THIS WRITER once wrote of his futile search for the true religion, mindful of withholding personal biases and prejudices for and against any religious organization, stressing instead that “I discovered God outside of religion.” Let this be a sequel to that article.
The truth is that one religion’s goodness is another’s sin – as in worship or veneration of graven images.
If I cited unassailable anti-religion opinions that tended to allude to popular preachers who had enriched themselves at the expense of poor followers, they were supported by facts.
It is indisputable that the followers’ tithes and offerings ensure the earthly survival and expansion of churches. But it remains to be seen whether these followers would be rewarded with heavenly afterlife.
Via e-mail, one of my readers disagreed with my observation that our main reason for believing in God is a selfish one – “to free us from the bondage of mortality and catapult us to eternal life in heaven.”
He wrote, “Sorry to disappoint you, but I believe in God and the Catholic religion because it is rational and not for the selfish reason that you mentioned.”
He placated me with calming words from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, yet sincerely seek God, and moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known through the dictates of their consciences, may attain eternal life.”
I initially thought of disagreeing with him until I recalled that Dale Carnegie statement I had quoted many times already: “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”
I could have countered that the quest for an eternal life is naturally selfish but right because that’s precisely why most people embrace religion – whether Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.! It’s akin to taking different routes to a single destination.
Vox populi, vox Dei? Nay, “truth” is not always found in majority opinion or decision. Otherwise, it could have been right that the majority of the Roman soldiers heeded the demand of the majority to crucify Jesus Christ.
Poor Galileo Galilei. The Church excommunicated this Italian “heretic” in the 16th century for declaring that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.
I would not refute my critic’s argument that Catholics do not worship graven images in violation of one of the 10 Commandments; that they merely “venerate” whom the images represent. Indeed, the reason why Christianity has divided itself into thousands of sects and sub-sects is because of “escapist” interpretations of the Bible.
There is a defense to every offense. You must have heard televangelist Eli Soriano of Dating Daan ridicule the “ignorance” of Catholics who address Virgin Mary “Ginoong Maria” because ginoo means “mister”.
The Roman Catholic defense is that Mary is no ordinary woman, hence befitting the higher masculine level of respect.
I have dropped out of religious affiliations, having found them ineffective in reforming society. We can’t be proud of being “the only Christian country in Southeast Asia” and at the same time “the most corrupt country”.
I would rather be comforted with these words from the Dalai Lama: “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.”
Amen to that. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
