Picture of the Day: Tired of Weddings

A friend of mine sent me a link of a very unfortunate "Picture of the Day" at rokdrop.com. Many of the comments were rather rude, but I like to think most were simply misinformed.

There was so much that I wanted to respond to, that I felt like making a blog-post would be more appropriate.

Here is what I wanted to say, coupled with some of the comments that I found needed to be expanded upon by someone more knowledgeable of the Unification movement. The commentors "names" and their comments are colored in green, while my opinions and explanations are in black.


#1; LG DACOM Stinks, Royally:

“She sleeps while listening to either an mp3 player or her cell phone during her supposed wedding. The Moonies are a cult and Moon Sun Myung is a fraud. These guys, Scientologists, and LDS are all cut from the same cloth.”

The headphones are probably attached to a radio which is receiving a translation of what is being said on stage. This is very common, because although Father Moon does speak and understand a lot of English since he lived in the States for many years, he still highly prefers to speak in his native language, Korean. At large events such as a wedding, we are often told to bring a portable radio. Then they will usually have two radio translators on two different open stations. One will be translating from Korean to English. The other will be translating from Korean to Japanese.

As for her tilting her head down at a funny angle with her eyes closed, I can’t really say for sure but I really doubt she is asleep considering she, along with everyone else, is standing. Maybe she’s praying silently during a pause in the program, or maybe she’s streching her neck, but I highly doubt she is sleeping.

Finally, Scientologists, LDS’, and Unificationists are quite different. If I’m not mistaken: Scientologists beleive life on Earth was started by extra-terrestrial beings; LDS’ believe that Jesus resurrected again in North America, thus giving forth the gospel anew to the local Native American inhabitants; while Unificationists believe that all the major prophets were inspired by God, but Jesus was special in that he was meant to establish a family without original sin (false sex centered on Satin instead of “Absolute sex” between a mature heterosexual couple centered on God’s love) in order to bring all of humanity back into God’s lineage, and that Father Moon (along with his wife, Hak Ja Han) has the mission to fulfill Jesus’ messianic role.

#9; Tom Langley:

“Zilchy, I believe that the Moonies have had these mass weddings in the US so it’s not just an Asian thing even though the Moonies are based in Korea. Even though they claim to be strongly anti-communist they helped the NK set up a factory to produce a Fiat knock off car. It’s all about money & power.”

Indeed, they don’t only do it in Korea, we have members all over the world. I’m full American, my wife is half Norwegian. We have friends who are French/Norwegian+Brazilian/Japanese, French/Norwegian+Korean, French/Norwegian+African/Canadian, Austrian/Norwegian+Korean, American/French+Norwegian/British, Austrian/American+German, German/Norwegian+Swiss...

We are also indeed very anti communist. In fact, Father Moon was imprisoned in a North-Korean a political/religious concentration camp during the Korean War because of what he was teaching. He almost died, but UN troops freed him and his fellow prisoners. We also indeed have several business ventures in North Korea, including car manufacture and tourism. We also maintain a “Peace Embassy” in Pyongyang, and a museum in Father Moon’s original home town. Once in a while we even send a soccer team or a ballet group up north for some peaceful exchange. It was indeed Father Moon’s efforts which opened the way for South Koreans to be allowed to visit their families in the North.

The reason why we have been able to form such a good relationship with North Korea, one that is so close that people from the Unification movement have been able to travel there even at the height of the nuclear crisis, if because of Father Moons philosophy of peace. He knows that the only way to ever have lasting peace is not through war, or even non-violent protests. The only way to true peace is through loving the enemy even more than you love your own family. This is why Father Moon’s family has suffered so much despite his wish to create an ideal family as a model for the world, and this is why so many Unificationist families have suffered in their personal and financial lives. It is because of our philosophy that we will never have true world peace unless we sacrifice ourselves completely for God and humankind. Kim-Il-Sung, the man who was president of North Korea during the time Father Moon was imprisoned in North Korea, was able to embrace Father Moon in brotherly love because of the eternal and unchanging love that Father Moon could give despite their stark differences in ideology. The idea comes from the fact that God is our eternal True Parent who loves every single human being as His child no matter what, and that we should love our fellow human beings the same way God does.

#17; LG DACOM Stinks, Royally:

“They owned the Washington Times until this year and consistently tried to pass it off as a true competitor to the Washington Post.”

This just in, a group laying to Father Moon was recently able to purchase it back for $1 in exchange for responsibility for paying down all it’s debts.

#20; Vince:

For a further explanation of The Little Angels: it is a dance troupe made up of mostly of the children of rich, non-Unificationist parents. The dance school they attend, however, was founded by father Moon. This year they were sent by Father Moon around the world to thank the veterans who fought, bled, and died in the Korean war to preserve freedom on the Korean peninsula. Next year they will be visiting the nations who contributed to the war in other ways, such as Norway’s gift of a floating hospital.

Finally here is to the comparisons between Koreans and Unificationists. Actually, while traditional Korean culture does contain many aspects which made it possible for them to become the new Chosen People, to be Korean is not the same as to be Unificationist. One thing is the Koreans, just as the Japanese, tend to be very racially closed-minded. Even Unificationist Koreans have a harder time with international marriages than Unificationists from the west.

Another thing is that Love is exceedingly important for a Unificationist marriage. God wants us to be married so that He can experience love through us. The ideal for a Unificationist is to first find perfect mind-body unity centered on the mind, then form an individual loving relationship with God, and then centered on that love for God - get married and love your spouse just as deeply as you love God. Finally, families should enjoy, love, and take care of all of creation. If all individuals and families were able to do this, there would be no need for religion or government as we see these institutions today. With our own direct relationship to God, we would need no government or religion to tell us what is right and wrong. With perfect, loving, God-centered families, we would not need religion to teach us how to love, nor government to support us or organize our lives. People would live in harmony with each other, God, and with nature. This would be the Kingdom of Heaven. A marriage without love is destined to fail miserably and to cause misery.

In Liberty, centering on True Love,

Christopher D. Osborn
posting from Ski, Norway

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

One of Father Moons core teachings is that if we are ever to have world peace, we must love our animies more than we love ourselves or even our own family. Well, a friend of mine just shared an NPR story that proves exactly how this works. This is the sort of attitude Able should have had when his elder brother Cain threatend him. Here's the story below. Enjoy, and be inspired:

NPR: A Victim Treats His Mugger Right
March 28th, 2008

Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"

Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.

"You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help," Diaz says.

Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

"The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi," Diaz says. "The kid was like, 'You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'"

"No, I just eat here a lot," Diaz says he told the teen. "He says, 'But you're even nice to the dishwasher.'"

Diaz replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"

"Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way," the teen said.

Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. "He just had almost a sad face," Diaz says.

The teen couldn't answer Diaz — or he didn't want to.

When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."

The teen "didn't even think about it" and returned the wallet, Diaz says. "I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it'll help him. I don't know."

Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen's knife — "and he gave it to me."

Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch."

"I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."

Produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo.

In Love and Liberty from Siggerud, Ski, Norge,

Christopher D. Osborn