Rebirth

Jesus said, “You must be born anew.” Rebirth in Christ transforms a worldly person into a child of God. He or she now experiences an intimacy with God and has the indwelling spirit of Christ. The reason why people must be born a second time, according to Father Moon, lies in the Human Fall. The Fall’s negative effects, experienced in every generation, derives from its corruption of the lineage of the human race at its root.

Through the fall, Satan was able to usurp God and occupy the position of humanity’s false father. To break the devil’s persistent hold over human life, we must be born again as children of God. For this purpose, God sent the Messiah, a man without sin, representing the Father, and the Holy Spirit, representing the Mother. Out of their love we can be born anew.

In eastern religions, to enter the path of the spiritual aspirant is often understood as a second, spiritual birth. In Hinduism and Buddhism, people become “twice-born” by receiving religious instruction. Their biological parents brought them forth into a world of the senses, but after their second, spiritual, birth their life is now grounded in the Dharma. Father Moon, however, treats rebirth as a specifically Christian doctrine, one that applies strictly to the work of the Messiah to sever us from the lineage of sin. He would regard the broader concept of spiritual conversion through instruction in religious truth under the concept of resurrection.

Father Moon also speaks of the conditions to be made in order to receive rebirth: repentance and renouncing worldly ways. Thus, he also likens the process of rebirth to engrafting: Before attaching the new shoot, first the arborist cuts off the old branches; likewise we must deny ourselves and cut off everything false. Then we receive the new shoot containing the life and love of God. If the tree is properly pruned, that new shoot will produce new fruit and propagate God’s lineage. Thus, although rebirth is a gift from above, it requires responsibility and dedication on the part of its recipients.