Rizal's Retraction

If Rizal had retracted from his attacks against the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church, and if, according to his Catholic biographer Leon M. Guerrero, Rizal had gone to confession four times, heard mass in his death-cell, and received holy communion before he was executed, then Rizal should be branded a traitor to all freedom fighters. He deserves not to be respected or admired as a hero. He should, instead, be worship as a saint. But then again, if Rizal had retracted, why then should the church feel dedicated as its friars feel consecrated to get Rizal’s true character expunged out of the Filipino psyche? The truth of the matter was that the Church did everything possible to counteract Rizal’s honest-to-goodness scientific temper of mind. Indeed, in his Noli and Fili, Rizal exposed the Philippine damaged culture caused by organized superstition otherwise known as Christianity. Thus, the story of his retraction was nothing more than a theological concoction to sanitize, if not to lower the volume of Rizal’s intellectual messages. Poch Suzara

Our Asian Neighbors

The secret why other Asian countries are ahead of the Philippines is no secret at all. Our Asian neighbors have not only adopted, but have also substantiated to the fullest extent possible what Jose Rizal, the nation’s chief hero, was precisely saying to fellow-Filipinos more than a hundred years ago: “Wake up! Embrace science! Utilize the scientific way of thinking! Start to emulate the freethinkers! Knowledge is the heritage of mankind, but only the courageous inherit it! We can only serve our country by telling the naked truth. However bitter it may be!” Poch Suzara

JESUS CHRIST part 2

MORE ON JESUS CHRIST ( part two )

Jesus admitted that: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Yet, at crucial moments, Jesus did not know where he was or even what he was talking about. Here are a few examples:

I and my father are one. - John 10:30

I go unto the Father: for my Father
is greater than I. John 14:28

Jesus said: “Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Now what is so noble about turning the other cheek, if one knows that each time he does so, he is piling up greater heavenly rewards, while the one who strikes is earning his rewards in hell?

And Jesus said unto the crucified thief: “Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43. Note: This promise could not have been delivered, unless Christ went to heaven that day, which is contrary to the Christian doctrine that when he was dead he spent the succeeding three days and night in the heart of the earth or (according to the Apostle’s Creed ) in hell.

If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death, Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. John 11:26. Of course how can a dead man see himself already dead? Meanwhile, immortality must be the condition of a dead man who refuses to believe that he is already dead.

Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. John 12:47.The Jews then and the vegetarians now have yet to figure out what exactly Jesus meant by this taste for cannibalism.

Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matt. 4:17. There be some standing here, which shall not taste death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matt. 16:28. Jesus was confident that the day of judgment was coming in the first century. However, in this 21st century – in the whole of Asia, only the Filipinos are waiting for the Second Coming of Christ. The rest of Asia are already enjoying not only a higher standard of living, but also a much higher standard of thinking. They can even afford to hire Filipino workers to do household work for them.

Jesus said: “ I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” St. John 8:22. But in the bible Lucifer too was the bringer of light. He is identified with rebel Archangel who brought enlightenment to man. But combining together the light from Jesus and the light from Satan, why is there is so much spiritual darkness, for example, in the Philippines – the only Christian country in Asia?

There were more than six million Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, political opponents, prisoners of war, freedom fighters throughout Europe who were utterly slaughtered not only by poison gas inside crematoriums, or starved to death, shot to death, but eliminated mainly by stupid religion. In his MEIN KAMPF, Adolf Hitler wrote: “I believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jews, I am fighting for the works of the Lord.”

Now I am told by my devout Christian friends that Christianity is the religion of love of God and love of neighbor? Well, I ask: What ever happened to that Christianity in the Philippines where we Filipinos love only God up there but we do so by hating one another down here? Poch Suzara

Jesus Christ part 1

JESUS CHRIST ( part one )
Every scholar who has critically investigated Gospel story of the life of Jesus Christ admits now that, whether the narrative contains factual history or not, a mass of myth has surrounded it. Here, however, we are concerned with the record as it stands.

It is probable that Jesus at first expected that God would intervene on his behalf and that he could be acclaimed as the Messiah. When he saw more and more clearly that a revolt against the Roman power was hopeless he declared that the Kingdom of God is not of this world. At this stage of his mission he prepared for his martyrdom. But till the last act of the drama he was persuaded that he was under God’s care and protection, and shortly before the end he announced that his second advent was near at hand.

He spoke “with authority,” a claim which no other teacher could make in the same sense, he raised the dead, he was Lord of the Sabbath, and through him alone could man live forever. Despite all this “authority,” at his death, which was the culmination of his mission to save mankind, he “began to be sorrowful and very heavy,” prayed that his cup of bitterness “might pass from him,” and at the very last exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Was this a matter of a God forsaking himself?

Many “liberal” Protestants today deny that the strong language used by Jesus about the future life was meant to be taken literally. Let them settle that themselves. What matters is the tragic fact that for almost two thousand years his language convinced Christians that an eternal hell is a real place, and that its penalties are incurred as the result of “Unbelief.” No other “spiritual” authority has done so much to drench our world in blood, enough to keep even the US Navy afloat.

Most of the sayings of Jesus regarding violence or non-resistance were intended to apply chiefly to personal, not to global relationship. He said virtually nothing of international conflicts. What he did say showed placid acceptance of the war syndrome:


“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that
ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to
pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Matt. 2:6-

“But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be
not terrified: for these things must first come to pass;
but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them,
Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom.” Luke 21: 9-10

These verses have a more direct bearing on war as we now know it than any of his other sayings. They show his belief in the inevitability of war. Apparently, despite his power to perform miracles, he did not feel himself competent to counteract militarism. He offered no program for arbitration of international or border disputes, no ideas to substitute death and destruction between nations, no policy for world peace or path towards global sanity. Mankind continues to live in a welter of organized hatreds and threats of mutual extermination.

Many a good man is a failure from a worldly point of view, but failure is not what one would wish to emulate. Jesus sought to save the world. Surely no one looking at the world today can say that he succeeded. His plan of salvation was a failure; it did not work out as Jesus intended. An ideal teacher is needed now almost as much as two thousand years ago. If the world is gradually improving, as seems probable, it is in spite of the miracles of the past, not because of them.

Indeed, Jesus failed to provide the conditions so much needed by man to enable him to shape his course through the good life inspired by love and guided by knowledge. No one knows how to live correctly, how best to meet each situation, what action is suited to the occasion. Jesus did not tell us what to do. His sayings are interpreted in many different ways. He failed to predict the needs of the future of mankind.

Moreover, Jesus did not explain the healthy relations between husband and wife, nor between employer and employee, nor how to educate children, nor how to preserve health, nor how to earn a living, nor how to prevent internecine hatred, poverty, and suffering. Jesus gave little practical information, and his spiritual advice was not clearly enough expressed to enable man to apply it to modern conditions. Jesus neglected to instruct how to live under common human decency. His knowledge of the world was less than the average mediocre politician of today in the government of Christian countries like the Philippines.

Hypatia

Here’s Hypatia – one of the greatest woman who ever lived - as described by Carl Sagan in his book Cosmos:
“The last scientist who worked in the Library (Alexandria) was a mathematician, astronomer, physicist and head of the Neoplatonic school of philosophy – an extraordinary range if accomplishments for any individual in any age. Her name was Hypatia. She was born in Alexandria in 370. At a time when women had few options and were treated as property, Hypatia moved freely and unselfconsciously through traditional male domains. By all accounts she was a great beauty. She had many suitors but rejected all offers of marriage. The Alexandria of Hypatia’s time – by then long under Roman rule – was a city under grave strain. Slavery had sapped classical civilization of its vitality. The growing Christian church was consolidating its power and attempting to eradicate pagan influence and culture. Hypatia stood at the epicenter of these mighty social forces. Cyril, the Archbishop of Alexandria, despised her because of her close friendship with the Roman governor, and because she was a symbol of learning and science, which were largely identified by the early Church with paganism. In great personal danger, she continued to teach and publish, until, in the year 415, on her way to work she was set upon by a fanatical mob of Cyril’s parishioners. They dragged her from her chariot, tore off her clothes, and, armed with abalone shells, flayed her flesh from her bones. Her remains were burned, her works obliterated, her name forgotten. Cyril was made a saint.” Poch Suzara

Giordano Bruno ( 1548 – 1600 )

A Roman Catholic scholar, an astronomer, and philosopher – for suggesting that there exists an infinity of worlds and that many are inhabited – and for reading forbidden books, Bruno was charged with heresy, and even unjustly accused of murder. An ordained priest – he abandoned the Dominican Order in 1578 - challenged papal authority. Bruno was hunted down from land to land, until he turned on his pursuers with fearful invectives - for this he was entrapped at Venice - imprisoned for 6 years in the dungeon of the Inquisition at Rome - then burned alive, his ashes scattered to the winds. For always talking and talking about his ideas and beliefs, Bruno was gagged to prevent him from speaking while being burned alive at the stake. Those personally responsible for Bruno’s death were Pope Clement VIII and his personal theologian Cardinal Robert Bellarmine who was canonized a saint.
Here’s the way biographer Michael White described Bruno’s death in his book: - THE POPE AND THE HERETIC:
On the morning of his execution Giordano Bruno was visited by members of the Brotherhood of Pity of St. John the Beheaded, a group who ministered to any heretic they could in an effort to do what the Inquisition had failed to do: lead the meekly back to the one true faith. From the records of the Brotherhood we learn that, “At the second hour of the night, information came that justice would be done on an impenitent friar in the morning. Hence, at the sixth hour of the night, the Comforters and the chaplain assembled at St. Ursula and went on to the prison in the Tower of Nona, entered the chapel, and offered up the winter prayers. To them was consigned the man, Giordano Bruno, son of Gioan Bruno, an apostate friar of Nola in the kingdom, an impenitent. He was exhorted by our brothers in all love, and two Fathers of the Order of St. Dominic, two of the Order of Jesus, two of the new church and one of St. Jerome were called in. These with all loving zeal and much learning, showed him his error, yet he stood firm throughout and to the end in his accursed obstinacy, setting his brain and mind to a thousand errors and vain-gloryings.
What must Bruno have thought during those final hours? Did he despair, finally? Did he reach the conclusion that he has been wrong all along? Or did he feel vindicated, confident that his thoughts would survive the flames? Did he perhaps wonder if, far away on the alien worlds he imagined, other creatures burned their dreamers too?
At 5.30 a.m. on 19 February, a Thursday and a feast day in Rome, Bruno was led in chains from San. Ursula. He was dressed in a white, ankle-length robe illuminated with the cross of St. Andrew and dotted with painted devils holding their long, barbed tails against a backdrop of crudely daubed crimson flames. The route was crowded with the virtuous and the curious. Much has been made of this burning. A primitive form of newsletter, avvisi e ricordi, had even been printed to inform people of the occasion: “An entertaining judicial burning was expected,” it declared. According to this tabloid of the day, “Bruno has declared he will die a willing martyr and that his soul will rise with the smoke to paradise.” Copies of the newsletter had been passed throughout the excited crowd and trampled upon along the wet road. As the parade moved on Bruno became animated and excited. He reacted to the mocking crowds, responding to their yells with quotes from his books and the sayings of the ancients. His comforters, the Brotherhood of St. John, tried to quiet the exchange, to protect Bruno from yet further pain and indignity, but he ignored them. And so, after a few minutes the procession was halted by the Servants of Justice. A gaoler was brought forward and another two held Bruno’s head rigid. A long metal spike was thrust through Bruno’s left cheek pinning his tongue and emerging through the right cheek. Then another spike was rammed vertically through his lips. Together, the spikes formed a cross. Great sprays of blood erupted onto his gown and splashed the faces of the Brotherhood close by. Bruno spoke no more.
A few minutes later the procession arrived at the site of the execution, campo di fiori, the Field of Flowers where, in one corner, opposite the theatre of Pompeii, the stake had been prepared. The guards led Bruno to the thick wooden post, shoved him up against it and wrapped a thick rope around him, across his shoulders, his chest, his waist and his legs. The faggots ( about which Bruno has once joked ) were piled up to the condemned man’s chin and the torch placed between his feet. The flames caught quickly in the light morning breeze. It has been claimed that many victims of the stake were saved a slow death by arranging a payment to the executioner who would surreptitiously snap their necks as they were tied to the post. We know this did not happened to Bruno for as the fire began to grip, the Brothers of the Pity of St. John the Beheaded tried one last time to save the man’s soul. Risking the flames, one of them leaned into the fire with a crucifix, but Bruno merely turned his head away. Seconds later, the fire caught his robe and seared his body, and above the hissing and crackling of the flames could be heard the man’s muffled agony. After the fire had subsided, what remained of Bruno’s body was smashed to powder with hammers and the ashes were cast to the wind so that no one could save anything of the heretic as a relic. As far as the Inquisition was concerned, they had obliterated Bruno, destroyed his body, banished his memory, his ideas, his writings, his very thought, and he had been consigned to Hell.
The Pope saw nothing that Bruno wrote in prison and the two men never met in private as Bruno had hoped. As Giordano burned that festive Thursday, 19 February 1600, the crowd cheered and waved their banners, children ran as close to the flames as they dared and frightened mothers pulled them back. And when the spectacle was over and the world cleansed of another heretic, Bruno’s ashes settled on ledges and in nearby fields. There the rain carried into the soil molecules that has once composed parts of his body. Over time, the molecules were broken open, their atoms absorbed by plants. The plants were eaten by animals and some found their way to the tables of Rome and beyond. Other elements of Bruno fell into water and were recycled to splash upon the faces of bathers and into drinking goblets. And so, perhaps, on an atomic level at least, the Pope himself was conjoined with the heretic after all.” As Bruno would have it: the universe is infinite, and as one. We are all each other. Everything is everything else.” Poch Suzara

Questions for the theologians

Who are we in time? Where are we in space? These theological questions are ignored in the bible. Here, however, are answers from an atheist-humanist-scientist, the late Carl Sagan: “We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost between two spiral arms in the outskirts of a galaxy which is a member of a sparse cluster of galaxies, tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are more galaxies than people.” Poch Suzara

Man - The Credulous Animal

“Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.” Bertrand Russell... However, due not from intelligent education, but precisely owing to silly indoctrination in schools, colleges, and universities - places where we learn to be insane morally and to be even more insane spirituality, instead of embracing the power of thinking, most men would rather have faith by sick believing... Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

Religious Fantasy

In the History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell wrote: “Owing to their miraculous powers, priests could determine whether a man should spend eternity in heaven or in hell. If he died while excommunicate, he went to hell; if he died after the priests had performed all the proper ceremonies, he would ultimately go to heaven provided he had duly repented and confessed. Before going to heaven, however, he would have to spend some time – perhaps a very long time – suffering the pains in purgatory. Priests could shorten this time by saying mass for his soul, which they were willing to do for a suitable money payment.”
To think that this business arrangement has been going on for centuries but there are millions upon millions of religious believers today who still believe in this priestly religious fantasy. Poch Suzara

Science in the Bible

In astronomy – the sun rotates round the earth. In geology – the earth is not round, but flat with four corners. In Biology – a human is created by a superhuman. In zoology – a snake can talk. In medicine – diseases are caused by the devil. Unfortunately, science in the bible is not science. It is psuedo-science written by ignorant and unlearned inspired authors of God who Himself did not know what he was doind. Poch Suzara

God Loves Man

God loves man? Why does God allow man to suffer? Against dreadful diseases, deadly insects, vicious beasts, poisonous reptiles, not to mention hurricanes, blizzards, droughts, floods, tidal waves, tornadoes, volcanoes, and earthquakes? And to add insult
to injury, God sent his only begotten Son to earth who preached something like: “But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them for me.” Luke 19:27. Well, to add more insult to more injury, God above says of his son below: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matt. 3:17 And to think the Son of God had a human mother who was already married woman to Joseph. Poch Suzara

Only A Fool

Only a fool says there is no God? On the contrary, the motto of a fool is: “Let me trust God even if he has always fooled me in the past.” Poch Suzara

God-inspired Authors

How could God-inspired authors write anything false in the bible? In the Old Testament, for example, it is written: “The world also is established, and it cannot be moved.” Psalms 93:1. In the New Testament, it is written: “Then he called his twelve disciples, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.” Matt. 10: 1-8. Well, the earth not only rotates on its own axis daily, it also orbits around the sun yearly. Diseases have not been cured. They are still as deadly today as they were yesterday thanks to the miracles subject to expiration date from Jesus. Poch Suzara

Religious People

Religious people hate to talk about religion because it exposes their fear and ignorance. In order to justify a mindless spirituality, however, religious people must hide behind mediocrity and to hell with the beauty of veracity. Poch Suzara

Insanity

Among the rich and the poor are the insane. Among the young and the old are the insane. Among the politicians and the theologians are the insane. Among the powerful and the powerless are the insane. Among the Americans, the Arabs, the Chinese, and the Filipinos are the insane. Indeed, it is really difficult to say who amongst us is not as insane as the rest of us. Poch Suzara

Two Great Bible Characters

Consider the two great bible characters as the highest models of moral excellence, David in the Old Testament, and Paul in the New Testament. David, the man after God’s heart was a murderer, a thief, a plunderer, a polygamist with a harem of wives and concubines, a drunken debauchee, dancing half-naked before the maids in his household, a lecherous old libertine, abducting and ravishing the wife of a faithful soldier. On the other hand, Paul was a religious fanatic: first a Jew and later a Christian convert. As a Jew, in the name of Jehovah, he persecuted Christians; as a Christian, in the name of Christ, he persecuted Jews. And to think we are told that the bible is written by inspired authors of a holy God. I think it's time for us to entertain a new definition for the word "holy." Poch Suzara.

The Holy Trinity

“Christ, according to the faith, is the second person of the Trinity, the Father being the first, and the Holy Ghost the third. Each of these three persons is God. Christ is his own father and his own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but both. The son was begotten by the father, but existed before he was begotten – just the same before as after. Christ is just as old as his father, and the father is just as young as his son. The Holy Ghost proceeded, from the Father and Son, but was equal to the Father and Son before he proceeded, that is say, before he existed, but he is of the same age as the other two. So it is declared that the Father is God and the son is God, and Holy Ghost God and that these three Gods make one God. According to the celestial multiplication table once one is three, and three times one is one, and according to heavenly subtraction if we take two from three, three are left. The addition is equally peculiar, if we add two to one we have but one. Each is equal to himself as the other two. Nothing ever was, nothing can ever be more perfectly idiotic and absurd than the dogma of the Trinity.” The above was written by the famous American agnostic Robert Green Ingersoll. The comments that follow are my holy baloney response: Indeed, moral bankruptcy plus spiritual poverty plus political stupidity equals social insanity. It is the sum total of the results of our sacred belief in the holy trinity. I am told that God has neither a beginning nor an end. This means that God has been in existence for more than 80,000,000 years and will continue to exist for another 80,000,000. Well, if we live to be 80 years, this means that the span of human life is but a split of a second, a wink of an eye, or a flash in the pan in comparison to God’s vast and endless existence. Now the dumbstruck morons who call themselves “theologians” claim that you and I are able to offend God with sin? Really, instead of being ashamed, we should be most proud of such an achievement. Moreover, such a God deserves neither love nor respect for having such a childish vanity. Imagine us powerless human beings, able to grab lightning away from God’s hand and we are able to hurt him at the same time. Wow! What an idiotic belief! Imagine a God getting offended with human activities on this piece of dust called earth lost in the vastness of space and time in which there are far more galaxies than there are people. Imagine a million (1,000,000) planets the size of earth can fit inside the sun. And our sun is not that gigantic either as 500 of our suns can be swallowed up by a bigger star called “Betelgeuse” in one small gulp. In the meantime, there are hundreds of billions of galaxies existing out there called the Cosmos. Where is the Holy Trinity in space and in time? How come he’s always only hiding out there but never to be found down here? And even if he reveals himself down here, according to the dumbstruck theologians, the holy trinity is still sacred mystery. Poch Suzara

Goodwill to all Unbelievers

Peace on earth and goodwill to all men can become a reality. If only the Christians can learn to reject God and his bible; if only the Muslims can learn to reject Allah and his Quran; and if only the Jews can learn to reject Yahweh and his Torah. Indeed, conflicting religious beliefs have always inspired the Christians, the Muslims, and the Jews to participate faithfully in man’s inhumanity to man in the name of an insane divinity. For my part, as an atheist, I say to all Christians, Muslims, and Jews: enough is enough. Your respective deity is not worth killing fellow humans. If we must live, let us live in the name of humanity; and if we must kill, let us kill the ideas and beliefs that encourages hate and war and other forms of rigid, if not obsolete, nay, childish mentality. Let us assume human responsibility for our local community and for global health and sanitation and international sanity. Poch Suzara.

Questioning Everything

Never belittle the power of questioning everything. It is not only the main source, but the very foundation of spiritual wealth. For example: what right does God have to tell us how to raise our children when he himself drowned his own during the days of Noah? And to think that those people killed were our distant relatives. But then again, why should we care about such relatives of the distant past? Under the Christian values taught to us to believe in our Christian schools, Jesus in the bible admonished: “if any man come to me, and hate not his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26. Poch Suzara

The Souls of Men, if any

To believe that the souls of men, if any, will be happy or unhappy after the death of the body, is to pretend that dead men, dead women, and dead children will be able to see without eyes, to hear without ears, to taste without a palate, to smell without a nose, to feel without hands, to feel the pleasures of love without sex organs, and to think without brains. In the Philippines, as the only Christians country in Asia, we Filipinos believe ourselves very enlightened and potentially saved for the kingdom of God as we adopt faithfully such sick garbage as the foundation of our social and moral values. In the meantime, if it does not bother me one bit to realize that for millions of years before my birth I was existing as a NOTHING, Why should it now bother me to realize as well that for millions of years after my death, I shall again be existing as a NOTHING. Poch Suzara

Theology Defined

If theology were a science, it is the science of contradictions. Every religion is but a system imagined for the purpose of reconciling conflicting ideas against other irreconcilable ideas. Indeed, theology is but ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system. It is not what we know about divinity; it is what we do not know about humanity. Theology is the hope to understand, if not to justify, the mysteries of our faith. Those deeply impressed with theological claims, sad to say, are the frightened faithfools who prefer the unknown, the concealed, the fabulous, the incredible, even the terrible to that which is clear, concise, true, melodic, and realistic. In the meantime, if the theologians do not comprehend other theologians, why then is it expected of me that I should, for myself, comprehend the subject of theology - the study of the incomprehensible? Poch Suzara

Surviving Schizophrenia

According to SURVIVING SCHIZOPHRENIA, a manual for Families, Consumers and Providers, published in 1995 by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., the distribution of the 1.8 million persons with schizophrenia in the U.S. are as follows: “100,000 are in Hospitals; 180,000 are in Nursing homes; 100,000 are in Jails & Prisons; 100,000 are in Shelters and Streets; 300,000 are Supervised living in Group Homes; 500,000 are living with family members; 550,000 are living independently.” What it fails to include, however, are those homicidal maniacs installed in the White House by the democratic process called “general election.” Poch Suzara

Pope Paul 11

"Don't you think that the irresponsible behaviour of men is caused by women?“ Pope John Paul II. I ask: how come no one blames the devil anymore? The same devil that God gifted with free will far more superior than man’s inferior free will? And to think the women of Poland today are freely inspired by the devil to celebrate the plan of Pope Benedict XVI to canonize Pope John Paul 11 a saint. How wonderful of Catholic Popes to canonize each other as saints of God. Poch Suzara

Dear Father Roy Cimagala

With great interest, I read your article: WE NEED TO STUDY THEOLOGY published in BusinessWorld ( May 11, 2005 ). You mentioned and I quite agree that there are lots of people who are real giants in the fields of modern technology and other sciences. Regrettably however, I am unable to agree with you that such scientists and technologists are ‘like babies or pygmies with clearly stunted growth in matters of faith and religion.” For my part, I am neither a scientist nor a philosopher. In fact, I am a high-school dropout. But as you are an expert in theology, perhaps you might be of great assistance in answering for my own enlightenment, the following theological questions: If God were the Designer of nature, how come He had to design 23,000 different kinds of beetles? What went wrong with the first beetle design? Or, if the human body were God’s design, how come there exist about 2 billion kinds of virus, germs, and bacteria living inside our body that will eventually self-destruct whether we have free will or not? If God created everything, including space and time, where was God located before he created space, and when was it before he created time? In fact, if everything needs a creator, who or what created God? The sun is a giant star that it can take one million ( 1,000,000 ) planets the size of earth and fit them all inside it. The sun, however, may be large but it is not the largest star in the sky. According to the science of astronomy, there is an even bigger star called Betelgeuse. It is 500 times larger than our sun. Comparatively, therefore, we humans are like the size of tiny parasites living on this grain of sand called “planet earth.” In this connection, what was God’s size when he created man in His own image and likeness? How could Adam and Eve be guilty of anything original, such as the Original Sin, since before everything else there was, first and foremost, - the Original Creator? God’s first Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” Can you explain where those “other Gods” came from? Who created them? God was often personally involved in human affairs during the days of biblical antiquity. How come he is no longer personally involved in human affairs in any shape or form in these days of scientific modernity? If moral values were universally planted by God, then all people would believe the same things. There could never be disagreements over right and wrong. There would be no need for laws, courts, and battlefields. Can you explain why the history of the world has been a history of conflicts between moral values in God’s name? According to the National Catholic Almanac, God is “almighty, eternal. Holy, immortal, immense, immutable, incomprehensible, ineffable, infinite, invisible, just, loving, merciful, most high, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, patient, perfect, provident, supreme, true.” Can you explain: how was it possible for theologians to have declared God’s incomprehensibility and simultaneously list twenty-two additional attributes? If God cannot be comprehended, what’s the latest findings from the study of theology? Indeed, what’s new with God? If God were immutable and therefore cannot change the past, the present, and the future as God saw it, doesn’t that make our prayers utterly worthless because when we pray, we are asking God to change his mind? If God so loved the world, why does he tolerate the devil to inspire the believers of the same religion hate each other like we all do as a matter of survival in this only Christian country in Asia? Christ said that if someone smite thee on the right cheek, turn the left cheek also. What is so noble about turning the other cheek, if one knows that each time he does so, he piling up greater rewards in heaven, while the one who strikes is earning his rewards in hell? If Christ died on the cross to destroy the devil, how come the devil is still alive and quite a success inspiring the Filipino to grace not the growth of human civilization but only to be a disgrace in the rat race for eternal salvation? Theology is not what we know about divinity. It is what we do not know about humanity. As theology, however, is still at the very foundation of our system of education, is it any wonder that we come out of our schools not as fruitful thinkers in love with our country, but only as fruitless believers in love with divinity? Yours Faithfully, Poch Suzara

All in Heaven For What?

If Jesus and his apostles, Mohammed, Buddha, Brahma, Yahweh, Confucius, the writers of the bible, Quoran, Torah, Upanishads, Bhagavad Cita, Pope Paul 11, the saints of God, St. Francis of Asissi, Martin Luther, the disciples of Allah, including Hindu followers, Emperor Hirohito of japan, Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, Truman, Nixon and Reagan, not to mention Marcos of the Philippines, etc. were all already in heaven with God up there, why are we all still hating and at war against each other for the sake of the devil in hell down here? Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

What If I am Wrong

What if it turned out that I am wrong all along and that God will meet with me after I am dead, what then? Well, I will immediately ask God to forgive me for having wasted my youth as a dumbstruck catholic when I was in grade school and high school at De La Salle University. But I will ask God: weren’t you such a dumbstruck of a God yourself for having created the silly devil gifted with a free will too? Poch Suzara

Reason and Faith

Can faith and reason be friends and work harmoniously together? Let’s see: Can you have faith that man has one rib less than a woman because reason tells you that God, according to the bible, created woman by taking a rib off Adam’s body? Indeed, how can faith and reason ever reconcile when faith proceeds like a mind stuck on hinges; and reason proceeds like a mind moving on wheels? Even if we assume that faith can merge with reason, we must see faith first merging with other faiths before reason can begin to entertain the silly merger. Poch Suzara

If God Sees Everything

If God sees everything, how come he is able to remedy nothing? Otherwise, if God were good, why not be good for something? Why be good only like the theologians and the politicians who are good not for something, but only good for nothing? Poch Suzara

Poverty and Wealth

The worst kind of poverty is the poverty of the mind. Such poverty explains the faith behind theism based on the unknowable. The best kind of wealth is the wealth of the mind. Such wealth explains the reason behind atheism based on the knowable. Poch Suzara

Two Philippine Associations

I am most proud and happy to be the chairperson of two unique but closely related associations in the Philippines. However, I must confess that each time I feel like I am such a failure intellectually, I am most proud to identify myself as the chairman of the Bertrand Russell Society, Philippines; but then again, each time I feel like I am such a success intellectually, I am most happy to identify myself as the chairman of the High School Dropout Association of the Philippines. Poch Suzara

Two Saintly Popes

"Don't you think that the irresponsible behaviour of men is caused by women?“ Pope John Paul 11. I ask: how come the Pope blames not the devil whose God gifted free will is far more superior than man's inferior free will? And to think the women in Poland today are freely celebrating the plan of Pope Ratzinger to beatify Pope and eventualy canonized John Paul 11 a saint of God. Poch Suzara

The Secret of Christianity

The power of reason leaves Christianity untouched, because Christianity does not pretend to reason. Christianity is build on faith, and appeals to the senses and to the imagination rather than to the intellect. When sense and hope are satisfied, the mind remains at rest; that is the secret of Christianity. Sadly, however, the power of science has long established the fact that the mind at rest is akin to the mind that is no longer at its best – another secret the Christian has not ceased hiding. Poch Suzara

DO WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER

Do we love our rivers and lakes and beaches? Do we love our flowers, plants, and trees? Do we love our birds, butterflies, and other living creatures of the forest? Do we love law and order? Do we love our policemen in the streets and our lawyers and prosecutors and judges in the courts? Do we love our mayors, governors, congressmen, and senators? Is ours a lovable government of the lovable people, by the lovable people, and for the lovable people?

Developing countries in Asia today are the results of, if not due to, developed minds and cultivated hearts. Thanks to the power of education based upon science and technology. Thanks also to that simple yet powerful human sentiment that has always been a traditional reality: love of country and love of fellow-citizens. Among Filipinos, however, -- love of country is as yet a traditional fantasy.

In Asian countries developing today, teamwork means dividing the effort and multiplying the effects. With us Filipinos, however, it is the exact opposite: teamwork means praying to God for miracles and to forgive us of our historical defects.

But then again, in this only Christian country in Asia, if we are not praying to God to lead us not into temptation, our high government officials too are praying to the same God to lead us not into deeper economic degradation. The results thus far: graft and corruption, political confusion, social dislocation, and especially pollution and population explosion.

Are we ever going to wake up in this country? When are we going to stop kidding ourselves enjoying the sacred lies we tell each other each day of every year? Are we ever going to solve, intelligently, our problems as a people and our troubles as a nation? Must we continue with our stunted sense of humanity as inspired by our love for incomprehensible divinity?

There was a time when every single man, woman, and child believed in a loving God. It was a time when no one dared to question anything. It was a time of spiritual poverty and moral bankruptcy. Everybody also believed the world was not round, but flat. It was a time of fear and mental paralysis. Everybody held on to faith not in the human capacity but faith only in human stupidity. It lasted for a thousand years( 5th to the 15th century ). Historians refer to those centuries as the Dark Ages.

We Filipinos are still living in the Dark Ages. We carry superstition on our backs and we are crippled by its weight. We make no bones about God being a panacea – that all our social troubles and economical and political problems will vanish into thin air if only each and every one of us will kneel down and once more have deep faith in God.

The holy bible is found in almost every Filipino home today. It is a book written not by Filipinos, but by foreigners. If, however, we wish to understand why love of country does not exist in the Philippines, please read the bible. It clearly states what we adhere to faithfully: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not with him. “ John 2:15. Indeed, why should we love our country when the bible clearly tells us that if we do so, the love of God is not with us?

Now if we wish to understand why we do not love each other as a people please read again carefully what Jesus admonished in the bible: “If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26. Is it any wonder why we all love God up there by hating one another down here?

In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of abandoned and hungry Filipino children struggle to exist in the streets of our major cities. Their bodies are rotting with malnourishment as they live off garbage and trash.

Well, millions of children too exist inside our school buildings. Their minds and hearts are rotting too. They are taught to believe that this world is depraved and sinful and corrupt and that this life is nothing but a transition to a better world to come after death with God in heaven. Indeed, these are the same millions of children who will become parents themselves one day. And like all of us parents and grandparents of today, they too will be the stupid victims of our so-called “ social, moral and religious values.”

We are born ignorant, not mindless. In the Philippines, we are made mindless with the power of education. Poch Suzara

FAITH

Faith is really a kind of convenient escape-hatch. Faith does not extricate any one away from contradictions and absurdities; it merely inspires one to believe and to have faith in spite of contradictions and absurdities. Indeed, faith is just another sacred word we often use to hide our irrationality, if not to justify our lazy mentality Poch Suzara

Super Qualities of God

According to the National Catholic Almanac, among the supernatural qualities of God is that he is incomprehensible. Obviously, if this were so, as God is therefore unknowable, it is utterly impossible to examine God’s other supernatural qualities. In the meantime, theology mutilates the human mentality. The theologians then present themselves as friends to those they have crippled intellectually. Happily, theology can never, not even by a long shot, reduce atheism to the same depths of insanity as the concept of silly divinity on the one side; and on the other side, the concept of silly deviltry. Poch Suzara

Favorite Saints of God

What is the difference between a first class moron and a third class moron? A first class moron reads the bible but does not understand it. The third class moron understands the bible but does not read it. Both, however, enjoy a similarity. They have equal chances down here to be canonized as favorite saints of God up there. Poch Suzara

A 16th century Catholic Cardinal

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine said: “To assert that earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to declare that Jesus was not born of a Virgin.” And to think that this famous Cardinal born not of a virgin himself, was canonized a saint of God. My dear Cardinal Bellarmine: I declare the earth revolves around the sun and I further declare that Jesus never existed. There is no such thing as a virgin birth. When Mary disclosed to her own relatives the scandalous nature of her miraculous pregnancy, they all said to her: “Go tell that story to the U.S. Marines.” Indeed, the same US Marines fighting today in Iraq to establish the truth behind Christian virginity to pave the way for American style of freedom and democracy. Poch Suzara

Gospel Writers

And set up over his head his accusation, written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Matt. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Mark 15:26 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek,and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Luke 23:38 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. John 19:19 The inspired Gospel writers were either blind with blind faith and could not see clearly, or they just thought that they could be poetic enough as 3 of them reported that Jesus was crucified in Golgotha and the other inspired poet reported that Jesus was crucified in Calvary. Again, there is a dispute as to whether Jesus was born in Bethlehem or in Nazareth, ( 60 miles apart) and the date of his birth has been placed anywhere from 4 b.c. to 7 a.d. Matthew says that Jesus was born “in the days of Herod”, while Luke says it was “When Cyrenius was governor of Syria.” Herod died in 4 b.c., while Cyrenius did not become governor of Syria until 7 a.d.. As so song goes - what’s going on? At any rate, what is most embarrassing for Christianity is that the theologians could easily explain how God could father a Jesus Christ via a virgin Mary, but the same theologians cannot explain how the place where Jesus Christ was born ( Israel ) some 2,000 years ago is today is not a Christian country, but a Jewish State! And to think that ancient Jewish literature have no mention whatsoever of a character named Jesus Christ. Anyway, all is not lost as there is a difference between an awestruck MORON and a dumbstruck MORON. The awestruck MORON understands the bible but does not read it; the dumbstruck MORON reads the bible but does not understand it. Fortunately, however, both have equal chances to be canonized as saints of God. Poch Suzara

Thoughts On Jesus

If we, humans, were all children of God, then Jesus was not the Son of God, but the grandson of God as Mary, His mother, was the daughter of God. The bible relates how Jesus possessed the power to perform miracles. He made the blind see, the lame walk, the deft hear, he got loaves of bread multiplied for the multitude. Jesus walked on water, changed water into wine, cured leprosy, raised the dead back to life. Curiously enough, not a single one of those grateful back-to-life corpses appeared in court to testify that Jesus was a miracle healer; not a trouble-maker. After getting resurrected, they all seem to have disappeared and never heard from again. Crucified on the cross, Jesus cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Indeed, Jesus could have been more honest with himself if He had instead cried out: “My God, as your only grandson on this earth, this crucifixion ordeal is little bit absurd. How can I die on this cross to save mankind today if I am able to resurrect myself back to life tomorrow?” Jesus was indeed a failure. His divine mission to destroy the devil failed to materialize. The devil is still alive and quite a success living in the Philippines – the only Christian country in Asia inspiring the Philippine government to solve the problems of the nation with prayers. Indeed, the devil is quite proud of his accomplishments; especially since God makes Himself not omni-present, but always omni-absent to pave the way clear for the devil to win more stupid souls for himself, especially stupid souls from the Philippines - the only religiously fucked country in Asia since the 16th century. Poch Suzara

Left Behind Prophecy

I am in receipt of regular email messages from some outfit called LEFT BEHIND PROPHECY. It is the same old gloom and doom scenario trying to put me in fear so that I will join them to support their silly brand of superstition otherwise more popularly known as “religion.” Yes, it is also the same old lack of self-respect. They can email me but I am not allowed email them back. It’s a one way street. It is just like attending church services. Just attend and listen to some religious moron preaching biblical nonsense. No questions allowed. Perhaps, if LEFT BEHIND PROPHECY could rename itself as the RIGHT FORWARD STUPIDITY, it will be more based on reality, and not on fantasy. It is indeed incredible how in this 21st century, the faithful believers have not yet seen through the sanctimonious sacred hogwash written in the holy bible as inspired by a silly divinity. Instead of being masters, they are still the victims of religion. As an atheist, I am not trying to offer you prophecies of doom and gloom. The only thing I can do is to point out to you that there is a method by which everyone can obtain the ability to view objectively, without prejudice, the important issues of society. Thus eliminating religiously biased misconceptions concerning life and the aspirations of the human community. This will lead to the future development of a culture based on the power of reason. That method I am referring to is called “scientific method.” It deals constantly with objective reality. When you ask of me as I am an atheist: what do I have to offer you? The answer is your own MIND – the most precious gift from nature stolen away from you as a child at home and in school. I give you back your precious self as a whole man, standing on your feet, looking fair and square at the world. Its good facts and bad facts. Its beauties and its ugliness. Conquering the world with human intelligence and not kneeling down proud of divine negligence. Doing your own thing. Solving your own problems, having self-esteem and proud of your human capacities, and indeed, if you have any, - intellectual abilities. Poch Suzara

Quickly

Any modern thesaurus will tell you that another meaning for the word quickly is rapidly, speedily, hastily, swiftly, expeditiously, or promptly. In the ancient thesaurus, however, the word quickly meant something the exact opposite. Thus, when Jesus in the bible said: “I will come quickly,” He meant it to be in the next two thousand years or so, if at all, truthfully. Poch Suzara

The Second Coming

Jesus Christ has yet to deliver His promise of a Second Coming. Lucifer already beat Him to it with his 3rd Coming. As for me, I thank both God and the devil I have no problem coming. By the way, how come the Son of God had a Mother, but the devil has none? As a baby - Who delivered the devil into this God-forsaken world? Poch Suzara

The Son of God Jesus

The Son of an All-knowing God Jesus totally ignored to give knowledge to the world, especially the sciences: - astronomy, biology, anthropology, chemistry, geology, psychology, sociology, physics, mathematics and logic to help mankind grow, develop, and mature. Indeed, instead of the power of knowledge, Jesus gave the world his blood, parables, fables, and mysticism. Crucified, however, on the cross, Jesus dramatically cried out: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” As if Jesus Himself knew exactly what he was doing? Jesus Promised to come back precisely because He knew not what exactly He was doing! Poch Suzara

I have no Problem Coming

Jesus Christ has yet to deliver His promise of a Second Coming. Lucifer already beat Him to it with his 3rd Coming. As for me, I thank both God and the devil I have no problem coming. By the way, how come the Son of God has a Mother, but the devil has none? Who delivered the devil into this God-forsaken world of ours? Poch Suzara

Failures and Losers

If there were religious leaders who started the religion of the losers and the failures, it was no less than Jesus himself - the Son of God. Consider how Jesus allowed himself to be crucified on the cross by the losers and the failures of his backward community. On the cross, Jesus even cried out to another All-mighty Loser: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Poch Suzara

New Testament

In the New Testament, Jesus admonished his followers: “Be ye as wise as the serpent.” Jesus was referring to the same old serpent of the Old Testament. The snake who could walk and talk and was wise enough to have played the lead role in the fall of Adam and Eve who, to no fault of their own, never got to be exposed to the power of prayer or even to the Revealed Truth. Poch Suzara

The Lord’s Prayer

The faithful believers pray daily with these words: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, amen.” If Jesus were truly the Lord worthy of love, respect and admiration, he should have already eliminated evil out of this world. In this way, He need not waste any more time and energy leading his faithful followers into temptation. Poch Suzara

Jesus and Socrates

Socrates – the Greek philosopher was a better man and indeed a wiser thinker than the Jesus – the Son of God. For one thing, Socrates never invented the concept of hell for those who disagreed with his logic. Jesus, however, was more theologic. He said: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should rule over them, bring hither, and slay them for me.” Luke 19:27. For my part, I have more love and respect for Socrates. He said: The unexamined life is not worth living for man. Poch Suzara

The Three Wise Kings

A wise king usually enjoys power and glory and authority over his people. Imagine a wise king being told that there is a pregnant Virgin Mary in some remote town who will soon deliver a child who will be the king of the world. The wise king not only believes the story, but also goes out of his way to notify two other neighboring wise kings to come along with him to visit with gifts and to adore the child-king of a virgin woman. If you can believe this Three Wise Kings story as true, you might as well believe also that you too can become a very wise king one day. Poch Suzara

Parental Love and Affection

Parental love and affection can never be repaid. It can only be passed on to our own children and they in turn to their own children. Not, however, according to Jesus Christ. In Luke 14:26, Jesus admonished: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, his mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Such were the sacred words uttered by Jesus - the Prince of Peace, the most lovable of men, and the Savior of the mankind. Poch Suzara

A Holy Spirit

A holy spirit existing way out there among the clouds that can actually experience emotional breakdown or psychological injury due to blasphemy from an atheist like me down here does not deserve to be called a holy spirit. In the scientific term, it deserves to be called a psycho-ceramic. Or, in the layman’s language, - a crackpot. Poch Suzara

The New Pope Benedict XV1

It is claimed that the newly elected pope receives an average of 56,000 e-mails a day. As if this were something to brag about. God receives an average of 56,000,000,000 prayers a year. One would think that these two powerful and famous characters would get together and have a heart to seriously introduce here and now - peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Poch Suzara

Failures and Losers

There are a variety of failures and losers in this world. The most prominent are those quite respectable. They made tons of money working for, if not got to be closely associated with, the wealthy land grabbers – among the biggest thieves in this only Christian country in Asia. Thanks to the inheritance from the Spanish Friars of centuries ago, who grabbed land for themselves and for their children and grandchildren and called it - blessings from God on the Philippines. Poch Suzara

G. K. Chesterson

He wrote: “When people cease to believe in God, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything.” On the contrary dear sir, when people cease to believe in God, they are no longer encouraged by fantasy; in fact, they begin to develop a sufficient sense of reality. For my part, when I gradually ceased to believe in God, heavy theological baggage was unloaded off my back making it more comfortable for me to proceed with my happy life, brief and fleeting as it is, on this earth. Poch Suzara

Much Easier

It is much easier to believe than to think. Look at our sick society composed of sick believers. Golly, even our daily newspapers must cater to its readers as they are silly believers, but not to readers as they may be intelligent thinkers. Poch Suzara

What Is An Atheist

What is an Atheist

An atheist is not an object to hate. He is a person just like you to love. The right question to ask therefore is: Who is an atheist?
An atheist accepts that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth – for all men together to enjoy.
An atheist accepts that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner convictions and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and to enjoy it.
An atheist accepts that only in knowledge of himself and knowledge of his fellowman can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment. Therefore, he seeks to know himself and his fellowman rather than to know a god.
An atheist accepts that a hospital should be built instead of a church.
An atheist accepts that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said.
An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants diseases conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man. He wants an ethical way of life. He accepts that we cannot rely on a god nor channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in the hereafter. He accepts that we are - in a great sense – our brothers’ keepers in that we are first, keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons, that the job is here and the time is now.
Lastly, an atheist accepts that if we must die, we must die intellecutally sober, and drunk with religious lies. Poch Suzara

St. Augustine and Women

St. Augustine considered women as very inferior to men and blamed Eve for the fall of Adam. Did this famous saint make sense even as a Catholic? You be the judge. Listen to St. Augustine’s confession: “There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity. . . It is this which drives us on to try to discover the secret of nature, those secrets which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing and which men should not wish to learn. . . In this immense forest, full of pitfalls and perils, I have drawn myself back, and pulled myself away from these thorns. In the midst of all these things which float unceasingly around me in everyday life, I am never surprised at any of them, and never captivated by my genuine desire to study them. . . I no longer dream of the stars.” The time of Augustine’s death, 430 A.D., marks the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe. From the 5th to the 15th century, the Dark Ages in God’s name and for His glory lasted for a thousand years. And to think that in this 21st century there are still religious fanatics who are in authority leading us back to the Dark Ages. Poch Suzara

What God

I never met God. He was not around the day I was born. He was never at home or in school with me. He never played any games or sports or danced or appreciated music together with ma. He never shared good and bad times together with me. We never laughed or cried together. God never showed up at my marriage nor was he there during the birth of my children. God and I never had breakfast or lunch or dinner together. My own father devoted most of his life to God; I was there at my father's death-bed, but I never saw God around anywhere. Now what reasons should I have in life to always take the side of God who was never there existing for me as a friend or even existing for my loved ones? Poch Suzara

Mediocre Writers

What makes mediocre writers? Instead of intelligently attacking stupid ideas or beliefs, they would rather attack stupid individuals who, to begin with, do not care to cultivate the habit of serious reading. Indeed, mediocre writers love mental paralysis; but hate, at the same tme, lively analysis. Poch Suzara

The Catholic Popes

If peace on earth and goodwill to all men prevailed, the newly elected 265th pope benedict XVI of the Catholic Church need not pledge to work to unify Christians, to reach out to other religions. One wonders what the Catholic Popes have accomplished for the happiness of mankind in the here and now? Consider the world in this 21st century still hopelessly split into areas of wealth and poverty where ignorance, hatred, bigotry, and faith in ancient superstitions are still pretty much the traditional enemies of mankind. Poch Suzara

Great Religions

To hate man and to love God characterizes in brief the great religions of the world. From religion we learn to hate this life. We only look forward to a better life to come after death. As if, after death, there will be a next life. Really, if such were true, how come we know nothing of life of another world before we were born? Obviously, if from this world we will proceed to another world, it is only because we all came from a previous world. But we all originated from a world of nothing. Poch Suzara

Saints

The Catholic Church has already canonized more than 10,257 saints. There are saints for all sorts of human needs, illnesses, professions, situations such as for lost items, infertility, pregnancy, dentistry, missionary works and saints for all kinds of diseases and maladies. Moreover, aside from the communion of saints on earth, there is also already the communion of saints in heaven. Today, in the 21st century, no saint, either in heaven or on earth has yet improved the ways of the world; nay, no saint has yet been able to help God improve and make sense of our world still pretty much infested with religious believers who are selfish, greedy, stupid, and insane. Poch Suzara

We Filipinos

We Filipinos are hoping for the Second Coming of Christ to solve our problems. Since that is not yet forthcoming, we are hoping for the government to do the job. Unfortunately, however, government officials themselves are also hoping for Jesus Christ to return to forgive them of their sins against the public and their crimes against the republic. Sadly, however, Jesus Christ Himself is also waiting for God to wake up still sleeping on the job. In the meantime, the survival of the Philippines as a nation will depend on how many Filipinos can escape away from the shackles of childish beliefs that there is a much better world to come only after we are all dead. Poch Suzara

Mindless

We are all born ignorant, not mindless. We are made mindless with the power of indoctrination otherwise popularly known as "education." The results have been devastating. Look at the kind of mindless leaders we have in our country leading us ever more into a future getting more senseless, if not worthless, that even nature herself never intended to be shameless or be needlessly reckless. Poch Suzara

Religious Beliefs

Most people’s religious beliefs are based on, if not derived from, the incompetent figment of an impoverished imagination traditionally supported by silly superstition. Poch Suzara

Read, Read, and Read

I have been told that faith can move mountain. I have yet, however, to see a mountain moved by an inch with the power of faith; especially in this only Christian country in Asia. What I see more clearly is faith supporting the mountain of poverty and misery, filth and squalor, not to mention the mountain of moral and spiritual bankruptcy of our sick society. In fact, today in this already 21st century - it is sick faith that makes us the Sick Man of Asia. Indeed, we do not speak of faith that a square has 4 sides, or that a triangle has 3 sides or that an octagon has 8. We only speak of faith when we do not know, and we only want to sanctify our ignorance in exchange for supernatural tolerance. For my part, I pity the man of faith. He is like a drunkard clinging to a lamppost for support, not illumination. Why should we need more faith since faith has only to do with the unknown? Why not, instead, face the known with intelligence and explore possibilities on how we can yet expand and improve our understanding of what is already known? Look at medical science expanding and improving ways to cure diseases and to make us live longer and healthier. Where has faith taken us as a Christian country in Asia? Today, we Filipinos are involved with nothing but the scramble for money: to satisfy not only our stupid greed; but mostly to amplify in public our silly creed. At any rate, what can we expect of a poor and backward nation where men and women with college education are habitually on their knees praying to a silly God to save their silly souls in the next silly life? And to think that most of these men and women are hoping to migrate to the next country overseas where its citizens are already enjoying a higher standard of living and indeed thinking. What we need in this country is not MORE faith, but more reason for the sake of spiritual growth. It means abandoning outworn beliefs and the welcoming of new and fresh ideas. We need to develop a deeper vision, to be willing to forsake our obsolete and shallow vision. The road to spiritual growth lies in distrusting what we already believe by deliberately challenging the validity of what we have been traditionally taught to hold dear and holy. We must learn to question everything. It is the basis of spiritual growth and intellectual maturity. We must therefore develop the habit of reading avidly and judiciously. I say therefore: read, read, and read. To begin to discover not only the beauty of rationality, but also the harmony of veracity. As we develop the habit of reading, especially books on the scientific way of thinking, we will never, ever again, be the foolish victims of mediocrity, or worse still – be the promoters of a sick society. However the case may be, those of us who refuse to read are no better off than those who can’t read at all. Poch Suzara

Trees

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bringeth forth good fruit. Matt. 7:18. To think that only God can make a tree. Perhaps, trees are gifted too with free will. But to think further that in the same bible, it says there exist also the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. Too bad this remarkable tree of knowledge could not preach to other trees with the power of knowledge. Poch Suzara

The Height of Absurdity

To believe that an immortal and supernatural Being from heaven would come down and impregnate a mortal and a normal woman on this earth in order to produce a Jewish child to save the world - has got to be the height of religious absurdity. And to think this Jewish child grew up to be crucified and on the cross, cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And to think further that this same Jesus in a Roman court admitted to Pontius Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Poch Suzara

A Catholic

A Catholic does not care to reason. His beliefs are based on faith, and appeals to the hopes for the next world to come. And if such hopes are satisfied, the mind remains at rest. That is the secret of Catholicism. Happily, however, science has long discovered that a mind habitually resting, is already functionally dying. Poch Suzara

A Christian

A Christian is one who hardly knows his bible, much less its origin. Thus, we Filipinos know so little of bible contents. We are told that the bible contains all the solutions to our problems. If, however, the Jews were the Chosen People of God, why should God solve the problems of the Filipinos when the Jews themselves are still in trouble with all kinds of problems, especially from its neighboring Arab countries? Poch Suzara

Celibacy

To think that behind every man’s success in life is a woman’s behind. And to think further that behind the success of papacy, there must be, hidden somewhere inside the Vatican, a mamacy. Poch Suzara

Pope Paul 11

In one of the most momentous funerals in history, the poor and the rich rub shoulders to say their last goodbyes to the Pope. Indeed, 4 kings, 5 Queens, 70 Presidents and Prime Ministers, 14 other religious leaders, and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, and prelates from all over the world visited Rome to attend the Pope’s last rites. Too bad Jesus wasn’t there. He has not yet returned as He had promised to do so some two thousand years ago. At Pope’s funeral, Jesus could have been the real star of the show. However, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger tells us that: “the Pope is now standing at the window of the Father’s house as he sees us and blesses us.”
In the meantime, Jesus in the bible says: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he lived. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” John 11:25-26. I ask: Why is the Pope dead and if he is not dead what’s all the fuss about last respects while giving him such a colorful funeral service? Poch Suzara

God and the Devil

God is the only supernatural good who does not need to exist in order to rule the world. Unfortunately, the devil is also another supernatural evil who does not need to exist to help God maintain His power and glory. Poch Suzara

The Unforgivable Sin

The bible warns: “but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” Mark 3:29. For Christ’s sake, it’s hard enough to blaspheme against a ghost, what more against one that is already holy? Poch Suzara

The Dark Ages

There was a time when every single man, woman and child throughout the world believed, loved, and had faith in God. This was during the 5th to the 15th century. Historians refer to these ten centuries as the Dark Ages. Today, virtually every one of the 100 million Filipinos believe, loved, and have faith in Pope John Paul II who had recently died. Who knows what world historians will refer to the Philippines in this 21st century? In the meantime, it is highly claimed that for a great many years the late Pope John Paul II fought for human dignity and struggled against human poverty. I ask: where are the results; especially in this only Christian country in Asia? How come human sufferings have not decreased, in fact have only increased in the Philippines? To think that the power of divinity is supposed to be always behind the power of papacy as established by the power of the Vatican bank and its global industry! Poch Suzara

On the Second Coming

Paul said: “in Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female.” If this were the case, I ask: Jesus was the perfect guide to whom or a Savior of what? How could Jesus be our refuge and strength, a very present help in our trouble when even His promise to return has not yet taken place? To think that promise was made 2,000 years ago. Poch Suzara

It Is Finished

The last words Jesus said before he died on the cross was: “It is finished.” John 19:20. Yet, in Revelation 22:12, and in other 4 verses in the bible, Jesus said: “Behold, I am coming quickly.” If things, however, were already finished and duly accomplished as Jesus had declared, why promise and bother to return? Poch Suzara

Twelve Losers

Christ chose twelve losers in the community to help him save the world. Those losers were called “apostles” who, even with the power of God behind them, failed to straighten out the mess of their own community. Christ was not invited to a banquet to celebrate the success of his life and work. On the contrary, He was arrested, tried, and crucified on the cross. When it comes to divine failures – Christ is the answer. In the meantime, Generations have passed and there is not yet a sign that Jesus is returning. Nevertheless, if Jesus arrives, it is most probable that his twelve apostles won’t be coming along with him. They were all failures in the eyes of Jesus. Consider the two criminals crucified along side Him. Jesus promised one eternal salvation for believing in Him. A promise He never made to any of His twelve apostles. But then again, why bother to return when clearly in John 18:36: Jesus bragged: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Poch Suzara

Eternal Salvation

“For what does it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world but loses his own soul?” Matt. 16:26. Well, I ask: what does it profit a man if he wins eternal salvation but leaves behind this world a worse place than he found it for his own children and the children of others? Poch Suzara

Satan

“And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Luke 10:18. I ask: what in hell was Satan doing in heaven in the first place? Poch Suzara

Meet With God

According to Catholic theology I could not meet God for as long as I am alive. Only after I am dead will I be able to meet with God in person. In the meantime, I ask: if God were a spirit, how could He have created the material me in His own image and likeness? And was this before or after my circumcision? Poch Suzara

A House Divided

The bible admits: - “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” It is, indeed, a simple truth and a timeless message. But then again why did God allow the devil in the form of a serpent to divide the home of Adam and Eve – the first couple trying hard to stand in unity as both were anxious to build together a happy family? In the meantime, I ask: where was the Son of God Jesus – the Savior of Mankind, - during or right afterthe Fall of Adam and Eve? Poch Suzara

God is Not Everywhere

The bible clearly admits that God is not everywhere: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1. Really, if God is everywhere, faith for things not seen is utterly needless. Poch Suzara

Moses - One of the Inspired Liars of God in the Bible

In Genesis 6:6 Moses wrote that “it had repenteth that Lord that he had made man on the earth. In Exodus 32:14, Moses again wrote that “the Lord repenteth of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” But in Numbers 23:19, the same Moses wrote: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Oh Moses, my dear Moses, what other sacred lies have you revealed as the Truth in the holy bible? Poch Suzara

The Bible Admits

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalms 51:5. Indeed, Christians believe in guilty babies. Catholics are worse:- they believe in guilty embryos. For my part, I do not believe in the existence of original sin as I do not believe in the existence of an Original Creator. The most basic law of physics states that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed; they can only be transformed into different states. Therefore the basic stuff of the universe could not have been created, and it can never be destroyed. The Original Creator is a myth. Poch Suzara

My Readers

Say that the trouble with me is that everybody sees God except me. They say, to see God, all I have to do is to open my heart and God will be there as clear as daylight for me to see. Well, God is either everywhere or somewhere. But where is God to be found anywhere? And which God are you people referring to? Consider the perpetual sad state of human affairs on this earth, I say such a God is in desperate need of sober advisers. Well, where in hell are His angels? In the meantime, I ask my dear readers: if it does not bother you to realize that you were a nothing herebefore of eternity before you were born, why should it bother you to realize that you will be a nothing again in the hereafter of eternity after you are dead? Poch Suzara

Theology and Philosophy

If God gave you the free will to embrace the theology of theism, why should any one be mad at me if that same God gave me the free will to embrace the philosophy of atheism? Poch Suzara

Scientitic Way of Thinking

When Catholics or Muslims or Jew or Buddhists or Hindus or what-not think of the multiplication table, they all think correctly, there is no difference among them. All are in the same arena of what is precise, certain, and truthful. When they think of their respective religious beliefs, however, they are disunited and are ready to do harm to each other. Indeed, religion as an idea has done more harm to mankind
than any other idea.

For my part, I hate religion because it is fundamentally opposed to everything I love that’s precious: intellectual honesty based on the pursuit of the truth. Poch Suzara

Religious Insanity

In his Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: “Religious insanity is very common in the United States.” Too bad he never visited the Sick Man of Asia. He would have found religious insanity a much more serious condition in the Philippines than it was then in the United States. During these times, there was only one Filipino who was scientifically sane: Jose Rizal. He wrote two books ( Noli and Fili ) about the religious insanity of the Spanish Catholic Friars against Filipino Catholics. The Civil government, under the power of the Catholic Church had Rizal put away. He was publicly executed in 1896. In the meantime, lies have been told about this great man. Indeed, even up to today, in every school, colleges, and universities in the Philippines, it is still being taught that hours before he died, Rizal retracted. That in his death cell he went to confession, heard mass, received holy communion, and wore a scapular around his neck and holding a rosary around his hands on the way to face his firing squad. Such retraction is purely based on sacred Catholic lies. In Manila City Hall, there is a blow up photo hanging on a wall showing Rizal being executed with NO scapular around his neck NOR a rosary around his hand. Poch Suzara

Prayer

Prayer – the supplication of expression addressed to God and very much still in the nature of magic formulas, mumbled over and over again with an advertiser’s faith in the law of re-iteration. Unfortunately, there is no God; otherwise, if there is a God, and he’s fully aware of the impact of what it means to be all-knowing and all-mighty and indeed what it means to be always on the job, there would be no need of prayers. Poch Suzara

For Centuries

Centuries before the 1st century, the theologians have not ceased explaining the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing. And to think that in this 21st century the theologians themselves have no explanation whatsoever as to why God created them in His own image and likeness. Poch Suzara

Dark Side of the Catholic Church

Armando Ang wrote the book - “The Dark Side of the Catholic Church.” He should have been more honest had he titled his book “The lies and falsehoods and Deceptions behind the Catholic Church.” Indeed, in the history of Christianity bequeathed to us by the Roman Catholic Church, we find ourselves embroiled in a world of schism and power struggles, forged documents, false identities, letters that had been edited and added to the wholesale destruction of historical evidences and gross distortion of the truth; not to mention - murder. Unfortunately for the greatest story ever told, it has yet to be truthfully told. Poch Suzara

Democracy Ubder a Theocracy

“Democracy,” wrote Tocqueville, “does not attach men strongly to one another, but it places their habitual intercourse on an easier footing.“

In the Philippines, however, theocracy has always been on top of our democracy. We are more faithful to a divinity than we are habitual in our intercourse to cultivate our sense of morality for the sake of establishing common Filipino decency. Poch Suzara

Russell or the Theologians

Between one philosopher and a thousand theologians, I would listen first to a Bertrand Russell: He made it clear that freedom is the supreme good; for without it personality is impossible. Life and knowledge are today so complex, that only by free discussions can we pick our way through errors and prejudices to that total perspective which is truth. Let men, let even teachers, differ and debate; out of such diverse opinions will come an intelligent relativity of belief which will not readily fly to arms; hatred and war come largely of fixed ideas or dogmatic faith. . . We think of education as the transmission of a certain body of settled knowledge, when it should be rather the development of a scientific habit of mind. Poch Suzara

The Test of a True Religion

The test of a true religion has nothing to do with how it began or how it will end. It has nothing to do with Churches and Cathedrals. It has nothing to do with fear or blind faith or even with daily prayers. True religion generates love and compassion in the human community. Anything less is not religion. It is superstition - the encouragement of stupidity and an insufficient sense of reality. Poch Suzara

Hollywood Trash

It is all about the good guys versus the bad guys. Good guys according to whom? Bad guys according to whom? Take the Cowboys and the Indians. Hollywood made movies about HOW THE WEST WAS WON by the Cowboys. No movie has yet been made by Hollywood about HOW THE WEST WAS LOST by the Indians. Poch Suzara

Columbus

What if Columbus was such a coward who never dared to exposed the truth about having learned that the world is round? Today in this 21 century, we would probably still believe that the world is flat. In my own case, friends and relatives and associates are terrified as I tell them that according to the latest scientific findings, it has been discovered that the human brain is round as a mammalian and only flat as a reptilian. Poch Suzara

Philosophy and the Bible

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8 .
Too bad bible readers are inspired to keep away from Bertrand Russell who wrote: “Philosophy should make us know the ends of life, and the elements in life that have value on their own account. However our freedom may be limited in the causal sphere, we need admit no limitations to our freedom in the sphere of values: what we judge good on its own account we may continue to judge good, without regard to anything but our feeling. Philosophy cannot itself determine the ends of life, but it can free us from the tyranny of prejudice and from distortions due to a narrow view. Love, beauty, knowledge, and the joy of life: these things retain their luster however wide our purview. And if philosophy can help us to feel the value of these things, it will have played its part in man’s collective work in bringing light into a world of darkness. OUTLINE OF PHILOSOPHY. Poch Suzara

After Death, What?

After death, what then? Nothing. Is that it? Yes, it’s all over. But isn’t that sad? Yes, it is sad. But what is even sadder, however, is that our lifetime on this earth is but a fraction of a millimeter or a split of a second as compared to the life of eternity and on a planet that is so insignificantly tiny. 1,000 planet earth can fit inside the Planet Jupiter which, in turn, is also so tiny in that 100,000 Jupiters can fit inside our Sun. Ours indeed is but an iota of existence. In the meantime, when a atheist admits with all intellectual honesty that life began as a fluke, that we live as a farce, and that we end up as a fertilizer – the atheist is not being a sanctimonious hypocrite. He means it. Shakespeare was not being facetious when he wrote of this truth: “When we are born we cry, that we are come to this great stage of fools.” Poch Suzara.

Failures and Losers

There are many kinds of failures and losers in this world. The most popular are those who do not hesitate to jump at every opportunity to make cheap excuses for or in behalf of God who is always sleeping on the job or has not shown Himself worthy of respect and admiration as an All-powerful, All-knowing, all-mighty, all-loving, all-merciful, all-wise, all-eternal, all-invisible, all-supreme, and an all-perfect God. Poch Suzara