Make My Day

Here is John Paul II’s “Rapid Development” one of the last documents that he signed.

The Iglesya ni Cristo, founded in 1914 by Felix Manalo is a true Filipino cult. It will not tolerate criticisms both from its members and outside of it. They keep their doctrinal books a secret and keep the membership in the dark about their true number and the extent of its wealth. Ross Tipon’s book is not the first book about the Iglesya Ni Cristo. They are reacting to it now because of the group’s nearing centennial. They have recently silenced Mr. Eli Soriano of the Ang Dating Daan. They will not tolerate another one who will “blaspheme” against their founder and their organization. Besides, they have a lot of connections in government. To silence Ross Tipon is a show of power. Their triumph in this matter, is a triumph of strength, not truth nor justice.

(A)n integral part of their formation in the faith is their adherence to what the ministers say. There are some “liberal” members of the INK who have started to question their faith but these have been dismissed as “lack of faith” and even “a tendency to backsliding.” Members can’t question their faith the way Catholics and mainline Protestants do, otherwise, they’d be put in some “special concern list”, that is, they’d be subject to closer monitoring, the way Communists use to oversee potential rebels.

Typical cult. They don’t realize how much damage they create in their members.

I caught a talk show on TV featuring the question “Are the Faithful Corrupt” with Robert Reyes (the running priest) and a bishop of a non-Catholic Christian organization as guests. The topic under discussion is to my mind tendentious. “Faithful” is a “Catholic” term; I haven’t found any Protestant denomination using the term. Secondly, the question insinuates something else: that the Church allows the possibility that “corruption” — an idea that has come to mean predominantly the sad situation of Philippine politics and government — be found in its ranks. Here is a topic badly formulated from the start that the media would like clerics to discuss but had to be denied at the outset. The Catholic Church picked a bad speaker in the person of Robert Reyes. With the statements that he made, one would think that the Catholic Church operates on two levels: that of the hypocritical hierarchy and the lay people that manipulates the hierarchy while they do their own thing. As a result the non-Catholic bishop had the opportunity to give a nice impression of their own beliefs and of their own agenda. The “faithful” — those who can righly be called such — ARE NOT corrupt. These are the unseen heroes of our day who make sacrifices for their children, who try to be honest in the face of dishonesty. But there are those who, baptized as Catholics but who no longer live the faith — even if they still go to Mass and appear holy before men — who sustain the atmosphere of corruption in our government offices. Reyes did not immediately latch on to this truth. Instead, he made statements that were damaging not only to the Catholic hierarchy (with his insinuations that absolution can be bought although he does not cite specific examples) but also to the Catholic Church as a whole. Next time, the hierarchy should call in a bishop to talk at these fora and not some political hot head like Reyes.

Here is a copy of Ligaya B. Anacta-Acosta, D.M.’s speech delivered during the Press Conference of Human Life International – Asia 14 March 2005 held in Sulo Hotel, Quezon City. It is entitled “The Public Health Implications of Population Control” but can also be considered as an expose of what the Department of Health has been doing to the Filipino nation in the name of reproductive health. The text of the speech has not been tampered with, although I added subheadings for easy reference through hyperlinks. Get it here.

When the “Da Vinci Code” got published, the media had a hey day poking the Catholic Church. Now that the Archbishop of Genoa set up a debate on the novel, media called it a Crusade of the Church against the “Da Vinci Code” Here is a report about this so-called crusade.

Do you think the Catholic Church should just shut up over the Ligtas-Buntis program of the government? Some representatives of the mass media really seem to desire it.. And here is a nice post about the same thing.

I always believe that all men are born with inherent goodness in them. Well, after I lost my inexpensive cellphone, in the office, my faith towards humankind somehow waivered! the incident instilled in my a lesson. Since I have lost 2 cellphones…! yup that’s two, I have promised myself to be more careful with my things.! boy this ain’t me, but it has been getting so expensive … trusting I mean.! help anyone? Do you think I am losing my faith in my fellow men?

I have changed the default image of this themed layout to reflect how I would like this community blog site to come across: a walk on the beach. The railway tracks give the impression of a journey with a definite purpose and goal; that of footprints on the sand a more leisurely walk. When done with others, a walk through the beach can be punctuated by light or intimate conversations, And the goal is not external to those walking; it is most often more inward.
As of today, two others apart from myself have joined this blogging community. Jeni has started blogging about her beliefs, while Honcho Becque has contented himself with just making some comments. I have extended my invitation to others and I hope that they respond soon.

FireFox is much much better than I. E. The features are so many that not only the experience of browsing is enhanced. Plugins, themes, extensions… there are so many to choose from, and everything is free! For blogging enchancements, try the following extensions:

• JustBlogit! Use it for your WordPress, B2Evo and even TypePad blogs. If you are at Blogger, use BlogIt!
• Scrapbook is great for saving webpages. If you use Furl, then use the FurlIt extension.
• QuickNote is for making quick notes on your browser for pasting later on onto your blog
• Sage is your RSS Feed reader

Don’t be left behind. Use FireFox