10 Month Outline and 1 Month of Lesson Plans focusing on True Father’s life

Subject: The Life of Sun Myung Moon

Submitted by Marcus Hochmuth & Alie Hanani

  1. September: God prepares Korea
  2. October: Yong Myung Moon’s birth and family 1919
  3. November: Yong Myung Moon’s childhood 1920-1936
  4. December: Meeting Jesus 1936
  5. January: 9 Years of Preparation 1936-1945
  6. February: Prolongation in the North 1945-1947
  7. March: Hungnam Prison
  8. April: Pusan 1950-1953
  9. May: The Holy Spirit Association 1954
  10. June: The Marriage of the Lamb 1960 

Lesson 1: God Prepares Korea:

  1. Talk about 4 major religions: slide show, pictures
    1. Shamanism
      1. Offering tables, animal sacrifices
      2. Superstition, rituals, costumes, music and dance alive today
      3. Shamanism teaches Korea’s special place for God’s plan in the future
      4. Multiple God’s, life the Greeks and on main God: Abonim
    2. Buddhism
      1. Escape from world through ascetic lifestyle
      2. Temples, statues
      3. Liberation from suffering by denying worldly things
      4. Salvaation, Nirvana
    3. Confucianism
      1. Filial piety
      2. Obedience to authority
      3. Family is the smallest unit, not individual
      4. Individual finds happiness by serving society, unselfishness
    4. Christianity
      1. Salvation is obtained by accepting the Christ into your heart
      2. The only religion with a concept of forgiveness
      3. Sacrificing for others, living unselfish life
      4. Second coming: Messiah will return to completely defeat evil
      5. 3rd Israel: similar circumstances as for the Jews at the time of Jesus
  2. Japanese Occupation: (similar to Baal, Babylonian religion/at Jesus’s time bow to Cesar)
    1. Shintoism, forced to worship and bow before emperor
    2. Goal was to wipe out Korean tradition and language
    3. Koreans were used as slaves
    4. Forced to speak Japanese
    5. Join Japanese military
  3. Questions for kids:
    1. How did the religions influence father’s thinking?
    2. Why could father develop such a broad perspective on human existence in such an isolated country?
    3. Which goals are similar between religions?
    4. Why is Christianity different from other religions?
    5. What is the highest value/goal in each of the religions?
      1. Shamanism
      2. Confucianism
      3. Buddhism
      4. Christianity
      5. Which religion was the largest at the time of father’s birth in Korea
      6. Which traditions carried over to our church

Lesson 2: Sun Yong Moon’s Ancestry:

  1. Show pictures to discuss:
    1. Not much is recorded in the history books about the Moon Clan except on 2 occasions:
    2. In 1363 one of the ancestors, Moon Ik-jum able to smuggle a cotton seed into Korea from China inside his writing brushes. His father in law created the first spinning wheel to create cotton, replacing hemp as the material for clothing in Korea.
    3. Moon village: Sangsa-Ri 10 of the households out of 17 houses were from Moon Clan, 7 were close relatives, with origins back to 5th century in the south of Korea. His great grandfather, Moon Jong-ul settled in the Sangsa Ri village around 1880. His family established the family wealth by working very hard as a farmer. The villagers gave him the name of Sun-ok (jewel of goodness). The tradition of giving to the poor and feeding beggars has been passed down to Fathers family. But because of the Japanese occupation all the family wealth has been gone by 1920. Much of the land and wealth of Koreans was confiscated during the occupation and many Koreans fled to Manchuria. His grandfather Moon Chi-kook predicted the America will fight Japan in the future and decided that their family should not flee to Manchuria.
    4. His Father, Kyung –yoo and Mother Kim Kyung-gye, came from Confucian ethics, filial piety, living for the sake of others, always giving to the beggars. The tradition passed down from his great grandfather was to never let anyone leave their house with an empty stomach.
    5. They maintained a burial plot which was very unusual for poor farmers to have: In order to show respect to ancestors it was bought by selling land under huge sacrifice. It is considered a great deed under Confucian ethics to ensure blessings to future generations and an act of filial piety.
  2. Questions:
    1. Where did father’s ancestors come from?
    2. What are the occasions where members of the Moon clan are recorded in Korean history books?
    3. What is Confucian ethics?
    4. Why is Sangsa-Ri called the moon village?
    5. What are the names of father’s parents?
    6. What was the Moon family starting from father’s Great Grandfather known for?

Lesson 3: The 3 years before his birth

  1. Korean independence movement:
    1. Several of his grandfather’s siblings were involved in opposing Japanese rule. Several converted to Christianity. The Christian churches were the biggest threat to the Japanese rule, because American missionaries introduced liberty and freedom with their teachings. On March 1st 1919, Christian and Buddhist joined the Korean Nationalists to declare the independence of Korea. They were all arrested but 2 million Koreans demonstrated throughout the country. The Japanese responded brutally with killing 7500 Koreans and 4000 arrested.
  2. Spiritual phenomena surrounding father’s birth:
    1. For 3 years a golden crane was seen nesting near the house of Kyung-yoo
    2. But they could never find the nest during the day, and it was never seen again after spring 1919. The family took it as a sign that God had not forgotten Korea, and inspired several family members to oppose Japanese occupation.
    3. Several month before Sun myung’s birth a fortune teller in the next village predicted that great man will be born in the Moon clan, but since the moon clan was a baby factory they could not pinpoint which baby was the one.
    4. Kyung –yoo, was Sun Myung’s father: Kind to beggars, never upset, took care of family well.
    5. Sun Myung’s mother: Kim Kyung-gye: served the grandparents and all the beggars coming by.
    6. Married when 16, in 1905 to Kyung-yoo who was 12 years old, which was not unusual at that time.
  3. Questions:
    1. When did Korea become part of Japan?
    2. Why were Christians especially persecuted by the Japanese?
    3. What happened on March 1st 1919 in Korea?
    4. When were his parents married?
    5. What was the father’s family known for?
    6. What are the names of Sun Myung’s father and mother?

Lesson 4: Sun Myung’s birth – Indemnity and suffering around that time was enormous

  1. Father was born on the 6th day of the first month in the year after the 1919 independence movement, according to Lunar calendar. He was the second son of Kyung Yu Moon of the Nam Pyung Moon clan and his wife Kyung Gye Kim of the Yeon An Kim clan.
  2. Korea lost it’s independence in 1905 when the emperor of Korea signed his power over to the Emperor of Japan without big resistance. In 1910 Korea was annexed and Japanese rule was fully enforced, treating Koreans a slaves, taking and confiscating things and land. Korean farmers had to give the best crops (rice, fish, meat etc) to the Japanese.
  3. Buddhists and Shamans were forced to bow to the emperor. Shamans where historically fiercely independent.Christians were especially treated harshly because of their unwillingness to bow to the statue/picture of the emperor as well as because of their ideas of liberty, justice and freedom. In 1911 was the first major clash where 105 were indicted on trumped up charges of conspiracy against the Japanese Governor General.
  4. In 1919, on March 1st Christians and Buddhist’s joined the Korean Nationalists, declaring the independence of Korea. It was crushed with brutal force and thousands of Koreans were butchered. Several members of the Moon Clan were involved. 2 million Koreans took to the streets after the arrest of their leaders. Nothing was gained in the end, except that the Japanese rule became fiercer. But western countries started to notice the suffering of Koreans under Japanese rule.
  5. The goal was to wipe out Korean tradition and language completely.
  6. Many Koreans whose houses were confiscated left Korea for Manchuria to start a new life. Father’s family was giving shelter and food to many on their way to Manchuria.
  7. Questions:
    1. Why is there so much indemnity before father’s birth?
    2. What was the goal of the Japanese?
    3. How did father’s family help Koreans?
    4. Why were Christians persecuted more than anyone else?
    5. Why did the Japanese annex Korea?
    6. What was the result of the suffering of Korean people?
       
fourth gradeManish Saluja