The Theological Significance of the Unificationist Temple Cheon Won Gung
"Ah yes, another building." Members of the Family Federation, otherwise known as the Unification Church, face yet another monstrous ask of their leadership: donate money to another massive building project in the fatherland ($10M in America, to be specific). Given only ten thousand members present in the United States, such asks have often been fraught with genuine faith and love on the one hand, and with manipulative fundraising tactics in the other. The recent controversy over the Japanese government's investigation into such matters has brought a new sense of weariness among many members in America, where the virtue of absolute obedience is a struggle amongst an incredibly free-thinking, rebellious collective consciousness.
Yet, Mother Han is insistent that the latest building in the church's HJ Cheonwon Complex, a pilgrimage site for Unificationists (Mecca for Muslims and Jerusalem for Christians & Jews are apt comparisons) is perhaps the most significant of them all. In 2019 she declared, "The completion of this building represents the completion of Heaven's providence and the consummation of human history" (tparents.org). It is the "substantial, original Temple where Heavenly Parent can dwell" (Ibid).
Mother Han has not given many explanations beyond these. Leaders and intellectuals within the church have sought after possible explanations and interpretations. Here are a few that I have heard:
- God needs a home.
- It's Mother Han's final offering to God.
- We should offer with a heart of filial piety.
- Never in human history has there been a temple for God as a Heavenly Parent.
- This is the first temple built without having used slave labor or stolen money (hmm....)
These can all be true. However, as a Unificationist myself, such explanations have not satisfied me at all. Didn't Jesus call us to be temples in our own right? Isn't the universe, and our hearts, supposed to serve as God's home? Haven't we used manipulative tactics to coarse members in Japan to give massive sums of money to the church?
My goal is to seek the truth through the Spirit of God. Therefore, about two years ago I began reading the book of Revelation, which in Christianity tells what will happen in the Last Days, which we as Unificationists believe ourselves to be in today.
In Revelation, several images appear that are relevant to the discussion of the Cheon Won Gung:
- New Jerusalem
- God on the earth
- The Holy City
- Mt. Zion and Mt. of Olives
My hypothesis: if Father and Mother Moon claim they complete Jesus' mission, then the contents of Jesus' return revealed to the disciple John must have or will be fulfilled within and according to their theology and teachings.
Moses, the Tabernacle, the Temple, and the Messiah
In order to address these images in Revelation, we must return to the Old Testament and Exposition of the Divine Principle (EDP). In the Old Testament, God commands Moses to come up to Mt. Sinai (or Mt. Horeb, depending on the passage). EDP makes clear throughout the Moses and Jesus chapter that Moses represents Jesus in image, modeling the course that Jesus would later walk centuries later. There, God gives Moses the two tablets of stone containing the ten commandments and instructions on how to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. In EDP, the following explanations are given as to the significance of these items:
- 2 Tablets of Stone: "the two tablets symbolized restored Adam and Eve, and also symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride who were to come as the incarnations of the Word" (p. 245).
- Ark of the Covenant: "The Ark....was a smaller representation of the Tabernacle" (p. 246).
- Tabernacle: "the Tabernacle was a representation of Jesus, but in symbol" (Ibid.
The Tablets of Stone symbolized the True Parents, which were to be Jesus and His Bride. The Ark was inside the most holy place, where God could directly appear (Ibid). The Word, the symbols of the True Parents, and symbols of God were all encapsulated in the Tabernacle, which was a mobile worship site for the Israelites as they traversed the desert. When the first Temple was completed by King Solomon, all these items, along with Israelite worship went to the Temple (at least according to the southern Israelite tradition), which "was thus a representation of Jesus in image[higher-level symbol]" (Ibid). The Temple lay in the capital city of Jerusalem, God's holy city that contained Mount Zion to the West, and the Mt. of Olives to the East. Throughout history, biblical writers, depending on their tradition, emphasized one mountain over another as the place to which the Messiah would come.
Revelation and Father & Mother Moon's Teachings
In Revelation, the prophecies about the Messiah during the Old Testament are consistently referenced and called upon to illustrate the reestablishment of Jerusalem as the holy city of God. The Temple is rebuilt, and Jesus sits at the right hand of God (Revelation 21). The city is established on the Mount of Olives (Revelation 21) after the 2nd Advent of Christ appears on Mt. Zion (Revelation 14). Father Moon and Mother Han's teachings should fulfill these prophecies.
In the Old Testament, God gives Moses the Law and the symbols representing the True Parents that are to come. According to Father Moon, at age 16, he was praying on a mountain and received a vision of Jesus: "It was the night before Easter in the year I turned sixteen. I was on Mount Myodu praying all night and begging God in tears for answers...Jesus appeared before me. He appeared in an instant, like a gust of wind, and said to me, “God is in great sorrow because of the pain of humankind. You must take on a special mission on earth having to do with Heaven’s work” (As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, 50). Father Moon was born in Pyongyang, which he and Mother Han described to be believed to be Jerusalem of the East (As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen and Mother of Peace). EDP teaches that the 2nd Advent will return to Korea (EDP, 399). As a matter of fact, Mother Han describes how two types of spiritual groups developed that believed that Christ would return around Pyongyang: spiritual groups in the West led by women, and spiritual groups in the east led by men (Mother of Peace 39-40).
However, Father Moon explains extensively (tparent.org) that these spiritual groups, representing the west and east sides of Pyongyang, failed to prepare the foundation for the True Parents. This means that the entire foundation in Pyongyang was lost (as some current evidence, the city is now the capital of North Korea). Father Moon and Mother Han's theology would assume that their birthplaces on the east and west sides of Pyongyang fulfill the symbolism behind the Messiah appearing on Mt. Zion and the Mt. of Olives (in Unificationist theology the Messiah appears as True Father and True Mother). However, since Pyongyang could not stand as the new Jerusalem, another place must stand in that position. That place is the HJ Cheonwon Complex, the home of True Parents and, at present time, Mother Han.
Dual Symbolism in the Bible and the Purpose of the Cheon Won Gung
The HJ Cheonwon complex has been described by Mother Han as the restored Garden of Eden, the same significance that the new Jerusalem has in Revelation: God Himself, the Messiah, and believers in the Messiah (although its more complicated than that) dwell there. However, for it to truly fulfill the prophecy of the new Jerusalem, it needs a representation of the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Tabernacle in substance (True Parents themselves) and in symbol. Dual symbolism is common in EDP's interpretation of the Bible (ex: death). However, why does Revelation contain such dual symbolism for new Jerusalem and the Temple? Two thoughts come to mind, one theological and one practical.
Theologically, Mother Han identifies herself as fulfilling the symbol of new Jerusalem (Mother of Peace), interpreting the city as a Bride to mean the Only Begotten Daughter, not the church. At the same time, the city represent's God's city of Jerusalem, containing the Temple, which likewise dually symbolizes the physical temple of Jerusalem and the True Parents.
Second, even though Father Moon and Mother Han, as the True Parents, fulfill the symbols of the Tablets of Stone, Tabernacle, Ark of the Covenant, and Temple as explained in EDP, such physical symbols are needed as objects of faith. In EDP, God original intention was not to build the Tabernacle, but rather to have the Israelites attend Moses, since he was modeling the Messiah:
"If the Israelites had trusted Moses and entered Canaan in the first national course, Moses’ family would have served in the role of the Tabernacle, and Moses himself would have fulfilled the roles which were taken by the tablets of stone and the Ark of the Covenant. Moses’ family would have become the bearer of the heavenly law. The Israelites could then have built the Temple in the land of Canaan without any need for the tablets, the Ark, or the Tabernacle. These were given as the means of salvation only after the people had become faithless" (p. 248).
However, throughout history, we've always turned faithless against the central figure. As Unificationists, we all (myself definitely included) have had lapses of faith and filial piety towards the True Parents. And the truth is that Mother Han will pass away soon. Power struggles (which are already present) are certain to develop. The Temple, as an object of faith whereby anyone can connect with God as a Heavenly Parent directly, cannot be easily tarnished. The iconography and layout remain as a reminder of essence of True Parents, despite what other leaders (who are as imperfect as you and I) may say.
Many problems underly the procurement of funds to build the Cheon Won Gung. Such facts should not be shoved under the carpet or hidden from members. At the same time, the Word of God, from Moses' time to King Solomon, Jesus, and today, must always be heeded fulfilled. It is my belief that the Cheon Won Gung has its roots in the Bible and are a product of Father Moon and Mother Han's teachings. However, I may be totally wrong. Seek the truth. I welcome being proven wrong. But my goal is to go to God no matter the cost, and no matter the struggle.
Bible Gateway Passage: Revelation 21 - Revised Standard Version.” Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+21&version=RSV.
Eu, Hyo-won, Exposition of the Divine Principle, Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, (Seoul, 1966).
Han, Hak-ja, Mother of Peace, The Washington Times Foundation, (Washington D.C, 2020).
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