President’s Report on the Just Concluded Grand Debate
The Grand Debate between the Catholic Faith Defenders (CFD) and the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) ministers was held last July 11, 2014 at the Cebu Coliseum. The debate started at around 1:30 pm and was finished at around 8:30 pm. It was a two part debate. The first proposition debated upon is to resolve that the Apostle Peter was appointed by Christ as the visible head of the Church founded by Christ based on the Bible. The second proposition was to resolve that the Bible teaches that Felix Manalo is the messenger of God in these last days. The first proposition was debated upon by Bro Ramon Gitamondoc, CFD National President, on the affirmative side and Bro Ramil Parba, INC minister and national debater, on the negative side. The second proposition was debated upon by Bro Jose Ventilacion, INC minister and international debater, on the affirmative side and Bro Alvin Gitamondoc, Chairman of Cebu Archdiocesan Debating Committee, on the negative side. The primary moderator of the debate was Bro Rey Batiquin who belongs to the Baptist church.
The Cebu Coliseum which can accommodate a jam packed crowd of 8000 people was about half-full during the debate. The majority audience who attended the debate were members of the INC who out-numbered the Catholic faithful in a ratio of about 10:1. Thus the CFD debaters were debating in front of a largely hostile crowd. On the Catholic side, there were members of the clergy who also witnessed the debate. Father Luigi was there who anointed us with holy oil minutes before the debate started. Father Fiel who is the assistant station manager of DYRF was there to personally supervise the radio coverage. Father Jumao-as together with his entire class consisting of 16 seminarians also witnessed the debate. Sitting with me and Alvin on stage was our CFD legend, Bro Socrates Fernandez, who acted as our coach. Also with us on stage was Bro Colonia, who represented Bro Dodong Limchua who is the owner of the Cebu Catholic Television Network (CCTN). CCTN did a live coverage of the debate. Also on stage was Bro Adam Amper who served as our timekeeper.
My analysis on the proceedings of the FIRST DEBATE:
Resolve that the Apostle Peter was appointed by Christ as the visible head of the Church founded by Christ
In my first affirmative stand I presented the Biblical arguments supporting the primacy of Peter. One key verse is John 21:15-17 in which Jesus, after his resurrection and before his ascension, made Peter the visible shepherd of his flock. This verse is tied to Psalms 79:13 which states that the people of God are his flock and to Jeremiah 25:34 which states that the shepherd of flock is the head of the flock. Another key verse is Matthew 16:18-19 in which Jesus promised to build his church on Peter and Jesus gives to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and to loose in his church. This verse is tied to Isaiah 22:21-22 in which the person who is given the key of the house is made the head and father, steward, prime minister, and possesses the chief rule under the king. These verses seems unassailable to Mr Parba that is why he spent most of his time in attacking the papacy. As expected, Mr. Parba tried to use verses which states that Jesus is the rock only to be thrown back to John 1:42 and Matthew 16:18. He also tried to use verses stating that Jesus is the shepherd only to be thrown back to John 21:15-17. He tries to quote a Catholic commentary stating that Isaiah 22:21-22 which states that Jesus holds the key only to be thrown back to Matthew 16:19. Thus in this debate the gates of hell was crushed under the rock of Peter.
My analysis on the proceedings of the SECOND DEBATE:
Resolve that the Bible teaches that Felix Manalo is the messenger of God in these last days
In his first affirmative statement, Mr Ventilacion chose to listen to the lie of Satan that the church founded by Christ completely apostasized instead of believing in the promise of our savior that even the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. He used standard INC proof texts (Isaiah 43:5-6; Revelation 7:1-3) to support the claims of Felix Manalo from the Philippines which actually refer to King Cyrus of Persia and Babylon. His arguments completely crumbled to the ground under the weight of the counter evidence based from Scriptures that the Church founded by Christ can and will never apostasize presented by Bro Alvin. Instead of dealing with Alvin’s argument against apostasy and alleged biblical prophecy on Felix Manalo he stayed in his comfort zone by showcasing his alleged superior knowledge in Hebrew on “ends of the earth” which he misinterprets to also mean time. In his final statement, instead of rehashing his stand and cleaning up the mesh, he talked on side issues on forbidding to marry and to eat meat. He spent most of his time rallying the INC majority audience to his side who gladly and may I say blindly obeyed their ministers wishes. In this debate the lies of Satan was exposed and he was thrust back into his infernal abode.
Thus the Grand Debate concluded with the crushing defeat of the INC ministers who only can muster the applause of a willing crowd but not the force in their arguments and a resounding victory for the CFD debaters and the truth prevailed. Pro Deo et Ecclesia!
MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE:
