Hyun Jin Nim - by Mark Sano

Dear brothers and sisters,

Father says in Peace Message 4, “Our ultimate purpose is to find and establish His kingdom and His righteousness, while serving God as the center”. And I believe we, blessed families, are supposed to promote such kingdom and righteousness. Unfortunately, I do not see great encouragement when I see what Hyun Jin Nim is going through. People criticize him as someone not obeying Father, etc. But what I see the background behind the incidents based on which such criticism has been developed, I feel nothing but disappointment. I do not want to discuss such concrete incidents in this letter because they are quite disturbing.

In the autobiography, Father says that all religions were born for peace but that politics utilizes religions and create wars. There is so-called “workplace bullying” in society, as a form of politics in work environment. Workplace bullying is repeated, unreasonable attack towards a worker. Examples are blame without factual justification, smear campaigns, character assassination, spreading malicious rumors, etc. The impact on organization having workplace bullying is increased absence, increased resignation, increased disciplinary actions and failure to meet organizational goals. Bullying is often directed to someone whom bullies feel threatened by. Those who are causing bullying are expected to deny and perhaps misconstrue the accusation. These descriptions are from the study about workplace bullying. I see nothing holy in workplace bullying.

I am sorry to say but what I see in our church resembles workplace bullying and is actually much worse. It is far from what Father says in Peace Message 3, “Heaven is a world overflowing with God’s true love and established with true love as its axis. It is a world where true love is the external form as well as the internal content of every environment…Consequently, antagonism and despising cannot be found in that world, for it is a natural world where each person lives for the sake of other.” Are we going closer to heaven or not, when we campaign to attack Hyun Jin Nim? I am afraid that innocent church members are becoming the tool for such bullying intent without noticing it. What if the news was created and released in such a way to drive people to hate Hyun Jin Nim as a bad person? I am afraid that we, church members, could be easily manipulated by such bullying because our immune system for such politics is not well developed.

If the current conflicts continue, we would probably become the study material of history in the future as how a church, which started with high ideal of the founder but divided through politics. People in society can understand those types of politics much better than church members, especially when the facts are disclosed and contrasted with the bullying. Historically, these types of politics divided nations and religions. Father says self-interest and division are the remnants of the Age Before the Coming of Heaven in Peace Message. English translation might not be clear, but Father says in Peace Message that we (children) have the responsibility to substantiate the Age After the Coming of Heaven even though God and True Parents opened the age. I think we are meant to overcome these historical obstacles.

Mark Sano