Beliefs about God
First and foremost God is our parent, having both the heart of a mother and a father. Through experiencing God as our Heavenly Parent, we realize our divine value and understand the connection we have with those around us.
As a parent, God is heartbroken by the devastation He sees in the world devastation and longs to fulfill in our lives what He originally intended.
God wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives. For that reason, we strive to build a very personal and real relationship with God, which fuels our capacity to love others and reach our fullest potential.
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Beliefs about People
All people are created in the image of God and have unique value. This value is absolute and unchanging, regardless of any differences. We are all precious to God and we strive to reflect that in our relationships.
God is always reaching out to each one of us. As we reach back, we create the possibility for God to work in our lives. It’s our choice.
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Beliefs about Family
Together, a man and woman reflect the image of God. It is through this relationship that we experience the fullness of life and God’s heart of true love. We support the creation of healthy marriages and families through the marriage Blessing.
Our families are our greatest gift to the world and to God. By working to create ideal families, ones that know how to deal with the ups and downs that come our way, we raise families that can love broadly and deeply as God does, and we contribute to the betterment of our world with every generation.
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Beliefs about Religion
Religion is a vehicle through which God is reaching out to the world. We recognize that all the major faith traditions are expressions of God’s work in the world and hold important truths. We respect and honor these traditions.
Today, God is revealing a way for the world’s religions to unify, overcoming historical conflict, through discovering a new relationship with God and each other.
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Discover more about Unification life, people and perspectives at dplife.info.
Marriage BlessingGod’s Love Empowers Marriage
Every religion and culture honors marriage and family in varying forms. Marriage propels people into a whole new experience of love. Through the love relationship between a man and a woman, a couple can grow closer to God because together they naturally reflect the masculinity and femininity within our Heavenly Parent.
Marriages do best when connected to the source of love. God’s love empowerscouples with the ‘true love’ that men and women need to carry them through the realities of life together. Without tapping into this source of love, men and women come up short on the ability to give and forgive, serve one another, and be steadfast and faithful throughout the years. To try to realize the fullness of marital love without God’s blessing and love as a foundation can be fraught with difficulties, as evidenced by the high divorce rate in most developed nations and the incredible pain people visit upon one another when they try to love without a spiritual basis of respect and fidelity, in a committed and lasting relationship. More Than a Marriage
The Marriage Blessing, established by Rev and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, is an inter-religious affirmation of the universal importance of marriage and family, more fundamental than even our various faith traditions. The Marriage Blessing is much more than a wedding ceremony. It is an instrument of salvation and healing. Since 1992, clergy and members from many faiths have participated in the International and Inter-religious Marriage Blessing Ceremony. Through participating in one of these unique wedding ceremonies, couples publicly demonstrate that true love in marriage is the key to a peaceful world. Married couples join to rededicate their love to God and each other, renewing their marriage to become a part of this historical transformation.
Whether you are a married couple seeking to infuse new life into your relationship, or you are single and looking for a more promising approach to marriage, receiving the Marriage Blessing is your opportunity to experience love as God intended. |
Basic TeachingsDivine Principle
At age 16, atop Mount Myodu in North Korea, Rev. Sun Myung Moon had a deep encounter with Jesus and accepted call to continue his mission of world salvation. Jesus revealed his sorrowful heart towards humanity. Thus, by 1945 after World War II, Rev. Moon published his revelations and teachings in the Divine Principle and began his public ministry. The Divine Principle or, Exposition of the Divine Principle (in Korean, Wolli Kangron, hangul: 원리강론, hanja: 原理講論) is the main theological textbook of the Unification Church. The text presents itself as a new revelation from God, given through the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. The term "Divine Principle" is also used by Unificationists to refer to a metaphysical concept of divine truth, of which the text is only an imperfect human expression. The Divine Principle follows the format of systematic theology, basing its insights on exegesis of the Bible. However, it is held by some believers to have the status of scripture itself. The content starts with God's purpose in creating human beings, the Fall of man, and redemption—the process through history by which God is working to remove the ill effects of the human fall and restore humanity back to the relationship and position that God originally intended. According to its preface, The Divine Principle expresses universal truth; it inherits and builds upon the core truths which God revealed through the Jewish and Christian scriptures and encompasses the wisdom from the Orient. Aside from its first chapter, the Principle of Creation, which is replete with Eastern concepts such as Yin and Yang, the greater part of the book relies almost entirely on the Bible. Yet a close reading shows that the text approaches the Bible from an Eastern sensibility, informed by such Confucian concepts as filial piety and the centrality of the family. The words "Divine Principle" are a direct translation of the Korean term wolli, which literally means "original principle"—'original' in the sense of God's original plan for creation. While some Unificationists speak of the "Divine Principles," plural forms are not normally used in Korean, and there is a sense that these principles fit together into a unitary whole. Unification Church members sometimes refer to the Divine Principle (or simply "The Principle") meaning not only the specific translation of Wolli Kangron, but an eternal truth already existing in the universe before the books were written. Indeed, many believe the Divine Principle's overt attitude toward the Bible also applies to itself, namely: "[It] is not the truth itself, but rather is a textbook teaching the truth." |