(This is my response to Roy Gersalia’s article entitled A Source Of Courage And Inspiration as published in his kaadman site)
You’re right, courage is not an absence of fear, but that by choosing the right thing, man overcomes fear to give place and honor to his own convictions. It is the emotion of fear that tests the real value of a man. Out of fear either man chooses to hide or step to the front. Rizal is a better example for us Filipinos. He told the truth, was denounced by some, was executed by the Filipinos- upon order of the Spaniards. He did what was right. Rizal died, but not in vain, for until this day his message is very much alive: Step to the front, tell the Truth and you shall be free! Simple as it is, but it’s the rarest quality you’ll find in the Philippines for it is a corrupted country- because of egoism. Egoism is the root of all Evil, and Moral Corruption is its best result. A morally-corrupted one is coward. As Maryjoy has observed, the Philippines is over- populated with cowardice. Our Politics is medieval, it is a failure, and the cause is a moral one. Jun Lozada wants freedom so he told the truth. Whatever awaits him now and his family is no longer an issue for him- he is now a free man! Does the public really understand what Freedom is? As I have said, the majority is submerge in darkness, like all the egoistic president’s men you referred to, for egoists are blind and have chosen eternal damnation in hell of ignorance. Some of us are just lurkers, with eyes half-open, undecided yet, either to leave the cage or not. A matter of strength.Time will tell.
Maryjoy, Catholicism is not the answer to our quest for the Truth, but rather a hindrance. It is not interested about our Freedom, but in the submission of its people, the eternal submersion of its children in darkness, the suppression of critical thinking, the denial of reality and resignation to the situation. Vatican is only interested in submissive obedience and the “religious” payment of the church taxes for the preservation of its imperialistic and colonial power. This Church is the disguised extension of the Roman Empire till the present time. Catholics are therefore vassals to the “infallible” Pope, the powerful Emperor.The Catholic Church has been around for a long time now and has failed to contribute to our progress in many aspects, including the moral one. The Philippine nation prides herself to be the only predominantly catholic nation in Asia, and for a long time now also prides herself as Asia’s most corrupt nation, where dictatorship, greediness, deceptions, denial, egoism, killings, social injustice, distrust, superficiality and perversions of all kinds are at the top of the agenda. Can we still dare to attribute to the catholic church that of being a source of encouragement and inspiration? Even for a simple-minded somebody who doesn’t know the details of the matter, he or she would simply agree with the fact that there is something wrong with the “catholic ” Philippines, where the national and local governments are run like hell by Filipino politicians and employees, shamelessly amassing their wealth at the expense of the weak, poor and needy. We had had centuries of experience with Catholicism and it’s clear now to accept that within this religious context, or with this religious tool- your choice- it’s virtually impossible to build a better society. This is blatant reality in our country. This is not scapegoating, this is my critical observation. We were raised as catholics and grew up as catholics, were drilled to memorize ready-made prayers authored by Vatican, and we are champion in reciting them mechanically. But ask a catholic to pray spontaneously and it will be clear in matters of seconds that he or she cannot do it; he was just not taught, hence, did not learn to pray freely.This simple example illustrates already the hidden intention of the Catholic Church, i.e., to prevent you from developing and using your own intellect. This fact, being so common, had blinded us and caused us to search the explanation for our failures somewhere else. Again, Rizal realized this fact already in his time that is why he emphasized Education as the light of the people, the development of critical thinking. The central Europeans realized this havoc before and they protested, and so the Protestant church came into being. Nowadays we are witness to the fact that protestant nations are much more social and human, politically and economically progressive. Look at Italy, Spain and Latin American governments- they are basically corrupt, chaotic and underdeveloped, qualities that we have in abundance in our catholic Philippines.
This is not to offend your belief in God, for here we are talking only about the Church, the Roman Catholic Church. I know you are familiar with the distinction.
jun asuncion
Bulan Observer
Bulan Observer 
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
Thanks for your much needed comment in my site.
We can exchange ideas through it. Together in fighting.
Mabalos!
Greetings! Found your post in Google’s Blogsearch and came to read.
>”Maryjoy, Catholicism is not the answer to our quest for the Truth, but rather a hindrance”
Not truth. The Bible clearly says that the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth. (1 Tim 3:15)
>”The catholic church has been around for a long time now and has failed to contribute to our progress in many aspects, including the moral one.”
Yeah, I can see why founding hospitals and schools would be considered a hindrance and holding back progress. You have a fondness for just throwing out statements like this one without one shred of evidence to back up your claim. But, it’s your blog and you can make baseless accustations as much as you want. Your readers, however, see them for the groundless accusations that they are.
>”Can we still dare to attribute to the catholic church that of being a source of encouragement and inspiration? ”
Certainly. Think how much worse things would be with any dampening effect from the church. Also, the Church is for sinners, so the fact that any or all corrupt politicians are Catholic indicates that the Church is reaching its target audience.
>” But ask a catholic to pray spontaneously and it will be clear in matters of seconds that he or she cannot do it- especially in front of others.”
So what. Ask a non-Catholic to pray for two hours and they stop within ten minutes because they “run out” of spontaneous prayers. There is no requirement in scripture or secular law to be able to pray spontaneously in front of others. You’ve simply made up a ficticious standard for prayer that is not Biblical.
>”This simple example illustrates already the hidden intention of the catholic church, i.e., to prevent you from developing and using your own intellect.”
No, it doesn’t. First, you’ve no proof of a hidden intention. Second, you have no proof that the inability to pray spontaneously is in any way connected to the Catholic Church. Correlation does not imply causation. Third, that most of the lawyers, teachers, doctors, and nurses in your country are Catholic clearly refutes the idea that the Catholic Church prevents developing and using your own intellect.
>”This fact, being so common, had blinded us ”
Well, we’ve already established that there is no fact, but just a common myth, an urban legend.
You seem to be fond of the many myths and misconceptions thatn others have taught you regarding the Catholic Church. Hopefully, you are open to the truth which is far different.
God bless…
+Timothy
Response to Timothy
It was the result of my observations that led me to question the role of Roman Catholic Church in nation building, recognizing the fact that religion and the church plays a crucial factor in character building of the individual. But why then is a society that is composed of such roman catholic -raised and roman catholic- educated people is susceptible to moral corruption as expressed in their daily business with one another and most obviously in their political affairs which begins from the national down to the local government officials and extends down the line of traffic policemen. Of course there are still some honest public servants, but they are little exceptions to the rule.The fact is corruption has long been accepted as a way of life in the Philippines (and in other roman catholic nations as well) since the coming of the Spaniards. Is this but a reflection of the inherited corrupt nature and tradition of the Roman Catholic Church that infiltrated the collective unconscious (C.G.Jung) and psyche of the Filipino (and of other catholic nationalities) after centuries of Roman Catholic dominion? Take note that here I’m talking about the man-made institution (Government?) of the Roman Catholic Church , and not the religion of Christianity as founded by Christ himself.
Observing that many other roman catholic nations are also corrupt like the Philippines has led me to conclude that Catholicism failed to be a tool for building a better society. I do not accuse but merely reflect back the facts observed and the documented records of the Roman Catholic Church herself. Then, what is a supposedly grandiose and forcefully imposed foreign church worth for if it had no function in the society it had willingly conquered? Is it just there to gather the flock every Sunday, collect money and send it to the Bishop of Rome? In any case, there is just this missing factor in the Roman Catholic culture and system of education which hinders the individual to transfer positively the christian teachings he learned in his interaction with the society, particularly the way that he handles the public office entrusted to him if he is a public servant. Or is the Roman Catholic Church nothing but an edifice of corruption and therefore do not possess the moral authority, hence ineffective, in preaching the pure gospel of Jesus Christ which is characterised mainly by love of God and His Commandments (Thou Shall not steal, Though shall not kill…) and love and compassion for fellow men and all creations?
In my studies I came to realize that Christianity was shamelessly corrupted and politicized the day when the Roman Emperor Constantin 1 showed interest in Christianity through the Edict of Milan in 313 which now treated nicely the long time persecuted Christian communities and his calling to life the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD which decreed which books must be or must not be included in the Bible and the adoption of Catholic Christianity as official state religion of the Roman Empire in 380 by Emperor Theodosius I in Thessalonica. The Edict of Milan which ended the persecution of the early Christians would not testify to the genuine personal appreciation of Constantin of Christianity for he himself remained worshipping the Deus Sol Invictus and continued his working on the falsifications of Christian religious history, allowing himself only be baptized to Christianity through Ambrose just moments before his death. It was rather clear from the outset that everything was a politically-motivated move of these emperors who realized the unifying potential of the growing christian population at a time when the pagan Roman Empire was declining (The crisis of the 3rd Century in the history of the Roman Empire) and from this date on, the corruption of Christ’s teachings started, beginning with the incorporation into it of many pagan practices of ancient Rome, to the horrible abuses of perverse Popes acting in the name of Christ, the series of Roman Catholic Church-led Crusades, notably the 35- year crusade against the Cathars beginning in 1209 that killed thousands of people , the permanent institution of Inquisition in the 12th Century (Malleus Maleficarum- The Hammer Of witches) that led to the burning of heretics (people holding a different opinion) at the stake (remember Savonarola?), persecution of scientists including Galileo, and finally the confiscation of the properties of these accused and/or murdered people. This gruesome burning and crusades lasted for 475 years, the last woman in Europe to b executed was Anna Göldi, in Glarus, Switzerland who was finally rehabilitated last year by Glarus local authorities.
With this background of brutal corruption and the failure of roman catholic educators to recognize these cruel past of the Roman Catholic Church, no sane man could expect that roman Catholicism is the answer to the quest for truth ( no matter how the Roman Catholic Church of today presents the “sweetness and light” that Catholic Christianity brought to the world ) and therefore could contribute to Filipino progress, morally and politically. There is danger in denying history. You surely know George Santayana’s warning with respect to this.
The founding of schools and hospitals was no way a sign of progress (if we mean by it moral upgrading) for the Spaniards who came in 1521 and founded them came not really to introduce the real Christianity but they came to introduce and to represent the corrupted version of Christianity (which actually became a form of government known us Theocracy, with the Pope as the absolute authority ) dating back 325 (and not the Christianity before this date as taught by Christ himself, his Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers and the ante-Nicene Church fathers i.e.,before the council of Nicaea, who, though defending (Apologia) the Christian faith from false doctrine, were still dedicated in transmitting the gospel in it’s true and pure form, in contrast to the post-Nicene Church Fathers who were now just interested in the writings of Articles of Faith (or better, Constitution Of Faith?) and Theology (the most famous being Augustine), all of which were geared at cementing the power and authority of the pope ( a title of pagan and pre-christian origin itself ) and the church of Rome and its pagan-soaked Catholic rituals. One such man-made Article of Faith is the Doctrine of Infallibility which was decreed by the Vatican Council (Vatican Senate? ) in 1870. The Spanish Conquestadores who, in 1521, came, saw and conquered the Philippine islands, allegedly to Spread Christianity, came in fact to spread terrorism, for they were no doubt acting in the spirit of Inquisition, echoing the notorious Spanish Inquisition at the end of the 15th century under Ferdinand and Isabel. Thus they came to conquer, to kill and enslave the natives and to sequester the whole of Philippine Archipelago.
Timothy, Progress is not measured in terms of roads, schools, hospitals and bridges built but in the upgrading of the moral and political consciousness of the Filipino people. Were colonisation, oppression, aggression, murders, suppression of truth, slavery, pillage and denials part of the teachings of Christ himself, and were they conducive to economic and moral upgrading of the Filipinos during this entire Spanish occupation which lasted for almost 400 years? Surely not. Was the public execution by firing squad of the then strongest intellectual critic Dr. Jose Rizal in 1896 not enough to show the intention of the Roman Catholic Church in preventing the Filipinos from developing and, above all, from using their own intellect? I declare once again that the message was clear. During this occupation time, the Roman Catholic government and the Roman Catholic church were one and the same in their intention, though the Catholic friars were much more feared by the Filipinos (Indios, according to them) than Spanish civil authorities.
The inability of the Catholics to pray a spontaneous original prayer is not the failure of the individual catholic but a symptom of the authoritative, truth-denying and dogmatic system of teaching of the Roman Catholic Church (only the Catholic clergy, and not a lay Catholic, is allowed to read and interpret the Bible to prevent “misinterpretation”) which does not take pleasure in the development of individuality but in the passive submission of the flock, which is understandable in light of the undisputed Roman Catholic history of persecuting heretics, meaning people who use the brain given to them by God and who think in the opposite direction.
The 1 Tim 3:15 was referring to Christ’s Church, not to Roman Catholic Church that for a long time in its history were presided and represented by people not worthy an inch of Christianity. If you look back to the old written pages ( profile?) of this church, you can not help but shudder and admit that it is built neither upon Jesus Christ nor Simon Peter the Rock but that it is built upon the rock of Gotteslästerung-of Blasphemy- itself.
Your statement that the fact that most of the lawyers, teachers, doctors and nurses ( priests, engineers and psychologists as well? ) are catholic clearly refutes the idea that the (Roman ) Catholic Church prevents developing and using your intellect. Well, the mind is the only thing that can not be caged even if threatened with crucifixion as the Romans did to Christ in Golgotha or to Simon Peter in Rome, the beheading of Paul (also in Rome) or the immersing of an Apostle named John in boiling oil, or the execution of that poor Swiss woman Anna Göldi and besides the Roman Catholic Church has nothing against teachers and nurses as long as they don’t question the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church, its dogmas and canons, the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome and naturally its gruesome medieval history. This is the truth Timothy that you are tasked to protect- and I hope you’re enjoying it.
Now, your last statements “we’ve already established that there is no fact, but just a common myth, an urban legend”, and “Hopefully, you are open to the truth which is far different.” Here, you sounded like those typical Catholic religion teachers who were so dogmatic and not open to the truth which is far different by not allowing us to study the Bible (I haven’t seen one in the classroom) but instead devoted their time in teaching us the Articles of Faith of the Roman Catholic Church authored by Vatican Senate not by Chirst or Simon Peter, by not mentioning a word about the history ( and secrets ) of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Ignorance of History, or were they victim themselves of such method of instruction? You know you can not defeat facts with philosophical syllogisms alone, a subject you surely love so much, for you need this tool in speaking in defense of the Holy Roman Catholic Church- and you will have more such ocassions that will keep you busy for the rest of your life in view of the roman catholic scandals now coming more and more to light. You can continue on arriving at a beautiful logical proposition after inferring from two premises with your preferred method of arriving at truth, or throw up Bible verses here and there to make your point. But the fact that roman catholic nations are mostly corrupt-like the Philippines or Italy or ,for this matter, the Vatican City itself, remains simply a fact, only it is not beautiful. The Truth is simply there to see, there is nothing to hide.
In Christ Alone,
jun asuncion