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Exposition of the Divine Principle

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This is latest evolution of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's revelation received initially from the period of 1936-45. Easily the most organized, concise and refined version yet. For myself, I have found in this volume clear and lucid explanations of seemingly intractable problems of religion, history, and morality. No matter what one may think of Rev. Moon, The Divine Principle, and the Unification Church--all three will no doubt be a major players in the religious/theological world in the years to come. The historical precedent is there, for example, in Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and the Mormon Church--which all rose from obscurity, persecution and misunderstanding to be a global force to be reckoned with in the span of a century. I would say that if you have a sincere interest in thought-provoking, challenging theology, this is surely your cup of tea. Prerequisite: an aggressive, fearless desire to wrestle the truth to the ground, and prevail.

This incredibly provocative book is now much easier to read compared to the awkward first translation, called "Divine Principle." Though it still can be dense in parts, it presents a beautiful picture of God, His ideal and the real meaning behind events recorded in the Bible and even the present world situation. This challenges many assumptions of traditional Christianity, Islam, Judaism and all the other world religions, yet at the same time it fulfills their hopes and highlights their strengths. The Divine Principle is unlike any other teaching on earth, though it contains many familiar ideas. This presents no easy answers or cheap salvation but it does offer the way home. Many have been brought to faith in God through it while others have felt that it matured their pre-existing faith.

I am reading over and over this book.
It is giving me insights into actual events in the world.
It is uplifting my spirit.
It is helping me to have deeper prayers with my Heavenly Father.

As stated in this book, throughout history there have been many people trying to discover the truth about the world through the fields of science and religion. This is yet another one of the greats which will go down in history as a great step forward.

If you are interested in reading a different perspective on life, history, the relationship between the physical and spiritual world, and the difference between science and religion, than this book is for you.

Christopher D. Osborn
[...]

"Exposition of the Divine Principle" is a new translation of the sacred scripture of the Unification Movement or Unification Church, a controversial new religion founded by the Korean reverend Sun Myung Moon. An earlier translation was simply called "Divine Principle".

In other words, this book contains the blasphemous, heretical and cultish doctrines of the Moonies. Trust me, an evangelical cult-buster will have a field day with this one!

According to Moon, God has a twofold structure, explicitly compared to the principles of yin and yang typical of East Asian religious philosophies. Adam and Eve fell due to a sexual transgression. Eve had sexual intercourse with Satan and hence received a Satanic, sinful nature. Eve then seduced Adam, who also partook of the Satanic nature. This was the fall. (It's also a version of the "Serpent Seed Theory".) As for Jesus, he wasn't God incarnate. He was a perfect man. However, Jesus failed in his mission. The crucifixion wasn't part of God's original plan. Nor was Jesus physically resurrected. His resurrection was purely spiritual. The disciples saw him in visions. Since Moon believes that the crucifixion was really a failure, he hates the cross and has started a campaign among Christian churches to take it down. He even convinced a group of evangelical clergy to travel to Jerusalem and bury a cross in the ground! (You can see this on Youtube.)

Apparently, there is no physical resurrection at all. People are figuratively "resurrected" when they join the Unification Church. The final resurrection is spiritual: when humans die, their spirits enter paradise. There is also a kind of re-incarnation: spirits of the dead return to Earth as guardian spirits of the living. For instance, Elijah was the guardian spirit of John the Baptist. Hell does exist, but will eventually be emptied and abolished. Sun Myung Moon thus teaches a form of universalism.

"Exposition of the Divine Principle" further tell us that Jesus will return as an ordinary but perfect and sinless man. He will be born from a woman, and hail from Korea. He will become the True Father and the Messiah. This is the Second Advent of Christ.

Could it be...?

"The Divine Principle" doesn't explicitly say that Sun Myung Moon is Christ who has returned. However, it certainly implies it. Who else could it be? The Moonies call Sun Myung Moon "Father" and refer to him and his wife as "the True Parents".

Conclusion: Sun Myung Moon claims to be Jesus Christ who has returned as a sinless, spotless man!

Small wonder that the Unification Movement gives evangelicals the big chill. Or does it? Does it really? The Discovery Institute, an "intelligent design" think tank based in Seattle, counts evangelicals, Calvinists, Catholics and traditionalist Episcopalian among its members and supporters. However, one of its leading members is actually a Moonie: Jonathan Wells, author of the best-selling anti-Darwinist book "Icons of Evolution". It seems conservative Christians regard the Moonies as a cult...except when they don't. Perhaps some evangelical supporter of the Discovery Institute should ask Wells why he belives God is Yin and Yang, why he hates the cross, or why he denies the divinity of Jesus Christ? It may also interest conservatives that the newspaper "Washington Times" was founded by Moon, and financed by him.

"Exposition of the Divine Principle" is an incredibly dry work of theology. It's not a particularly interesting read. People who want to know more about Unificationism without being bogged down by theological trivia can consult other books. George Chryssides has written a scholarly (but very uncritical) book about the church and its belief system, "The Advent of Sun Myung Moon". There are also critical books on the subject.

None of them is distributed by the Discovery Institute.