Why is God so unfair?

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

This Holy Week, hundreds of families in the city will again likely be bumping into each other in Tsim Tsa Tui District in Hong Kong, on the beach of Boracay, or along Session Road in Baguio City. Long gone is the Christian practice of solemn observance, or an opportunity for spiritual upliftment, or simply put, being close to Jesus Christ, He who died on the cross for us.

At the rate families have taken to the Holy Week as “adventure week” or “travel time”, the present and future generation of Christians will no longer likely know what true Christianity is all about.

While many go through the motion of continuing the tradition of “bisita iglesia”, most elders do not take the occasion to talk about the meaning of Jesus’ suffering and death. Teenagers merely take the event as an occasion for bonding with buddies while affluent parents regard it as an opportunity to get everyone in the family in one van for a trip.

These invariably lead us to think that God is only for the poor, the needy and the weak.

When we see people cheat, steal and kill with impunity, people are simply left to wonder, “Who can stop them?” It’s only in utter helplessness and frustration that we think of God’s retribution as the final option.

I don’t support the contention that the Catholic and Christian clergy are failing in their teachings. What they teach us today about spirituality and morality is no different from what was taught our grandparents.

There is one God. The set of Ten Commandments remains unchanged. The same sacraments are administered.  The teaching of eternal salvation and damnation, the existence of heaven and hell remain. There is one Bible. Nothing has changed.

But why have we changed from a spiritual people to a materialistic “go-for it” nation with little or no fear of anything spiritual? Again, why do people cheat, steal and kill easily and unconscionably?

Before others jump in and engage me in a religious debate, I merely submit that our plight is not about how our respective religious leaders have failed us but how we, as a people, have mistakenly taken to earthly values to be those of our Creator.

For many, true faith (whether in Moslem or Christian teaching) is what keeps their sanity intact. They fall back on their faith in God’s mercy when nothing else makes sense in their lives, in their relationships. In my book, they are the fortunate ones.  

But there is now a growing sense of agnosticism in our midst where it is believed that improving one’s quality of life today, through foul or decent means, is all that matters. Perhaps it’s the pragmatic lesson learned from the all too familiar “live for today for tomorrow may be too late” syndrome. Boy, aren’t we taken this to heart.

To many of us, religion and faith have already simply become irrelevant in our daily lives, taking to these merely as obligatory rituals in modern life. Observe what happens when we leave a church service, after greeting each one “Peace be with you”.

We see the strong, affluent and influential lording it over the have-nots, fearing no one but a stronger, richer and more influential person, certainly not an invisible Almighty God.  In fact, the hypocrites among us even profess morality in our lives publicly to avoid being alienated by other hypocrites, not because we are contrite.   

And having been taught religion early in our youth, without necessarily being taught how to be good Christians or Catholics, we have learned to actually associate God’s love and mercy with our judicial system in a perverted sense. He punishes the evil and rewards the good. Cheating, stealing and killing must be punished. But why do we now seemingly tolerate these if not feel totally helpless?

Surely it’s not because the bishops failed to issue the right pastoral letters.

It’s more like because we see and we know that anyone rich and powerful can beat the judicial system. If one is not rich and powerful himself/herself enough to beat the system, there is always someone rich and powerful one can approach to beat the system or so we think. In this situation, nobody thinks about God’s retribution.

We only begin to feel wronged and believe that the system is unjust when finally caught by a stern and honest cop or brought before an incorruptible judge.

Then we wonder. Why is God so unfair? Tsk-tsk.

I am sincerely envious of people who believe they have not only found relief and the source of inner strength in relating to our situation. Amazing as it may seem but every one of them pointed to the Bible as their source.

I guess it’s time to pick up and re-read the Bible, and finally be one with Jesus Christ, starting this Holy Week.

Read the Bible today for tomorrow may be too late!

***

PAYOLA WORKS AND HOW! Even as the nation grapples with the moral and criminal aspects of the NBN-ZTE scandal, the evil and corrupting tentacles of jueteng continue to suck the blood out of our poor and desperate families right in our own backyard.

While nobody thought for a moment that the senate investigations on jueteng and the alleged involvement of the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and his son Mikey in the operations, would stop jueteng, still many remained optimistic that there would rise a new set of public officials and police generals who will be dedicated and committed to uphold the law and morality in our midst.

But it was not to be.

Jueteng persists to this day, not because of a clamor for it by a community but because those who are promised regular payola, i.e., governors, mayors, police chiefs, mediamen, etc. encourage and protect it.

Proof of this is the grand lifestyle of those who wield the power and influence to stop it but do nothing.

***

Many of our colleagues in the local media profess ignorance of the existence of payola, still others vehemently deny their being in the jueteng operators’ pockets.

Unless and until one among those who are in the criminal syndicate’s pocket does a Jun Lozada, nobody will really know who gets what and how much. But that is not even necessary to determine who’s in cahoots with the corrupt police, elected provincial, town and city officials.

A simple “read-listen-watch” exercise will do the trick. Just read what one journalist does not write and report about; listen to what they don’t talk about. Then watch the same journalist who neither writes nor reports about jueteng strut beside a politician or a senior police official over extended hours.

In brief, the corrupt among us is simply the one who sees nothing, hears nothing and says nothing against jueteng and you can be sure with some degree of confidence that he or she is in the payola list.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to discern this. No one even has to do a Jun Lozada to prove it.  

(Readers may reach columnist at punch.sunday@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/
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