"We've known each other for how long?" I asked.
"Ever since I met your father and I saw you mopping the floor in his office."
"I know it sounds a little off-character, and I do understand it will affect our relationship, but I need help. Anyway, the Bible says, 'Seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be given...' So, I'm just asking, I just need to buy a few goats, maybe some sheep and a grass cutter so I can fix the farm.
I need help, and I'm asking you to invest in the farm."
"Yes, the bible says that. But, I'm sorry, it's just not there, I'm sorry." he said.
"Have you ever tried this dish?"
"Nope." I said.
"It's called, 'fool' a Mediterranean dish. Would you like to try it?"
Life is complicated
We can only know the things that we have been made to know. We usually think in terms of A + B + C = D where:
- A is equals to "thing/event/knowledge" we know for sure
- B is equals to "thing/event/knowledge" we know a little about
- C is equals to something we don't know about
- D is what we think is happening now
- The rest of the alphabet and beyond are the things we do not know.
And D is rarely the complete truth of "the now". Most of the time, the formula is more complicated, far beyond we can put or represent in mathematical terms.
News: Britain no longer a Christian nation
Unfortunately, life, social life, thoughtful life is not like physics or math...
Read: Coming out as an atheist
When does a person actually become an atheist? The truth is, it's complicated. There's no ceremony for that.
That's why religion makes use of ceremonies - baptism, mass, sacraments, etc. It formalizes the whole "identification" thing. You have been baptized as a Catholic, so you are Catholic. You stick with that group, you talk, you think, you act like them. You exist in their system of beliefs, so everything you do should be in that realm.
But it's rarely as simple as that.
Even though the Philippines is 80%-90% Catholic Christian, a lot are actually pagan-like. A lot actually don't believe. But they do so in secret. A lot actually, do not understand and do not even read the bible.
They're just afraid.
Superstition is a powerful fear maker
Coming out openly and challenging God in public is just plain bad luck. Bad luck for business, bad luck for life. And it's not just superstitious bad luck. It's real world bad luck. People have feelings and if you say things that make them change their world view - you create uncertainty inside of them. People will never buy from people who make them feel scared.
Then we go back to Duterte, who cursed, maybe not at the pope - but in the same sentence.
Rodrigo Duterte is a Presidential candidate in the Philippines who is known as the tough talking (and maybe) tough acting Mayor of Davao City. He currently leads the polls.
At 70, he has nothing to lose. I believe that he is coming out with his truth now that he is old. I believe that all the things that he is saying, are all the things genuinely in his mind. His Veritas. He admitted having been sexually abused by a priest when he was young. He admitted to killing. Would he have said the things he is saying as a nobody like me? Most likely no. Lest he incur the wrath of 80% to 90% of 100 million people.
As macabre, scary, inhuman as it sounds - it's beautiful. The truth is beautiful.
Free Will, God and the Religion of Churches
From my own perspective, belief and submission are necessary in social and political life.
Outside religion, we are not yet in a stage in our collective existence, where we have the answers to everything. We don't.
This uncertainty is problematic when you have various social and political groups that are vying for the same scarce resources. Who gets to say the right thing, who is right? Who gets to lay down the law?
Without a supreme Being that everyone obeys, this becomes a problem. More often than not - it is the politically strongest - and that is problematic to Democratic societies.
Take a look at nations like China or North Korea, communist/socialist nations where the majority is atheist. Where religion is forbidden. Laws are made by whoever has power. So if your leader is Kim Jong Un, his status is almost demi-godlike.
He says, "kill this man". The man gets killed, no due process, no investigations, no nothing.
Scary huh?
The philosophical implications of whether there really is a God or not be damned because the physical world will limit us individually but most importantly socially.
That: If God is not real, then where does the church (any church) derive its authority?
Nowhere.
That is the reason why politicians grovel at various church leader's feet. That's why INC, the Catholic church and other various Christian sects are frequent stops of politicians.
It's not about them giving credence or worship to God, it's about the number of people who follow these religious leaders. Consequently, the number of votes and implied political support through the influence of these leaders.
That is the real blessing patted on the head of any political candidate.
Uncertainty is scary for many
Do you have kids? How do you feed them? Where do you work? What's your business? Who pays you? Who buys your goods?
Religion has also established their own micro-economic systems within the bigger framework of secular civic life.
Let me repeat that.
Religion has also established their own micro-economic systems within the bigger framework of secular civic life.
That's why trade, fairness, social justice are intrinsically part of the bible. Secular society just evolved the other rules to adapt them to fair trading and charitable behavior. But as long as it keeps the peace, then it should be the prevailing framework. The status quo of orderly society is preserved.
Look at churches and schools in the Philippines. They are mostly located in good business spots, in the central business and political districts of any Filipino city.
Look at our traditions and the system of holidays. It centers mostly on religion and tradition, absent which, you will feel left out and not part of the group. And those are all important facets of life. To the unthinking majority, that's the norm.
That's just life.
But I'm not the majority.
I'm at a stage where I don't really know if there really is a God. I just know that an anthropomorphic omniscient God is necessary for a civilized society. My emotions want me to have a God, who will or has sacrificed for me.
Different societies, different reactions, different effects (remember life is complicated) Some secular nations are doing just fine, the current complications of radical religion notwithstanding.
But take this for instance, why is it that when I began to question (like in my previous post - 'Yes God We Are Daring You'), that life suddenly began becoming more difficult for me? Suddenly problems, (that are most likely caused by humans) are happening.
And these problems, are made known to me by certain people who control my finances, my livelihood.
In the same way that when I do 'right' things, (like TITHE 10%) for instance, then these right things and wrong things still happen, but wrong things get solved by somebody (miracurously)?
Bad luck??
It's sad.
Maybe I have fallen outside the grace of this micro-economic enterprise by doing what? Stopping tithing and start questioning? But don't you get it?
THAT IF THERE WAS REALLY A GOD, THAT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO EXERCISE MY FREE WILL?
BECAUSE IF THERE WAS A REAL LOVING GOD, WHO LONGS TO BE WORSHIPED AND LOVED THEN THAT GOD SHOULDN'T MIND THAT EVERY NOW AND THEN I THINK AND QUESTION ESPECIALLY WHEN HE DOES NOT MANIFEST?
LOVE IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT FREE WILL.
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