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Template:Two other uses The True Family, in Unification Church terminology, is the family of church founder and leader Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han.[1] Church members regard Moon as the Second Coming of Christ,[2][3][4] and he and his wife as the "True Parents" of humankind, who have realized the ideal of true love as the incarnation of God's Word.[5][6] The members of the Unification Movement generally address or refer to Rev. and Mrs. Moon as "Father" and "Mother" or "True Father" and "True Mother."[7] Their children are known as the "True Children."[8]

The True Parents

  • Sun Myung Moon (called "True Father" or "Father" by Unification Church members) - founder of the Unification Church
  • Hak Ja Han (called "True Mother" or "Mother" by Unification Church members) (In the American media Han is sometimes referred to as "Mrs. Moon";[9] although in Korean culture a married woman keeps her original family name, with the children taking their father's.[10]) - Sun Myung Moon's wife and officially-designated immediate successor as leader of the church. Their marriage in 1960 was described by Sun Myung Moon as the "Marriage of the Lamb."[11]

Sun Myung and Hak Ja Han are regarded to have achieved the status of True Parents on January 1, 1968, at the end of their "7-year course" of marriage together, representing the perfection of God's masculine and feminine aspects. Unification theology teaches that Jesus achieved this perfection only on the individual level (a lesser accomplishment than that of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han, they believe that had Jesus not died on the cross he would have married, together they would have become "True Parents" and created a "True Family" and they would save humanity and perfect the world. Unfortunately Jesus was unable to complete his mission of perfecting the world and went the way of the cross, but his death was not a complete defeat because Jesus died for our sins giving us spiritual salvation).[12][13][14] The primary mission of True Parents is to engraft all people on earth and in the spirit world to the original sinless lineage of God, removing them from the satanic lineage established at the fall of humanity (the original sin in the Garden of Eden).[15][16]

The True Children

  • Yejin Moon - daughter, born 1960. Left the church.[1][17][18][19]
  • Hyo Jin Moon - son, born 1961 (died 2008 of heart failure). Musician; long-term problems with substance abuse, infidelity, and violence.
  • Hae Jin Moon - daughter, born 1964 (died in infancy).
  • In Jin Moon - daughter, born 1965. President of the Family Federation for World Peace in the US.[20]
  • Heung Jin Moon - son, born 1966 (died 1984, car accident). Called "king of the spirit world [disambiguation needed]" by Rev. Moon; "channeling" of him by mediums was prominent in the late 1980s, see especially the "Black Heung Jin Nim."
  • Un Jin Moon - daughter, born 1967. Olympic equestrian. Left the church. Appeared on 60 Minutes with Nansook Hong to support her story.
  • Hyun Jin Moon - son, born 1969. Businessman, youth leader, Olympic equestrian.[citation needed]
  • Kook Jin Moon - son, born 1970. More commonly known as Justin Moon; businessman and firearms designer. Owns and operates Kahr Arms, a U.S. small arms manufacturer.
  • Kwon Jin Moon - son, born 1975.
  • Sun Jin Moon - daughter, born 1976.
  • Young Jin Moon - son, (1978[21] – October 28, 1999,[22] see below).
  • Hyung Jin Moon - son, born 1979. Chairman, Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International.[23]
  • Yeon Jin Moon - daughter, born 1981. Documentary film maker; was contestant on Survival of the Richest.[citation needed]
  • Jeung Jin Moon - daughter, born 1982.

Other members of the True Family

Death of Young Jin Moon

On October 28, 1999, Young Jin Moon fell to his death from the 17th floor of a hotel in downtown Reno, Nevada, in what the coroner reported as a suicide.[26] His sister, Yeon Jin Moon, states that he developed depression and anxiety.[27] A spokesman for the Moon family asserted their position that they thought the death was not a suicide.[28]

Young Jin Moon had finished two years of classes studying East Asian civilizations at Columbia University, and had wanted to study hotel management.[21] He was considering attending University of Nevada, Las Vegas to study hotel management there.[22] Young Jin Moon did not actively participate in the Unification Church, and did not give speeches or stand on the stage during its functions.[22] At the time he had been married for two years.[21]

J. Gordon Melton, an expert on New Religious Movements, stated that…

the tragic death of Young Jin, in light of other recent revelations about the less than ideal conditions in Rev. Moon's own family, challenges the seriousness of the Unification Church's call for a family-oriented program to reform society.[21]

Critiques of family environment and child raising

The family environment in which the True Children were raised has been described as "lavish"[29] and as one of "luxury and privilege."[30]

In her 1998 book In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family, Nansook Hong (ex-wife of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han's eldest son Hyo Jin Moon), who lived with the Moon family for 15 years, reported that the True Parents and the True Children were not very close. During an interview for 60 Minutes she explained that, for example, the younger children don't really speak Korean and Sun Myung Moon isn't really able to speak English, so they can't communicate well; Donna Collins, the first "Blessed Child" born in the West, also interviewed for 60 Minutes, said that in her observation even the relationship he had with his older children was never particularly intimate.[31]

Madeleine Pretorius, 36, a former church employee stated:

This is a dysfunctional family … It's very difficult to reconcile Rev. Moon's principles with the reality I was experiencing.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Do As I Preach, and Not As I Do, TIME, Asian Edition, September 28, 1998, Vol. 152, NO. 12.
  2. ^ "1,000 Cheer Rev. Moon in Oakland: Unification Church leader at end of national crusade," by Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday, September 20, 1995.
  3. ^ Moon At Twilight: Amid scandal, the Unification Church has a strange new mission, Peter Maass New Yorker Magazine, September 14, 1998. "Moon sees the essence of his own mission as completing the one given to Jesus - establishing a 'true family' untouched by Satan while teaching all people to lead a God-centered life under his spiritual leadership."
  4. ^ Unifying or Dividing? Sun Myung Moon and the Origins of the Unification Church, by George D. Chryssides, University of Wolverhampton, U.K. A paper presented at the CESNUR 2003 Conference, Vilnius, Lithuania.
  5. ^ "Sharpton in Ceremonies Of Unification Church," by David Firestone, The New York Times, Friday, September 12, 1997.
  6. ^ "Messiah" by John Dart, Los Angeles Times, Jan 29, 1976; B1.
  7. ^ "Stymied in U.S., Moon's Church Sounds a Retreat" by Marc Fisher and Jeff Leen, Washington Post, Monday, November 24, 1997; Page A01.
  8. ^ "Church's Pistol Firm Exploits a Niche" by John Mintz, Washington Post, Wednesday, March 10, 1999; Page A1. "Justin Moon and his siblings are revered by church members as the Messiah's 'True Children'."
  9. ^ Pollack, Andrew (September 15, 1995). "Bushes speak at Tokyo rally of group linked to Moon church". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2009-03-23. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  10. ^ Nahm, Andrew C (1988). Korea: Tradition and Transformation — A History of the Korean People. Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym International. pp. 33–34. ISBN 0930878566.
  11. ^ Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon Founder's Address: "The Messiah and True Parents." World Summit on Leadership and Governance, Congratulatory Banquet. Shilla Hotel, Seoul, Korea. January 27, 2004.

    "The 'Marriage of the Lamb' that the Book of Revelation in the New Testament speaks of is none other than the ceremony by which the Messiah receives a bride and forms a union of true husband and wife. If Judaism had received and attended Jesus at that time, then the world of God's earnest desire, the world of His original ideal of creation, the peaceful Kingdom of Heaven, would have been realized on the earth at that time through Jesus' kinsmen. As it was, the True Parent providence intended to be fulfilled by Jesus, the second Adam, was thwarted midway by the faithlessness of those who had been chosen. As a result, humankind was forced to wait for the Second Coming of the Messiah. Heaven though, had mercy yet again on pitiful humankind. Heaven gave its blessing for the Messiah of the Second Coming to appear on the foundation of the spiritual restoration Jesus carried out throughout the 2,000 years of Christian history. The returning Messiah comes with the incredible burden of completing the mission of True Parents."
  12. ^ "Moon stresses importance of family," by Tom Heinen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 5, 2001.
  13. ^ "REVEREND RULES: A Moonstruck Heaven Taps Favorite Son," by Peggy Fletcher, The Salt Lake Tribune, July 12, 2002; page A1.
  14. ^ "The Unification Church founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon," Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.
  15. ^ "The Reason The Messiah Is Necessary", by Sun Myung Moon, in Blessing and Ideal Family, (2000), Family Federation for World Peace and Unification ISBN 0-910621-67-5
  16. ^ "The Messiah: His Advent and the Purpose of His Second Coming," Exposition of the Divine Principle (1996), Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
  17. ^ Line of Faith, by Scott Avery, January 3, 1999.
  18. ^ Hong, Nansook. (1998). In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little, Brown. (ISBN 0-316-34816-3) p. 203.
  19. ^ Telegraph, November 5, 1995, cited in Fair News, Summer 1996.
  20. ^ Eight area colleges plan commencements, Daily Freeman, May 15, 2009
  21. ^ a b c d Schoenmann, Joe (November 4, 1999). "Moon's son dies in fall from hotel". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
  22. ^ a b c Voyles, Susan (November 10, 1999). "Body of Rev. Moon's son will be exhumed, taken to Korea". Reno Gazette-Journal. p. 1A.
  23. ^ Son of Moonies founder takes over as church leader, Justin McCurry, The Guardian, 26 April 2008
  24. ^ "Depossession Healing: A Comparison of William Baldwin's 'Spirit Releasement Therapy' and Dae Mo Nim’s Ancestor Liberation," Kerry Pobanz, Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 9, 2008 - Page 143.
  25. ^ 40 Years in America: An Intimate History of the Unification Movement 1959-1999, Michael Inglis, ed., 2000, HSA Publications: New York. ISBN 1-910621-99-3.
  26. ^ "Remains of religious leader's son to be moved to Korea" LasVegas Sun, November 10, 1999.
  27. ^ In Memory of My Brother (Young Jin) by Yeon Jin Moon
  28. ^ Oliver, Ryan (April 12, 2001). "Controversial Message: Moon speaks at church". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
  29. ^ Hong, Nansook. (1998). In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little, Brown. (ISBN 0-316-34816-3)
  30. ^ "Money, Guns, and God" by Christopher S. Stewart, Conde Nast Portfolio, October 2007

    They are called the True Children, and they have lived their lives accordingly. “The Moon kids acted like royalty,” Graham Lester, who was a member of the Unification Church from 1979 to 1995, tells me....

    Home for the True Family was a guarded 18-acre (73,000 m2) mini-castle in Irvington, New York, a tony suburb located along a sweep of the Hudson River. Named East Garden, after Eden, the estate included two smaller houses and a three-story brick mansion with 12 bedrooms, seven baths, a bowling alley, and a dining room equipped with a waterfall and pond. There were other castles and mansions too—in South Korea, Germany, Scotland, England—and few expenses were spared. The children had tutors from Japan, purebred horses, motorbikes, sports cars, and first-class vacations with blank-check spending. “The kids got whatever they wanted,” says Donna Collins, who grew up in the church. “At one point, the Moon kids were each getting $40,000 or $50,000 a month for allowance. They had wads of cash. I remember once in London where [one of Justin’s sisters] spent like $2,000 a day; I saw a drawer filled with Rolexes and diamonds.”

  31. ^ Nansook Hong on 60 Minutes. Includes other interviews. Donna Collins and Un Jin Moon also interviewed.

Additional sources

Source for True Children's birth dates: Coman, K., "True Parents' Immediate Family"

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