Filipino Catholics: Catholic Till Death

Filipino Catholics: Catholic Till Death

*Before anyone gets mad and wants to ignorantly argue that since I am not a Filipino I have no right to speak about such topics, or that I am somehow racist, they need to know that I have been around Filipinos for years and have personal experience talking to Filipino Catholics as well as being told about Filipino Catholic mentality through word of mouth from Filipino friends who were discussing this topic. I have also been to the Philippines. And one thing a person cannot argue with is Scripture! Keep that in mind.

Priests tell Filipinos what to believe

        A lot of Filipinos tend to think that a part of being Filipino is to be nothing else but Roman Catholic. Catholicism and “Filipinoness” have coincided to equal the same thing in some circles. What they tend to forget is that the only reason Catholicism is even in the Philippines is because of the Spanish colonizers that ruled the Philippines for hundreds of years. Colonial mentality has made the Catholic Church to be a prestigious organization that you must join in order to “stick with your roots.” As Filipino overseas workers go abroad they maintain ties with Catholic churches and think that is what Christianity is. Really though, if Filipinos wanted to truly stick with their religious roots, they would practice spiritism, animism, witchcraft, magic, sorcery, and other occult nonsense. These were the religions of tribal people groups who originally inhabited the Philippines before the Spanish (Roman Catholics) and Chinese (who influenced the islands with Ancestral worship) showed up. A few tribal groups still exist and worship their nature dieties and spirits as well. To be perfectly honest though, the majority of Catholic Filipinos in a way do maintain such roots because of their syncretistic mentality to mix Catholic religion with paganism and superstitions. This is because Catholicism is a “cause and effect” religion just like paganism. Catholicism goes well with superstitious beliefs because a person has to “do” in order to “get” a desired result. Catholicism is itself, a form of paganism.

The Catholic Church is pagan idol worship

        The majority of Filipinos who are Catholic do not understand the Bible and barely ever read it. In fact, Catholics in general most often do not know what is in the Bible because the Roman Catholic Church does not emphasize Bible study or strong teaching from God’s Word. They are too busy promoting prayer practices, recitations of Church creeds and pre-written prayers. Most Catholics pray to Mary or some other dead person more often than they do to God. This is idolatry. Most of the time when a Filipino Catholic even reads the Bible it is for superstitious purposes, not for study. They treat the Word of God like incantations, this is blasphemy.

        Most Filipinos stick to Catholicism because of family tradition and intense fear of being abandoned by their parents. If a Filipino reads the Bible and becomes a true Christian, as in born again into a new life with Christ, then there is a chance the family will reject them and isolate themselves away from him. This fear of becoming disloyal to the family is only another one of the Devil’s schemes that binds Filipinos into a false religious system. The other fear of becoming disloyal to the Church gives a person the fear of damnation since catholicism teaches that salvation can never be obtained outside of the Roman Church. The effects of this evil bondage makes it so that a person can witness to a Filipino, and prove to them the truth of the Bible, that the Catholic church is a lie, and they still are blinded by their fear of offending their parents and local priests. In fact, priests impress this fear on their church members, especially if a young person starts to question Catholic dogma.

Self flagellation, a mockery of Christ

        Most Catholic Filipinos will be highly offended at what evangelical Christians believe or claim. They appeal to emotions about how something cannot be offensive and also be true. This is a fallacy. In fact, the Bible says that gospel is offensive. In Galations 5:11 Paul mentions that the cross is an “offense.” This is because unbelievers are people who only think in the flesh and cannot please God (Romans 8:8). True believers understand the power behind the message of the cross, but the Catholic church has profaned it and made it into something else which is a lie: it is just a small gesture in the way for salvation that Christ died on the cross as it does not save anyone unless they do works. Most Filipino Catholics have absolutely no understanding of what the cross even means and do not really comprehend why Jesus Christ died on it. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For to those who are perishing the message of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is God’s power.” So the interpretation of the true message of the cross when told to most Catholics, the fact that Jesus Christ died for the sins of those who believe and are given free grace without any works, is seen as foolish. The most bizarre underatanding of the cross can be seen in the Filipino Catholics who mix extreme superstitions with the Catholic idea of pennance. These Filipinos parade through the streets practicing mortification of the flesh. They practice self flagellation with spikey shards on a cord whipping their back over and over as they walk and carry a cross. After this they are literally nailed through the palms with nails and feet and put up on a cross to act like Jesus when He died. These activities are not officially approved by the Roman Catholic church but it is only an extension of where superstitious Catholicism based on works-righteousness can create. The Roman Church also does not condem these acts as blasphemy either and allows such people who are ignorantly mocking Jesus Christ to remain members of the Catholic Church.

        Catholicism teaches that the worshipper must practice self-expiation of sins and earn grace from God. So grace is not given freely, but it is earned through human merit. This contradicts the Bible where it says in Romans 3:28, “For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law,” and 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares righteous the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.” And Galatians 2:16 says,

“…yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.”

So the Bible clealy shows that salvation is by faith in Christ alone and not earned by human effort. The Bible contradicts the Catholic Churches teachings. Human effort does not save anyone from hell and only adds to their sins because it rejects God who saves; and it promotes self-rightesouness.

        Now what is truly offensive is what the Catholic Church teaches as anethamas. An anethema is an ecclesiastical ban or a curse. It results in a person being excommunicated from the Catholic Church. According to Catholicism there is no salvation outside of their church, so if you become anathema you are basically being damned to hell. Guided by Truth has a list of anathemas found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Complete Word Study Dictionary, and the New Catholic Dictionary that will damn people to hell according to the Catholic Church which can be seen here: http://blog.guidedbytruth.com/anathema.php. Notice that salvation by faith alone is considered anathema as well as believing in the completion of the Bible without the Apocryphal books. The belief that infants do not need to be baptized, belief that the eucharist is not really Christ’s blood and body present in the bread and wine, the doctrine of repentance to recieve salvation permanently and freely, and more are anathematized by the Catholic Church. In fact, the Roman Church would burn people at the stake and label them heretics for believing such truths. This means that Roman Catholicism damns every evangelical to hell. This is considered law and inspired by God to them and if you do not agree you are not following God. No matter what anyone claiming to be Catholic says, they cannot change the facts of the Roman Church’s teachings. Many Catholics will try to dillute such hard teachings and claim that somehow evangelicals can still go to heaven eventually, but this is not what the law of the Church really teaches.

        The Bible contradicts what the Catholic Church teaches for salvation as it is very clear on how a person is saved. Sola fide in theological terminology means “faith alone.” This means that salvation is not by works, but by faith only, so no one can earn salvation by doing good works as the catholic Church teaches. The following is a list of some verses from the Bible that teach salvation by faith alone:

Rom. 3:28-30, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.“

Rom. 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,“

Gal. 2:16, “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.”

Eph. 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

How can a Catholic argue against these verses or somehow claim the Church domga is the same as the Bible? They cannot! Does God lie? Does He contradict Himself? No!

        Filipino Catholics need to stop being lazy within their culture and get out and research their religion. Filipinos tend to live fatalistically and unconcerned with change or preparing for things. This attitude is known as bahala na which is Tagalog for “come what may.” This is part of the reason why many Filipinos do not care to leave the church or strive to find truth. When confronted with the Biblical passages as well as historical facts about Catholicism they just shrug their shoulders and say things like, “I am Filipino man! This is who I was born as and I will neve change!” Some will get angry and say, “I will be Catholic until I die! I am Filipino! I will be Catholic till death!” This is ignorant behavior and only leaves these types of people in spiritual darkness based on an oppressive works based religion.

        The atrocities of the Catholic Church are numerous and with a little research many Filipinos could know the truth of Catholic Church history. One major atrocity is the fact they have pushed their religion on Filipinos in the past who overwhelmingly embraced this false church because of the racist colonial mentality caused by the Spanish Catholics. Filipino Catholics need to get rid of pride and arrogance and humble themselves. They should really research through the Scriptures for what God is teaching people. Their eyes will be opened as most Filipino Catholics go to churches where the Bible is never opened, never explained or even spoken of. It is sad. Hopefully, any Filipino Catholic will be inspired by this blog post to open up their Bibles and really see the truth. Filipinos involved with Catholicism need to stop being lazy with their spiritual lives by letting priests tell them what to believe and stop behaving ignorantly about religion and seek out truth!