The Christian Family by Larry Christenson

Mrs. Billy Graham praises Larry Christenson's book The Christian Family saying it is"a superb guidebook for the Christian home." He writes,"'Divine Order' is an order of authority and responsibility which is spelled out in the Bible. ... God has ordered the family according to the principle of 'headship.' Each member of the family lives under the authority of the 'head' whom God has appointed." He then gives the following diagram that shows these vertical relationships.

Helen's book is very popular in the Unification Church. Nancy Hanna is a prominent sister in the church and wrote a review of the book in a church publication. She says it is the best book ever written on the proper roles of men and women. Mrs. Hanna says: "Fascinating Womanhood is the self-help book for a happy marriage and happy homemaking 'par excellence.' Few books have caused me to think so deeply about myself and taught me so many 'new' things. I say 'new' because much of the content isn't new at all, but part of the timeless wisdom of the ages that has been swept aside in the tidal wave of the women's liberation movement. Given the current social attitudes, this is not a likely book for someone to be reviewing favorably. It clearly delineates between the masculine and feminine roles -- a very out of fashion thing to do, but I think Unificationists will feel right at home. ... the book is about the deep, spiritual qualities of womanhood." She writes that UC sisters need this book because they often develop"masculine qualities. Talk about strong women! Unificationist women are the strongest women I know."

"A great deal of unhappiness in American life today comes from the rejection of masculine and feminine roles, and even Unificationists are susceptible to these cultural influences. That's where the value of a book like this comes in." In regard to patriarchy, she says,"I'm grateful that my husband always insisted on being the leader and didn't let me dominate him."

Other sisters have also praised this book. Fran Ichiyo in an article in a newsletter for Women's Federation for World Peace encourages all women to buy and study the book:"Get the book Fascinating Womanhood by Helen Andelin (Bantam Books). I learned a great deal from this book. It is hard to swallow, but once you do it tastes great!"

In the church newspaper, Unification News, Eveline Stewart wrote an article called"1st WFWP Leadership Seminar Held in Moscow." She says they ended the seminar with a"presentation on Helen Andelin's wonderful book Fascinating Womanhood. The author, a mother of eight children, based on her rich life experience, gives excellent guidance to women on how to build a happy family based on rekindling or strengthening their mutual love with their husband. It gives so many ways in which we can develop our skills as wives and mothers. This book is now being translated into Russian."

Leadership

Let's begin with the basic concept of leadership. It would be better if the UC used the word"leader" instead of"subject" and"follower" instead of "object." The number one focus of Father is leadership. There is a chain of command. God is our leader. The Messiah is our leader. We have many leaders in every area of life. Father wants the UC to lead all other churches. The art of leadership is the greatest art Father is trying to teach. He, of course, is the greatest leader who has ever lived. He is the ultimate patriarch. True Mother is the ultimate follower. UC marriages should be like theirs -- strong husbands who are tough and tender, and strong wives who tactfully and sweetly obey. In other words, we must live the opposite of what feminism teaches. Godism is diametrically opposed to what Marx and Engels and other feminists teach. They teach that men and women have equal roles; Father teaches the traditional Biblical family values that men and women have different roles.

 I explained in my book Divine Principle I that the primary building block of society is the family which is the four position foundation of God, man, woman and children. The diagram looks like a diamond:

This is based on the fundamental four positions of God, subject, object and union:

Another way of saying this is to use the words leader and follower for the words subject and object.

In the book Explorations in Unificationism, Michael Mickler quotes from Essentials of Unification Thought that says "the leaders are the subjects." Some people do not like the idea of seeing the relationship of subject and object called leader and follower. They see the diagram as showing that subject and object are horizontal, not vertical. The problem is that diagrams do not adequately explain human relationships. The four position diagram is helpful to visualize a philosophical concept, but we also need to have a diagram that shows the vertical element between subject and object or leader and follower as well such as the following:

There is a horizontal relationship between all people in that every person has equal value and is loved equally by God as His son or daughter. This is what Sun Myung Moon means when he speaks of the horizontal relationship between people. He said (1-1-98): God "created the world for marriage. He created the world to get married. Adam and Eve were to grow and establish a vertical relationship centering on God. ... Adam and Eve were to establish a horizontal relationship between them, and they were to establish a vertical relationship with God; that is, they were to establish the Four Position Foundation." But as we will see in the very same speech he will go into detail about how men also have a vertical relationship with women. In the paragraph preceding the one the above quote is from he says, "Between your father and mother, your father is in the higher position. That is why you like to follow the man..."

 In the case of the Four Position Foundation of the family unit, the diagram shows a horizontal relationship between the husband and wife. This means that men and women have equal value. They are partners with the responsibility to raise children. Leaders is equal in value to followers. But leaders are obviously not equal in authority. Leaders have certain functions and roles, one of which is to have the final say. Without leadership nothing would happen. God is the ultimate leader. No one can ever be a greater leader than God. Every person will always be in a position of follower to God, even the messiah. To restore this world we learn in the Divine Principle that God sends a man to lead this world to His ideal.

 We should all bow to God-centered leadership.

 In this chapter we learn that women in the 20th century have rebelled against their role as followers of men. Father often criticizes women, especially American women and Western women for acting like Eve and leaving their position. In a speech (1-1-98) he said this: "In America today women claim that they are the subject. ... Is man or woman in the subject position? (Man.) Why is man the subject? Do all men have a concave or convex organ?

(Convex.) People think that the founder of a religion who talks about concave and convex has no class. However, this is where the fundamental problem lies, and unless you understand about concave and convex, you cannot understand the harmony of the Kingdom of Heaven." Rev. Moon is often ridiculed for seeming to be silly for always talking about what sophisticated people seeing as self evident and for being wrong in not being politically correct. His wisdom is beyond this world's level and how he speaks can often be equated to how Jesus spoke. Jesus spoke in parables and people couldn't understand him. Sun Myung Moon speaks in a philosophical way in his own unique style and many people miss his depth just as many did to Jesus in his day. Most people are not very advanced spiritually, even though they may be highly educated. Rev. Moon does not quote people. He is to be quoted. And some day mankind will see that he is the greatest philosopher the world has ever seen. He speaks countless hours without a text. God speaks through him. In the above quote it would be easy to read him and think that you got his depth.

 At the time of this quote, Bill Clinton is the President of America and promotes the idea that homosexuality is normal. But if he read and studied and understood Father's words, he would change his views. President Clinton is very educated and very dumb. He does not understand convex and concave. He does not know God very well. Clinton thinks Rev. Moon has no "class." But is the President who has no "class." And President Clinton has rejected the teachings of his own church, the Southern Baptists, who in 1998 made a public declaration saying that men are the leaders of their families and the wives should submit as the Bible teaches. Clinton publicly denounced this teaching. He does not see those in his own church as having "class." Clinton is not a classy guy. Rev. Moon is. Clinton has a troubled marriage. Father does not. The leader of the Southern Baptists has a good marriage. Who is smart? It is not cool to denounce God's messengers. But most people usually do because they are of the devil as Jesus told those who denied him.

Almost everyone has the devil as their father today, just as almost everyone had the devil as their follower when Jesus blasted them. The people hated Jesus for criticizing them and Americans and the rest of the world hate Rev. Moon for criticizing them. But Jesus and Rev. Moon are not motivated by megalomaniac dreams of world domination in which everyone is their slave. They criticize to help. Our responsibility is to take the criticism humbly. Every parent wants their children to do the same. Jesus and Father are parents.

Rev. Moon is criticized because some members of his family have had troubles and some of his followers have problems. That is their responsibility, not his. He has done his mission of teaching the truth and accomplishing the task of taking on the role of True Parent. Eventually his physical children and his spiritual children, i.e., all of us, will understand him and grow to be as unselfish and hard working and sacrificial as he is.

There are consequences to not listening to the Messiah. Actions have consequences. That is why the Messiah criticizes. He points out what is wrong. He does not want us to suffer by doing stupid things. Many in the media, in the ministry and former members just don't get it. They are being brainwashed by Satan, not Rev. Moon. They are the arrogant ones. They are the ridiculous ones.

The messiah is not God. He is a man. He may make some tactical, strategic mistakes. He may try different ways to reach and teach people, but his motivation is entirely selfless. We are to be good objects and not throw the baby out with the bath water. Remember, God created Lucifer. God is the first leader. He was the founder of the movement of man. Everything went to hell in the Garden of Eden. Does that mean God is a failure and we shouldn't listen to him? God's heart was right. Other beings were not right.

So when Rev. Moon says things that make your blood boil, remember what happened to Jesus and so many who have come with a higher truth. We all need to work on our fallen nature. God works in mysterious ways, and it doesn't get more mysterious than Sun Myung Moon. With this in mind, control you anger as you read the following paragraphs from the same speech we have been quoting given on 1-1-98: "What do the concave and convex organs represent? Man symbolizes heaven and woman symbolizes earth. Because a man symbolizes convex, he represents heaven and because a woman symbolizes concave, she represents the earth. When man and woman become one, heaven and earth are united. The day you become united with your spouse centering on true love, you will be able to establish the Four Position Foundation. Love is the center."

"Is man subject, or woman? (Man!) Are you sure? You men said yes, and you women said yes, too. ... Why is man subject? It is because man resembles God."

Are you getting furious reading this? Watch yourself.

He continues, "Therefore, if God is the axis, the relationship between God and man is the relationship between top and bottom. Because man comes with love, man is the subject. Man comes to bring love and to sow the seed. Do you understand?"

Sadly, very few do.

In the twentieth century most of America, including the majority of Christian churches, and many parts of the world have rejected the value of patriarchy. The philosophy that teaches against it is Feminism. Most Christian churches have adopted the ideology of feminism. The result of dethroning men has brought so much unhappiness that some women are restoring patriarchy in their home. The three best books I have read by women who teach that women must give up feminism and live by the traditional Biblical and historical principle of patriarchy are Helen Andelin's Fascinating Womanhood, Mary Pride's The Way Home, and Elizabeth Hanford's Me? Obey Him?

Mary Pride writes that she was a strong feminist and then saw the light. Her books are must reading. She writes about women obeying their husbands-- about the dreaded word "submission": "Before I became a Christian, the Bible doctrine which was most like waving a red flag in front of a peevish bull as far as I (the bull)) was concerned was wifely submission. It says in Titus 2:5 that young wives should be trained to be "subject to their husbands," and this note is echoed in several other places (Eph. 5:22-24, Col. 3:18, 1 Peter 3:1-6). How I hated that doctrine! Reading the Bible through for the first time, every time I saw a passage that taught wifely submission I flung the Bible on the floor."

"In God's providence both my Bible and I survived, but not until I had explored every possible way of cutting that doctrine out. In the end I saw that if I was going to believe the Bible at all, I was going to have to be a submissive wife; so with loud screeches of protest I gave in."

"My attitude was wrong, of course. I was thinking of leadership and submission as if they were a hammer and a nail. The husband got to be that hammer and the poor wife was the nail. I hadn't seen that the issue is not power and force, but structure and roles."

Submission

Mary Pride is a voice crying in the wilderness that feminists don't hear. They don't know or don't believe that we must return and restore our families to God's design where the wife follows her husband. Submission to God's will means for women to submit to men and men to submit to their leaders. It is the hardest thing for men and women to do, especially in the 20th century. But submission is God's way. Most people today think that it would be"insanity" for a wife to submit to her husband and for any woman to see men as patriarchs. Betty Friedan thought it was insanity. Hillary Clinton would say that it is "insanity." Mrs. Pride would say it is"insanity" not to. Who has better marriages? Mrs. Pride or Betty Friedan? Ms. Friedan has no husband. Mrs. Andelin has a sane marriage. Mrs. Clinton has an insane marriage.

Everyone must submit. Even men must submit to patriarchs. Mary Pride says, "Many other human relationships require one to submit to a head. The employee has to submit to his boss (1 Peter 2:18). The child has to submit to his mother and father (Luke 2:51). The citizen has to submit to the governing authorities (Rom. 13:1, 1 Peter 2:13). Younger men in the church have to submit to the elders (1 Pet. 5:5). Wifely submission is not the only kind of submission. It means we recognize that the family is an authority structure, in which different members have different roles and responsibilities."

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