Responses to Questions on
Unificationism on the Internet - Volume 25
Mar 12 1996
Subject: Re: World Scripture - Devotion and Praise
Newsgroups: alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion.christian,alt.religion.islam
References: <4i4ein$jpe@news.fsu.edu>
Organization: Capital Area Internet Service info@cais.com 703-448-4470
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Dave Spingler (spingler@nucmar.physics.fsu.edu) wrote:
: Damian J. Anderson (damian@cais.cais.com) wrote:
: : DEVOTION AND PRAISE
: : Devotion to God is the love for God that expresses itself in joyful
: : and emotional outpourings of praise and worship and a constant longing for
: : God's sweet presence. This powerful mode of religious consciousness is
: : particularly manifest in the bhakti tradition of Hinduism and Sikhism, in
: : the dancing and songs of Sufi Muslims and Hassidic Jews, and in pietistic
: : movements throughout the history of Christianity. Many of these passages
: : describe this mystical emotion as a transformed and sublime love of a
: : bride for her beloved, as in the Song of Solomon in the Bible, in the love
: : poetry of the Adi Granth, and in the amorous episodes of Krishna and the
: : cowherd girls in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Other passages express devotion to
: : God in songs and psalms of praise.
: What is a Sufi Muslim?
It is a tradition within Islam, as Hasidism is a tradition within
Judaism, or Methodism is a tradition within Christianity.
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
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Mar 13 1996
Subject: Re: What's up with the mass weddings? Are Koreans just a bunch of Moonies?
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean,alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion.christian
References: <4i6atf$8bq@dfw-ixnews1.ix.netcom.com>
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Joe Kim (sacmonk@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: >> home page: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ba252
: >
: >huh? What do Moonies have to do with mass conformity? Sounds like an
: >ignorant question.
: >
: >Byeong uk Yook
: What a dumb question to ask. Moonies are a cult that specialize in
: mass weddings that number in thousands of Moonie couples. Joe Kim
While Unificationists have large mass weddings, we can hardly be
said to be conformists as we do not conform to the societal norms.
To conform in today's world is to have sex before marriage, then
either never to marry or to divorce soon after marrying, or to have
kids out of wedlock.
Unificationists are demonstrating a high standard of altruism
through mass marriages, willing to accept an arranged marriage for
the sake of bringing races, religions and cultures together for
the furtherance of world peace. It is not an act of conformity at
all but a bold statement of an elevated standard of values regarding
marriage, family and sexuality, and the desire to create a world
of harmony through the marriage of people of extreme differences.
The next such wedding will involve 3.6 million couples and is
scheduled to take place in Washington DC in November 1997.
When the numbers are this large, we are no longer to be considered
a cult or fringe group. That is a label reserved for a small
unpopular group, neither of which apply any more.
For more information on Unificationism, you may check out my
Unification Home Page which is available in 9 languages, Korean is
coming up.
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
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Mar 14 1996
Subject: Re: What's up with the mass weddings? Are Koreans just a bunch of Moonies?
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean,alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion.christian
References: <4i6atf$8bq@dfw-ixnews1.ix.netcom.com> <4i7vpg$1uc@news2.cais.com> <31486d97.3668550@news.snafu.de>
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Tilman Hausherr (tilman@berlin.snafu.de) wrote:
: In <4i7vpg$1uc@news2.cais.com>, damian@cais3.cais.com (Damian J.
: Anderson) wrote:
: >To conform in today's world is to have sex before marriage, then
: >either never to marry or to divorce soon after marrying, or to have
: >kids out of wedlock.
: What is Moon's position on divorce ? Is this ok, or is it a no-no ?
I provide some quotes below from Rev. Moon to indicate that he
teaches the following:
(1) A loving harmionious marriage is a prerequisite to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven.
(2) Those who do not love each other unselfishly will tend to divorce
once they discover each other's shortcomings.
(3) Divorce hurts the family, and the society, and the individuals involved.
These are excerpts from a section of "Blessing and Ideal Family"
that can be found at the URL:
http://www.unification.net/bif/bif-7-1.html#4
"Blessing and Ideal Family"
by Reverend Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 7
THE TRUE HUSBAND AND WIFE AND THE IDEAL FAMILY
Part 1
TRUE HUSBAND AND WIFE
4. IDEAL HUSBAND AND WIFE
A couple has to establish a family with the affection generated from
each other, and it should match God's purpose. Otherwise, you cannot
enter the Kingdom of Heaven where God dwells in eternity. This is the
conclusion and God's purpose of creation.
**
Husband and wife should love each other as God's representatives. If
you love from a humanistic point of view, you will eventually get
divorced after discovering each other's shortcomings.
**
If a man and a woman get divorced whenever one of them makes a
mistake, the family system will be destroyed and the order of society
will be thrown into confusion. According to the degree of the mistake,
they are to be given the indemnity period to repent. They should be
educated about their mistakes and should be led not to make the same
mistakes, in order for them to continue as a harmonious family.
: Tilman Hausherr
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
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Mar 15 1996
Subject: Re: What's up with the mass weddings? Are Koreans just a bunch of Moonies?
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean,alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion.christian
References: <4i6atf$8bq@dfw-ixnews1.ix.netcom.com> <4i7vpg$1uc@news2.cais.com> <31486d97.3668550@news.snafu.de> <4iarv4$lv0@news2.cais.com> <3149ad12.890279@news.snafu.de>
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Tilman Hausherr (tilman@berlin.snafu.de) wrote:
: In <4iarv4$lv0@news2.cais.com>, damian@cais3.cais.com (Damian J.
: Anderson) wrote:
: >If a man and a woman get divorced whenever one of them makes a
: >mistake, the family system will be destroyed and the order of society
: >will be thrown into confusion. According to the degree of the mistake,
: >they are to be given the indemnity period to repent. They should be
: >educated about their mistakes and should be led not to make the same
: >mistakes, in order for them to continue as a harmonious family.
: Moon is definitely a smart guy. The above is not in contradiction to his
: own divorce record. But what did Moon do to repent for his three
: previous marriages, and where did he get educated not to repeat his
: mistake ?
Although it takes two to make a marriage, it only takes one to make
a divorce. It causes unspeakable heartbreak for those involved,
especially if there are children of the marriage, but sometimes,
one does not have a choice in these matters.
If one person loves another and the other does not respond with
love, is the former guilty? If that were the case, then God would
be guilty for man's sin, and that is false. If a man loves his wife
with all his heart and soul, and his wife rejects him, and divorces
him, is he to be bound to that loveless woman forever? Since God's
plan is for all to experience the heaven that comes from the love
of a man and a woman with God's blessing, the man may remarry, but
the one who procures the divorce commits a grievous sin, not the
one who is rejected.
If you want to know what happened with his first wife, you may read
Rev. Won Pil Kim's account of it in his book which is available
on my Home Page:
http://www.unification.net/fcolf/fcolf-21.html
: Tilman
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Italian, Hungarian
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Mar 17 1996
From: "Damian J. Anderson"
To: Jenise Jacques
Subject: Seminar project on the evangelism on the Internet
In-Reply-To: <199603152237.RAA23715@cais.cais.com>
Message-ID:
This is my response to questions posted by a reader of the Unification
Home Page. Posted with permission.
On Fri, 15 Mar 1996, Jenise Jacques wrote:
> Dear Mr. Damian:
>
> My name is Jenise Jacques and I am a senior at Spring Hill College in
> Mobile, Alabama. I am currently working om my senior seminar project
> about religious groups on the Internet. I was looking through the
> Internet and found your Home Page. I am using the Unification Church as
> one of my examples and would greatly appreciate any information I could
> get from you on the following points. I am not having much luck finding
> the kind of information I am looking for and the Internet is my sole
> source of information.
Dear Jenise,
When you contacted me, I did not know shc.edu, so I looked up your
school and found this:
Spring Hill College (SHC-DOM)
4000 Dauphin Street
Mobile, AL 36608
Domain Name: SHC.EDU
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Bell, Glenn (GB114) asngxb01@ASNMAIL.ASC.EDU
(205) 380-3099
Record last updated on 03-Nov-94.
Record created on 03-Nov-94.
> I hope that this is not too much to ask. Quite, frankly I am little bit
> overwhelmed by this project, but I am doing my best at trying to keep my
> sanity. Where are you located by the way?
I live in Montgomery Village, Maryland, and currently work in
Washington DC, close by. As a software development consultant in
the computer industry, my place of work frequently changes.
> Here are some of the things that I am trying to find in order to complete
> my seminar:
>
> 1. How many people access this page (domestic and worldwide) and your
> Home Page?
I do not have recent statistics, but the most recent show about 780 items
downloaded per day, on average.
You can look at recent statistics at:
http://www.unification.net/stats
My server currently is not providing me with statistical information,
so I don't know the figures for the last two months.
> 2. Has the Internet been a successful tool in advertsiing and
> recruitment? When people e-mail you or contact you for information,
> how do you respond or do you respond?
I believe that it has been very successful in making people aware
of the church, and has given a worldwide audience the ability to
research the church for themselves, unassisted.
Depending on their level of interest, I usually ask them whether
they would like to be on my mailing lists, which are listed in my
signature. If they want to visit a church, I attempt to put them
in touch with someone near them. I have had information requests
from every continent. People on my mailing lists read Unification
Church literature on a daily basis as a result of this Internet
ministry. Many more have said that they read my posts on the Usenet
newsgroups daily, and that they enjoy them. I usually answer any
legitimate question from the Internet. In the beginning, there were
a lot of people sending me abusive mail, but that has largely
stopped. I had more staying power than my detractors.
Questions from my audience give me an idea of what people are
interested in, so that helps me. The Internet allows me to be
something like a talk show host, with a 24 hour a day audience, in
every time zone. And the cost for being on the air is truly minimal,
compared to any other form of mass communication.
As the lightning strikes from the East to the West, so will be the
coming of the Son of Man. The Internet is perfectly suited to spread
God's word in these chaotic tribulation times.
> 3. Is there a way to track people once they have contacted you or tapped
> into the Internet?
You can know the network address of the server they are coming in
from, and with the right software, I could probably capture even
e-mail addresses. However, I prefer that people contact me on their
own. I have quite enough to do as it is. One beautiful thing about
the Web is that people can study about something anonymously, which
can be an asset.
> 4. When did the Unification Church decide to go on the Internet?
This is my personal ministry, not an official project of the
Unification Church. However, when it became known within the church,
church elders were pleased and encouraged by it. They did not know
about the technology or understand it until I set up the Unification
Home Page. I am an expert in this field. This was a ministry uniquely
suited to my talents and situation. From those to whom much is
given, much is expected. I began the home page on March 1, 1995,
after a couple of months of thinking and praying about it. I have
been evangelizing on the Internet in other ways since 1993, before
anyone else I knew of had any knowledge or interest in it.
> Do you think that the Internet and this widespread coverage of the
> Unification Church has had a great influence on people and have
> your numbers risen significantly because of it?
I only have direct knowledge of about the 110 people on my mailing
list who read my mailings daily. My Usenet posts may well have a
very much larger audience, but I have no way to track that. Then,
the Home Page is getting quite a lot of traffic too. In addition,
several people have been taking the feed of my daily articles and
putting them on bulletin boards in various parts of the world. I
know of at least two of those. Others say that they print out this
material daily and read it with their friends. A representative of
a group of religious education teachers in Germany asked me for
every file on my web server so that they could put it on their
BBS. I sent them much of what I had in English and German. Some of
it was unfinished, so I did not send it.
Also, I know of people in various places who have contacted the
church as a result of this ministry. I know of only one person in
Idaho who has actually joined the church. Many more have begun
studying its teachings. My philosophy is to sow seeds wherever
they fall, and then from the fertile soil, fruit will grow. I
certainly have the capability to reach millions of people through
this medium, if people care to read what I write. A rising tide
raises all boats. What the world needs most at this time is a
clear sense of God's will for our age, and the power to fulfil it.
The Unification Church teachings are strongly altruistic, transcending
the denominationalism of past traditions, attempting to bring
diverse groups into unity and harmony with God at the center through
elevating the spiritual standard of everyone, and through intermarriage
between racial, religious and ethnic groups. We need to establish
a worldwide family ideal. That is the Kingdom of God.
It is difficult to assess the impact of what I am posting on the
Net, but it must be a positive impact, in my view. Our numbers have
not increased significantly to date, to my knowledge, as a direct
result of it. However, I see my role as providing mass education
to the public with regard to authentic expression of religion and
the desire to serve God. Much of the discourse which passes for
religion on the Internet is merely bickering over inconsequential
things under the guise of religion. I maintain respect for my
audience and my questioners, no matter how abusive they become,
and that does happen.
> 5. Do you follow-up on people that request info. and by what means
> do you go about doing this?
I follow up with e-mail, or a response on Usenet if that is how
they contacted me, or put them in touch with someone else. My
audience is worldwide, so I cannot physically attend to everyone.
I was interviewed over the phone last year by a newspaper reporter
in Montreal for my postings of Rev. Moon's teachings in French on
the French speaking newsgroups.
> 6. How many people have accesssed you page and other Unification
> Church's pages since its inception?
Since I started the Unification Home Page on March 1, 1995, my
estimate is that 500 items per day on average have been downloaded.
So, in one year, perhaps 180,000 items have been downloaded. I have
no way of translating that into a number of people. Maybe in the
ballpark of 30,000 people. For some reason, I have an unusually
large amount of traffic from people in large corporations and
universities in Japan, though I only have a few items in Japanese.
If you look at the access statistics on my web page, you will see
that my audience is from almost every country on the globe.
> 7. Do you keep records on people who tap into the Unification Church
> pages and your personal one? If so, what kind of records do you
> keep?
I kept e-mail from people who contacted me, but then I wiped out
my hard disk by accident and lost much of it. I keep a running FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) section on my web page which consists
of my answers to many people's questions and comments.
> 8. Besides the e-mail address, how can people gather more information
> and further explore the Unification Church?
They can go to the Unification Home Page on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.unification.net
They can contact a church in the USA through one of the churches listed in:
http://www.unification.net/misc/uc_directory.html
In other countries, I have contacts all over the world and can put
people in touch with local churches upon request. Soon, there are
to be Web pages for churches representing every major language
group in Europe. I currently have web pages in 9 languages.
To sign up for my mailing lists:
Send "subscribe unification-texts your name" to listserv@garcia.com
Send "subscribe world-scripture your name" to listserv@garcia.com
I send out one or two items of Rev. Moon's teachings on the
unification-texts mailing list daily. Then I send out one article
from the World Scripture daily on the world-scripture mailing list.
These are both send-only lists. Both of these lists are cross posted
to the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.unification and some other
newsgroups. I frequently respond to e-mail and if people have good
questions, as you do, I post my response publicly, with the name
removed, like Dear Abby. If the question was on a public forum, I
make the response public too.
> 9. Is there any other existing forum that the Unification Church
> advertises on that reaches as many people as the Internet?
Not that I know of. We have newspapers which have global reach,
but they are secular newspapers. Our network of churches worldwide
reaches virtually every country on the globe, but the Internet can
reach places that are restricted to human travel due to totalitarian
governments, or whatever reason. Also, these web pages are the work
of about a dozen people at most. It is a very efficient use of
manpower. Rev. and Mrs. Moon have conducted several worldwide
speaking tours in the recent years reaching a worldwide audience
and the highest levels of society. In a recent tour of South America,
Rev. Moon met with 8 heads of state on his tour. We also have many
international organizations which reach significant leaders, who
then in turn can influence their countries.
> 10. Are there any restrictions placed on what you can and cannot
> put on the Home Pages. If so, what are some of them?
There are some restrictions regarding sensitive diplomatic negotiations
that we are undertaking in various trouble spots in the world, such
as North Korea, but those are self-imposed.
> 11. How do you personally feel about the Internet and its effectiveness
> in portraying the Unification Church as well as the number of people
> who joined as a result of it?
I think that my ministry on the Internet has brought many people
to know about the Unification Church who previously knew nothing
or very little about it. That is especially gratifying to me and
I am proud of it. Even my detractors in many cases have come to
respect me because of the way I responded to their hostile questions
and accusations. More than that, before, most publicly available
information about the Unification Church cast us in a very negative
light, as some kind of cult or fringe group. Now, if you do an
Internet search for "Unification Church" or "Sun Myung Moon", you will
get a great deal of information originating from the Unification
Church itself rather than its detractors.
People need to know that the Unification Church is a world wide
movement of intelligent men and women and their children who are
dedicated to an unusual degree to the creation of God's Kingdom on
the Earth, and to the elimination of ignorance, disease, hunger,
poverty, and exploitation worldwide, and to the liberation of God
from worrying about saving His children, to enjoying His life with
us.
The day is surely coming when we can all say that God has wiped
the tears from their eyes and the dwelling of God is now with men
and women. It will take place with God's power, but with our own
hands!
In case you did not know, Unificationists believe that Rev. Moon
and his wife fulfil the biblical prophecy of the second coming of
Christ. The true role of Christ is as the True Parents of all
mankind, as the male and female representatives of God on Earth.
Now is the time for the vanquishment of evil on the Earth and the
establishment of God's reign on Earth, forever. Through God's
representatives, the True Parents, all mankind will be unified as
one family, with God as the head and heart. We can be adopted into
their family through the Blessing in marriage. Rev. and Mrs. Moon
will officiate over the wedding of 3.6 million couples in Washington
DC and broadcast worldwide by satellite in November 1997.
> I am sorry about the many questions and would be grateful for any
> information you could give me because I am not having much luck in
> retrieving it in other places. I thank you for your time and look
> forward to hearing from you.
Hey, I LOVE to talk, in case you hadn't guessed.
> Sincerely,
>
> Jenise L. Jacques
> jacques@shc.edu
Sincerely,
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Italian, Hungarian
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Mar 16 1996
Subject: Re: Lutheran Magazine on cults and cult recovery
Newsgroups: alt.support.ex-cult,alt.religion.christian.boston-church,alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc
References: <3149ceda.9019893@news.snafu.de>
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Tilman Hausherr (tilman@berlin.snafu.de) wrote:
: http://www.elca.org/lu/sep/cults.html
: From: The Lutheran Magazine (September 1995)
: (Copyright 1995 Augsburg Fortress)
: Cults on Campus
: For students who get lost trying 'to find God,' the road can be
: rough and long
: BY RICHARD L. DOWHOWER (Pastor of All Saints Lutheran Church, Bowie, Md. He
: counsels recovering cult members and their families and leads workshops on
: counter-education for clergy and youth. Dowhower also is an advisory board
: member of the Cult Awareness Network.)
[SNIP]
: Making 'sin lists'
: The immediate goal was to have Steffi and Laura compile a "sin list" and
: prepare them to be re-baptized--and, eventually, to have them drop out of
: school, move into the group's residence and work full time at this ministry.
: Steffi's Roman Catholic family in Columbia, Md., moved quickly to engage her
: in conversation with a priest. After just three hours of dialogue on key
: Bible passages, he convinced her that she was in a dangerous cult. Steffi
: had gotten only as far as the "sin list" session. She remembers "a lot of
: crying," some sense of forgiveness and a bonding with the other two women
: who exposed similar sins of drinking and promiscuity from their own lists.
: An initial feeling of "refreshment" turned into fear and guilt as the group
: demanded that "there be no hint of sin in my life." Steffi says that led her
: to withdraw from old friends, who now represented the threat to fall again
: into sin.
: Laura's experience was different. "I was not refreshed by the sin study,"
: she reports. "I was devastated." Having no significant childhood religious
: background, Laura "never realized the things that were sin, even in the real
: [secular] world--like sleeping with your boyfriend. I had no idea! I was
: shocked I had been going against God all this time!" And so she continued
: further into the Boston process--
This is really rich! The Lutheran Church, that same whore which
condones same sex marriages and gay clergy and adultery has the
audacity to stand in judgement of a religious group which teaches
young people to refrain from pre-marital sex and drinking.
You hypocrites! Take the beam out of your own eye before you attempt
to take the splinter out of your brother's eye!
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Italian, Hungarian
See daily articles on alt.religion.unification, or to receive by e-mail,
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Mar 17 1996
On Sat, 16 Mar 1996 JACQUES@shc.edu wrote:
> Dear Mr. Damian:
> I really appreciate you answering my questions and taking the time out. I
> am ever so grateful for your time. I would not mind at all the printing
> of my questions (although you might want to change the spelling errors).
> I am still busy working on this seminar that I think will never end.
Okay, I will correct *your* spelling mistakes. ;-) I hope I didn't make any!
> Also, I am trying to contact the Church of Scientology and find
> out some information about them. Would you mind if I contacted
> you at home.. if I needed to clarify anything. I would really
> appreciate it. And then I could get a voice behind the words.
There is a good chance I will be at home tomorrow afternoon after
church. I am in the Eastern time zone, which I guess is the same
as you. Try me any time after say 2 pm until as late as you want.
If you get a busy signal, I am on my modem, so try later.
> Have a beautiful day,
Thanks. You too.
> Jenise Jacques
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Italian, Hungarian
See daily articles on alt.religion.unification, or to receive by e-mail,
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Mar 17 1996
Subject: Re: What's up with the mass weddings? Are Koreans just a bunch of Moonies?
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean,alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion.christian
References: <4i6atf$8bq@dfw-ixnews1.ix.netcom.com> <4i7vpg$1uc@news2.cais.com> <31486d97.3668550@news.snafu.de> <4iarv4$lv0@news2.cais.com> <3149ad12.890279@news.snafu.de> <4ics5i$3g6@news2.cais.com> <314ab9b1.18496872@news.snafu.de>
Organization: Capital Area Internet Service
Distribution:
Tilman Hausherr (tilman@berlin.snafu.de) wrote:
: In <4ics5i$3g6@news2.cais.com>, damian@cais2.cais.com (Damian J.
: Anderson) wrote:
: >Although it takes two to make a marriage, it only takes one to make
: >a divorce. It causes unspeakable heartbreak for those involved,
: >especially if there are children of the marriage, but sometimes,
: >one does not have a choice in these matters.
: >
: >If one person loves another and the other does not respond with
: >love, is the former guilty? If that were the case, then God would
: >be guilty for man's sin, and that is false. If a man loves his wife
: >with all his heart and soul, and his wife rejects him, and divorces
: Who says that the one who "rejects" is the one guilty ?
I do. I cannot find a quote from Rev. Moon to say what he teaches
about that, but when in doubt, the conscience is a great teacher.
: Who says that "one" person is guilty ? It may well be that two
: people are not made for each other. Just imagine yourself assigned
: to marry... Janet Reno.
Even Janet Reno is God's daughter and deserves to be loved. Good
luck to the man who gets her. The matching done by Rev. Moon is
done among people who have made a commitment to a religious way of
life and to eternal faithfulness, and never to divorce. People do
not have to be alike to make a good marriage. Indeed, extreme
opposites often go well together.
Janet Reno is a woman with the blood of the innocent men, women
and children at Waco on her hands. As with everyone else, she can
either repent or face the judgement by fire.
: >him, is he to be bound to that loveless woman forever? Since God's
: >plan is for all to experience the heaven that comes from the love
: >of a man and a woman with God's blessing, the man may remarry, but
: >the one who procures the divorce commits a grievous sin, not the
: >one who is rejected.
: This is in contradiction with the following story I posted not long ago.
: A german (or swiss, I'm not sure) woman was "blessed" by Moon. Her
: designated "husband" was from south america (they could almost not
: communicate), returned to his country first and went ill shortly after
: it. The Moon organisation refused to pay his medical costs, and he left
: angrily, and the woman was therefore single.
Is the Catholic Church responsible for the medical bills of every
Catholic? The incident, if true, is unfortunate. The church cannot
guarantee to anyone that their spouse will not betray them.
: The woman, starting to get desperate, then went to the next "blessin
: Moon took the women who were there the second time there aside, and
: started a long rant, that the women were full of sin, etc. He then said
: that they should marry africans as "punishment".
Quote me your sources on this.
: Luckily all but one woman refused. The women I talk about then got a
: german husband, and she is even still with him, although they left the
: cult after years.
: The point of this three paragraphs is that Moon automatically assumed
: that the women were guilty.
No. You allege this. Quote me where and when he said this.
: >If you want to know what happened with his first wife, you may read
: >Rev. Won Pil Kim's account of it in his book which is available
: >on my Home Page:
: >
: > http://www.unification.net/fcolf/fcolf-21.html
: I admire you because you put all these texts on your web site;
: texts that are sometimes really devastating to the Moon organisation
: when read by outsiders. Some day, the "Church" will ask him to
: stop, probably because "they are copyrighted".
We'll see.
: Here from the text:
: (...)
: >In 1945, after the liberation from Japan, Father started a family with
: >God's blessing. When Father came to Pyongyang life was difficult for
: >everybody and food was scarce. Father went out to get some food for
: >his wife, who had recently had the baby. Then, on the way, Father got
: >a revelation that he should go to Pyongyang. He had to leave that
: >instant. I'll skip some details to make my story short.
: There isn't anything to "skip". Basically, he dumped her and left her
: with his child, instead of being a good father and caring for his
: family. That was his "revelation". There is no rule that you need to be
: single to start a cult or a religion.
No, he went to North Korea to preach, and was tortured and imprisoned there.
: (... years later ...)
: >One day, Mother came to see Father. Father was speaking to guests that
: >day, too. She was standing outside with the child and called Father
: >and he let them in. I think it was such a dramatic scene that Father
: >and Mother, with the child, met after six years. When he had left for
: >Pyongyang, his child was only two months old. Also, he couldn't even
: >tell any of God's word to his wife. For six years, Mother had lived
: >without knowing whether Father was alive or dead.
: Because "Father" was too busy to drop her a note. The "daddy is too busy
: to write home" syndrome.
: The rest of the text describes that her life alone was very difficult as
: a single child-raising mother. After she came back, "Father" didn't
: bother to care for her, instead he was too busy with his movement. The
: text says it only indirectly - she couldn't deal with this.
No. He was putting the call of God above the call to his own
family. This is the proper order of things.
: "Father" is a sinner.
You may pass judgement, but you would be wrong.
: It is not a wonder that with such a personal record of the founder, the
: cult has a similar disrespect of the families of the members.
: I wonder what became of her and their child - did "Father" pay them some
: money, so that they can at least have a good life ?
Sung Jin, his first son, married and has four children I believe,
and is active in the Church today. So is his mother, I understand.
: Tilman
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
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Mar 17 1996
Subject: Re: Lutheran Magazine on cults and cult recovery
Newsgroups: alt.support.ex-cult,alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc,alt.religion.christian
References: <4iecav$95n@news2.cais.com> <4ifabf$fli@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
Organization: Capital Area Internet Service
Distribution:
Keuhlen143 (keuhlen143@aol.com) wrote:
: In article <4iecav$95n@news2.cais.com>, damian@cais3.cais.com (Damian J.
: Anderson) writes:
: >This is really rich! The Lutheran Church, that same whore which
: >condones same sex marriages and gay clergy and adultery has the
: >audacity to stand in judgement of a religious group which teaches
: >young people to refrain from pre-marital sex and drinking.
: >
: >You hypocrites! Take the beam out of your own eye before you attempt
: >to take the splinter out of your brother's eye!
: Um........ Damien, I agree that these things are wrong too. On the
: other hand, truth is truth no matter where it is found.
Yes, I agree.
: And who are you to judge? This same group that teaches young
: people to abstain from sexual sin also teaches that they are the
: only true church;
There are many churches that teach that they are the one true
church. The Catholics do, so do the JWs, the Mormons and a whole
bunch of others.
: that questioning a teaching of the church is rebellion toward God
: and deserves disfellowship ( no matter if it is a rule of man or
: not);
I would put this more in the category of misguided zeal rather than
a major flaw. It would appear that a group that wants new converts
not to question so much are insecure as to the essence of their
faith, but I find the failure to teach sexual purity a FAR greater
crime. I find so many churches are so insipid on the subject of
sexual morality as to be like the salt that has lost its savor that
is only good for being thrown out and cast underfoot.
: this same church practices mind control and manipulation.
Teaching sexual abstinence is teaching people to control their
minds and their bodies. It is good to have self control. Indeed,
it is considered a virtue in the scriptures.
: So I guess maybe you are right but I would be careful as to whom I stand
: and defend.
Yes, indeed. But, when I drive past churches that offer "Gay
Eucharist" and have representations on Gay Pride marches, I feel
more than a little queasy about it.
: Joe
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
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Mar 17 1996
Subject: Re: Fwd: Moonies and Indian Spirtuality
Newsgroups: apc.indig.info,soc.culture.native,alt.native,alt.religion.unification,talk.religion.misc
References: <960315044512_246647247@emout04.mail.aol.com>
Organization: Capital Area Internet Service
Distribution:
sahtu@aol.com wrote:
: From: jlg13@rmii.com (jonathan gelbard)
: To: NATIVEHISTORY-L@cornell.edu
: To: Multiple recipients of list
: Subject: Moonies and Indian Spirtuality
: Original Sender: Charles Cambridge
: today, the indian students of the university of colorado at boulder's
: oyate club gave me a copy of a letter they received from the moonies,
: (members of the unification church). the moonies have entered the world of
: indian spirituality. the indian students are questioning these
: activities on the part of the unification church. besides indian
: religious activities, the moonies have formed its own clan system.
: i thought that it may have an interest to many of you. what follows is
: an exact copy of the letter.
: **********************************************
: To the Bothers and Sisters
: of the Native American Student Assoc.
: Boulder, CO.
: We were saddended that the ones of your Tribes who attended Beatriz
: Steeghs' first lecture "The Physical causes of illness" were so blatantly
: absent from her second lecture "The Spiritual causes of illness". It is
: a shame that they didn't attend and receive a great enlightenment tool
: for the freeing of ancestral karma.
I know Beatriz Steeghs. She comes from a long line of native American
healers and gives her heart and soul to heal many people for little
or no payment. She ought to be commended for her hard work and
dedication.
Damian Anderson +1-301-921-0082 Home +1-202-267-9403 Work damian@unification.net
Unification Home Page http://www.unification.net
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