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Marriage in the Unification Church (view source)
Revision as of 11:44, November 14, 2008
, 11:44, November 14, 2008for "EternalCritic"
All kinds of crazy things are attributed to Unification Church practices, but I was mostly curious how their marriages work. I've seen footage of mass weddings and heard rumors that marriages are or were arranged in Unification church congregations. I'm curious of your opinion/insight on how this works, and whether this is common practice or a rarity that gets heavily publicized.
All kinds of crazy things are attributed to Unification Church practices, but I was mostly curious how their marriages work. I've seen footage of mass weddings and heard rumors that marriages are or were arranged in Unification church congregations. I'm curious of your opinion/insight on how this works, and whether this is common practice or a rarity that gets heavily publicized.
'''Marriage in the Unification Church''' works the same way as marriage in every other religion or culture. A man and a woman consecrate their relationship to God, and live together. They love each other, have sexual relations only with each other, and they raise their children to love God and to refrain from sexual relations until marriage.
In the early days of the church in America, few married couples joined. New members were nearly all young single adults. Married couples remained married, although some refrained from conjugal relations until their marriage was Blessed by Rev. & Mrs. Moon.
Single members were encouraged to take up full-time missions. By the early 1970s, church membership in the US was less than 1,000 - nearly all single. Curiously, the church did not have men and women live separately (except, of course, that they had separate sleeping quarters). It was an arrangement described as a "co-ed monastery". <-- Frederick Sontag, I think -->
Members pledged to refrain from all sexual relations until marriage, which in itself seemed odd to the secular world. Why refrain? It's not breaking any law. In addition, members were strongly encouraged to permit Rev. Moon to arrange their marriages.
The arrangement of marriages is seen as a way of indemnifying the [[Fall of Man]], in which Eve fell into a sexual relationship (in spirit) with the archangel Lucifer (who then became [[Satan]]). Note that many Christian theologians disagree with the idea that angels can have sex with human beings; the church quotes Jude 1:6 and Jude 1:7 to support its interpretation. When fallen Eve turned from Lucifer to Adam and seduced him, this was the physical fall.
Each human being has a spiritual body and a physical body. (1 Cor. 15:44) It is with her spiritual body that Eve had sexual relations with Lucifer. She inherited her fallen nature from him: inability to love God or receive his love, the desire to dominate others arrogantly, and the tendency to spread her evil into other people.
When Adam and Eve started their married life, it was before receiving God's permission or blessing. The result was that Eve transmitted her fallen nature to Adam. Since then, God has struggled to restore fallen mankind, but the first family also had the first recorded murder! God hoped for unity between Cain and Abel, but Cain killed his brother when Abel's offering was accepted and not his. We see this kind of jealousy today, even on this web site. Many writers are openly jealous of the senior staff: why is HIS writing accepted? Why should I have to listen to HIM? Etc.
To restore their fallen nature, therefore, Unification Church members are requested to do two things which Adam and Eve did not: refrain from all sexual activity before marriage (for a lengthy period of time) and to let God assign their marriage partners.
Those members who regard Rev. Moon as the earthly representative of God may apply to be matched with a prospective spouse. Mass weddings are held to emphasize that a marriage is not primarily for the benefit of the two spouses, but is for children as well as for the community, nation and world.
All people are called to be patriots and saints on the way to becoming children of God. Dedicating one's marriage to the family, nation and world is seen as the express route to saintly joy.