LET US END OUR BICKERING -- PROCEED TO HATE THE SIN WHILE WE LOVE THE SINNER

Well, seriously, I’m sad our good guys are going under the belt, este, below the belt. This is normal however if we forget to focus our views on the acts as apart from the actor. I feel difficulty making myself clear. But I guess the old saying LOVE THE SINNER, HATE THE SIN can help make my point clear.

No matter how sinful or how wicked a person is, he is still our fellowman and our brother, or sister, or son or daughter, etc., howbeit erring.

Take the example of Echagaray — who was sentenced to die for raping his daughter. When all the nation called for his death, there stood a lone person who cried for him and wished with all her heart to please preserve his life. Who was that person? His mother!

When prominent youth in Cebu were penned down to be the rapists-killers of the two Chiong sisters (remember that brutal rape killing that plunged Cebu and the rest of the nation into great grief?), there remained someone who defended the criminals despite the clear evidence of their conviction. Who was that? Their mother!

When the whole nation pointed their fingers to Hubert and company for the gruesome death of the mother and daughters in the much published case of the Vizconde massacre, who was left on the side of the criminals? The mother or parents — their families!

You see, love makes the difference!

I mean, I do not favor condoning sins or letting the criminal be free without discipline or punishment, but there we can also see that love chooses a penalty other than death, that is, a penalty that does not totally take the life of the person it loves.

In all those cases I have mentioned above, the old admonition was fulfilled: LOVE THE SINNER, HATE THE SIN.

Applying that to PGMA, we can punish her but we cannot afford to hate her, for Christ’s sake. Especially that she has shown a degree of humility, let us also respond with some compassion so that our children will come to love humility, instead of pride, the cause of Lucifer’s fall.

THE BIGGEST BLUNDER THAT WE FILIPINOS HAVE BEEN COMMITTING IS THIS: WE HATE THE SINNER (PERSON) BUT WE LOVE THE SIN (GAMBLING, CHEATING, ADULTERY, LYING, LUST, GREED, PRIDE). Why do we love the sin? Because it gives us greater satisfaction, greater pleasure, greater riches, greater power and greater fame!?

To the extent that we do not consider that every sin, depending on its degree, causes harm to others. The apostle Paul said, Love does no harm to his fellowman.

But take gambling for example. Using the barangay as the case, when a man wins P3,000.00 in card (tongits), how many families will suffer? Using a realistic estimate, let us say each of the loser loses P50.00. So how many lose? 60 men. Each loses P50.00. Now, since the average income of these men is P120.00, how much is left of their wages after the gamble? Each would be left with only P70.00. Debts not included, that balance of P70.00 cannot meet the needs of the already debt ridden and needy family.

AND THEN THE WIFE OF THE SOLE WINNER WHO WON P3,000.00 DANCEs THE CHA-CHA AND THE TANGO OUT OF HER GREAT HAPPINESS!

Questions to ponder: 1) Is it love of neighbor to take by way of gambling from the poor suffering wives and starving children of your fellow men what belongs to them? Do you fulfill God the Father’s Law “you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself” thus?
2) Does the dancing wife love the sinners or doesn’t she love the sin instead? Is she not a great hypocrite – condemning all men and her husband when the later lost in gambling while celebrating when he wins amidst the cries of other ‘losted” families?

I am saying these things because we have almost totally lost the faculty to differentiate the sinner from the sin. Remember, each of us was created as a cute, lovable, beautiful child of the great Eternal Father of all men. We were completely innocent and sinless. Sins are parasites. That is one truth that we should come to comprehend. And when these parasites managed to inhabit our minds and hearts, we become evil, we do evil.

Although we are still to take full responsibilities for our sins, but for our sake, let us learn to distinguish sin from sinner — LET US REALIZE THAT SINS ARE PARASITES AND AS SUCH, THEY CAN BE REMOVED AND THE SINNER BECOMES LOVING AND LOVABLE AGAIN!

Above all, let us come to the commitment to HATE AND DESTROY THE SIN, IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE SINNER!

Applying that to Gloria, she should be preserved, as a human being if not as a president, while we let Justice exact the penalty due to her (if proven to have done the cheating). This act of justice will cause everybody to see the vileness of sin, in this case, the sin of cheating. And then, the whole nation can see that sin is bad. And will hate sin, while we insist to keep loving the sinner. Thus we are allowing both JUSTICE AND LOVE TAKE THEIR COURSE.

This is the way of Wisdom. If we knew how to let them do their job, this nation would be a great nation. But according to the Visayan song (Buta), we let love and justice get abused and suppressed (“Ug motugot lang nga pasipad-an ang gugma ug ang kaangayan”)

This thing is not so easy to comprehend, but I am trying to talk the strange language of love. Suffice it is to close by saying again, LET US LEARN TO LOVE THE SINNER BY HATING THE SIN.

To punish a wrongdoer should not be done as an expression of hate, but as an expression of love, to wit: we do not want the sinner to repeat the sin and so we let him feel the painful result of sin, hoping that he will stop committing it.

But if we love the sin, then, it is without doubt that we hate the sinners!

It will take us sometime to be crystal clear in our understanding about this topic. I aim that my thoughts will help put a stop to our “below the belt arguments”. At least we can stop quarreling one another here in the weblog and focus on pure DISCUSSION OF IDEAS HOPING TO COME TO A BRIGHTER SYNTHESIS LEADING TO THE SOLUTIONS OF OUR COUNTRY’S GRAVE CRISIS.

SOLUTIONS – TRUE SOLUTIONS – ARE URGENTLY NEEDED. WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME BICKERING OR DWELLING IN THE PROBLEMS WITHOUT COMING UP WITH THE RIGHT SOLUTIONS.

If you can remember, Mr. Ang came out with his latest excellent book “Graft and Scams Inc” or something to that effect. In his remark, former Land Bank president Ordoñez said, “Such excellent enumeration and intelligent discussion of what ills our country, we now need to look for their solutions.”