THIS is not going to be easy to explain. First of all, because
religion, while it concerns God, also has us, the ever fickle-minded
man, as its integral element, since religion is about us and our
relation with God.
So, while man is basically a religious being, always looking and
yearning for God, there´s always that possibility, for a number of
reasons and factors, of us making our own God, and failing to hit it
off with the real One.
This has happened in abundance in the history of man. There were
people who worshiped the sun as their God. Others the moon, or the
wind. Still others carved some idols as their deity.
We are a religious being. Our Catechism says so. ¨The desire for
God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and
for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself.¨ (27)
Even those who profess themselves to be atheists (non-believers)
and agnostics (doubters) cannot avoid having some aspects of religion,
because if it is not a spiritual, supernatural God they believe in,
they must believe in something else—their own reason and ideas, for
example, or simply their own selves.
This challenge of how to put our religion on its proper course
has been hounding us since time immemorial. And though the problem is
huge, and the efforts to resolve it through the centuries have been
hard and tumultuous, we just have to have faith and hope that we can
resolve it.
The basis for that faith and hope is actually with us and all
around us. No matter how imperfect our efforts may be, we cannot deny
the fact that there must be a God—if not something or someone outside
us, then one inside us.
I don´t know much about other religions, but Christianity is
about a God who reveals himself to us, who comes to us, who makes
himself like us, and leaves us with instrumentalities that continue
his presence and redemptive or perfective work on us up to now till
the end of time. The initiative comes from him, before we are asked to
correspond.
Obviously, all religions must contain elements of truth and
goodness, since any effort to deal with a God, even in the atheistic
or agnostic context, cannot help but possess some of these elements of
truth and goodness. Nothing can stand or even exist if no element of
truth and goodness is present.
We just have to embark on a lifetime task of determining the true
religion, the one initiated by God, and not any that we start or
invent. For this, we need to be humble and empty ourselves, like what
Christ did to become like us, so that we can be filled with God´s
grace, with God himself, and from there start our relation with him.
Our big problem now is that we seem to be making our own
religion. We may start with corresponding to God´s initiative, but
somewhere along the way, we break off from him and go on our own.
Even among Christians and Catholics, this problem is very real.
During the RH debate, I realize more sharply that there are Catholics
who think religion is simply a matter of one´s conscience, with
hardly any relation to duties to Church, to abide to a certain
doctrine of faith, to resort to the sacraments, etc.
In fact, there were a lot of anti-Church and anti-religion
sentiments. It seems these have been festering in the minds and hearts
of many people for ages. These biases proliferated in the RH debates
in different forums, often with venom vomited out quite freely, and
claws, fangs and hackles menacingly shown.
Many, even among the educated and professional classes, could not
understand why the Church has to be heard about the morality of the RH
issue. What role does it play in this issue, they ask. Why not simply
what comes to one´s conscience or at least what is agreed upon by the
consensus of the majority?
Some traces of Christianity can still be detected in many of the
views expressed, but a Christianity very badly understood and
digested, much less, lived. Many still claim they are Christians or at
least adhere to some religion, but it is quite clear that it is more a
man-made religion, a man-made Christianity that is referred to.
This is, of course, a big challenge for the Church which will not
run away from it. But it will have to retool itself significantly.Self-made subjective Christianity
religion, while it concerns God, also has us, the ever fickle-minded
man, as its integral element, since religion is about us and our
relation with God.
So, while man is basically a religious being, always looking and
yearning for God, there´s always that possibility, for a number of
reasons and factors, of us making our own God, and failing to hit it
off with the real One.
This has happened in abundance in the history of man. There were
people who worshiped the sun as their God. Others the moon, or the
wind. Still others carved some idols as their deity.
We are a religious being. Our Catechism says so. ¨The desire for
God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and
for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself.¨ (27)
Even those who profess themselves to be atheists (non-believers)
and agnostics (doubters) cannot avoid having some aspects of religion,
because if it is not a spiritual, supernatural God they believe in,
they must believe in something else—their own reason and ideas, for
example, or simply their own selves.
This challenge of how to put our religion on its proper course
has been hounding us since time immemorial. And though the problem is
huge, and the efforts to resolve it through the centuries have been
hard and tumultuous, we just have to have faith and hope that we can
resolve it.
The basis for that faith and hope is actually with us and all
around us. No matter how imperfect our efforts may be, we cannot deny
the fact that there must be a God—if not something or someone outside
us, then one inside us.
I don´t know much about other religions, but Christianity is
about a God who reveals himself to us, who comes to us, who makes
himself like us, and leaves us with instrumentalities that continue
his presence and redemptive or perfective work on us up to now till
the end of time. The initiative comes from him, before we are asked to
correspond.
Obviously, all religions must contain elements of truth and
goodness, since any effort to deal with a God, even in the atheistic
or agnostic context, cannot help but possess some of these elements of
truth and goodness. Nothing can stand or even exist if no element of
truth and goodness is present.
We just have to embark on a lifetime task of determining the true
religion, the one initiated by God, and not any that we start or
invent. For this, we need to be humble and empty ourselves, like what
Christ did to become like us, so that we can be filled with God´s
grace, with God himself, and from there start our relation with him.
Our big problem now is that we seem to be making our own
religion. We may start with corresponding to God´s initiative, but
somewhere along the way, we break off from him and go on our own.
Even among Christians and Catholics, this problem is very real.
During the RH debate, I realize more sharply that there are Catholics
who think religion is simply a matter of one´s conscience, with
hardly any relation to duties to Church, to abide to a certain
doctrine of faith, to resort to the sacraments, etc.
In fact, there were a lot of anti-Church and anti-religion
sentiments. It seems these have been festering in the minds and hearts
of many people for ages. These biases proliferated in the RH debates
in different forums, often with venom vomited out quite freely, and
claws, fangs and hackles menacingly shown.
Many, even among the educated and professional classes, could not
understand why the Church has to be heard about the morality of the RH
issue. What role does it play in this issue, they ask. Why not simply
what comes to one´s conscience or at least what is agreed upon by the
consensus of the majority?
Some traces of Christianity can still be detected in many of the
views expressed, but a Christianity very badly understood and
digested, much less, lived. Many still claim they are Christians or at
least adhere to some religion, but it is quite clear that it is more a
man-made religion, a man-made Christianity that is referred to.
This is, of course, a big challenge for the Church which will not
run away from it. But it will have to retool itself significantly.Self-made subjective Christianity
ntly.
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