Our Christian God, Religion and the Common Good (Updated)

"Many Filipinos are what I call Sunday-religious, that is they go to church every Sunday, take in confession and communion, but the rest of the week they bribe and do corrupt deeds..." - Mrs. Pura Santillan-Castrence, Author As I See It: Filipinos and the Philippines
Riches (noun). A gift from Heaven signifying "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." - John D. Rockefeller, 1898

The rich man may never get to heaven, but the pauper is already serving his term in hell. Alexander Chase, 1966

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Hi All,

[I do not consider myself religious in any way - lest someone charge me as riding the high morality horse; here-under I only want to highlight the believers' inconsistency to their professed Christian religion or belief system.

I address all Christians though Roman Catholics are the majority in the homeland. Muslims generally see their religion as a way of life and internalize their beliefs, and therefore not comparable to the "split-level" or compartmentalized Christianity exhibited by Filipino Christians].

Recently, I attended the wedding ceremony for the only child and daughter of a friend..  I normally do not attend such happenings but can not say no this time. During the Mass, I guess it's part of the churchy game plan, the officiating priest talked about what is labeled as the two greatest commandments of the Christian God, that is, love of God and of neighbor. 


I will not elaborate on the first love though I believe many so-called Christians concentrate on that. God is supposedly all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good, etc. as I remember my grade school Baltimore Catechism rote; therefore God must be so self-sufficient and thus should not want -as I see it- more love and attention. 

My interest is in the second love (of course, the commandment or teaching of loving one's neighbor does not refer to sexually loving one's neighbor). It refers to loving in the "Good Samaritan"-sense, per one of Jesus' parables. This parable teaches and encourages Christians to be helpful or charitable (to total strangers, beyond family, relatives, friends). It is on this latter account that many self-proclaimed Christians, i.e. Filipino Christians, fail.

One sees inconsistency or outright hypocrisy -especially if done knowingly- when people, especially those who have attained material sucess/wealth and thus ability to help, claim that they love their christian God but at the same time not really care about their neighbors, most importantly, the neighbors in need. I define the term neighbor(s) as those outside the traditionally understood Filipino nuclear/extended family and even close friends. 


It seems many Filipino Christians (Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical/Fundamentalists) spend so much time on God trying to buy their "salvation" by saying "Praise the Lord", "Love God", "Jesus is Lord", mouthing special prayers or incantations, etc. Such exercises remind me of the biblical Pharisees and Sadducees.

These so-called Christians seem to remember their God when they feel the need to directly ask for more favors or through intercessions of their favorite saints, by praying - for more financial "blessings" , to be free of sickness, etc. (reminds me of Bruce Almighty character). They see their God as a sort of granddad or Santa Claus and their saints as facilitators (when saints should be seen as role models to be emulated). 

Thus, if they are materially successful or other, they attribute it to their being "blessed"; same if they are physically normal, unharmed in an accident, etc. It makes one wonder about those who are sick, harmed in accidents, born physically abnormal, killed/murdered, etc. Are these latter ones, not blessed? And those Africans, young and old, dying of hunger or being massacred; are they not blessed that they therefore suffer or die prematurely?

With these mindsets, those who have become wealthy or have attained upper middle class or higher economic status, seem to profess, knowingly or unknowingly, a sort of "prosperity theology". 

These wealthy/rich "true believers" think God loves them because they are successful in their material pursuits. They are oftentimes enthusiastic supporters of absolute economic globalization in the homeland, and often suggest/imply that the poor are poor either because the latter folks do not work hard enough, or are sinners or at best, destined to be impoverished and to suffer. 

Belief in such a theology exaggerates the Bible's teaching on blessings by God, affirming and upholding the rich --without analyzing systematically why some are rich and many others are poor. This individualistic and self-centred distortion of theology soothes the conscience of the affluent, but poses radical challenges in the articulation of social and economic justice.

Overall, I believe that the church hierarchy and its lay leaders in the Philippines to date, have failed to properly send the christian message -the "good news". For one, the Catholic Church in the Philippines has historically been identified as defenders of the status quo and as part of the Establishment. 

The Catholic Church has been mainly a church of, for the rich elite and left the impoverished to bear it. It teaches the latter that they will inherit the kingdom of God via the "beatitudes."  I see that teaching as disgustingly cruel, a perpetuation of the God-concept that is cruel and narcissistic, of creating and expecting humans to spend their time praising God and asking for salvation while they suffer in their existence.

I do not think the present church leaders and ministers conspire to mislead the poor. But it appears these men-of-God learned erroneously or inadequately themselves and therefore taught badly throughout the centuries. It is only after the truly great Pope John XXIII's Vatican II in the 1960s that some in the hierarchy became concerned about social realities, especially the predicament of the poor and tried to impart social consciousness on the ignorant masses and social action, e.g. through Basic Christian Communities in the Philippines.

If one is to believe that man was created in the image of the christian God, then that God in the preceding must be discarded since it is a cruel and distant God -inasmuch as many of his supposed creatures are left to suffer. It is therefore the urgent and primary task of the Catholic Church in the Philippines to emphasize the "love of neighbor," of the neighbor in need; to teach more fully this part of christian teachings. 

It behooves the church hierarchy to stress the need for internalizing this teaching so that each Filipino Christian, and especially those who have power to change or influence the direction of the homeland will lead with honest, utmost social concern and moral ethics in their governance and business dealings, but most especially towards social justice, towards the common good.

The world is not just a stage on which man works out the eternal salvation of his "soul." Forget the emphasis on loving God with incantations and formulas or staying within the confines of otherworldly or afterlife concerns, or spending most time protecting the church as an institution. 

Instead the Catholic Church in the Philippines and its members should be responsible and put emphasis on loving one's neighbors, that is, by seeking and fighting for justice, by informing themselves and teaching the masses about their rights for a just society. For no social system is just if it deprives its people of those earthly goods which are necessary for a truly humane existence, whether the system is market-driven capitalism or state-driven capitalism (communism) or socialism.



It is by teaching and informing. striving and acting for a just society can believers demonstrate their love of their christian God (note that oftentimes in the history of man, cults or movements led by great men with their great teachings and ideas are revolutionary but, as they proliferate and become a major part of society, of the Establishment, those movements become reactionary and pillars of the status quo, if not moribund. The Catholic Church seems to be headed, if not have gone this way).


- Bert

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" Fear history, for it respects no secrets" - Gregoria de Jesus (widow of Andres Bonifacio)

Of 534 previous posts, the following listed links and the RECTO READER are essential about us native (indio)/ Malay Filipinos and are therefore always presented in each new post. Click each to open/read

OUR CULTURE: (full range of our learned values, attitudinal & behavioral patterns) 

1. WHAT WE FILIPINOS SHOULD KNOW:
2. WHAT IS NATIONALISM [Filipino Nationalism]?
3. Our Colonial Mentality and Its Roots 
4. The Miseducation of the Filipino (Formation of our Americanized Mind)
5. Understanding Our Filipino Value System
6. The Ambivalence of Filipino Traits and Values

OUR RELIGION: (Belief Systems)

1. Our Filipino Kind of Religion
2. Our Filipino Christianity and Our God-concept
3. When Our Religion Becomes Evil

OUR HISTORY: (Nationalist point-of-view) 

1. The Purpose of Our Past, Why Study (Our) History?
2. Studying and Rethinking Our Philippine History
3. Jose Rizal - Reformist or Revolutionary?
4. About Our Heroes: Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini and Jose Rizal
5. The Philippine-American War (The First Vietnam)
6. The Chinese in Philippine Society (1955-1965)
7. The Chinese in the Philippines: Power & Prejudice

OUR  ECONOMY:  (Post-WW2 Agreements)

1. President Roxas Railroaded the Approval of Bell Trade Act (Philippine Trade Act),1946 & Military Bases Agreements
2. Bell Trade Act-1946 (Parity Rights)
3. The Fallacy of "Philippines First"
4. Agrarian Reform - Conflicts During Implementation
5. 16 Years of Agrarian Reform: The Lands Are Back in the Hands of the Lords, (Part 1 of 2)
6. 16 Years of Agrarian Reform: Are Filipino Peasants Better Off Now? (Part 2 of 2)
7. Globalization (Neoliberalism) – The Road to Perdition in Our Homeland
8. Five(5) Years of Reasons To Resist WTO's Globalization & Learn WTO's Multilateral Punishments to the Philippines
9. Resisting Globalization (WTO Agreements)
10. Virtues of De-Globalization

OUR  MILITARY:  (Post-WW2 Agreements)

1. President Roxas Railroaded the Approval of Bell Trade Act (Philippine Trade Act),1946 & Military Bases Agreements
2. US Military Bases & Military Assistance Agreements (1947)
3. US Bilateral Immunity Agreement (BIA) aka Article 98 Agreement
4. Status-Of-Forces-Agreement (SOFA): Template for Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)

THE RECTO READER (Book) is presented in several postings. Click each to open/read:

1. THE RECTO READER: Nationalism,Internationalism,Ultra-Nationalism,Part 1A of 6
2. THE RECTO READER: Mission of Nationalism,Part 1B of 6
3. THE RECTO READER: Economic Independence,Economic Nationalism,Part 2A of 6
4. THE RECTO READER: Economic Nationalism Means Industrialization,Part 2B of 6
5. THE RECTO READER: Industrialization: The Alternative to Poverty,Part 2C of 6
6. THE RECTO READER: The Fallacy of "Philippines First," Part 2D of 6
7. THE RECTO READER: Parity Rights, Currency Dependence, Foreign Loans versus Foreign Investments, Part 2E of 6
8. MORE TO FOLLOW

NOTE: Recto's cited cases, examples or issues were of his time, of course; but realities in our homeland in the present and the foreseeable future are expected to be much, much worse. Though I am tempted to update them with current issues, it's best to leave them as they are since Recto's paradigms about our much deepened national predicament still ring relevant, valid and true. In short, Recto saw the forest and never got lost in the trees. We native Filipinos have not learned from or not heeded his advice - Bert

Forwarding the posts to relatives and friends, ESPECIALLY in the homeland, is greatly appreciated. Use emails, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc. THANK YOU !!!

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THE FILIPINO MIND blog contains 533 published postings you can view, as of December 20, 2012. Go to the sidebar to search Past & Related Postings, click LABEL [number in parenthesis = total of related postings]; or use the GOOGLE SEARCH at the sidebar using key words [labels, or tags] for topics of interest to you. OR click a bottom label or tag to open related topics.

The postings are oftentimes long and a few readers have claimed being "burnt out."  My apologies. As the selected topics are not for entertainment but to stimulate deep thought (see MISSION Statement) and hopefully to rock the boat of complacency (re MISSION).

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(7) Songs on Filipino nationalism: please reflect on the lyrics (messages) as well as the beautiful renditions. Other Filipino Music links at blog sidebar.  Click each to play.:

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(8) Forwarding the postings to relatives and friends, ESPECIALLY in the homeland, is greatly appreciated. Use emails, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc. below. THANKS!!