Old and New Religion

In the old religion, God will provide. In the new religion, however, the universe will provide. If either were true, how come in the end no one can even survive? After a brief moment of life on this speck of dust called earth, we are quickly poofed out of existence and the billions of galaxies out there couldn’t care less.

Poch Suzara

Dear Jesus

Dear Jesus, Millions of your Filipino followers are filthy poor. Only a few of your Filipino followers are filthy rich. All, however, rich and poor alike, are waiting for your return. What’s holding up the show? Where are you Jesus? It has been more than 2,000 years already. Why did you make a promise you could not deliver sooner? Time has elapsed! Oh Jesus, do you know that millions of Filipinos who are college educated Catholics have to earn a living overseas. These are in foreign countries that do not even believe you to be the Son of God who performed wonderful miracles or that you are the Savior of the Filipinos! Poch Suzara

In School

In La Salle grade school and in high school we were threatened with punishment if we dared to read the great books written by great thinkers and philosophers. I somehow disobeyed. Down through the years, I began to clearly see why we are a people of childish prayers; and not a nation of matured readers.

Indeed, we Filipinos are born ignorant, not stupid; we are made stupid not by an educational, but by the powerful commercial enterprises otherwise more known as Catholic schools, colleges, and universities.

Poch Suzara

Beware

“Beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Luke 12:15

Gee Luke, you are so right! What is the Church doing with abundance - its trillions of dollars in cash deposits in the Vatican Bank? Poch Suzara

Intellect

“The greatest of intellect without religion in the heart, is only civilized barbarism, and disguised animalism.” Bunsen

Well, what about the senseless death of Jesus crucified on the cross here on earth? His own Father in heaven abetted and tolerated the carnage; or, was that just a theological barbarism, if not just an ecclesiastical animalism? Poch Suzara

Dr. Harold J. Sala

This famous minister says that the science of archaeology has contributed more to substantiating the authenticity of the holy bible than most people know about. Really? What about the science of astronomy where it discovered that we are a speck of debris from the cosmic explosion? Where is that discovered and explained in the bible?

What about the science of geology that reminds us of our brief existence both as individuals and as a species? Where is that elucidated in the bible?

Dr. Harold J. Sala says that the bible was written in a world of flesh and blood, of commerce, of intrigue, of love and death. Hell, Dr. Sala! If these were the case, why would the authors of the bible need inspiration from a loving God to write such superstitious nonsense?

Poch Suzara

Phooey

Whoever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven: he carries the guilt of his sin forever. Mark 3:29

Phooey on the Holy Spirit. Phooey on the forgiveness of sin. Phooey on the guilt of my sin forever. And for being such a bully, phooey on you too Mark! What did you, as a superstitious author of God, really know anything about what is holy and what is a spirit? In fact, what did you know anything about God? Poch Suzara

Biblical Zombies

Here's one revealed truth in the HOLY bible as written by inspired authors of God: And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And came out of the graves . . . And went into the holy city, and appeared to many.” Matt. 37: 52- 53. Quite a few of those biblical Zombies migrated to the Philippines and got to be installed as teachers and professors in our Catholic schools, colleges, and universities. Millions of us Filipinos got to be the "idiots," "Morons," "stupid fools" as we were all indoctrinated to believe their teachings as they were the resurrected zombies. They all frightened us to believe as well that we too are gifted with a FREE WILL especially to enjoy too after we are dead - the miracle of resurrection back to life with Jesus on earth as HE is in heaven! It is insane, isn't it? Well, here's another revealed truth written in the bible which nobody likes to read or to admit as a revealed truth: "THE DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING, NEITHER HAVE THEY ANY MORE A REWARD FOR THE MEMORY OF THEM IS FORGOTTEN." Eccl 9:5 Poch Suzara

The Human Body Created by God

"In cancer," wrote Bertrand Russell, "a group of cells engages in a career of imperialism, but, in bringing the rest of the body to death, it decrees also its own extinction." Well, about the 20 billion kinds of germs, bacteria, and viruses existing inside our body during birth? We are told the human body is God’s greatest gift to man. How wonderful. Sadly, however, the human body at birth, grows, gets old and it dies. The human body is eventually killed by those deadly little microscopic monsters - all bereft of moral values - deadly little creatures living inside our body as a housing facilities but gifted too with free will on this earth for the glory of God in heaven. It is, in this sense, that I ask: have any you ever met any one who has been blessed by God? Blessed how and for how long? Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#

The Original Evil

If this world, with all of its birth and pain, suffering and death, is the work of a self-conscious Being, then creation is the original crime and the creator is the original criminal. Which is which therefore: God will forgive us, or, we will forgive God? Poch Suzara

Ask Not

As not what you can do for God. Ask, instead, what God can do for you. After all, God has the power, the kingdom, and the glory. We humans have nothing! We even live on a speck of dust called earth lost in the immensity of space and time. In the meantime, we were taught to believe that God is omni-present and that religion is ubiquitous. And yet nobody knows where religion comes from just as much as nobody knows why God is always omni-absent! Poch Suzara

Columnist William M. Esposo

Columnist Esposo of Philippine Star wrote in the Philippine Star today Feb.19, 2008:

“Have you ever wondered if all this mess that we are in is
actually
outgrowths of the dysfunctional family relationships of our well-known couple."

Sir, may I refer you to the foundation of our values and beliefs keeping us spiritually poor as a people and morally bankrupt as a nation?

It comes from our most sacred book known as the holy bible. I hope these verses alone will inspire you to read more properly bible contents. In this way, you might conclude that most of the elements that make for our sick society comes from Christianity “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 in him." John 2:15

Matt. 10:34-35 “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword,” “For I am come to set a Man at variance against his father, and daughter against her mother.”

Mark 13:12 “Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and

children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.”

Luke 12:51-53Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five to one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, and the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother

Luke 14:26 “ If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, and yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple

St John 12:25-25 “He that loveth his life shall lose it; he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal; . . . If any man serve me, him will my father honor.”

Luke 19:27 “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them for me.”

Poch Suzara

MAP Statement

For the sake of good governance, the management Association of the Philippines, (MAP) called on - “the religious leaders to speak out in thunderous language and condemn the moral degradation of our government bureaucracy, and we unequivocally join the Catholic bishops’ call for “communal action” to regain our moral compass and, with it, our nation’s dignity and self-respect.” Philippine Start Feb. 14, 2008

We are, indeed, a nation of childish morons. We call on the Catholic bishops to scold our rotten government officials who are the products of catholic schools, colleges, and universities in this only catholic country in Asia.

What exactly have these Catholic Bishops done during these past 400 years to teach the Filipino to have self-respect as a people and to have dignity as a nation? Why must our government officials continue the corrupt marriage between State and Church in our country?

The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men and women to keep on submitting to the destructive beliefs taught to them during childhood years by the Catholic Church and other Christian churches. Such religious establishments continue to keep the Philippines poor spiritually, bankrupt morally, sick politically, insane socially, and backward economically.

I said it before, I say it again: Look how we Filipinos love not our country, nor do we love fellow-Filipinos. We love only God up there as we were taught to hate this world and to hate one another down here? Poch Suzara

The Greatest Filipino Tragedy

The greatest tragedy of the Filipino as a people is his faithful tolerance for deadly ignorance. We are famous the world over not as a people mindful of health and sanitation, or thoughtful of law and order, or appreciative of family planning and birth control standards, or common human decency, or respectful of our women, but only famous for our faith in Jesus – the Son of God – the Savior of the Philippines born as a Jew in Israel some 2,000 years ago that today is not even a Christian country, but a Jewish State. We hardly ask: “What’s happening to our poor and backward country in this already 21st century?” We should, instead, be seriously asking: What’s happening to our so-called sacred values beliefs as the only Christian country in Asia? What exactly has Christianity in general, and the Catholic church in particular done historically to contribute anything substantial that have inspired the Filipino to live the good and decent life – one inspired by love and guided by the power of knowledge? Poch Suzara

Religion

“Any system of religion that has in it anything that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.” Thomas Paine.

Men and women who continue to have faith in what shocked them during childhood years in school have got to be the psycho-ceramics as called in the scientific term; or, in the layman’s language, – crackpots. Poch Suzara

My Religion

My religion is about enlightened unbelief; not the religion of frightened belief. Questions are far more important than the answers. After all, in time, the answers become obsolete. I question everything so as not to constrain my life of understanding. Poch Suzara

Bible Authors

Bible authors had no knowledge of the planet earth being round, rotating on its own axis daily, and orbiting around the sun yearly. Why did an All-knowing God inspire the bible authors to be ignorant of the science of astronomy?

In the meantime, why should God tell us how to raise and educate our children when he Himself had drowned and suffocated His own? Before the Flood, the loving God Told Noah: “To hell with sinners; to hell with your neighbors. SAVE THE ANIMALS.” Poch Suzara

Philosophy

I love philosophy. It begins when one learns to doubt. Especially to doubt one’s faith in the existence of hogmas, pigmas, and dogmas.

I love Philosophy as I hate theology. Philosophy teaches us HOW to think. Theology teaches us WHAT to believe. I remember as a little boy, with too much theology, I believed and had faith in a lot of religious hogwash! I am therefore grateful to philosophy: she saved not my soul, but saved instead my precious mind. Poch Suzara

Education

Owners of schools, College and university owners ought to be the guardians of civilization. Teachers and professors ought ought to be the guardians of a sane and a healthy society.

We think of education as the transmission of a certain body of settled knowledge. On the contrary, education ought to be about the development of a scientific habit of mind. Indeed, learning as a process of lively analysis, and not a matter of deadly paralysis. It is sad and painful to see college educated men and women of this country carry a heavy load of useless guilt on their backs. They are intellectually crippled by its destructive weight. It is, in this way, that they readily serve a silly divinity up there rather than play a role in the development of our country for its growth and maturity down here. Poch Suzara

Women Writers

No woman writer contributed a single word while the bible was being written by male superstitious primitives a.k.a. as the inspired authors of God. I love women. When it comes to religious writings, they have no taste for such superstitious garbage. Poch Suzara

Love versus Hate

I am known to be a failure, a loser, a bitter fellow, a high-school dropout, an insane atheist, a poor bum; and, indeed, a man of hate. Only because I love this life as much as I love this world. Our world. There is even a moron on these pages who asked if I was on drugs or on alcohol? I am at war against those who make a mockery of human intelligence. Especially those who believe that if we love this world and if we love the things that are in this world – the love of God is not with us! I said it before, I say it again: FUCK THAT HOLY MESSAGE BIBLE SHIT. In the meantime, I really do not know what’s the big deal about God being the creator of the world since it is the silly devil who keeps this world, our world - all FUCKED running it to no end for the greater glory of his sick God in heaven! Poch Suzara

Success

To enjoy success in our sick society, it is not enough to be educated as a faithful believer. One must also be selfish, greedy, stupid, insane, and especially, God-fearing. Indeed, in order to succeed in our sick society, one must first prove that the reptilian part of your brain is much bigger than the mammalian part. Our society has always been ruled by sick reptiles in the shape of sick politicians in cahoots with the sick theologians.

In the meantime, we Filipinos have yet to discover that happiness can only be discovered by promoting happiness to other Filipinos.

Sadly, however, in this poor and backward country, we are only happy whenever we remember there is a better world to come after we are all dead! Poch Suzara

Church History

If we would only bother to discover church history, we could discover this horror: In God’s name, the atheists were booted out of town, ostracized, arrested, punished, tortured, incarcerated, drowned, boiled, garroted, hanged, burned, shot, and executed for bringing enlightenment to free the human mind! Such was the case against Giordano Bruno, a Catholic monk during the 16th century. For believing and preaching that there are other worlds out there, and for believing that everything perishes but nothing changes, the church had him arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by burning him alive on a stake in a public arena. Of course another was our own Jose Rizal – the greatest Filipino freethinker. He was executed for his harmful writings against the Catholic teachings to Filipinos in the Philippines. Poch Suzara Facebook# Google# Twitter# Atheists#

Oh God

Oh God, I sometimes imagine you exist. If you were a real, honest-to-goodness existing God, we Americans would have no need for Superman, Batman and Robin, Spiderman, and other weird characters in the White House to install freedom and democracy in foreign around to save the world! Poch Suzara

Genetic Facts

According to the science of Genetics, all people are 99.9 per cent identical. Yet people hate and kill each other for being different and that difference is often due to faith in God.

If God, however, could not remove stupid religion out of this world, what assurances have we that God already removed stupid religion in the next world if, in fact, there is any? Poch Suzara

Pain and Christianity

Pain is nature’s signal to do something. Religion is the signal to do nothing. Thus, religion encourages pain, misery, poverty, indeed - a sick society. It is all about the failure of values and beliefs under the success of Christianity. Poch Suzara

Some things Are Impossible

Some things are impossible. For example, it is impossible to love this world after birth; especially after you have been threatened to believe that there is a better world to come after death. Poch Suzara

Wow Wee

There were no Filipinos present during the First Coming of the Lord in Judea, Bethlehem during the first century; and yet a great many Filipinos actually expected to be present in the Second Coming of the Lord in the Philippines. during the 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, 20^th, and now expected to arrive in this 21^st century? Well, thank God their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren are still doing the same thing - waiting for the Second Coming of the Lord to remedy all the ills of our sick society.
Wow Wow Wee! Poch Suzara

What an Insult

What an insult it must be to your soul landing in heaven knowing that its former house – God’s greatest gift to mankind - your precious human body – is left behind on earth faithfully dead and religiously rotting. Poch Suzara

American Cats and Dogs

Millions of cats and dogs live like humans in America. Millions of Americans, however, live like animals in the streets of America. And to prove just how stupid we Americans are in the eyes of the world – we continue to be at war against other countries just to remind the sick cats and sick dogs struggling to survive in those foreign countries that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Poch Suzara

Atheists Hate War

We atheists hate war because of its death and destruction. War solves nothing. We atheists recognize the absolute finality of death. We do not believe in the existence of a next happy life in a heaven with God, nor do we recognize the existence of a next painful life in a hell with the devil. We atheists believe in peace on earth and goodwill to all men, women, and children. That’s all.

In the meantime, atheism may be negative in character. But it is neither destructive nor constrictive. When atheism is used to eradicate fear and superstition and its detrimental effects upon the minds of men and the hearts of women, atheism is a healthy approach not only for local tranquility, but mainly for global sanity. Poch Suzara

If I could Pick My Valentine

I pick Hypatia – the Greek philosopher, a teacher of mathematics and astronomy in Alexandria. A woman renowned for her beauty. In an age of bigotry, she adhered to the Neoplatonic philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. With eloquence and intellect, the whole of Alexandria trembled whenever Hypatia lectured. The search of the truth was to her priceless. She was a woman of self-respect and dignity not only for herself but also especially for her community. Hypatia was a brilliant teacher who rejected unfounded dogmas. She laughed at the superstitious primitives of her days. She was ruthlessly murdered – a victim of religious fanaticism more than 15 centuries ago. Hypatia lived in the 5th century – a time characterized by destructive forces. The Roman Empire was falling apart. During this period of confusion, the church, however, was more troubled by Christian disunity and women's virginity. In her time, a complicated controversy on incarnation was prevalent. The question at issue was the relation of Christ's divinity to his humanity. Did Christ have two aspects, one human and the other divine? There were those who objected to calling the Virgin "Mother of God." She was, they said, only the mother of the human person, while the divine person, who was God, has no mother. The church was divided on this question. But the view that Christ was one Person with two aspects, human and divine, won in the end. Its chief protagonist was Cyril, the Archbishop of Alexandria. A man of fanatical zeal, who supported orthodoxy, and persecuted the Jewish community in Alexandria. Cyril, the church authority, had no influence over Hypatia. He hated her. Hypatia was the head of the Alexandria library. She symbolized learning and science, which at that time, the church authority largely identified with paganism. But Hypatia was also on good terms with Orestes, a pagan, who was also the city's chief Magistrate. As such, Hypatia was the focal point in the tensions and riots between Christians and non-Christians that have racked Alexandria. In order to show others what it means to deviate away from Christian beliefs and values, Cyril gathered a small mob together to get rid of Hypatia. She was "torn from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church, and inhumanely butchered: her flesh was scraped from her bones with sharp oyster shells and her quivering limbs were delivered to the flames." After this Christian act of mercy, Alexandria was no longer troubled by philosophers; Cyril, however, was canonized a saint. As for Hypatia, because we never heard of her in our schools, colleges, and universities, her name has been forgotten. If I were granted a wish, I wish to have been with Hypatia during her last day of life on this earth. In defending her, I gladly would have been proud getting killed alongside protecting her. But as my wish cannot be granted, I would just be honored, if Hypatia, in spirit, will be my Valentine today. Hypatia, wherever you are, I love you, respect you, and admire you. You are among the rarest and greatest women who ever lived in this world. Poch Suzara

How We Live

A God directly involved with us but only after death is a God who must be just as dead. Such a dead God in heaven is not worth bothering while we are still alive on this earth.

As an atheist, I love this life. I love this world. Our world. I do not care for what’s nothing out there after I am dead. Neither do I give a hoot to what was nothing out there before I was born.

If I allow one kind of fear to dominate me, all other kinds will dominate me also. I will have none of it. Fear is forever busy and needs to dominate victims. Poch Suzara

Suicidal Atheists

My dear reader, have you heard of atheists blowing themselves up with dynamite for the sake of killing others? Indeed, have you heard of sexually-starved, driven by lust atheists who believed that a God in heaven will be waiting for them with 72 virgins as a reward for insane acts against other atheists? Poch Suzara

Our Sick Society

How come ours is a sick society? College educated men and women still pray to God. The same God who never lifted a finger to rescue his own begotten Son nailed to a wooden stick.

If God in heaven could not settle his sick troubles with the devil in hell, why should God settle our sick troubles with the devil on this earth? And how could any one be so childish as to believe that God’s help is just a prayer away? Poch Suzara

Fr. James Reuter and Filipino Souls

He preaches on the evils of family planning and birth control. He claims that he is helping poor Filipino families and saving Filipino souls. He has been active with this divine mission for some 60 years in the Philippines. Fr. James Reuter does not save, will not save, and could not save - American minds and hearts in America, but he can only save Filipino souls in the Philippines for a Jewish God in heaven? Wow Wee! Poch Suzara

The Rotten Idiot

Whoever says: “If God does not exist, then everything is permitted,” has got to be a greedy, selfish, rotten idiot who never learned to appreciate his natural capacity to look at our troubled world with courage, understanding, love, or compassion. Poch Suzara

God’s First Command

“Thou shall have no other gods before me.” Wow, where did those other gods come from? Who created them? If God did not believe in the existence of other gods, was God an atheist too? Poch Suzara

ONE HUNDRED BILLION

More than a hundred billion people - Christians, Jews, and Muslims have already lived and died in this world. Ever since the Talking Serpent persuaded Adam and Eve to fuck each other. No, there was no need of prayers as God was there existing as a neighbor to prevent the sin. Billions of people have stuck to their prayers but God seemed yet satisfied with having already damned to hell many of the souls of these religious morons. In the meantime, by comparison with the existence of the universe, human existence on this speck of dust called earth as something so puny and insignificant. And if there is a God out there bothered by what we do or do not do down here – then that God must be nothing but a weird monster who likes to frighten people from up there! Poch Suzara

Rich Man

It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:23
My dear Matthew, who are you kidding? Poch Suzara

God Bless - No thanks

GOD BLESS YOU are words uttered daily by millions of religiously dumbstruck Filipinos everywhere. But if millions of Filipinos were truly blessed by God, how come millions of Filipinos continue to live under misery, filth, and poverty in this poor and backward in this Asia’s only Christian country? In the meantime, in the bible itself, here are examples of words uttered by a kind and loving God in the business of blessing the faithools: “Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces." Malachi 2:3 GOD BLESS YOU TOO! Poch Suzara Google# Facebook# Twitter#

Millions

Nobody knows, not even God, just exactly how many millions of baptized Filipino Catholic live under subhuman conditions in the Philippines. However the case may be, these poverty-stricken Catholic Filipinos existing in the streets, under bridges, huts and hovels are consistently reminded that God loves them; and, that Jesus, the Son of God, will soon return. The biblical promise has been going on daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly for almost 2,000 years now. From this Islas de ladrones y bobos, millions of Catholic Filipinos have already migrated and are now living and well-employed in some 190 foreign countries. This simply means that Filipinos are the failures in their own Catholic countries, but are happy and successful living and working in non-Catholic countries. Poch Suzara

Filipino Destiny

Think of it: our parents could not tell us where we were going after birth. Catholic priests, however, did tell us that after death we are either going to heaven or to hell. No wonder we are the Sick Man of Asia more involved with stupid death than we are sane living a healthy and a wholesome life. In the meantime, there is no such thing as a Christian child; only a child of a Christian parents: free will is a myth invented by Catholic theologians. Poch Suzara

The Tree of Death

Notice how in the Old Testament God shows no interest whatsoever, and even gets bored with the Tree of Knowledge. But in the New Testament, God gets very excited with the Tree of Death? Golly, He was even so thrilled watching his only begotten Son on earth getting nailed to a wooden cross. Indeed, crucified on the cross, Jesus cried out loud: "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAS THOU FORSAKEN ME?" Poch Suzara

Let Us Hate Together

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.” Isaiah 1:18 – a proposal made by the Lord in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, however, the same Lord proposed: “If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, wife and children, and yea, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26, Matt 10:34-37

Self-Deception

Foremost Philippine historian Teodoro A. Agoncillo summed it all up: “Self-deception is the worst tragedy of the Filipino as a people." Well, I should add, what can be expected of Filipinos who continue to be not the intelligent masters, but the stupid victims of values and beliefs under Christianity and its teachings based upon confusion, illusion, and confusion? Poch Suzara

Power

Of all forms of power, the most destructive is the power of madness.

We atheists are not into madness. What we do enjoy, however, is the power of thought. It is sinless. It is crimeless. Indeed, the power of thought is fearless and godless as it is priceless. Poch Suzara

Child Rapist

Corruption in Congress is not consistent. Sometimes, there is an inconsistency. One Congressman, for example, enjoyed a bit of side show,- a sexual degradation away from the daily corruption. He found time to rape a little girl. After which, convicted, in prison, during mass, he would give thanks to the Lord for his sexual
stamina as the most macho member of Congress.

To think that there are sexually-starved, men driven by lust in our sick society who continue to insist that the congressman in question should never have landed in jail. That he got a raw deal sentenced to prison. they argue, while salivating with envy, that the girl he salaciously forced himself into was a child prostitute of 12 years old. As if raping a prostitute is not a crime. As if there is such a criminal
called a child prostitute who could be raped first before services are rendered getting herself invaginated honorably by lust driven moronic sex maniacs. This Congressman could not envisage the girl’s future as a decent mother, or a decent wife, or even as a decent citizen of the Republic of the Philippines.

During her painful experience, I try to imagine that little girl frightened, helpless, crying, and pleading; but her congressman found it more honorable watching with much gusto her abused little vagina bleeding. Poch Suzara


posted by Poch Suzara at 4:24 PM
1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Indeed Mr poch suzara.
interesting thoughts you have.

Biblical Fanatics

The Bible preachers are getting more famous, indeed, getting more successful selling the Word of God. This is only because the believers of the faith are still a frightened lot of satanic, - religiously idiotic, - fanatics.

Take, for example, Brother Eli Soriano of Dating Daan, a religious leader from the boondocks. Daily on TV, he would preach to his viewers bible messages that keep this country perpetually poor and perennially backward. As if there ever was a Filipino who never experienced threats to believe and to have faith in the Word of God! And as if the Word of God has ever stood for human dignity and self-respect for any Filipino living under subhuman conditions in his own Christian country. In the meantime, in this God-forsaken country, we read the bible, if at all, like guilty sinners; hardly do we read the bible like innocent truth-seekers. Poch Suzara

God as a Shining Light

Faithful Christians will at times relate about the experiences of someone dying on the operating table and being “brought back to life.” Some will recount the “near death” experiences where their “soul” was already hovering over, and looking down at their own body… while a celestial being was striving to “guide” them towards a far off “Great Shining Light.”

Isn’t it incredible that the only description available to what God looks like is a “Great Shining Light? And to think during our formative years in grade school, we were already inspired, nay, intimidated to believe that God is existing here, existing there, and existing everywhere watching our every move and jutting down our every sinful thought.

In the meantime, in the Old Testament, Moses queried the burning bush about its identity. In the King James translation the bush replies: “I am that I am.” But the original Hebrew, according to biblical scholars, should actually be translated as “I will be what I will be.”

For my part, I imagine a God identifying himself as either a Great Shining Light, or a Burning Bush, or “I am that I am” while nervously chewing his fingernails. Poch Suzara