Divine Principle

The Rev Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, developed a teaching known as the "Divine Principle", which develops the concepts of creation, fall and restoration.

At creation mankind was equipped with "three great blessings": (i) to be fruitful, that is for each individual to be perfected by uniting mind, body and being in full union with God; (ii) to multiply, that is for perfected individuals to unite in families, so that the original "true parents" would produce offspring born of unconditional love who would in turn become "true parents" of the next generation; (iii) to "have dominion", that is for this family of people in full union with God to be in a perfect ecological relationship with the universe. Because the original human couple disobeyed God by having a sexual relationship without God's blessing and at the instigation of the Archangel Lucifer, Satan came into being and humanity was bound to him. He continues to work through "impure" relationships and the offspring produced through them.

The work of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was to bring salvation through fulfilling the the "three great blessings" and liberate mankind. This work was cut short by the crucifixion, but was taken up again by Sun Myung Moon, who was also rejected but who has established a religious community, the "Bride of Christ", known as the "Unification Church", which teaches the "Divine Principle" and supports the effort of Rev Moon and his wife, the "true parents", in their blessing to humanity. These "true parents" bless the marriages of their followers so that these latter may also become "true parents" and continue the work of salvation.