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GROUP NAME: The Unification Church
FOUNDER: Mun Yong-Myong (after realizing he was the "second coming", he changed his name to: Mun Son-Myong/Sun Myung Moon)
Born: January 6, 1920
In April of 2008 the reigns were passed over to Moon's son, "Hyung Jin Moon".
MEMBERS: It is estimated that membership reaches up into the few million. The majority of them are found in South Korea and Japan. The followers of Moon in the English world are often referred to as "Moonies".
SACRED WRITINGS: They claim to hold to the Bible according to Moon's interpretation. They also consider Moon's writings to be inspired and a lot of their beliefs are based off his book called "Divine Principles"
UNIFICATION CHURCH VIEWS
The church was legally and formally put in place in 1954 in Seoul, South Korea as the name: "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Chrisitianity(HSA-UWC). Later though in 1994 Moon changed the name to "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification"
GOD: They believe that God is the creator of all things. But would hold that He more of a divine energy. When the term such as "he" is used just to associate with the subject.
THE TRINITY: Does not hold to the Trinity of the Bible but believes that the true trinity is made up of Man, Woman and God.
JESUS CHRIST: A creation of God, and could not conquer the world and bring peace, so when Moon was 15 years old, Jesus appeared to him and told him to continue on the work of bringing peace and unity to the world as the second coming of the Messiah.
Other points they believe about Jesus Christ are:
He was not physically resurrected, just spiritually.
Did not know the truth
Needed to be saved
He was not the Saviour
He will not be returning.
In the book "Encyclopedia of cults and new religions" by Ankerberg and Weldon, they compare Moon and Jesus according to Moon's teachings.
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Sun Myung Moon |
Jesus Christ |
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"Singly pioneered the way of perfect savation" (Kim, The Divine Principles, p. 11) |
"Jesus couldn't even save one person in the truth meaning." (Sudo, pg. 284) |
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Was perfect |
Was sinful |
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The True Messiah |
Not the Messiah |
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The entire expression of GOd (because he was Married.) |
Only a partial expression of God (because he was single). (Suda, p. 120) |
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Moon's words are more precious than God's (Sudo, p. 153) |
Jesus' words are ignored. |
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Even God worships Moon |
Jesus is not to be worshipped. |
HOLY SPIRIT: They consider it a female spirit. The true mother. You can call the Holy Spirit "it".
VIRGIN BIRTH: They deny the virgin birth.
SALVATION: There is a process involved in salvation which invovles marrying. They have to work and work, and do whatever Moon says to try and humble and bring themselves down so that God will forgive them. If they fail then God has failed. If one commits fornication though, it is unforgivable and people are condemned to Hades.
They can even do better for themselves and have a better life if they endure hardship and if they even commit suicide to keep them from future sin.
HEAVEN: Moon is sitting up the kingdom of heaven on earth.
HELL: Hell is on earth and in the spiritual realm. The Divine Principle explains it like this:
It is not God who decides whether a person's spirit enters heaven or hell upon his death; it is decided by the spirit himself. Humans are created so that once they reach perfection they will fully breathe the love of God. Those who committed sinful deeds while on earth become crippled spirits who are incapable of fully breathing in the love of God. They find it agonizing to stand before God, the center of true love. Of their own will, they choose to dwell in hell, far removed from the love of God.
SIN: They do hold to a literal fall, but believe that the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil, the serpeant are just allegories. They also believe that the fall was linked to a sexual activity.
INSPIRATION/AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE: They do not hold the Bible to be inspired but believe it's just a fallible piece of human history.
THE RAPTURE: N/A
THE SECOND COMING: The U.C. teaches that Moon was the second coming. When he married Hak-Ja Han in 1960, he was fulfilling Revelations 19 with the marriage supper of the Lamb.
After having children he declared January 1, 1968, "God's Day" and was now well on his way in bringing redemption to humankind.
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