These are excerpts from the Eighteenth Commencement Address, June 26, 1994, UTS, Barrytown, New York.
Welcome to the 18th graduation exercises of the Unification Theological Seminary, where we have gathered to honor thirty-two youthful and promising graduates of the class of 1994.
My message to you who are graduating today is simple yet very important: Create an exemplary family following the tradition of the family of True Parents in order to solve the problems in America and in the world.
If the family has a high moral standard, the world will be an ideal world. This is the reason why I am saying: Create an exemplary family in order to solve the problems of the world.
But did Christianity create exemplary families which helped to build an ideal world? No. Look at the present situation of Christendom. Doesn't it have a lot of serious problems yet to be resolved? Even after the demise of Communism, it seems that those problems are becoming more and more serious. Newspapers are full of articles on the immoral conduct of clergy as well as on premarital and extramarital affairs and homosexual marriages in Christian society. It seems that Christianity is totally incapable of handling these problems, in spite of Jesus Christ's original moral teachings 2,000 years ago. Although there are numerous Christian evangelists today, their messages usually promote selfish and materialistic desires, thus being unable to serve the whole purpose of saving the nation and the world.
I founded the Unification Theological Seminary in 1975 in order to revitalize Christianity and save this nation and the world. Therefore, UTS graduates must rise up to do what Christianity could not do, i.e., create ideal families for the building of God's kingdom on earth. I want to say this especially to this year's graduates because this is the second year after the inauguration of the Completed Testament Age.
Originally, Adam and Eve as the original human ancestors were expected to create a God-centered ideal family without falling. Unfortunately, however, they failed to do so, with the result that the fallen world came about. In order to make up for the mistake of Adam and Eve, Jesus came 2,000 years ago and tried to establish his own ideal family. But he was rejected and killed by the chosen nation of Israel. Thus he could not establish an ideal family. This is the very reason why Christianity has not been able to create exemplary families for the building of the ideal world, in spite of Jesus' tremendous efforts to fulfill God's will.
In order to carry out Jesus' original mission, True Parents stand firm now. In spite of severe persecution and misunderstanding from the world and especially from Christianity the last 40 years, I always lived up to the spirit of forgiveness, love, patience and sacrifice. I totally invested myself to embrace my enemies to testify to the real power of God as His filial son. On this foundation, I created an unbreakable God-centered family. In order to create an ideal family, one must live for the sake of other members of the family and then the family as a whole must have the same spirit to live for the sake of the world.
As UTS graduates, you have a very important mission of restoring this world. In order to restore this world, you must create your own blessed family which is an example to other families in this world. In order to create your own ideal family, you must know the tradition of True Parents' family. May God's grace be with you as you embark upon your new missions. Thank you.
