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 Christian School Essay
THEOLOGY PROPER
~The Unification Church believes that God does indeed exist. Their beliefs hold
up to the cosmological, teleological, anthropological, moral, and ontological
arguments of the existence of God. Though the Unification Church’s standpoint
on natural revelation is not clear, it is assumed that they generally accept the
doctrines of orthodox Christianity. Special Revelation is a quite different
issue, however. The Unification Church believes that God communicated his Word
through Moses in the Old Testament age and through Jesus Christ in the New
Testament age. While true, Unificationists continue to say that God has
revealed himself through Rev. Sun Myung Moon in the Completed Testament age, and
that his Word is expressed through the Divine Principle. The Divine Principle
will be discussed later on in the Bibliology section.
~Though the Unification Church reveres the Bible as a scripture, they
fundamentally replace it with the Divine Principle. Rev. Moon distrusts the
Bible, for he has depreciated the value of the Bible in the past saying, “The
Bible, however, is not the truth itself, but contains the truth.” By saying
this, Moon casts doubt upon the authority of the Bible. Jesus, however, states
in John 17:17, “…your Word is truth.” The psalmist also states that the Word of
God is truth when he says, “Yet you are near, O Lord, and your commandments are
true” (Psalm 119:151). Rev. Moon feels that the Bible is outdated for use in
the modern world – that it is impossible to use the same method for evangelizing
in today’s world that was used in the New Testament age. He feels that some
sort of new truth must appear, a truth that can be spread throughout today’s
society, and he is the sole source for this new information. After all, the
Divine Principle supports this assertion by stating in the introduction:
“This truth must appear as a revelation from God himself. This new truth has
already appeared…! God has sent His messenger…. His name is Sun Myung Moon.”
~Moon’s beliefs are based mainly on spiritism; he believes that spiritism is a
competent replacement for the Holy Spirit:
“Spirit men pour out spiritual fire…. They enable earthly men to see many facts
in the spirit world in a state of trance, give them the gift of prophecy, and
inspire them spiritually. Through such activities, substituting for the Holy
Spirit, they cooperate with earthly men to fulfill the will of God.”
Because Rev. Moon bases his beliefs and revelations on the work of spirits other
than the Holy Spirit, his views are debunked. Only the Holy Spirit can relate
the true Word of God, as seen in II Peter 1:21: “For prophecy never had its
origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by
the Holy Spirit.” John 14:26 does not tell us that spirit men will teach us all
things, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to
you.” Therefore, since men can only speak from God if they are carried along by
the Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit can teach us of God’s ways, then Moon
is inaccurate in his beliefs, for his revelations do not come from the Holy
Spirit, rather from spirit men.
~Reverend Moon believes that in three “testaments:” the Old Testament, the New
Testament, and the Complete Testament. The Complete Testament is supposedly the
message given in the Divine Principle, though Moon has suggested before that
there will be more revelations to come. Moon promised another revelation 25
years ago, called “Book Two,” which would turn the heart of the most stubborn
towards him. This book, however, has yet to be seen; thus the “Complete
Testament” lacks completeness. If such a book existed with that powerful an
influence to warm the coldest of hearts to God, wouldn’t it make sense to have
released this as soon as possible so as to catch every potential convert?
~Rev. Moon describes God in dualistic characteristics. “God’s internal essence
is both male and female, positive and negative (yang and yin). God’s external
relationship is subject and object, male and female (yang and yin)” (Martin, p.
361). Dr. Young Oon Kim explains this relationship: “Though there are dual
characteristics in God’s nature, namely, true fatherhood and motherhood, He
appears as a masculine character (subject) to His creation (object).” Moon
believes that man can be divided into two identical halves because God is
dualistic and can be divided in two identical halves, also; God wanted to create
man the same as himself so that he could interact with him.
~Christians do not “divide” the Lord in two or confuse the three persons of the
trinity. Christ’s personal unity is indisputable, for John 8:58, I Corinthians
8:6, John 1:1, and John 1:14 all show that Christ is one with the Father. The
idea of God being divisible like man is corrupt, for God doesn’t even divide His
attributes with anyone: “I am the Lord: that is my name; and my glory will I
not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8).
~The Unification Church does use the term “trinity,” but in a different context
and with a different meaning. They use it to mean any group of three beings.
The Christian meaning for “trinity”, however, is the embodiment of the three
unique persons of God (the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit) into one
God. Isaiah 43:10 identifies that there is only one God:
“’You are my witness,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, so
that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god
was formed, nor will there be one after me.”
Matthew 6:9 declares that God is personal as the Father: “This then, is how you
should pray: ‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name….” Matthew 3:17
depicts God being personal as the Son: “And a voice from the heaven said, ‘This
is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” Finally, Acts 5:3 shows
that God is personal as the holy Spirit: “Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it
that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and
have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?” The
Unification Church misunderstands the trinity as polytheism; they see the
trinity as three separate gods: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Moon defines
“trinity” as “Jesus and the Holy Spirit become one body centered on God.” By
stating, “by uniting with the Holy Spirit, Jesus established the Holy Trinity
for the first time – but spiritually,” Rev. Moon indicates that the trinity had
a beginning. This is impossible, for God is infinite and eternal – He is not
bound by the limitations of time and finitude. Psalm 90:2, Genesis 21:33, and
Acts 17:24 cite that time cannot limit God’s dealings.
~To Rev. Moon, the meaning of “trinity” was God’s ideal family of Adam and Eve,
centered about God. These three were to make up the original trinity, but the
fall of man due to Adam and Eve’s sins caused Adam and Eve to form a satanic
trinity with Satan. As a result, all their descendants have formed satanic
trinities with Satan, and thus a savior is needed to break the trinities and
form holy trinities. Everyone is in a subject/object relationship with God,
according to Moon. Creation is actually God’s “second self, the visible God.”
Apparently, Moon sees the universe as the physical manifestation of the
invisible God. God is supposedly existent only in the spiritual world, acting
as the “internal character” of the universe. The Divine Principle describes God
as “energy itself.”
~The Unification Church is recognized as pantheism, or in other words, God
exists “in” everything, but is distinguished from the material atoms themselves.
If God was pre-existent before creation, then for creation to become his
“visible second self” it requires a change in his nature. God cannot change his
nature, however. This can be read in numerous verses throughout the Bible, such
as Psalm 102:26-27, which states:
“They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like
clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the
same, and your years will never end.”
Malachi 3:6 also refutes this theory of pantheism: “’I the Lord do not
change….’” Isaiah 46:9-10 also says:
“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I
will do all that I please.”
James 1:17 clearly states that God is immutable: “Every good and perfect gift is
from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not
change like shifting shadows.” As anyone may see, the Lord cannot change, and
therefore could not have possibly changed his will to create his “visible second
self.” Since pantheism cannot be true, the Unification Church's view cannot be
true, either, for they hold the same view of God.
~Moon claims that the archangel Lucifer and other angels assisted the Lord in
the creation of the universe. He states:
“The archangel [Lucifer] had worked with God to create all the things in the
universe; he knew everything…. God created the angels as servants who were to
assist in the creation of the universe.”
It is quite impossible to find a single verse in the entire Bible which even
gives the slightest reference to Lucifer or any angels assisting the Lord in the
creation process. One can, however, find evidence for the pre-existence of
Jesus Christ as the Creator. This evidence occurs in John 1:3, 10; I
Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16-17; and Hebrews 1:2, 10. As the reader can
figure out, Christ is truly the Creator, not Lucifer.
~Since God must live in everything that is created, God himself must have these
two separate elements [Sung Sang and Hyung Sang]. God must have the same nature
as the rest of His creation, for without having such characteristics, He would
eventually be destroyed by trying to exist in such a world…. If man did not
exist then God would vanish.” This statement by Reverend Sun Myung Moon depicts
a weak, needful God who is not omnipotent. Even the Divine Principle expounds
on this idea: “In order for God to exist externally, God has dual
essentialities.” This implies that God is dependent on His own creation for
existence – a truly ridiculous idea. There are many verses which point to God’s
independence from creation. I Chronicles 16:36 describes God as “everlasting to
everlasting,” while Job 36:26 describes Him as:
“How great is God – beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past
finding out.”
Psalm 41:13, 90:1-4, 93:2, and 102:24-27 also describe God as independent from
His creation. Numbers 23:19 distinguishes God from man with the phrase “God is
not a man.” “I am God, and not a man” clears the idea of God’s dependency on
man forever (Hosea 11:9).
~This is the Unification Church’s view on Theology Proper. As one may see,
there are many distinguishable differences between their views and those of
orthodox Christianity. The views supported by the Unification Church are either
based on non-biblical assumptions, or on misinterpreted scripture. Either way,
many scripture verses found throughout the bible, telling of God’s divine
attributes can disprove the ideas presented by the Unification Church.
EMAIL THE AUTHOR:
longreach13@hotmail.com
 Christian School Essay
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