Recently the president of the Mormon church, Gordon Hinckley, has published a book for the general reader that gives ten principles everyone should live by if they are to know happiness and peace of mind. It is titled, Standing for Something : 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes. At Amazon.com we read, "'Virtue is too often neglected, if not scorned or ridiculed as old-fashioned, confining, unenlightened,' laments author Gordon Hinckley, a 90-year-old ordained leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Even as he enumerates all of America's social ills (including $482 billion a year spent on gambling, rampant child neglect and abuse, school massacres, a pervasive deterioration of values) Hinckley believes there is a remedy. Chapter by chapter Hinckley presents 10 old-fashioned virtues that will return America to the glory envisioned by its founding fathers. These virtues include Love, Honesty, Morality, Civility, Learning, Forgiveness, Thrift and Industry, Gratitude, Optimism, and Faith."

"No nation can be greater than the strength of its individual homes or the virtue of its people. Sadly, many today would say ours is a nation in crisis. Families are splintering around us, our children are becoming alienated from their great cultural heritage, and our leaders seem increasingly out of touch. Yet, according to Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one cannot lose hope. The solution lies not within our governments, schools, or symbols of popular culture, but rather within ourselves, our families, and our faith.

"In the tradition of William Bennett's Book of Virtues, Hinckley has created a classic look at the values that can change our world -- and how to stand up for them. Drawing on anecdotes from his own life, as well as from our nation today, he examines ten virtues that have proven through the ages to provide the most profound path to a better world: love, honesty, morality, civility, learning, forgiveness and mercy, thrift and industry, gratitude, optimism, and faith. He then shows how the two guardians of virtue -- marriage and the family -- can keep us on that path, even in difficult times.

"Standing for Something is an inspiring blueprint for what we can all do -- as individuals, as a nation, and as a world community -- to rediscover the values and virtues that have historically made us strong. At once masterful and illuminating, it is a work for our time: a reflection from one man's long and productive life that dwells not on the past but on the means by which all of us can work toward a brighter future."

Mike Wallace, of 60 Minutes, writes the forward to the book praising Mr. Hinckley as a good man. Sadly, this famous TV journalist is the one who interviewed Nan Sook and Un Jin. Wallace sees Hinckley as a good role model and Moon as a bad role model. Somehow we must change this image of Father. I hope what I write will help people understand what values Father and our movement stand for (and should stand for). I believe Father teaches old-fashioned values. The Mormons teach that the man is the head of the house and only men should hold leadership in the church, but they do not make the next logical step and say that only men should be the head of government, businesses, military, and every other area of life. This is what the UC should be doing. Hinckley does not mention in his book anything about male leadership. Leadership is everything. Nevertheless his book is a rare find.

How many people have even one book in their home that they use as a guide to being a moral person with excellent character? How many people can name even one book that teaches how to live a life based on universal laws from God? The Bible is the most famous but even many Unificationists don't respect it's code of behavior for male/female relationships. Traditional family values are mixed with feminism in our church. More on this when we look at the Second Blessing.

On the back cover of Hinckley's book we read the following glowing reviews: "We live in an age in which traditional beliefs have been attenuated, ridiculed, and mocked. We desperately need leaders who will defend them -- and just as important, we need leaders who can explain why they are worth defending. Which is why Gordon Hinckley's book is so valuable. Timely, intelligent, practical, and readable, Standing for Something is an important contribution to the national discussion."

-- William J. Bennett, editor, The Book of Virtues

"I absolutely love this book! Every chapter breathes profound wisdom, insight, and optimism. Articulated by one of the inspired leaders of our day, these ten timeless values, if lived, will literally heal our hearts, our homes, our country, our world."

--Stephen R. Covey, author, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

"President Gordon B. Hinckley has written a wise and inspiring book. He looks at all that ails our society today and offers the most powerful cure: faith in God and the virtues that emanate from it. His voice in this book is prophetic and full of love. People of all religions will benefit from reading Standing for Something, and society will gain too, because this book should lead its readers to stand for something."

-- Senator Joseph I. Leiberman

These three men are good men. Senator Leiberman is Jewish and a respected Democrat who had the courage and character to denounced President Clinton during the sex scandal. Covey is a Mormon whose book is often praised by Unificationists, but no member that I know of, besides myself, has written a detailed value statement that he teaches we all must do.

One reviewer of his book said, "Although these ideas are easily labeled as 'old-fashioned' and 'dated', the book proves that some things never change. Everyone can benefit from the timeless words found in this book."

"This book fills a serious need in today's society. We have come to accept a total absence of moral leadership from those people in the public eye that the media has deemed 'role models'. Can we deny that today we suffer from a total lack of moral leadership?"

I hope that what I write will inspire others to write how they see a Principled life should be like and the UC can be the leader of our world instead of the Mormons.

ABSOLUTE SEX

Sun Myung Moon has invented a phrase -- "absolute sex" -- that means there are absolute sexual values from God. His strong stand against everything from gay marriages to pre-marital sex puts him in the category of the "extreme right" in our cultural war. God's goal is for a world of absolute values. Rev. Moon often uses the word "absolute." There are no exceptions. Every person will have the same values in the Ideal World. To grow to oneness with God as individuals we need to know what is right and wrong. Homosexuality is wrong. There are many books about what is moral. There are many disagreements over what is ethical and the code of behavior and the rules we should live by. Many look to the Bible as the best book on teaching right living. The book of Proverbs is often quoted as eternal guideposts of behavior. The Ten Commandments are timeless principles to live by.

In this section on the First Blessing I want to talk about just one aspect. To grow our spirit we need to be disciplined. We need to overcome any selfish desires and act only out of love for others. At the same time we have to take care of ourselves and fulfill our needs too. The Bible says to love thy neighbor as thyself. How do we love ourselves and balance that with sacrificial love for others? That is a huge subject and I would like to focus on just one example of how people can work on being disciplined and thereby helping others as much as themselves.

Sin is having give and take with Satan. To grow we must reject Satan's temptations that he uses to keep people from achieving their full potential as individuals and keeps them from being a loving person to others. If someone has an addiction such as a sexual addiction, he or she will not be able to love themselves and others to the fullest. There is a long list of negative behavior. To help illustrate my point of discipline, let's pick one addiction that everyone suffers from and use it as an example of how hard it is for us to be in control of our bodily desires. Everyone in developing countries suffers from Satan's attack on our choice of food. He is literally killing millions of people with malnutrition in wealthier countries. In America he brainwashes people with the idea that high fat, white flour donuts are wonderful. He makes apple pie mean love. Reject eating your grandmother's cheery cheesecake at a holiday and see where you get. She sees herself as being selfless by slaving in the kitchen for hours so she can give joy on Thanksgiving with high fat gravy on buttered potatoes. In reality, she is hurting her family. God does not want people drinking milk -- Satan does.

Unificationists like to focus on spiritual over physical and some may object to using a corporeal example instead of an incorporeal example to illustrate spiritual growth. Mental health may be more important than physical health, but let's look at food as a vivid example of how we must be disciplined. The physical is very important and if we violate the practical laws of health it affects our spirit and slows our development spiritually. There are many self-help books that attempt to help us lead excellent lives. Christian bookstores have many books on how to live a religious life. New Age books abound such as Wayne Dyer's best-sellers. Most of these authors usually mention diet as an aspect of achieving oneness with the universe.

---