IS TRUE MOTHER MAKING CHANGES IN CHEON SEONG GYEONG A BIG ISSUE?
One of the common allegations from SC against True Mother is that She changed the Cheon Seong Gyeong (CSG) , even though Father had mentioned that it should not be touched, as He said, " The word Cheon Seong Gyeong is a very dreadful word. Any person, a third person, regardless of how great they may be, even if they have several Nobel prizes under their belt, nobody can touch [or change] the Cheon Seong Gyeong." (447-83, 2004. 4. 30)
Altering the Scriptures is not unprecedented, as the Bible itself was altered / edited numerous times in history, a course of evolution.
(Deuteronomy 4:2) "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. "
But in reality, the Old Testament cannon, which has multiple authors, has evolved through time. Historian believe that the Torah was likely formed during 400BC and the rests of the Books in Prophets and Writings were compiled into the Scripture by the Jewish authority during the 100-200 A.D.
All the writings in the Old Testament were a gradual collection of fragmenst over a period of 1500 years. It went through a process of selection, rejection and reselection.
Despite of the warning in Deuteronomy 4:2, the New Testament scripture came into being. But it has also gone through the same course of evolution.
Jesus Himself did not write anything. The four Gospels, the Epistles, the Acts and the Book of Revelation were all written by the early Christians during the 1st and 2nd centuries.
In the early Churches, one or two Gospels and Paul's letters were circulated around. There were numerous disputes on the authenticity of the divinely inspired writings among the Christians for a few centuries. The first list of New Testament cannon as it is now, was written by St. Athanasios, Bishop of Alexandria, in 367AD and was recognized by Council of Rome and Council of Carthage in 419AD.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Canon of the New Testament: "The Canon of the New Testament, like that of the Old, is the result of a development, of a process at once stimulated by disputes with doubters, both within and without the Church, and retarded by certain obscurities and natural hesitations, and which did not reach its final term until the dogmatic definition of the Tridentine Council." (Wikipedia: Development of the New Testament)
Since the authors of the Bible were human and that it was selected, edited numerous times, why Christians still believe that it was the Words of God? The answer is that God inspired the authors and selectors to compile the authentic Scriptures.
(Rev 22:19)"..and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book."
Despite of this words of warning in Revelation 22:19, the Unification Scriptures (Father's speeches and the Eight Great Books) still came into being. Why?
Reason is that Revelation 22:19 is meant to avoid anti-Christs and confusion until the right time of the coming of the Messiah, just like Deuteronomy 4:2 which served the same purpose.
However, such kind of warning in the Bible cannot stop God from continuing His divine provident by providing mankind with new words, as the Divine Principle explains:
"Although spirit and truth must be unique, eternal and unchanging, the extent, degree and method of teaching and expressing them to men, who are in the process of restoration from the status of ignorance, should vary according to the age." (DP consummation of human history, sect v, 1)
"Jesus did not say that his word was the truth, but that he himself was the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). This is because his words were only a means of expressing himself as the truth; and the extent, degree and method of expressing the truth should vary according to those who receive the words" (DP consummation of human history, sect v, 1)
What Divine Principle says about the Bible is also applicable to Father's words, such as CSG. However, the different here is that while the Bible was edited by the Jewish religious leaders and the Christian councils, the CSG was directly commissioned by True Mother to make changes; that means such act is directly related to True Father and God.
SC disagrees that Mother has the authority to make changes, even though the Jewish and Christians leaders' authority has no matches with Hers.
According to Divine Principle's Christology and numerous Father's words, Mother, the co-Messiah, stands on equal position with Father, as such, Her authority is equal to Father's.
As a perfected Eve whose heart and zeal are one with God and True Father, what She does cannot go against their wishes. Her intention for editing CSG that to clearly educate mankind's future generation is inline with Father's teaching of "doing for the sake of others", and inline with Principle teaching of "fitting the words according to the people of the ages."
Moreover, Father mentioned about "any person, a third person". Here this "third person" is not Mother Herself. If God is the first person, and Father is the second person, then any other person outside the Trinity is the third person, as Father and Mother are in oneness.
Accordingly, True Mother did not act unprincipledly in editing Choen Seong Gyeong.
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