Digong’s critics, fake Christians

Batas Mauricio .

PARDON my saying this, but I believe that many Filipino believers are hypocrites on matters of faith. With the way they have been criticizing President Duterte after he contested, admittedly in a truly coarse manner, the story found in the Bible about “original sin,” one would think that these critics are true followers of God, listening to, and obeying, His commands without hesitation, incapable of committing blasphemies against Him.

However, even the most haphazard inquiry into their thoughts, speech, actuations, and appearances would show that their faith in God is actually false, fake, pretentious, and, yes, ignorant and even mostly blasphemous. In fact, if the President and his critics would be judged together when it comes to faith and spirituality, we will find that, in the end, Duterte’s faith would be more genuine than the faith of many people professing the Christian faith.

Is it not true that a lot of those who say they are Christians, or who say they believe in God, do not even attend masses anymore? And is it not also true that, even if they attend masses or praise and worship sessions of their groups, they nevertheless do not derive any spiritual edification at all, and this is shown by how evil and sinful and morally depraved they think, talk, and act, once they have stepped out of their churches’ edifices?

I have a long standing challenge to people who say that they (and the churches where they are affiliated with) are followers of God. This challenge is simple: if they are true believers of God, truly following His commands, can they at least recite some (just some) of His most important directives written in the Bible, which He wants those saying they are His followers to obey?

Which of the more important commands that are written in the Bible have the people professing their faith in Him already complied with? One of these commands is for man not to make any graven image of anything in heaven, or under the sea, or on earth, to be worshiped by him as god. Surely, many of those who call themselves Christians are not obeying this! Some of them have even deleted this command from their portrayals or public depiction, in front of their churches yet, of the Ten Commandments.

If those who are now lambasting Duterte on his calling as “stupid” the “God” who is said to have sneaked in a deadly snake in Paradise are true believers of God as they say, can they explain, on the other hand, who (or what) is their “God”? Or, do these critics in reality belong to a group of believers who suffer a lump in their throats, and whose tongues get violently twisted if they are asked to explain who (or what) is their “God”?

Whether we concede or not that because of this false, pretentious, and fake spiritual faith of many of our countrymen, it cannot be denied that many of God’s curses continue to afflict all of us (although many Filipino Christians do not even know that our nation has been under the grip of many of God’s curses for a long time now). Let me cite just two examples of these curses. The first is the curse of OFWs (or overseas Filipino workers) among our countrymen.

The Bible says that it is a curse from God for our children, whether male or female, to be sent to different countries to serve foreign masters. Instead of treating this phenomenon as a curse from God, many Filipinos are even joyfully and gladly sending their children to work abroad. Second, it is also God’s curse for us for foreigners residing with us to be greatly prospering economically in our country while many of us languish in poverty, as it is also a curse for us for foreigners to be leading us and our government.

If you ask me, I am thankful that Duterte took his time out to lambast the “God” of some people claiming themselves to be Christians, because this has given us an opportunity for a healthy exchange of ideas which, sooner than later, would focus on the accuracy and truthfulness of the faith in God of this nation.

Hopefully, with what Duterte started, Filipinos will find their true spiritual bearing, and claim their rightful status as God’s children who have been tasked the end-time work of saving many souls from hell!

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As I see it, it would be really nice for those who are criticizing President Duterte on account of his speech dealing with God to be asked: have you already listened to that speech of the President? From the looks of it, almost all of those lambasting the President now are either just guessing, or are depending merely on news reports, about what he really said.

I listened to that speech of the President through a video clip that was sent to me by Pastor Juanito Datu Gragasin, and I realized, almost instantly, that he did not really degrade God.

Neither did Duterte call Him stupid.

What Duterte talked about, with derision certainly, was the story of how man committed the so-called original sin. Clearly, what the President was griping about with that story on original sin was simple: if the God that the Bible’s story on creation of the universe, including mankind, is a truly loving God, why did He allow a teasing serpent in Paradise which would tempt and ultimately destroy Adam and Eve and the whole of humanity?

In other words, what the President zeroed in in his speech was something truly earthshaking as it was amazingly extraordinary: he believes that there is a God, who created the heavens and the earth, who is a loving God or a God whose only desire is the good of all His creation, particularly those He formed as human beings.

However, in the mind of the President, if the loving God that the Bible referred to as the One who created the world was likewise the One that put in that world something that would destroy His own creation — the serpent, which tempted Eve and Adam to disobey God, and which later on became the reason why the two of them were driven out of Paradise — would this not contradict the very concept of a loving God?

With due respect, this, I think, was what Duterte really wanted to convey in his speech. He believes that there is indeed a God, but he does not want to believe that the God who is shown to be loving and caring as to create man in His own image and likeness would do something that would destroy His creation. I also believe that, the question that the President truly wanted to raise was this: why would a loving God create mankind if He would cause them pain and suffering by His own act later?

The fact is, if we read the other parts of the Bible about God’s love for the world, especially for man whom He created in His image, we will not to fail to see His great love for all His creation, so that He Himself came down to earth from heaven, in the form of man with flesh and blood, and accepted in Himself the penalty for man’s sinfulness. This great love is attested to by both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible.

If we consider these verses that talk about the great love of God for man, it would be clear that God couldn’t afford to do anything that would prejudice, imperil, or endanger man. For example, in Isaiah 53 and in the Gospels, it is show there that God Himself accepted the fist blows that were rained on Him by irate Jews; the whipping of His back with a whip whose ends contained sharp nails; the piercing of His hands and feet with big nails; and being spit on His face. He did all these just to accord forgiveness to man.

Then, in Matthew 7:9-11, we are told that God is ready to give everything to anyone who will believe in Him. That being the case, many people, including the President, could not be faulted if they are prompted to ask: if this is how good God is, is He the same God that is said to have placed a serpent in Paradise that ultimately destroyed mankind? Would it not be to the benefit of all if this question is given an enlightening answer, one that will even glorify God some more?

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com