone Audio Inc.
BOOK: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Audible – Unabridged, Anthony Heald (Narrator), Blackstone Audio Inc. https://t.co/pQlwi2DGHY
— unificationism today (@utblog) November 18, 2015Tuesday, November 10, 2015
BOOK: The New Politics of Pornography by Donald Alexander Down, University Of Chicago Press
"Be careful, lest in casting out your devil you cast out the best that is in you."—Nietzsche https://t.co/Luer2DQIvg
— unificationism today (@utblog) November 9, 2015BOOK: The New Politics of Pornography by Donald Alexander Down, University Of Chicago Press https://t.co/0tIwmr4CrM
— unificationism today (@utblog) November 9, 2015Friday, November 6, 2015
COMMENT ON: DP Life "God, Sex and Me: The First Heartbreak" (Unification Church)
Dear brothers and sisters,
Thank you for this thought provoking series!
Aren't we also engaging in "half-truths" when we interpret the Divine Principle literally by saying that God was only "heartbroken" by the Fall?
Don't all parents grieve when their children leave home, but at the same time happy to see them go out on their own? Take their own risks? Make their own mistakes?
Isn't that what it takes to mature?
Isn't what the scripture says in Gen 6:6 is that God was sorry because mankind was evil "all the time"—versus, say, just part of the time?
"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..."
—Gen 3:22
—Gen 3:22
And then, in Gen 8:21, he regretted the flood. (He got "flooded," you might say.)
Respectfully and with love
Your brother
Your brother
Friday, October 30, 2015
BOOK: The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary
BOOK: The Five Books of Moses:... by Robert Alter "... profound and haunting enigmas, the ambiguities of motive..." https://t.co/mXgbHiBFBW
— unificationism today (@utblog) October 30, 2015Sunday, October 18, 2015
BOOK: Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature by Erich Auerbach
"Auerbach used... comparative literature to refute any narrow...nationalism or chauvinism, in his own day and ours" http://t.co/y9MPib3JZ7
— unificationism today (@utblog) October 18, 2015Saturday, October 17, 2015
We believe that we know something... when we speak of... flowers
"We believe that we know something... when we speak of... flowers; and yet we possess nothing but metaphors... " https://t.co/J9BeGUwM8j
— unificationism today (@utblog) October 15, 2015Dirk R. Johnson, Nietzsche's Anti-Darwinism, Cambridge University Press, 2010, Reviewed by Keith Ansell-Pearson
"Dirk R. Johnson, Nietzsche's Anti-Darwinism, Cambridge University Press, 2010, Reviewed by Keith Ansell-Pearson" http://t.co/BuhkvoDsDy
— unificationism today (@utblog) October 15, 2015BOOK: Nietzsche's Anti-Darwinism by Dirk R. Johnson, Cambridge University Press
BOOK: Nietzsche's Anti-Darwinism by Dirk R. Johnson, Cambridge University Press http://t.co/aKXpWQZhZZ
— unificationism today (@utblog) October 17, 2015Sunday, October 4, 2015
Missing One Thousand Years? | "Byzantium: The Lost Empire"
The Divine Principle "Parallels in History" seems to largely ignore the reality of the one thousand year reign of the Christian Byzantine Roman Empire. It's important that we all be aware of this very critical and influential part of our history. As the old saying goes; "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."—George Santayana
"Theirs was, in their view, none other than the Roman Empire, founded shortly before the beginning of the Christian Era by God’s grace to unify his people in preparation for the coming of his Son. Proud of that Christian and Roman heritage, convinced that their earthly empire so nearly resembled the heavenly pattern that it could never change..."
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire
From Wikipedia:
"It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
"Pulcheria... one of the most important figures in Byzantine and even in World History."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcheria
VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "... Pulcheria... the three roles of women laid out in the early Christian Church; sinners, virgins and mothers... "—John Romer, Egyptologist
Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "After Pulcheria, emperors ruled by divine right, and the right of birth, and all western kings imitated them... changed the way men saw women and women saw themselves... "—John Romer
Religious Freedom?
"Justinian I... solidified his power but ended with the deaths of a reported 30,000 to 35,000 rioters on his orders."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
Like the Bible, if we look at the Divine Principle symbolically, poetically and metaphorically it expresses a sacred history, not a literal and scientific one.
"Byzantium: The Lost Empire" (full documentary by John Romer)
VIDEO: Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History
Divine Principle Chapter 3 The Periods in Providential History and the Determination of Their Lengths http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/expodp/edp-history.html
Divine Principle Chapter 4 The Parallels between the Two Ages in the Providence of Restoration http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/expodp/edp-parallels.htmlFrom Encyclopedia Britannica:
"Theirs was, in their view, none other than the Roman Empire, founded shortly before the beginning of the Christian Era by God’s grace to unify his people in preparation for the coming of his Son. Proud of that Christian and Roman heritage, convinced that their earthly empire so nearly resembled the heavenly pattern that it could never change..."
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire
From Wikipedia:
"It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
"Pulcheria... one of the most important figures in Byzantine and even in World History."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcheria
VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "... Pulcheria... the three roles of women laid out in the early Christian Church; sinners, virgins and mothers... "—John Romer, Egyptologist
Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "After Pulcheria, emperors ruled by divine right, and the right of birth, and all western kings imitated them... changed the way men saw women and women saw themselves... "—John Romer
Religious Freedom?
"Theodosius I established, with the Edict of Thessalonica, the Christianity of the First Council of Nicaea as the official state religion, reserving for its followers the title of Catholic Christians and declaring that those who did not follow the religion taught by Pope Damasus I of Rome and Pope Peter of Alexandria were to be called heretics...
In 391, Theodosius closed all the 'pagan' (non-Christian and non-Jewish) temples and formally forbade pagan worship."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire
"Justinian I... solidified his power but ended with the deaths of a reported 30,000 to 35,000 rioters on his orders."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
~.~
Like the Bible, if we look at the Divine Principle symbolically, poetically and metaphorically it expresses a sacred history, not a literal and scientific one.
"A religion does not need to be interpreted literally in order to be valuable and taken seriously."—Anonymous
~.~
"Byzantium: The Lost Empire" (full documentary by John Romer)
~.~
Friday, September 25, 2015
BOOK: The Honeymoon is Over--Jonah's Argument with God by T. A. Perry, University of Connecticut, Hebrew University
BOOK: The Honeymoon is Over--Jonah's Argument with God by T. A. Perry, University of Connecticut, Hebrew University http://t.co/0tejRpGoaj
— unificationism today (@utblog) September 23, 2015Wednesday, September 16, 2015
BOOK: The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America, Oxford University Press
BOOK: The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America, Oxford University Press http://t.co/2xQOlObUCk
— unificationism today (@utblog) September 15, 2015Wednesday, September 9, 2015
BOOK: Sex after Fascism: Memory and Morality in Twentieth-Century Germany by Dagmar Herzog
BOOK: Sex after Fascism: Memory and Morality in Twentieth-Century Germany
by Dagmar Herzog http://t.co/EVo3WZLktE
— unificationism today (@utblog) September 9, 2015Sunday, September 6, 2015
Constitution of the Republic of Korea
Article 20 [Religion]
(1) All citizens shall enjoy freedom of religion.
(2) No state religion shall be recognized, and religion and state shall be separated.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Sexual Health, World Health Organization
"Sexual health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality. It requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."
http://www.who.int/topics/sexual_health/en/
World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/
http://www.who.int/topics/sexual_health/en/
World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/
Monday, August 31, 2015
BOOK: Sexual Blackmail: A Modern History by Angus McLaren, Harvard University Press
"sexual revolution... blurred the long-rigid lines of respectability, leading to a rapid decline of blackmail fears." http://t.co/e0b62trzHD
— unificationism today (@utblog) August 26, 2015"As the importance of sexual respectability was inflated, so too was the spectacle of its loss."—Harvard University http://t.co/PsjgK6Lu03
— unificationism today (@utblog) August 26, 2015Thursday, August 27, 2015
UNIFICATIONISM a critique & counterproposal
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
—John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
Table of Contents
Disclaimer — I defend the Unification Church's right to exist as a member of our free, open, democratic, pluralistic and tolerant society. more >>
Critique — This is a critique of taking religious literalism and fundamentalism too far, and the misuse of religion for political purposes. more >>
Counterproposal — A religion does not need to be interpreted literally in order to be valuable and taken seriously. more >>
"What, then, is fascism?" (FYI) — "You carry in your blood the holy inheritance of your fathers and forefathers...You carry in it the secret of creation itself. Your blood is holy, for in it God's will lives." -- Faith and Action - 1938 - The German Propaganda Archive. more >>
"The Third World War" — "It is folly; instead of transforming themselves into angels, they transform themselves into beasts; instead of elevating, they lay themselves lower." — Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592, on The French Wars of Religion more >>
The Separation of Church and State — "...church and state are to be separated." — The Constitution of the Republic of Korea more >>
—John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
Table of Contents
Disclaimer — I defend the Unification Church's right to exist as a member of our free, open, democratic, pluralistic and tolerant society. more >>
Critique — This is a critique of taking religious literalism and fundamentalism too far, and the misuse of religion for political purposes. more >>
Counterproposal — A religion does not need to be interpreted literally in order to be valuable and taken seriously. more >>
"What, then, is fascism?" (FYI) — "You carry in your blood the holy inheritance of your fathers and forefathers...You carry in it the secret of creation itself. Your blood is holy, for in it God's will lives." -- Faith and Action - 1938 - The German Propaganda Archive. more >>
"The Third World War" — "It is folly; instead of transforming themselves into angels, they transform themselves into beasts; instead of elevating, they lay themselves lower." — Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592, on The French Wars of Religion more >>
The Separation of Church and State — "...church and state are to be separated." — The Constitution of the Republic of Korea more >>
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Nihilism and the Death of God, Professor Ken Gemes, Department of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London
CLIP: Nihilism and the Death of God, Professor Ken Gemes, Department of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London https://t.co/t6AtORxbpO
— unificationism today (@utblog) August 23, 2015Thursday, August 20, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
BOOK: Out of Eden: Adam and Eve and the Problem of Evil by Paul W. Kahn, Princeton University Press
Out of Eden "... the opposite of evil is not good, but love: while evil would master death, love would transcend it." http://t.co/Oex2U0QMnK
— unificationism today (@utblog) August 14, 2015Tuesday, August 11, 2015
BOOK: Onslaught against Innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist by Andre LaCocque
BOOK: Onslaught against Innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist
by Andre LaCocque http://t.co/l7hzfF0DkW
— unificationism today (@utblog) August 6, 2015Friday, August 7, 2015
BOOK: Understanding Genesis by Nahum M. Sarna
BOOK: Understanding Genesis by Nahum M. Sarna "... a challenge to the intellect may reinforce faith and purify it." http://t.co/mBzTloK8CC
— unificationism today (@utblog) August 6, 2015Monday, August 3, 2015
"... when the first Cain of one tribe murdered the first Abel of another. All war is fratricide..."
“Where does it all begin? History has no beginnings, for everything that happens becomes the cause or pretext for what occurs afterwards, and this chain of cause and pretext stretches back to the Palaeolithic age, when the first Cain of one tribe murdered the first Abel of another. All war is fratricide, and there is therefore an infinite chain of blame that winds its circuitous route back and forth across the path and under the feet of every people and every nation, so that a people who are the victims of one time become the victimisers a generation later, and newly liberated nations resort immediately to the means of their former oppressors. The triple contagions of nationalism, utopianism and religious absolutism effervesce together into an acid that corrodes the moral metal of a race, and it shamelessly and even proudly performs deeds that it would deem vile if they were done by any other.”
― Louis de Bernières, Birds Without Wings - Unabridged
― Louis de Bernières, Birds Without Wings - Unabridged
BOOK: Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres "... All war is fratricide..." http://t.co/RE4EA2XLwP via @amazon
— unificationism today (@utblog) August 4, 2015Sunday, August 2, 2015
"... the notion of a national community based on 'blood and soil'..."—Encyclopædia Britannica
"After the 'Dreyfus affair,' which polarized French opinion of the right and left, Maurras became an ardent monarchist. In June 1899 he was one of the founders of L'Action française, a review devoted to integral nationalism, which emphasized the supremacy of the state and the national interests of France; promoted the notion of a national community based on 'blood and soil'; and opposed the French Revolutionary ideals of liberté, égalité, and fraternité ('liberty,' 'equality,' and 'fraternity')..."
—Charles Maurras. 2015. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 02 August, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Maurras
—Charles Maurras. 2015. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 02 August, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Maurras
BOOK: Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur by Ben Kiernan, Yale
BOOK: Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur
by Ben Kiernan, Yale http://t.co/3B8GsryPd3
— unificationism today (@utblog) July 30, 2015Monday, July 27, 2015
"Pharisees... the Sadducean priesthood prided itself upon its aristocracy of blood"
"... the Sadducean priesthood prided itself upon its aristocracy of blood... " http://t.co/oMe08MJkt0
— unificationism today (@utblog) July 19, 2015Thursday, July 23, 2015
Why Study the Pharisees with Professor Roland Deines, University of Nottingham, "conflicts within a family..."
CLIP: Why Study the Pharisees with Professor Roland Deines, University of Nottingham, "conflicts within a family..." http://t.co/p0DjmTMdEV
— unificationism today (@utblog) July 22, 2015Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Monday, July 13, 2015
"... prostitutes, also would be included in the kingdom..."
"... sinners, exemplified by... prostitutes, also would be included in the kingdom..." http://t.co/fEY71gUC0A
— unificationism today (@utblog) July 14, 2015Tuesday, July 7, 2015
"What, then, Is fascism" really? (from the Encyclopedia Britannica)
"Most fascist movements portrayed themselves as defenders of Christianity and the traditional Christian family..." http://t.co/UP82PDFhT5
— unificationism today (@utblog) June 23, 2015Monday, July 6, 2015
BOOK: The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century by Vladimir Tismaneanu
BOOK: The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century by Vladimir Tismaneanu http://t.co/cJ51caAgG9
— unificationism today (@utblog) April 16, 2015
Sunday, July 5, 2015
BOOK: "Fascism and communism were not antithetical but frères ennemis."—Eugen Weber, UCLA
"Fascism and communism were not antithetical but frères ennemis."—Eugen Weber, UCLA http://t.co/csLQe7qgBL
— unificationism today (@utblog) April 7, 2015
Saturday, July 4, 2015
BOOK: "Hubris and Hypocrisy, Incitement and Disavowal: Sexuality and German Fascism" —Dagmar Herzog, Michigan State
BOOK: "Hubris and Hypocrisy, Incitement and Disavowal: Sexuality and German Fascism" —Dagmar Herzog, Michigan State http://t.co/hdvlk7mgQ4
— unificationism today (@utblog) March 6, 2015
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Personal comments submitted to the July 1, 2015 article: UPF Dallas Marches for Traditional Marriage in 4th of July Parade
July 1, 2015 article:
UPF Dallas Marches for Traditional Marriage in 4th of July Parade
Comments:
Submitted to the comment section July 1, 2015
Dear brothers and sisters
I don’t understand why we can’t advocate for “core values” of “traditional marriage” without denigrating other types of minority marriages.
Respectfully and with love
Don't Be a Sucker by U.S. War Department Published 1947
Admonishes if we let fanaticism, hatred, prejudice turn us into suckers:
Sunday, June 28, 2015
SERMON: How to Prevent Extremism - In Jin Moon, Jun 28, 2015
SERMON: How to Prevent Extremism - In Jin Moon http://t.co/yD0WlZLFcI Jun 28, 2015 http://t.co/iPFMQfPfeZ
— unificationism today (@utblog) June 28, 2015Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Personal Comments on Mother Moon's Latest Hoon Dok Hwe Message "This Country is God’s Homeland" April 13, 2015
Links to the Church Articles:
IPeace TV Shares True Mother’s Latest Hoon Dok Hwe Message
This Country is God’s Homeland
My Comments:*
Dear Brothers and Sisters
I have sincere and heartfelt concerns about the church's involvement in the political and military goals voiced in this report. Isn't every country "God's homeland"? The separation of church and state and the rule of law are very important for the religious freedom of us all.
It seems to me that the church is seeking governmental authority and not just religious converts. That is very troubling.
The only reason that the clergy would seek such political authority is to possess the powers of a civil government (e.g. police, army, law making, law enforcement). And the only purpose for that would be to force the public to accept their religious views and commands through physical means rather than through love, service and persuasion.
Sincerely and respectfully and with love.
*These comments were submitted on the Church website article on April 7, 2015
IPeace TV Shares True Mother’s Latest Hoon Dok Hwe Message
This Country is God’s Homeland
My Comments:*
Dear Brothers and Sisters
I have sincere and heartfelt concerns about the church's involvement in the political and military goals voiced in this report. Isn't every country "God's homeland"? The separation of church and state and the rule of law are very important for the religious freedom of us all.
It seems to me that the church is seeking governmental authority and not just religious converts. That is very troubling.
The only reason that the clergy would seek such political authority is to possess the powers of a civil government (e.g. police, army, law making, law enforcement). And the only purpose for that would be to force the public to accept their religious views and commands through physical means rather than through love, service and persuasion.
Sincerely and respectfully and with love.
"What, then, is fascism? Fascism denies the fundamental values of modern democracy, including respect for the individual and his basic rights, freedoms of speech, the press and association, and the parliamentary system. Race or nationality is the ultimate value, to be upheld by a strong nation-state..."
—Unification Church Divine Principle Chapter 5 Section 4.3.2
The Constitution of the Republic of Korea
Article 20: [Religion, Church] (1) All citizens enjoy the freedom of religion.
(2) No state religion may be recognized, and church and state are to be separated.
"The purpose will not be to legislate, either politically or doctrinally, but to promote mutual respect..." —Sun Myung Moon
*These comments were submitted on the Church website article on April 7, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Missing One Thousand Years? | "Byzantium: The Lost Empire"
The Divine Principle "Parallels in History" seems to largely ignore the reality of the one thousand year reign of the Christian Byzantine Roman Empire. It's important that we all be aware of this very critical and influential part of our history. As the old saying goes; "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."—George Santayana
"Theirs was, in their view, none other than the Roman Empire, founded shortly before the beginning of the Christian Era by God’s grace to unify his people in preparation for the coming of his Son. Proud of that Christian and Roman heritage, convinced that their earthly empire so nearly resembled the heavenly pattern that it could never change..."
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire
From Wikipedia:
"It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
"Pulcheria... one of the most important figures in Byzantine and even in World History."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcheria
VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "... Pulcheria... the three roles of women laid out in the early Christian Church; sinners, virgins and mothers... "—John Romer, Egyptologist
VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "After Pulcheria, emperors ruled by divine right, and the right of birth, and all western kings imitated them... changed the way men saw women and women saw themselves... sexuality... "—John Romer
Religious Freedom?
"Justinian I... solidified his power but ended with the deaths of a reported 30,000 to 35,000 rioters on his orders."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
Like the Bible, if we look at the Divine Principle symbolically, poetically and metaphorically it expresses a sacred history, not a literal and scientific one.
"A religion does not need to be interpreted literally in order to be valuable and taken seriously."—Anonymous
"Byzantium: The Lost Empire" (full documentary by John Romer)
VIDEO: Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History
Divine Principle Chapter 3 The Periods in Providential History and the Determination of Their Lengths http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/expodp/edp-history.html
Divine Principle Chapter 4 The Parallels between the Two Ages in the Providence of Restoration http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/expodp/edp-parallels.htmlFrom Encyclopedia Britannica:
"Theirs was, in their view, none other than the Roman Empire, founded shortly before the beginning of the Christian Era by God’s grace to unify his people in preparation for the coming of his Son. Proud of that Christian and Roman heritage, convinced that their earthly empire so nearly resembled the heavenly pattern that it could never change..."
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire
From Wikipedia:
"It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
"Pulcheria... one of the most important figures in Byzantine and even in World History."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcheria
VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "... Pulcheria... the three roles of women laid out in the early Christian Church; sinners, virgins and mothers... "—John Romer, Egyptologist
VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "After Pulcheria, emperors ruled by divine right, and the right of birth, and all western kings imitated them... changed the way men saw women and women saw themselves... sexuality... "—John Romer
Religious Freedom?
"Theodosius I established, with the Edict of Thessalonica, the Christianity of the First Council of Nicaea as the official state religion, reserving for its followers the title of Catholic Christians and declaring that those who did not follow the religion taught by Pope Damasus I of Rome and Pope Peter of Alexandria were to be called heretics...
In 391, Theodosius closed all the 'pagan' (non-Christian and non-Jewish) temples and formally forbade pagan worship."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire
"Justinian I... solidified his power but ended with the deaths of a reported 30,000 to 35,000 rioters on his orders."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
~<@
Like the Bible, if we look at the Divine Principle symbolically, poetically and metaphorically it expresses a sacred history, not a literal and scientific one.
"A religion does not need to be interpreted literally in order to be valuable and taken seriously."—Anonymous
~<@
"Byzantium: The Lost Empire" (full documentary by John Romer)
~<@
VIDEO: Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History
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