Promises that Must Never Be Broken
I have brides and grooms who are about to be married make certain promises to each other. These are promises that must never be broken. First, a husband and wife must always trust and love each other. Second, they must not cause injury to the other's heart. Third, they must educate their children and grand children to maintain sexual purity. Fourth, all members of their family must help and encourage each other so as to form a true ideal family. Chastity before marriage and fidelity in marriage are of the utmost importance. These are the points that I teach so that people can live appropriately as human beings and maintain healthy families.
Marriage is more than a simple coming together of a man and woman. It is a precious ceremony to carry on God's work of creation. Marriage is the path by which a man and woman become as one, create new life and establish true love. Through marriage, a new future is created. Societies are formed, nations are built, and God's world of peace is realized with married families at the center. It is in the family that God's Kingdom of Heaven is brought about.
So husbands and wives must be centers of peace. Not only must there be love between the husband and wife but the couple must also be able to bring about peace among all the relatives of the husband's family. It is not enough that the husband and wife live well together in love. All the relatives must also love each other as well. I tell brides and grooms to have many children. To bear many children and raise them is God's blessing. It is unthinkable that human beings apply their standard of judgment and arbitrarily abort precious lives given to them by God. All life born into this world embodies God's will. All life is noble and precious, so it must be cared for and protected.
Naturally a married husband and wife must maintain trust between themselves and nurture their love. The promise that I emphasize the most to people preparing to marry is the third one.
That is, "to teach your children to maintain sexual purity!"
This is an obvious promise, but it has become difficult to keep in today's society The worse the world becomes, however, the more important it is to strictly keep the promise of sexual purity.
The perfection of human beings and peace in the world come about through the family. The purpose of religion is for everyone to become people of goodness and bring about an ideal world of peace. No matter how much politicians may put their heads together, they will not bring about peace. Formidable military power will not bring peace. The starting point for bringing about peace is the family.
The most difficult aspect of family life is to raise children properly. We give birth to them birth in love and raise them in love, but they don't necessarily grow up the way the parents desire. What's worse, today's materialistic civilization is destroying the innocent minds of young people. Young people who would otherwise grow to become wonderful people are succumbing to the drug culture, which often involves crime and sexuality immorality.
When I first arrived in America in 1971, the wind of promiscuous free sex was blowing across the country, and the society was in the midst of confusion. Young people who had received wonderful educations were breaking down one by one. Sexual immorality was so bad that I was told that 8 million people a year were contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
What was most serious was that the politicians, academics and clergy knew that this was happening and yet were busy doing all they could to cover up the problem. They were trying to ignore reality, because they themselves had not maintained sexual purity. People who are not sexually pure themselves cannot force their children to be so.
The immorality and degradation of sexual morality among of adults destroys families and ruins children. Immorality and licentious personal lives of adults kills the life in children. The reason today's society does not have a level of happiness to match its level of material affluence is that families are being destroyed. To save families, adults must first live proper lives. Raising the children in sexual purity will come after that.
The mother is the fortress that protects the family. No matter how much society may change, the family can stand as a healthy and peaceful family only if there is the sacrifice and service of the mother. It is in such a family that beautiful children can grow. A crab, which walks sideways, cannot tell its offspring to walk straight ahead. In educating our children, what the children see and learn in the family is most important. The parents must show a good example. True children come from true families. Truth is always most simple.
The most difficult period in which to raise a child is adolescence. During this period, every child is either a prince or a princess. They think of everything centering only on themselves, and so there is the tendency to rebel against everything the parent says. If the parent does not respond with understanding, there is the possibility that the child may go onto a very bad path. On the other hand, a child in adolescence can be deeply moved by anything that seems to connect with his or her heart. Perhaps on an autumn day, the child will experience happiness and smile just see a persimmon fall from a tree that has lost all its leaves. She herself cannot explain it, but somehow it connects with her heart, and gives her happiness.
This is a sign that God's original character of creation is dwelling in her heart So when a child is caught up in the emotions of love during adolescence, his eye for looking at the world can be clouded and his power of judgment diminished. When an adolescent boy and girl meet and start talking with each other, they can feel flushed and there may be a change in their heart rate. If their minds are not brought into conformity with God's standard in that moment, they will surely become tinged by the world of evil They lose the means with which to control their bodies. The eyes of their mind and the eyes of their body become one, and function together. When we acquire the nose of love, we start to love smells that we used to hate. When we acquire the mouth of love, we start to love tastes that we used to hate. We want to listen all night to the stories of love. We want to keep touching the person we love.
During adolescence, our cells open wide all the doors of both the physical body and spirit to welcome love. Adolescence can start to think that they can be happy simply by entering into a love relationship. The doors of are to open when the time is right. Children must understand that they need to wait for the right time. Parents must teach these things to their adolescent children very carefully. Love is a process by which we grow to resemble God. Despite what the world may tell us, it is not something to be enjoyed as we may please.