Exiting the Womb

"All prayers should be concluded by saying, “I pray with gratitude in my name, OOO, of a blessed central family attending our Holy Mother Han. Aju." This is for all blessed members worldwide” (Han, Hak-ja, "True Parents Special Directions and Message, 1).

On January 31st, 2025, Mother Han, current leader and co-founder of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, otherwise known as the Unification Church, delivered yet another message causing intense discussion and confusion among believers. In her recent message, Mother Han instructed believers to change the ending of their prayers, emphasizing two key points when praying in the act of praying in one's own name. The first is gratitude. At the end of her message, she states, "I'm saying you should live with gratitude, gratitude, gratitude towards me" (Special Directions 4). The second is attendance towards her. She goes on to say in the words following the prayer instruction that "we must become one with Holy Mother Han at the center" (Special Directions 1). This was followed up by an even stronger statement: "The era of praying in True Parents' names has passed; now we will use 'Holy Mother Han'" (Ibid). 

The question that arises from this statement is: Do Unificationists attend True Parents (Father Moon and Mother Han) or Holy Mother Han? On the one hands she states that "The dream that our Heavenly Parent... is that of living on earth together with True Parents" (Special Directions 3) and that "all nations are brother and sister nations... attending the Parents" (Ibid). In these statements, two common themes stand out. First is that God is the Heavenly Parent, meaning the harmonious union of male and female, man and woman, and fatherhood and motherhood, within God's Self. As Mother Han explains earlier in the speech, from Heavenly Parent's image arouse the dream of the True Parents (Special Directions 1), once supposed to be Adam and Eve, but now fulfilled by Jesus through Father Moon, and Mother Han. Second, Unificationists, as well as all humanity, are to attend, or give filial piety to, the Parents: Heavenly Parent, True Father, and True Mother. 

Yet, on the other other hand, she states that "the owner of the universe is Heavenly Mother" (Special Directions 3) and that: "Until now, you received the Blessing in True Parents' names, but in this era it is the Blessing where we substantially attend Heavenly Parent together with Holy Mother Han" (Special Directions 4). The emphasis by Mother Han in these statements is that by attending her, believers attend God. To resolve this difficulty, I propose that the way to make sense of Mother Han's statements lie in a three-stage formula of 1.) the Father giving the seed of life, 2.) the Mother giving the egg of life, providing nutrients for the fetus, and finally giving birth, and 3.) the Father and Mother raise the child based on human beings' resemblance to God's image as a Heavenly Parent. 

The Holy Spirit's Works in Giving Birth to Jesus and Mother Han

The key to understanding this seemingly contradictory message lies in Mother Han's statement that "without a mother, life cannot be created" (Special Directions 3). While Heavenly Parent, the unity of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, created the universe in pairs, it is Heavenly Mother specifically that gives birth to life. Mother echoed this teaching in 2023, stating, "It is the mother rather than the father that gives birth-0.01 percent of the father and 99.99 percent of the mother. Is that right" (Han, Hak-ja, "Special Meeting to Mark the 63rd Anniversary of True Mother's 1960 Visit to Busan"). Scientifically, once the man's seed hits the woman's egg, all growth of the fetus stems from the mother until the point of birth. In traditional terms, the father supports the mother by exemplifying the traditional male norm of the provider. However, to give birth relies heavily on the mother. 

Mother Han extends this theme throughout her message when discussing the birth of Jesus, the Only Begotten Son. In this and many past messages, she states that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Special Directions 2). In Unificationism, the Holy Spirit represents the spiritual True Mother and the feminine aspect of God (Eu, Hyo-won, Exposition of Divine Principle). In other words, the Holy Spirit can be said to represent Heavenly Mother (Blessing and Ideal Family). Since Heavenly Mother commits the act of birth, Heavenly Mother, the Holy Spirit, gave birth to Jesus. In Unificationism, this also explains how the disciples where resurrected through the Holy Spirit after Jesus' death and resurrection (Special Directions 2). 

Later in her message, Mother Han points out that American Presbyterian missionaries in Korea such as Ruby Kendrick felt called to go to Korea, stating that the missionaries in Pyongyang "brought about works of the Holy Spirit" (Ibid). One can infer from the following passage that just as Jesus was brought about by the Holy Spirit, so too was Mother Han, the Only Begotten Daughter. 

Jesus declared, "He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me" (John 14:9-10). Similarly, Mother Han has declared herself the embodiment of the Holy Spirit, of Heavenly Mother. When one sees Mother Han, one sees the Mother. She highlights this similarity by emphasizing the ordered pairs of God's creation: "The principle guiding all creation shows us clearly: if there is an Only Begotten Son, there must be an Only Begotten Daughter. That is why Heaven had to establish a people who could give birth to the Only Begotten Daughter" (Special Directions 2). 

In Unificationism, the dream of Heavenly Parent is to be embodied in and live among the True Parents (Special Directions 3, Eu). According to Father Moon, "only" in the title of Only Begotten Son means "first love" (Way of Unification). Jesus is the first man to embody Heavenly Father, and Mother Han is first woman to embody Heavenly Mother. As a result, "this is the era when the previously hidden existence of the Heavenly Mother is being revealed" (Special Directions 1).

Contradictions Concerning the Births of Father Moon and Mother Han

While Mother Han called Father Moon the Only Begotten Son numerous times (Han, Hak-ja, Mother of Peace), as of 2023, Mother Han as distinguished Father Moon as the returning Messiah and 2nd Advent of Christ, leaving the title of Only Begotten Son solely for Jesus. While Jesus and Mother Han claim to be born as such embodiments (while also having to choose to fulfill their responsibilities in their respective growing periods) Father Moon's autobiography reveals that Jesus came to him at the age of sixteen to complete his mission (Moon, Sun-myung, As a Peace Loving Global Citizen). In Exposition of Divine Principle (EDP), its explained that one can stand as the return of a person from the perspective of mission, rather than as the actual person (Eu).

While Jesus was a man who achieved individual perfection, Unificationism states clearly that Jesus needed to stand as a True Parent by marrying, having children, and completing the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. That is why EDP states regarding the 2nd Advent of Christ that:

"As at the First Advent, he must come as a human being and grow to perfection in both spirit and flesh" (Eu 392). 

The controversy stems not from Jesus returning as a child on earth that must complete a growing period to achieve individual perfection, but on the nature of Father Moon's lineage. In Unificationist theology, the title of Only Begotten means a lineage without Original Sin. Father Moon's own words give a seemingly contradictory picture: "Reverend Moon has no relationship with the blood lineage of the fallen world" (Moon, Sun-myung, Sermons of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Vol. 492, 05.4.15). "You say Reverend Moon was born with the blood lineage of fallen Adam and Eve, but I was not" (11.4.10). "Those who thought True Father was born with the fallen lineage...are crazy. They don't understand the Divine Principle" (Vol. 611, 09.5.17). V.S: "I also was not born with God's blood lineage but born through the fallen blood lineage and thus, I have to be engrafted" (Vol. 459, 04.7.13). "I am not a person who was born from the original lineage, but came through the genealogy of my mother from Satan's world" (Vol. 463, 04.8.1). "I was not born after purifying my lineage like Jesus who was called the Only Begotten Son" (Vol. 500, 05.7.11). 

The same controversy exists concerning Mother Han's lineage. Many of Father Moon's words indicate that Mother Han was born from a fallen lineage, while others indicate that Mother Han was born as the Only Begotten Daughter. What is not controversial, however, is that Father Moon never indicated being conceived due to the works of the Holy Spirit (Blessing and Ideal Family). In other words, Heavenly Mother did not bring birth to Father Moon in the same manner as Jesus Christ and Mother Han, even though Father Moon is the True Father as the returning Jesus.

The key point Mother Han repeats in her message concerning the role of Heavenly Mother and the Holy Spirit is that the Mother gives birth, and thus is the source (99.99%) of the birth of humans born without original sin, with God's lineage. Therefore, the lack of the Holy Spirit's involvement of Father Moon's birth, according to Mother Han, stands as a key reason why Father Moon is the returning Messiah from the standpoint of mission (through the process of returning resurrection) and not the Only Begotten Son. Through the emphasis of the Holy Spirit, Mother Han has clarified Father Moon's differing statements on True Parents' lineages.  

Heavenly Mother Gives (Re)Birth

If the Holy Spirit birthed the Jesus and Mother Han, it stands to reason that the Holy Spirit, Heavenly Mother, gives birth in God's act of creation. In discussing the nature of God, EDP employs the method of looking at an artist's artwork to ascertain the artist's nature. Furthermore, Genesis explicitly states: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). A man and a woman become father and mother only after the creation and birth of their child. Science clearly states that once a seed and egg come together and attaches to the uterus, the remainder of the fetus' growth lies with the mother (Getz, Maggie, "How Babies are Made"). Once the baby is born, after the ages of 2 or 3, the child depends equally (though differently) on both parents for survival. Following Unificationism's methodology, if human fatherhood and motherhood work in this way, then Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother work similarly. 

Adam and Eve (biblically reckoned as the first human ancestors), along with the entire universe, were created and born through the give and receive action between Heavenly Father's "seed" and Heavenly Mother's "egg" (as a reminder, they are aspects of the same entity of Heavenly Parent). Then, the universe and human beings were to go through a growing period, and finally live in attendance to God. The entities in the universe naturally goes their growing period. Human beings do not. Human beings need parents to guide them towards attendance.

In EDP, the True Parents complete the providence of restoration (Eu 175) through giving rebirth to humanity. Rebirth means going through "a similar course" (Eu 176) that Adam and Eve should have gone through. Since Adam and Eve failed to live in attendance to God, they became dead (Eu). For human beings to be reborn, the True Father and the True Mother, the embodiments of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, must give rebirth to humanity by going through the same process. In Unificationism, this is done by first receiving the Blessing given by True Parents. Subsequently after, Father Moon described symbolically going through the mother's womb after receiving the father's "seed" (interestingly, this is similar to the idea of p'ikareum, or blood purification, rituals often practiced by many spiritual groups in Korea. However, in mainstream Unificationism, despite claims to the contrary, this is purely done symbolically, and not through a physical sexual act with Father Moon) :

"By doing that, you are engrafted heartistically to the True Parents' bone marrow, through True Mother's womb, making the condition to be born as the original Adam and Eve. Without doing that, restoration cannot be done. Do you understand? Therefore, you must be restored through Mother while the Teacher's sons and daughters are in the Mother's womb, centering on the True Children" (Blessing and Ideal Family).

By (symbolically) going through the womb, rebirth occurs. This is how disciples were reborn through the Holy Spirit, the feminine aspect of God, after fully accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior. When Mother Han states that she is "the one who brought providential history and human history to a conclusion" (Special Directions 4) and that "the center for the completion of the providence is the Only Begotten Daughter" (Ibid), its based on Dual Characteristics and the role of Heavenly Mother ((in Father Moon's original work, WolliWonBon, Heavenly Mother is detailed extensively). Once a mother gives birth, the child is born. Once Mother Han, as the True Mother, gives (re)birth, rebirth is complete. 

This does not mean Father Moon has no role in rebirth. Without both parents, rebirth cannot take place. The seed is absolutely necessary. However, the act of birth, the 2nd step in creation, is an act of the mother. The third step of raising the child during the growing period, lies with both parents. This is the third step of Unificationism: raising mature children, which raises mature families, which eventually builds a mature world--the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Exiting the Womb

During the fifty-three years from 1960-2013, while Father Moon's role in giving rebirth was largely understood, Mother Han's was not. Although the "seed" was given and fertilized by the "egg", there was a complication inside the womb. The complication: Unificationists never exited (symbolically) Mother Han's womb. As late as 2011, Father Moon clearly said, "You are like babies in [True] Mother's womb that still have not been able to be born" (Moon, Sun-myung, "The holy wedding ceremony of perfected True Parents"). There are numerous reasons for this, both from Father Moon and Mother Han's perspective, that could be a whole other blog post. The key: believers were never fully (re)born. Additionally, also for numerous reasons, Father Moon and Mother Han never achieved complete unity--Cheon Il Guk, until Foundation Day in 2013.

Cheon Il Guk literally means "two become one" (Moon, Sun-myung, The Way of Tradition). This occurs only in marriage and after having children (Ibid). True Parents, as the True Parents of Heaven, Earth, and Humankind, must have children around the world, not just in their own family, to achieve Cheon Il Guk in their couple. Their journey to achieve Cheon Il Guk, and thus usher in the Foundation Day of Cheon Il Guk worldwide, took from 1960-2013, until "Father's thoughts became my thoughts, and my thoughts his" (Han, Hak-ja, "We will now make our Unification Church a living and breathing church."). Foundation Day was officially explained in 2011 as:

"The day of the marriage between the God of Night (Heavenly Father) and the God of Day (our True Parents). At that time, together they will form, for the first time, the completed purpose of creation, where now God himself has his eternal pairing, and becomes complete" (Oh, Taek-yong, "What exactly are the God of night and the God of day?").

As the starting point between the unity of God, Father Moon, and Mother Han (and by extension, the unity of Father Moon and Mother Han as a couple), Foundation Day ushered in the internal and external Cheon Il Guk--the Kingdom of Heaven. Not only were believers symbolically stuck in the womb, the Parents (re)creating believers were unable to offer rebirth that fully restored believers to the point at the beginning of God's creation of unfallen Adam and Eve: 

"Until now, God has been the God of Night. He had no form. He was alone. He created Adam and Eve to take on form and manifest as the God of Day" (Moon, Sun-myung,"Korea will now become God's homeland and hometown").

A Golden Age 

Without this complete union between God (God of Night) and Father Moon and Mother Han, full rebirth could not be given. Only after Foundation Day could believers symbolically emerge from the womb and finally build Cheon Il Guk. The "golden age" that Mother Han speaks of is the golden age of "substantially attend[ing] Heavenly Parent together with [her]... while she is alive" (Special Directions 4). For physical rebirth, emergence from the womb can only occur during the physical life of Mother Han. Afterward, believers will only able to exit the womb in a spiritual sense--much like the resurrection offered by the Holy Spirit. While believers will feel revived, attending Heavenly Parent substantially will still elude humanity.

Mother Han states: "Until now, you received the Blessing in True Parents’ names, but in this era it is the Blessing where we substantially attend Heavenly Parent together with Holy Mother Han" (Special Directions 1). The era of praying in True Parents' name has been passed for twenty-five years. But now, to exit the womb, "we must use Holy Mother Han" (Ibid). Only then can we model the True Parents of Heaven, Earth, and Humankind. Only then can we participate in God's Dream: the union between the God of night and the God of day, the Cheon Il Guk that allows God to manifest as a Heavenly Parent among all humanity. 

By golden age's end, Mother Han wishes believers to fully exit her womb as mature children and, having attended her as the embodiment of Heavenly Mother, substantially attend Heavenly Parent on Earth as true parents themselves. 

Sources

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Eu, Hyo-won, Exposition of Divine Principle. Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 2006 (Seoul, Korea).

Getz, Maggie, "How Babies are Made." Babycenter, July 18, 2022, https://www.babycenter.com/getting-pregnant/how-to-get-pregnant/getting-pregnant-sex_7056

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Oh, Taek-yong, "What exactly are the God of night and the God of day?" https://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Oh/Oh-110800.htm