THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

A fundamental question asked by countless people is: what is the purpose of life? God's motivation for creating the world and especially us as His children was love. Simply love. He wanted and needed to share His love. Joy is the true purpose of life. God wanted His sons and daughters to be happy and joyful. To give them the highest happiness, we read in the Bible that He gave three blessings: "To be fruitful, multiply and have dominion over the earth" (Gen. 1:28).

First Blessing

The first blessing is for men and women to be fruitful. When a tree becomes fruitful we mean it has reached maturity and can bear fruit. It has reached its full potential and perfection. This is figurative language meaning we too must reach our full potential and perfection. The Bible says, "You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). To reach maturity God created everything to go through a growth period of three stages: Formation, Growth and Completion.

For example, a tree is first a seedling, then a sapling, then a tree. People are first infants, then adolescents, then adults. God is perfect and for men and women to become one with God they must become perfect also. During this growth period all creation including our physical body grows to maturity automatically. Our spirit does not grow automatically. It takes conscious, creative effort to develop spiritually.

 

One of God's primary characteristics is creativity. Man must inherit creatorship from God, in order to become mature sons and daughters. Every person must fulfill a special condition. God gives us the responsibility to become co-creators. Together with God we create ourselves.

We can only be truly happy when we are spiritually mature. There is an innate gyroscope or nature that drives us to seek perfection. When the Bible speaks of human perfection, it means perfection of heart. Men and women were to have their minds (or words) and their bodies (or deeds) centered on God. When men and women would say good and do good they would have perfect character. Men and women would have the value of God. Every person would be a temple of God: "You are God's temple and God spirit dwells in you" (I Cor. 3:16).

             

Intoxicated With Love

In a speech given publicly in all 50 states called "God's Hope for Man," Rev. Moon teaches that God needs to give and receive love from each of us: "God's ultimate purpose in His creation of man is to give to him all His love, all His life, and all His ideal. You are to occupy the entire love of God, to the depth of His heart. By becoming His true sons and daughters, your desire will be fulfilled. That is your ultimate destiny. Then you will be saturated with the love of God. You will be filled with joy and feel overwhelmed by a total satisfaction in life.

"There is no limit to joy. Happiness has no end. When you are standing in the love of God, every cell in your body jumps for joy. You breathe in and out with the entire universe. In this state your life is fulfilled. This is how God means us to live, intoxicated in love and joy. And through our joy God receives His joy. The joy of man is the joy of God; the joy of God is the joy of man.

"Early in my life God called me for a mission as His instrument. I was called to reveal His truth for Him, as His prophet. I committed myself unyieldingly in pursuit of truth, searching the hills and valleys of the spiritual world. The time suddenly came to me when heaven opened up, and I was privileged to communicate with Jesus Christ and the living God directly. Since then I have received many astonishing revelations. God Himself told me that the most basic and central truth of the universe is that God is the Father and we are His children. We are all created as children of God."

In a speech given on May 3, 1996 titled True Parents' Wedding Anniversary Address, he said, " We need a clear idea of a personal God, the God with a character, just like man. Then for the first time we can talk and think about His feelings: His joy, sadness, and anger. Such understanding of God does not exist in the present religious world. But we know how intimate and warm the relationship of true love should be that is expressed by saying, 'God, You are our Parent" and God's saying "You are my children.'" Rev. Moon has spoken volumes about God.  I hope you go and study his many speeches, many of which are online as I mentioned in my introduction.

Second Blessing

The second blessing of God was for people to multiply. After reaching perfection, men and women are to marry and have a family.

When men and women love God, God would return that love. Husbands and wives would love each other with all their hearts and love their children completely. Physically, parents would give their children a good home, clothes and food. Spiritually, the parents would teach them by word and example of God's love and truth.

We experience the greatest love in the family. God made the family to be a four position foundation consisting of God, husband, wife, and children. And when there was give and take between all four parts then this would be the basic unit of joy, life, and of society.

God's plan is for ideal families to form ideal societies which would form ideal nations and an ideal world living as one huge, harmonious family.

Third Blessing

The third blessing was to have dominion over the earth. Dominion means a dominion of love. Centered on God, men and women would love creation. What does creation return? When we love and care for our home and car they return beauty.

When we love our dog or cat, they return beauty too. And, of course, when we love our family and friends, they radiate. God's third blessing was for mankind to love the world and live in a beautiful paradise on earth, an ideal world.

God is the Lord of mankind, and God created men and women to be Lords of creation. We reflect God directly, and creation is in the image of people and indirectly or symbolically reflects God.

The creation reflects people in many ways. Human beings and animals have similar body structures. People can imitate all animal sounds. Mankind and plants are similar too. Plant's leaves function like our lungs; xylem and phloem are like arteries and veins. Our bodies are made of minerals such as calcium and iron. Calcium is the fifth most common of the chemical elements in the earth's surface. The human skeleton is made of calcium which is one-fifth of our total body composition. The earth's surface is 2/3rds water and our bodies are approximately 2/3rds water. We feel joy when we see our reflection in a mirror or a photograph. Because creation reflects us, we receive joy in seeing nature.

The first blessing, to be fruitful, explains our relationship to God; the second blasting, to multiply, our relationship to people; and the third blessing, to have dominion, our relationship to the universe.

I have written a book that thoroughly goes into all three of these blessings. It's title is Ten Keys To Building the Unified Ideal World. In it I quote Rev. Moon speaking on the meaning of the three blessings, especially on the Second Blessing, marriage and the family. Excellent books by non-Unificationist writers on the relationship between men and women are by Mr. and Mrs. Andelin. Helen Andelin wrote a book for women called Fascinating Womanhood and her husband wrote a book on godly men's roles called Man of Steel and Velvet. Mrs. Andelin wrote a must-read book on how to raise children called All About Raising Children.

  

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