1. Take Instruction from Regular Study of Scripture
World Scripture
O how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
Psalm 119.97
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3.14-17
The work which the sages saw in the sacred sayings Are manifestly spread forth in the triad of the Vedas. Follow them constantly, you lovers of truth! This is your path to the world of good deeds.
Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.1 (Hinduism)
And these words which I [Moses] teach you shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.8
Deuteronomy 6.6-9
We have sent down the Qur’an in Truth, and in Truth has it descended: and We sent you [Muhammad] but to give glad tidings and to warn sinners. It is a Qur’an which We have divided into parts from time to time, in order that you might recite it to men at intervals; We have revealed it by stages. Say: Whether you believe in it or not, it is true that those who were given prior insight, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in humble prostration, and say: “Glory to our Lord! Truly has the promise of our Lord been fulfilled!” They fall down on their faces in tears, and it increases their earnest humility.
Qur’an 17.105-9
Know that he who reads and recites the Lawflower Sutra—that man has adorned himself with the adornment of the Buddha, and so is carried by the Tathagata on his shoulder.
Lotus Sutra 10 (Buddhism)
I am leaving you a trust. So long as you cling to it you can’t go wrong. That is the rope God has extended from heaven to earth. That is the Qur’an.
Hadith of Darimi 1 (Islam)
Absorbed in the scriptures and their purport, he transcends the cycle of birth and death.
Acarangasutra 5.122
The holy Word is the Preceptor; by devoted meditation on it am I its disciple. By absorbing the discourse of the Inexpressible I remain free from the taint of illusion.9
Adi Granth, Ramkali Siddha Goshti, M.1, p 943 (Sikhism)
Whosoever labors in the Torah for its own sake merits many things; and not only so, but the whole world is indebted to him: he is called friend, beloved, a lover of the All-present, a lover of mankind; it clothes him in meekness and reverence; it fits him to become just, pious, upright, and faithful; it keeps him far from sin, and brings him near to virtue.
Mishnah, Avot 6.1 (Judaism)
And when a company meets together in one of the houses of God to pore over the Book of God and to study it together among themselves, the Shekhinah comes down to them and mercy overshadows them, the angels surround them, and God remembers them among them that are His.
Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 36 (Islam)
If two sit together and the words between them are of Torah, then the Shekhinah is in their midst.
Mishnah, Avot 3.2 (Judaism)
Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18.20
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The ultimate purpose of religion can be attained only when one first believes it in one’s heart and then puts it into practice. However, without first understanding, beliefs do not take hold. It is in order to understand the truth and thereby solidify our beliefs that we study the Holy Scriptures.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Introduction)
It is God’s responsibility to give us His Word and guidance, and it is our responsibility to believe and practice it in order to fulfill the providence.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Resurrection 2.1)
Jesus instructed the people, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24) Why are we judged when we do not believe in God’s Word? In the Garden of Eden the first human ancestors disbelieved in God’s Word and fell. To be restored to life we must believe in God’s Word with greater faith than our disbelieving ancestors. We cannot be restored unless our faith is stronger than their will to rebellion.
(69:128, October 23, 1973)
When you read the Bible, you should look at the saddest things. Not the sections about heaven or the Book of Revelation, but the saddest contents. To become someone’s close friend, don’t you need to empathize with the most painful moments in his life? It is the same principle for us who would reconnect with God as His sons and daughters: we have to understand God’s most painful moments.
Then when you listen to God’s Word, you will feel deep, bottomless sorrow in the core of your soul. You will weep your eyes out with heart-felt grief without understanding why. You may not be able to stop weeping after ten days, a hundred days, even a thousand days—you will want to weep endlessly. Only when you understand God’s Word in this light will you begin to understand the core of God’s heart.
(10:137, September 18, 1960)
Wherever you go in the world, you should gather and study the message God revealed to us; it is called Hoondokhwe, the education that pleases God.10 When you enter a new town, you should regard setting up a gathering to read God’s word as more important than introducing yourself. Those who enjoy gathering and reading the hoondok scriptures will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
God dwells with us where we read His words. When we diligently keep hoondokhwe, the spirits in the spirit world descend and participate with us, thereby receiving the benefit of returning resurrection. Thus, keeping hoondokhwe is the way to mobilize the heavenly spirit world. Through keeping hoondokhwe you will make your family a true family. You will revive the church through the works of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of studying God’s word is to resemble God and True Parents, the original forms of the Word. Keeping hoondokhwe unites the True Family; likewise, by keeping hoondokhwe your family may become one with the True Family.
(321:32, February 14, 2000)