A Religious and Faithful Moment: Non-Fiction
An interesting discussion arose last night while I was at the office blessing of Red Pumpkin in Makati. From a discussion on the general highlights of each major religious belief (Buddhism is about reaching Nirvana and Karmic Balance, Scientology is about inner development through a set path of practices, Celtic is happy, depressingly tragic and melodramatic, Norse is sad and death obssessive, Greek is filled with promiscuity and artifice) we came upon Christianity and Catholicism and found some points in it which we found strange:

The premise was that when a person goes through his life, the possibility of even a sixty-year-old to make some mistake in life that ultimately dooms him to eternal damnation is far too easy. And the idea that a Just and Loving God would have that person burn in Hell was unthinkable.

One idea brought up (by Jurist) was the possibility life was more akin to a cycle, like they believe it is among the HIndu. And during such extended reincarnations, man is given by God a chance to try better, having gained more experience, to accomplish his goals.

The failings of such a belief, though in my opinion, was the mindset it promotes: that one can do whatever you want and just treat life as an unimportant journey since you'll have countless reincarnations anyway to do better. Another (which Jurist realised) was the mistaken assumption that a human lifespan is not adequate time to try and be that person who does do his or her best to achieve the journey God had laid out for the person to take.

My personal belief is this:
Although I have much Catholic beliefs and do still generally consider myself Catholic, in some areas my views do shift against the traditional dogma. I, for example, have a strong belief that there are reincarnations. This is because I do not understand why a Loving and Forgiving God would simply condemn a human soul to eternal damnation based on a checklist of sins he may have committed. What I believe is that God is so Loving and Kind that if ever we fail to live lives that we should, and we should be damned in Hell based on what our beliefs have long espoused, the truth is far more kinder: God picks up our dirty failed soul, then blesses us once again to be pure and clean and unmarred by such past failings, then sets us again on the path to life to try again. And again. And again. Until somehow we do succeed and earn the beautiful prize of being with him in Heaven.

We don't recall anything of our past lives because God cleans us before letting us start over. God wipes the slate clean and allows us to cherish this new life once again. He removes from us the feelings of failure and impurity, and he blesses us with innocence in order for every attempt and discovery of the free will we have been given retains the wonderful moment of experience which makes such events worthwhile.

God loves us so much that he actually gives us more chances to join him in Heaven than we deserve. And all we have to do is to live our life to the fullest, trying to be the best of who we are, and share his Love with those we can.

"Do unto others what you wish others to do unto you."
It is that simple.


Nikki Alfar
Tobie Abad
Gabby Lee
Andre Mischa Cleofe
Cathy delos Santos