Salvation, A Fruit of Thousand Crusades, Activism & Peoples’ Struggles (Part 1)
OPINION | April 10, 2022
MANILA, PH — Christians have been clinging to the idea of salvation since time immemorial. Their spiritual reflexes are to ‘save their souls’ from sins and from eternal damnation by rendering endless prayers. But the essential question is, for whom do they strive salvation for? Or to put it simply, for whom do they salvage their souls?
“Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor, the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22:3).
One manifestation of dissonance from Christians is unkind words said to struggling people. Christ taught us that we must have compassion for our neighbors, that our every word and action must be rooted in love. But some Christians seem to forget Christ’s teachings when they utter uninformed and unsolicited opinions toward people with mental health issues.
With the current political situation and prevalent social hurdles, no amount of surging figures of suicide would refute the reality of systemic ills and clinical instability when we speak of mental health. Some would banter against youth struggles at this crucial point in time, “Kulang ka lang sa dasal”(“You just don’t pray enough”). Unfortunately, such snide remarks would not stop at that, for some Christians would add, “Magdasal ka na lang, kaysa mag-ingay” (“Just pray, instead of blabbering”).
Revisiting the month of November of 2020, an eighteen (18) year old student from the Our Lady of Sacred Heart College was reported to have taken his own life after facing difficulties in modular learning. Likewise, a 12-year-old grade 7 student in San Narciso, Quezon was found lifeless after reportedly being seen looking for a mobile phone signal in a dense part of the mountain in order to comply with a distance learning activity. More than anything, people with mental health problems need mercy and compassion from us, and even if we cannot understand their struggles, being kind to them goes a long way.
Along with hurtful words, some Christians fail to live by the lessons of James the Apostle who once said that faith without works is dead, that we should put our faith in God into meaningful social actions. Some of these Christians have been praying so hard, wanting salvation to fall onto their hands, and praying for their goodness while consciously sleeping on the plight of the marginalized. Some of them kiss their rosaries so hard when they disregard the lives of the slain churchmen, clergy, and human rights defenders under this horrendous administration. Some of them lit their prayer candles while discarding the ever-present culture of impunity and mass killings by State Forces.
Some of them sing their ode to God, while rendering no care to the lives of slain farmers and indigenous peoples in Tumandok, Panay. Among Christians, some would repent for the forgiveness of their sins and salvation of their souls while enabling the fascist, gruesome, and cold-blooded regime. Some would kneel before the cross, asking for the abundance of their gold and fortune, while adjudging that the urban poor espouses “filth” and “dependency” on community pantries built by their fellow Christians. Thus, it is a challenge for Christians and church leaders to listen to the struggles of the poor, oppressed, and marginalized and amplify their calls.
Some Auntie-Christians would flaunt their glimmering bangles, white pearls and white shrouds as they kneel before the House of God. Some would protrude a life of a model devotee by way of posting bible quotes on social media. One would call someone Unchristian when he was questioned by his keen critics as to why he was able to hitch a room from in a renowned State-run hospital amidst the pandemic.
Some would caress their novena librettos delicately, while in a different vein, they get to justify police brutality, proclaiming that these State apparatuses “deserve” to be respected. That, when officers felt an ounce of discourtesy or a hint of disrespect, it is indeed sufficient to prompt them to pull the trigger of a gun and kill anyone.
Arising from the historical underpinnings of Christianity, it is undisputed that the early Christians were accused as the atheistic saboteurs of peace by the imperial Roman government as they dauntlessly opposed to worship Caesar. In spite of ostracism, execution and oppression under the dictatorial rule, these Christians were able to surmount such an ordeal by employing the unparalleled revolutionary teachings of Jesus.
Hence, it is quite ironic that some present-day devouts profess their religiosity to the extremes when they flagrantly support a son of a dictator, a sly thief, and a shameless liar. How appalling it is to witness these hypocritical devouts as they kiss their rosary beads, and lick the feet of a fraudulent candidate, while having been warped in a utopian delusion — the Golden age, promulgating that the Philippine civil society was so great, for desaparecidos, mass killings, cronyism, and corruption had “never transpired” in the Marcosian rule, believing that the country would “revert back to its golden age” when Macoy’s little boy gets to secure his seat in the Palace.
Now, for us Christians, what is it, really, that we need to salvage? We ask for eternal salvation for whom? To what extent do we pray against the staggering comfort in our lives? What would Jesus literally do?
To be continued.
About the Writer:
French Vivienne T. Templonuevo is a 23-year-old law student from San Beda College Alabang-School of Law and a member of KPL-National.
