More Than a Belief: Finding a Living, Loving God

Early member shares how he found more than a belief. He discovered the door to experiencing a living, loving Heavenly Parent  

Part 2 of an interview in Episode 2 of “Why I Stayed – Unificationist Stories”, where Jack Corley, a farmer’s son from Ireland, tells his story. 

See part 1: Reason for Joining: God Became a Reality   Part 3: Importance of an Ideal When We “Marry Reality”    Part 4: Joining Was “the Best Decision in My Life”  Part 5: 50 Years Devoted to Peace in Troubled World

See the video of the interview

Presenter: The concept of God is present in so many religions these days. How would you put the way that people see it in the Family Federation (formerly the Unification Church)?

Jack: God is a loving parental being, and the whole purpose of his creating human beings is that he wants to have children. Parents cannot be parents unless they have children. It is children who give their parents their title.

When we say God is our Father, how can you be a father unless you have children, or a mother for that matter?

It’s important that we understand this relationship between the Creator and the created. And that’s what I felt was one of the biggest insights for me, that I could really understand in a much more substantial way, that God indeed is not just a fearful Lord over his children, but actually a loving Parent who lives entirely for the sake of his own children, us human beings.

And he gave us a beautiful planet Earth and the whole universe as our home while we are alive.

So I thought, how much effort did this Parent make before the birth of his children?

Just like any parents, they prepare the room, the cot, the clothing, all kinds of things before the birth of their children.

God Almighty prepared the whole universe, and particularly this planet Earth, to be exactly right by the time his children were to be born.

And so when we understand this quality of our Creator, it’s much more than a belief I choose to believe, or I choose not to believe. It’s a real experience of a living, loving Parent.

Presenter: Yes, I see a really interesting picture here. We started with drawing this nice image of God being a loving Parent and creating the whole world for us, but then something happened, and people failed, if I can put it that way. How do such things as redemption and punishment align with the story?

Jack: That was always a part of my belief as a Catholic. Somehow our first ancestors fell, and then we needed salvation through Jesus.

But one question always came to my mind: If Jesus promised the Kingdom of Heaven 2,000 years ago, how come the world is still such a mess? Even worse? That was always a question in my mind. And I found in the Divine Principle a much clearer explanation about why, even so many years after the coming of Jesus Christ, the world is so messed up.

And the concept is that at the time of Jesus, we received what we call spiritual salvation. But now we have the opportunity for complete salvation, which means that we can live our lives in such a way that we become divine beings, people who truly resemble God, and that at the time of our death, we move on to the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven. But ultimately, we will build the Kingdom of Heaven physically here on earth as well, as the Lord’s prayer says.

Presenter: I have to say that from the viewpoint of psychology, that I’m studying, this sounds very real because we say that problems and things we experience in our lives often come from our parents. And here we see the ancestors making that mistake that, as you say, carries on to all people. That is very interesting to hear.

Continued in part 3.

See part 1: Reason for Joining: God Became a Reality   Part 3: Importance of an Ideal When We “Marry Reality”   Part 4: Joining Was “the Best Decision in My Life”  Part 5: 50 Years Devoted to Peace in Troubled World

Featured image above: God created beautiful planet Earth for us. Illustration: Microsoft Designer Image Creator, 15th September 2024.

Related to more than a belief: Essence of God

More, related to more than a belief: God and Human Beings

Also related to more than a belief: The Day When Heavenly Parent’s Dream Comes True

More, related to more than a belief: Teachings Make Great Strides in New Version

And more, related to more than a belief: In a Nutshell

Yet more, related to more than a belief: Brief about the Teachings

Still more, related to more than a belief: The Mission of the Only Begotten Daughter

Even more, related to more than a belief: Gender-Balanced Understanding of God and Christ

And yet more, related to more than a belief: God as Our Heavenly Parent (Father and Mother)

And still more, related to more than a belief: History of God: From Yahweh to Father to Parent

And even more, related to more than a belief: Religious Truth as Progressive Revelation

Also related to more than a belief: Essential Motherly Part of Messianic Mission

Also related to more than a belief: The 3 Blessings and the Process to Fulfil Them

Also related to more than a belief: Unchanging Truth and Its Changing Expression

Also related to more than a belief: The Meaning of History from Viewpoint of God

Also related to more than a belief: Failure of Key Persons Related to Jesus

Also related to more than a belief: Amazing Parallels to Jesus and Holy Spirit

Also related to more than a belief: Unification Principles