WEDNESDAY |JANUARY 14, 2009 | PHILIPPINES

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‘Presiden-tiables are challenged to come up with “Plan of Spirituality for Filipinos.”–Alyansa ng Manana-mpalataya (alliance of the religious)’

What, whose spirituality?


 

FROM Atty. Melanio "Batas" Mauricio, convenor and chairman, Alyansa’s Board of Trustees: "For the nth time, the Alyansa ng Mananampalataya submits that the real priority of any incoming Philippine president in 2010 is not the economy of the country, battered as it is and even projected to get worse as world economies continue tumbling down.

"The priority, really, is spiritual renewal of the Filipino, and this must be addressed posthaste, even now, if we want an honest-to-goodness turnaround for the country and our people.

"Thus, the Alyansa makes a call to our presidentiables–Senators Manny Villar, Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Escudero, Mayor Jojo Binay of Makati City and anyone else interested to run for the presidency: come up with your plan of action or platform of governance that would include instilling fear and love of God among Filipinos and bringing them back to obedience to God’s commands and laws.

"Many will smirk at this call of mine, thinking that spirituality has nothing to do with improving the economy of a nation, or uplifting the lives of a people. But the Bible is very clear on this.

"In Deuteronomy 28:1-2, God, through Moses, said: ‘If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you, if you obey the Lord your God.’

"In Matthew 7:24-25, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."–Batas Mauricio.

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Atty. Mauricio, this column would like to take your Plan for Spirituality seriously and write a piece on it. I’m one of those Filipinos you are referring to, likely needing spiritual renewal but don’t know how to comply with your three criteria. The commands you are referring to are unclear to most; it’s not explicit in what activities are sin and what are not sin.

Different religions, aspects of ethics, values and cultures often disagree, and vary in their interpretation of Commands. I am not a Roman Catholic. One globally powerful church sees drinking tea and colas as an abomination to God. You probably drink tea and Coke. To this church, that makes you a candidate for eternal damnation. Another church forbids the wearing of make-up and jewelry, which 99.99 percent of humanity defy. Make-up and jewelry are among the five largest of consumer industries world-wide. That leaves only .001 percent of humanity are obedient to, and favored by these Commands.

How can we possibly have a Plan for Spirituality when we cannot agree on what’s good and what’s bad to God, what is sin?

Please detail the activities against these Commands you gave:

1. "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands [what activities defy these commands you are referring to?] I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you, if you obey the Lord your God."

2. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine [what are these words? What activities go against these words?] and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."

3. Presidentiables should come up with plan of action or platform of governance that would include instilling fear and love of God among Filipinos and bringing them back to obedience to God’s commands and laws [what are the activities politicians must avoid to comply with these commands and laws you refer to?]

Please favor this column with a reply. Thank you.

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Dahli_a@yahoo.com

 











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