An editorial posted by the Philnews.com (please click here for the link) caught my attention when the writer attacked the Catholic Church. Since I am also one of the writers of this website, please allow me to respond the hilarious article that might have shaken the minds of nominal Catholics who are struggling to learn what the church really teaches.
The writer said: “…Janet Lim Napoles showed the media the marble rosary she personally received from recently canonized Saint Pope John Paul II. Her lawyer Stephen David later disclosed to media that Napoles prays 2,000 rosaries a day. Given that a day has only 24 hours or 1,440 minutes, Napoles would have to complete an entire rosary in less than a minute praying non-stop for an entire day…every day. Atty. David also pointed out that Napoles paid for the schooling of at least 200 priests and helped construct many Catholic churches.
Does this mean that God will forgive or at the very least shorten Napoles’ stay in Purgatory? So that, in spite of the billions of pesos she stole from the government—billions that should have gone to marginalized segments of Philippine society but instead went to her pockets (and bathtub) and the pockets of her cohorts in crime—in the end Napoles attains redemption and gets to strum a harp with the rest of the angelic choir. Right?”
My Response: We all know that Napoles must face the issues thrown to her regarding corruption. The Catholic Church in the Philippines never denied any of the possibilities that may involved her to the billions of pesos stolen for her personal gain. That is why many Church organizations advocated on the anti-Pork Barrel, anti-DAP and anti- Corruption campaigns (Million People March) and (anti PDAF sentiments) to name a few . I don’t know if the writer have any idea about this or he/she have problems reading Catholic-owned articles that announced the advocasies I’ve mentioned.
Ms. Janet Lim Napoles
As for the question: Does this mean that God will forgive or at the very least shorten Napoles’ stay in Purgatory?
The answer is, MAYBE. We do not have any idea on the real intention of Mrs. Napoles praying using the rosary. We can only speculate the negative and positive implications of her showing a religious object to the public.
First, let me discuss the negative side of her action. Since we all know that she is being accused as one of the mastermind in corrupting large amounts of money of the Filipino people, her act lead to a gesture of hypocrisy. Many accused prominent Filipino celebrities and politicians had done this kind of strategy in order to get the attention of the public and claimed to be holy and insisted that they did not do any act that disappoint the Filipino people. Likewise, Using a religious object to justify that they do no harm to other people and claimed to be victims of the case is also what she always says in her recent interviews, right? On the other hand, This will also harm the name of the church since many non-believers and unbelievers will make fun with the faith that the accused person adheres with due to her excuse in using religion in order to dismiss the case filed to them, and you are one of the writers that explicitly do it.
On the other hand, the positive implication of her action is that this is a sign that she repented and asked God’s forgiveness. She may have read Acts 2:38 concerning repentance in order for her sins to be forgiven. If you are a Christian, you will know that we are given the chance by Him to change and accept that we are sinners. No Christians are prohibited in doing that act and we cannot judge her actions by giving colors to it just like what anti catholic writers do in order for their article to be a headline in every facebook and twitter pages.
“…All transgressions are forgivable—just repent and God will forgive you. That is what Catholic teaching has been instilling into the minds of Filipinos for almost 500 years. And they seem to have wholeheartedly bought that line, so much so that today there are many Filipinos who cheat, steal, lie and even kill but believe they will still end up in Heaven. The rich and powerful commit all sorts of nefarious deeds six days a week but attend Mass on Sunday and believe all their misdeeds are washed away. This is how all those corrupt, immoral, unethical and criminal Filipinos are able to live with themselves.”
My reply: It is true that many Filipinos especially Catholics (by name) are abusing the privilege that God give to us thru His church. The church teaches repentance and forgiveness by way of sincere acceptance to your sins and to repent seriously and with an open heart. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly illustrates how works that are apart on the will of God cannot save us and is different on the works that is from His will and must not expect God’s reward to our actions. Many people in the world today forget the whole point of the context. Atheists, agnostics and sceptics accuse the church of not doing anything with regards to the massive holier than thou attitude of most politicians of which they are wrong. The fact is that the church never teaches salvation thru FAITH-ALONE or WORKS-ALONE. What she teaches is that salvation is an ongoing process by faith and actions thru grace-alone. The church is not adhering on the misconceptions of protestants about being saved that is why the writer’s point is shallow and is mixed up with half-truths and hasty generalizations. Fallacies that most anti Catholics adhere when they attack the Church. If the writer is still unaware with regards on the stand of the church concerning salvation, I will suggest for him/her to read in this website : Scripture Catholic and click the JUSTIFICATION and SALVATION section.
Pres. Jinping of the People’s Republic of Chjina
China has got it right – critical response to a shallow article
The second phase of my article is about the editorial posted again in the Philnews.com (China has got it right)
I don’t know if the writer knows the history on the sour relations between the Vatican and China or if he/she does, would not want to provide proofs that may educate the public and the article seems to intentionally make fun about the church by pointing out an opinionated editorial and if being asked for any basis, he/she cannot supply even one. Please allow me again to dissect the article:
“…Chinese leaders need only look at their neighbor to the Southeast to see how unbridled church interference can wreck havoc on a country.”
My reply: This part is intentionally pointing out to the Philippines since we are the only country in the SEA region where most Christians are Catholics (at least by name). What is disturbing is the line “…to see how unbridled church interference can wreck havoc on a country.” If I may ask, when was the time that the church wrecked the country? Because The problem actually is not the church herself, but the people who are adamantly doing hilarious things for their own personal gain. Many of them use religion in order to justify their actions that is why the term “RELIGION” is being corrupted by dissenting Christians and maliciously by skeptics and anti-Catholics in order to attack and malign the role of the Catholic Church in the nation-building. The writer must always remember that without the church for the past 500 years, there would have been no developments on literature, culture, education etc that we achieve today. What made our country bad? our selfish desires, because most of us defy what the church teaches. We always do it because we think that we are right and the church is ALWAYS WRONG. How dare the writer thinks that the church interferes the state all the time? Is he/she trying to point out the influence of some bishops with regards to the laws that are more humane?A ctually, Influence is different from interference, when we say interference, it means to obstruct illegally and meddle on other people’s affairs. While influence means affect something, or given special advantage. Those two words have different highways and what he/she is doing is to make those words look synonymous even if they are not of the same road. And even if the writer’s accusation is true regarding interference of the Church on state’s affairs, we will really see how humane it is and it is for the majority of the people, not just for the sake of some that attempts to INFLUENCE those who are of majority to become one of them. A striking atheistic agenda in order to promote laicite in our country. People of this kind of attitude is dreaming of a France-like Philippines…just like the legalization of ABORTION, GAY MARRIAGE and DIVORCE… dream on.
“… In the Philippines, Catholic bishops constantly meddle in state affairs: they tell government officials what laws they should or shouldn’t pass; they threaten with excommunication or otherwise intimidate those who speak out against them; they exercise tremendous authority without any corresponding responsibility.”
My reply: The problem with the writer is the linking of those two distinct words even if if they are not synonymous. Influencing a certain politician in order to pass a more humane law is different from interfering something for their own personal gain. The fact is that bishops and priests never even have positions on all government offices is evident that the church never meddles on the affairs of the state. That is why instead of meddling, the church tries to voice out her concerns by protesting, writing online articles, prayers, The Eucharist, prayer vigils and etc in order to put the conscience of a politician on its proper compass .You have to consider the responsibility of the church to guide the moral compass of our government officials because most of them are members of the Catholic Church. Though some of them believed and followed the request, while others did not and that is the spirit of democracy.
If the church exercise tremendous authority without any corresponding responsibility, then is it irresponsible for the church to oppose the regime of Former President Marcos? To oust Former President Joseph Estrada? To campaign against unjust actions of the former Philippine Constabulary on the political dissenters? To advocate against the massive corruption and poverty that our country severely experienced in the past? To influence President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ban death penalty? If the writer says so, then we can discuss it here as long as I am online.
The writer should also consider that excommunication is exclusively for Catholics who defy the teachings of the Catholic Church, and that rule is there since the early times of Christianity.(Wikipedia on Excommunication) The writer has no right to dictate the law that the church implements because he/she have no idea on the reason/s for a Catholic when excommunicated and why it should be implemented. And by the way, Threatening is also different from reminding. The church is only “reminding” the faithful that a good and responsible Catholic shall follow the teachings of the church in order not to be given sanctions. The church is not advocating on the cherry-picking policy of beliefs just like what some non-Catholic Churches implement especially to the case of Born Again Movements (that is why until now, protestants cannot unify themselves because they differ individually in understanding what the Bible really teaches).
“…Case in point: despite the United States, the United Nations, and the Philippine government’s efforts to curb the country’s soaring birthrate, the Catholic Church remains steadfast against any and all forms of birth control for Filipinos. And now that the Philippine population has passed the 100 million threshold, church leaders do not see it as their responsibility to provide for the wherewithal to house, feed, educate, and employ all these additional human beings who are the direct result of their misguided religious policies.”
My reply: The writer is not researching properly the advocasies of the church in order to promote quality life for the people. In fact the church is the biggest provider of charity works in the world, helping the oppressed and the poor. Helping nations to build from being trapped by poverty and giving opportunities to less privileged yet deserving to finish their education until college thru church-run schools. (Michael Sanchez’ outline of proofs). Population is also not a problem in our country, but the irresponsible government officials who took the money of the people in order for them to become rich and the carelessness of our people (at some point most of us) in following the methods that the church promotes in order for our family not to experience poverty. You see, our population is more or less 100 Million yet there are many good news from foreign investors that explained why our country is doing well for the past years and until now, vying to become one of the Asian Tigers in the future. Economic analysts even cited two reasons why we are at the right track and those are: Less corruption and YOUNG POPULATION. Though we still lag as to compare to our neighboring countries with regards to economic progress, but we are coping up with it and we see more responsible government officials that look to our brand new modern Philippines to higher status. That is without the RH Law being implemented. If you want a clear picture with the real game plan of the Pro RH advocates, please read Mr. Bobit Avila’s Article concerning Vaccines that are according from the Department of Health, are for HEALTH purposes yet have sideeffects on infertility (PAGKA-BAOG) of a person, With or without the consent of the Parents. The Church thru the bishop in Vigan questioned the ingredients of the vaccine, and what is striking is that lobbyists of the RH Law and its protagonists despite the INFORMED CHOICE campaign barred and critiqued the bishop and pointing out that he is meddling the affairs of the state. So, asking for information about the ingredients used in the vaccine is directly interfering? I speculate that the protagonists of the law only wanted for the church to shut up even if it is not right to always remain quiet with the possible sideeffects of it…Freedom of Information huh… Is this what you like to happen in our country? full of infertile Filipino people?
Misguided religious policies? If the writer thinks that the policies of the church are misguided, please point out one because I can assure him/her that I will answer at my best in order to satisfy the readers concerning the RH Law and other forms of social issues that according from him/her, being meddled by the Church.
“…Chinese President Xi Jinping and the rest of China’s politburo realize that this could happen to them and have thus told Pope Francis—however well-intentioned his overtures might be—no thanks, and leave us alone.”
My reply: That this could happen to them? excuse me, if you have no idea with the reason behind the sour relations between the Catholic Church and China, you have to at least research and read this one first before asserting false assumptions.
Now this is the real score, not what you are doing. Kulang ka sa research dong, try a bit harder in order for you to understand what really is the Catholic Church.
Moral lesson: Huwag kang mangahoy ng kuwento para bumenta lang sa publiko. Ano akala mo sa sarili mo? close kayo ni Mrs. Janet Napoles, Pope Francis at President Jinping?