Christmas and God’s Will
Photo courtesy of Kenny Eliason
Some 2.3 billion people, or nearly a third of the world’s population, celebrate Christmas. With the Dec. 25 holiday right around the corner, how are you celebrating this year?
In True Father’s 1980 speech “Christmas In View of the Will of God,” he called on Unificationists to celebrate Christmas not only by honoring the birth of Jesus Christ, but also by acknowledging everything that was lost through the fall of humanity, and the messiah’s mission of restoration. He said this encapsulates the true spirit of Christmas and encourages new beginnings centered on God.
This holiday, let’s remember the sacrifices made for humanity’s salvation and commit to living God’s original ideal. Below is an excerpt from True Father’s poignant Christmas speech.
Excerpt:
This is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As you know, the original Will of God did not include the human fall. Therefore, Christmas itself came about as a result of the fall. Originally, it should not have been necessary for a Messiah to come to bring people back to God ... During this season, people eat and drink a lot and say, "Merry Christmas," but that is far from the original spirit of this day.
Christmas is the day when people should see the hope of recovering everything lost through the fall. Mankind lost the world, the nation, the society, the family, and even the individual who was one with God ... Therefore, man lost everything, even himself. The Messiah comes to guide people to freedom from Satan so that they can return to God freely. God worked to raise up such an individual by preparing a family, a nation, and a world environment. God works on the national level, not just with one individual or family. Jesus came to connect the nation of Israel with God Himself...
Satan was unwilling to relinquish his custody of the world to Jesus, so what was Jesus supposed to do? ... Even today many religious people believe that when an enemy strikes you on the left cheek you should calmly offer your right cheek for him to strike. Of course, Jesus clearly said to love one's enemies. He asked God to forgive the people who were crucifying him, saying they didn't know what they were doing ... Jesus told his people to love their enemies for two reasons: First, so that he could increase God's foundation and grow stronger, and second, to separate fallen people from Satan, leaving Satan out of the godly kingdom...
Christmas was intended to be a merry time, but in light of these problems today it is not merry at all. What is God's Will regarding Christmas? What does it mean to establish God's Kingdom on earth? Fundamentally, it means fulfilling God's original ideal ... Do you know clearly what we are supposed to do? We are striving to come closer to the original way of living, centering around the family. The family is the training ground where you prepare for living in Heaven. Only after becoming filial sons and daughters can you become royal citizens of your country and world...
Now in the Unification [movement] we can celebrate a hopeful Christmas for the first time. Although we observe it differently, it is actually a merrier Christmas than in the rest of the world. I want this Christmas to be a day of meditation for you so that you can gain stronger conviction about what we must do ... Prepare yourself to begin a new year ... this time seriously making a new start.
You can usher in the new year with more wisdom from True Parents, shared in True Father’s autobiography available here and True Mother’s memoir available here.