The meaning and value of the blessing

1. The meaning and value of the blessing

2. Who is God?

3. One God and the oneness of God “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”Deut. 6:4 Monotheism led to monogamy “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”  Genesis 1:24

4. The dual characteristics of God “God created man in his likeness . . . male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27 Within God the dual characteristics are harmonized into oneness There is not a “Father God” and a ”Mother God” Fatherly aspect of God; the Motherly aspect of God

5. God is Love “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:16

6. Why did God create the universe and us? What is the purpose of life?

7. Why did God create man? • The most essential aspect of God is heart. Heart is the impulse to love an object and is the fountain and motivator of love. It is the nature of heart to seek an object to love. God, whose essence is heart, feels joy when he can love an object that he created. DP, Level 4 • What kind of object? One in his image and likeness – male and female

8. How can we become ‘like God’,? “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”Ephesians 5:1

9. What is God like? • Heart • Intellect, emotion, will • Logos • Reason and law • Justice, ethics - relationships of ordered love • Four Great Realms of Heart • Creativity To become like God, God gave human beings the Three Great Blessings

10. The three great blessings And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.” Genesis 1:28 God Heart Logos Creativity Fruitful Dominion Multiply Human

11. First blessing - be fruitful Body Mind The ability to create and complete our character “Be complete as yourheavenly Father is complete.” Matthew 5:48 We create our character through our thoughts, words and deeds God Sensitivity to the Heart of God Fulfill potential Joy Meditation Concentration Subject Object Virtuous The physical desires should express spiritual values ☀ Bodily functions ☀ Eat ☀ Sleep ☀ Sexual desire Keep promises Don’t drink, smoke True Person Unity of mind and body Words and deeds are one

12. What does one have to do to fulfill the first blessing? Establish a foundation of faith and a foundation of substance

13. Adam and Eve should have kept their sexual purity The commandment was to protect Adam and Eve Developed their spiritual life Followed their conscience God Vertical Word Archangel Creation Adam Eve Foundation of Faith

14. Adam and Eve should have reached maturity God Lord of Creation Proper order in the created world Word Word Horizontal Foundation of Substance

15. MatureWoman Mature Man Blessing in divine marriage I am the daughter of God. A unique expression of femininity of God I am the son of God. A unique expression of masculinity of God God Love Life Lineage Children When husband and wife are united in marriage, they are no longer seen as something earthly, but as the image of God Himself. St John Chrysostom

16. Second blessing - multiply God The ability to create a family Four Great Realms of Heart Joy Wife Husband True Love Family is the basis of society “If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” I John 4:12 Child The love of God and the love of man are not two loves, but aspects of the same unifying love. St Maximus the Confessor Family Society Family is the school of love Nation World

17. God’s love - God Woman Man Children Expressed and experienced through the family Love, life and lineage Child’s love Sibling love Conjugal love Parental love By having children man can feel the vertical love that God feels toward man. Husband Father Wife Mother True Love Son Brother Daughter Sister

18. What is marriage? • A divine and socially recognized eternal union of a man and woman for • love • companionship • mutual support • procreation • upbringing of children

19. Why do we marry? It is so that we may resemble God’s image. Because men and women are projections of God’s divine characteristics, their destiny is to form a union as one body and return to oneness with God’s original character. So the purpose of marriage is to bring into oneness the realm of heart of one man, representing the world of masculinity, and one woman, representing the world of femininity, so that they may perfect the love between a man and a woman. Father, 21.8.2004

20. Why is marriage important? It is because it is the path by which we seek true love. It is because it is the path for creating life. It is because it is the path on which the lineage of a man and woman are co-mingled. Father, 21.8.2004

21. When you marry you get . . . • God’s blessing on the relationship • God’s permission and wholehearted support for the relationship • Potential to experience God in every aspect of the relationship leading to complete oneness • Your parent’s and family’s and community’s blessing and support • A stronger guarantee of success

22. What is the meaning of sex? • When a husband and wife embrace each other in true love, it is the equivalent of the universe becoming one body. This is the original image of creation brought into substantial reality in the context of God’s ideal. Father, 21.8.2004

23. Read good books

24. Good Environ-ment Third blessing: take dominion Right of dominion over the creation Harmony with nature God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. Genesis 2:15 God The creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans 8:19 Microcosm Natural World Person Joy Stewards Lords of Creation Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. Genesis 2:19 Inherit God’s creativity

25. Purpose of life – three blessings God God God True Love Body Things Mind Person True Love True Love Husband Wife Mature Person Good Environment Child Multiply Be ‘Fruitful’ Have Dominion Family Society Nation One World Family

26. In practice . . . • Mature person • Mind – body unity • Trustworthy and virtuous • Rounded person • Relate freely in every direction • Creative person • Responsible job • Owner

27. The human fall and change of lineage

28. What went wrong?

29. The story of Adam and Eve

30. What happened at the fall? • Eve was traumatized by her relationship with Lucifer • Sexually, emotionally, psychologically damaged • Sense of worthlessness and being needy • Hurt, vulnerable, wanting to be loved • Adam was damaged by his relationship with Eve • Inherited the archangelic nature • Weak and hard to respect • Influenced by malign spiritual forces

31. All people affected by the fall Original sin is transmitted through the physical body. EDP, 392 Lucifer Evil elements Evil elements Adam Eve Evil elements Evil elements Children “Original Sin” Original damage Original trauma Descendants

33. What happened at the fall? • All the relationships of the Four Great Realms of Heart were corrupted and distorted • Man – woman • Husband – wife • Parents – children • Sibling – sibling • Restoration is putting all these relationships right

34. Fallen sexuality • Men have inherited the fallen archangelic nature to want to control and possess and have sexual relationships with women for their own pleasure and gratification. Lust, not love • Droit du seigneur – ‘lord’s right’ • Sexual harassment and worse • Women have inherited the tendency to be seduced by powerful men and to be seductive

35. Loss of the three blessings . . . • People struggle to attain mind-body unity • Alcoholism, laziness, lying, identity crisis • People struggle to achieve good relations • Divorce, conflict, loneliness, ‘bad sex’ • People struggle to manage the ‘world’ • Finances, tidiness, pollution

36. What is restoration? • Restoration occurs when you find yourself in a similar position to Adam, Eve, the archangel, Cain or Abel, or one of your ancestors etc. • And you have to face the same temptation to make the same mistake that they did and continue the pattern of fallen history • But you choose not to do so and instead of acting out of your fallen nature you act according to your original nature and follow your conscience. You break the cycle of abuse and pattern of fallen history

37. To purify the lineage of fallen nature in each relationship • Adam – Eve – Lucifer • Abraham – Sarah - Pharaoh • Lucifer – Adam • Cain and Abel • Esau and Jacob • Joseph and his brothers • Parent – child • Noah and Ham • Abraham and Isaac • Rebecca and Jacob • Husband and wife • Isaac and Rebecca • Sister – sister • Sarah and Hagar • Rachel and Leah

38. An example of restoration and purification of the lineage

39. Restoring the relationship between Archangel and Eve • Men have inherited the archangelic nature to want to control and possess and have sexual relationships with women for their own pleasure and gratification. Lust, not love •  Droit du seigneur – ‘lord’s right’ • Sexual harassment and worse • Women have inherited the tendency to be seduced by a powerful men and to be seductive

40. Abraham, Sarah and Pharaoh Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there. Genesis 12:10

41. What is going on here? Eve Adam Satan Humanity Creation

42. How did Sarah restore the position of Eve? Sarah Abraham Pharaoh Lot Genesis 12:10-20 Wealth Gradual incremental purification of the lineage

43. Restoring the value of a human being God Isaac Abraham Genesis 22:1-19 Central person The Binding of Isaac  After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him as a burnt offering. So Abraham rose early in the morning . . .” Genesis 22:1-2

44. Why did God test Abraham? • Test and miracle same word in Hebrew • Test – do what is impossible. Break barriers. Break habits of thinking • Abraham had passed 9 tests • Sacrificing Isaac contrary to everything • Why did God ask him to do it? • Why was Abraham willing to do it? • Why did Isaac go along with it? • The core of one’s being lies not in the self but in commitment to the Creator

45. But . . . • Abraham was chosen to be a role model • “For I have chosen him so that he will instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.” • Kierkegaard, - “teleological suspension of the ethical” • Willingness to let the I-Thou love of God overrule the universal principles that bind humans to one another. • This is the logic of the religious fanatic, the inquisitor, the suicide bomber • God does not ask us to be unethical • Another way of looking at it . . .

46. A challenge to the ancient family • The family in the ancient world • Domestic religion • Ancestor worship • Child sacrifice • Head of family had absolute authority • Power of life and death over wife and children • Roman law – patria potestas • Both were property • Authority inherited by first born • Biblical tradition rejects all of the above which are pagan

47. The Biblical worldview . . . • Biblical world • Worship God of all humanity – not ancestors • Father AND mother have equal authority • Every person is a child of God • Parents are guardians not owners • The individual has divine, unique, eternal value • God asking Abraham to renounce ownership of Isaac • Children are not the property of their parents • Children belong to God • Parents do not have the right to sacrifice children • God is asking Isaac to acknowledge that he belongs to God

48. What is change of lineage? Abraham and Isaac went through a life and death situation for the sake of God and the future dignity of man Where is the change of blood lineage done? On the individual level, man has to go beyond the boundary of life and death. The individual has to go through life and death situations for the sake of God and the future dignity of man. (True Father, 1970)

49. Abraham and Isaac restore true dignity of a human being This event established that every human being is a child of God So a man cannot own his wife or his children or another human being A wife is a daughter of God and the feminine expression of God and should be treated with love and respect and be cherished and worshipped A husband is a son of God and masculine expression of God and should be treated with love and respect and cherished and worshipped

50. What is changing? Different metaphors to try to describe and explain an invisible reality • Change of ownership • From belonging to Satan to belonging to God • Change of identity • From child of Satan to child of God • Change of lineage • Change of sovereignty