Intangible wealth
(inq7)
Typical Filipinos who violate traffic rules here in phil, cheat in
paying their taxes, employ legal short cuts, and patronize politicians
to be able to land a job or to secure a government contract. But once
they are in America, or in other developed countries, they obey all
laws, dutifully fall in line and enjoy the blessings of life by just
doing their work diligently. To forge ahead, they do not need to
peddle influence or polish their bosses.
World Bank Report. For the longest time, had been wondering, why does
the Filipino worker mightily succeed when he is in the United States,
but not when he is back home? Another heart warming fact: according to
our consul general in New York, Cecilia Rebong, the Filipino
professionals in the United States earn comparatively more than their
counterpart native Americans. Why? The answer may lie in a World Bank
(WB) report on the "Wealth of Nations."
The study shows that if the total wealth or "capital" of the United
States were distributed evenly, each person there would have access to
$512,612 in capital, compared to only $19,351 in the Philippines. That
is why INDUSTRIOUS and law-abiding earns more there than here.
To be sure, the WB explains that there are really three kinds of wealth:
(1) natural capital--"the sum of nonrenewable resources (including
oil, natural gas, coal and mineral resources), cropland, pastureland,
forested areas and protected areas";
(2) produced capital--"the sum of machinery, equipment, and structures
(including infrastructure)"; and,
(3) intangible capital that encompasses raw labor, human capital (the
sum of knowledge, skills and know-how of the population), social
capital (the level of trust among people in a society and their
ability to work together toward common goals) and the quality of
institutions essential to good governance, like an independent
judiciary, clear property rights, effective revenue collection,
nonpolitical military, credible elections and stable rule of law.
Worldwide,
natural capital accounts for only 5 percent of total wealth, produced
capital for 18 percent,
and intangible capital for 77 percent.
On the average, every one in the world has a total wealth of $90,000,
an amount available to those in Brazil ($87,000), Libya ($89,000) and
Croatia ($91,000).
This world average is much more than the Philippines' $19,351, broken
down into $1,549 natural, $2,673 produced and $15,129 intangible.
While natural resources help, they are not the most important wealth.
Singapore has zero natural capital but is credited with $79,011
produced capital plus $173,595 intangible capital for a total of
$252,607. Japan has only $1,513 natural (same as ours) but has
$150,258 produced plus $341,470 intangible for a total of $493,241.
Conclusion: The WB study shows that more than three-fourths of the
total wealth of the world is intangible. Further, the most significant
elements of intangible wealth are EDUCATION and the rule of law.
These two facts imply that while the natural resources and
infrastructure priorities of President Macapagal-Arroyo deserve some
attention, the much more important focus should be on our intangible
capital, LIKE THE PRIMACY OF EDUCATION, the promotion of the rule of
law, and the strengthening of our democratic institutions. These are
the truly lasting legacies.
.................
merry Christ mass
Emmanuel God-with-us
*********************************
intangible wealth part II
pork (tangible wealth)
inquirer.net
End the pork barrel practice now and free hundreds of billions of
pesos in taxpayers' money for use in top-priority national projects in
education,
health and medical care, and
poverty alleviation.
The pork barrel system has been a tremendous waste of public funds and
has not resulted in any visible improvement in public services or
infrastructure. It has only enriched many senators and congressmen.
Each senator is allocated P120 million in pork barrel funds and each
congressman, P60 million.
"pork barrel" is a derogatory term that describes government spending
that is intended to enrich constituents of a politician in return for
their political support, either in the form of a campaign contribution
or votes.
American writer William Safire said the term "pork barrel" derived
from a practice of pre-American Civil War days in which masters gave
their slaves salted pork in barrels. In 1919, an American journalist
wrote: "Oftentimes, the eagerness of the slaves would result in a rush
upon the pork barrel, in which each would strive to grab as much as
possible for himself. Members of Congress, in their rush to get their
local appropriation items � behaved so much like Negro slaves rushing
to the pork barrel."
Today we have a similar mental picture of Filipino legislators
rushing to the pork barrel like pigs to the feeding trough.
The congressmen, particularly, seem to have no satiety. They would
like to increase the outlay for 2008 so that they could get more
kickbacks from projects funded by pork barrel funds. And because
contractors have to pay a lot of kickbacks, they are forced to use
inferior materials in constructing, say, roads or buildings, and these
deteriorate just months after they are completed.
Because "pork barrel" was a derogatory term, legislators tried to call
it different names. During the term of President Fidel V. Ramos it was
called the Countrywide Development Fund. Now it is known as the
Priority Development Assistance Fund. But whether it is called CDF or
PDAF, the fact is that the pork barrel is a great waste of public
money. There was a time when the most popular pork barrel projects
were basketball courts and waiting sheds. Did these contribute to the
social and economic development of the country?
Projects funded with the pork barrel do not go through the usual
process of evaluation and are often overpriced.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in its book, "Pork
and Other Perks," cited a 1996 report of the Commission on Audit that
said that in some cases "the extent of overpricing reached more than
200 percent of the market prices and government-set costs."
go one step farther and put a stop to the pork barrel practice.
inquirer.net
:(
pilipinas umasenso ka...
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
justice and grace (mercy)
the image of hope... justice and mercy
The Last Judgement,
the decisive image of hope
by Benedict XVI
At the conclusion of the central section of the Church's great Credo
[...] we find the phrase: "he will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead". From the earliest times, the prospect of the
Judgement has influenced Christians in their daily living as a
criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to
their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice.
[...] As the iconography of the Last Judgement developed, however,
more and more prominence was given to its ominous and frightening
aspects, which obviously held more fascination for artists than the
splendour of hope, often all too well concealed beneath the horrors.
In the modern era, the idea of the Last Judgement has faded into the
background: Christian faith has been individualized and primarily
oriented towards the salvation of the believer's own soul, while
reflection on world history is largely dominated by the idea of
progress. The fundamental content of awaiting a final Judgement,
however, has not disappeared: it has simply taken on a totally
different form.
The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is—in its
origins and aims—a type of moralism: a protest against the
injustices of the world and of world history. A world marked by so
much injustice, innocent suffering, and cynicism of power cannot be
the work of a good God. A God with responsibility for such a world
would not be a just God, much less a good God. It is for the sake of
morality that this God has to be contested. Since there is no God to
create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish
justice.
If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is
understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God
actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and
intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the
greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is
grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim.
A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope.
No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and
nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling
ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world.
This is why the great thinkers of the Frankfurt School, Max
Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, were equally critical of atheism
and theism.
Horkheimer radically excluded the possibility of ever finding a this-
worldly substitute for God, while at the same time he rejected the
image of a good and just God. In an extreme radicalization of the
Old Testament prohibition of images, he speaks of a "longing for the
totally Other" that remains inaccessible—a cry of yearning directed
at world history.
Adorno also firmly upheld this total rejection of images, which
naturally meant the exclusion of any "image" of a loving God. On the
other hand, he also constantly emphasized this "negative" dialectic
and asserted that justice —true justice—would require a world "where
not only present suffering would be wiped out, but also that which
is irrevocably past would be undone."
This, would mean, however—to express it with positive and hence, for
him, inadequate symbols—that there can be no justice without a
resurrection of the dead. Yet this would have to involve "the
resurrection of the flesh, something that is totally foreign to
idealism and the realm of Absolute spirit."
* * *
Christians likewise can and must constantly learn from the strict
rejection of images that is contained in God's first commandment
(cf. Ex 20:4). The truth of negative theology was highlighted by the
Fourth Lateran Council, which explicitly stated that however great
the similarity that may be established between Creator and creature,
the dissimilarity between them is always greater.
In any case, for the believer the rejection of images cannot be
carried so far that one ends up, as Horkheimer and Adorno would
like, by saying "no" to both theses—theism and atheism.
God has given himself an "image": in Christ who was made man. In him
who was crucified, the denial of false images of God is taken to an
extreme. God now reveals his true face in the figure of the sufferer
who shares man's God-forsaken condition by taking it upon himself.
This innocent sufferer has attained the certitude of hope: there is
a God, and God can create justice in a way that we cannot conceive,
yet we can begin to grasp it through faith. Yes, there is a
resurrection of the flesh. There is justice. There is an "undoing"
of past suffering, a reparation that sets things aright.
For this reason, faith in the Last Judgement is first and foremost
hope—the need for which was made abundantly clear in the upheavals
of recent centuries. I am convinced that the question of justice
constitutes the essential argument, or in any case the strongest
argument, in favour of faith in eternal life.
The purely individual need for a fulfilment that is denied to us in
this life, for an everlasting love that we await, is certainly an
important motive for believing that man was made for eternity; but
only in connection with the impossibility that the injustice of
history should be the final word does the necessity for Christ's
return and for new life become fully convincing.
To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A
world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God
can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does
so.
The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror,
but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of
hope. [...] God is justice and creates justice. This is our
consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace.
This we know by turning our gaze to the crucified and risen Christ.
Both these things—justice and grace—must be seen in their correct
inner relationship. Grace does not cancel out justice. It does not
make wrong into right. It is not a sponge which wipes everything
away, so that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being of
equal value.
Dostoevsky, for example, was right to protest against this kind of
Heaven and this kind of grace in his novel "The Brothers Karamazov."
Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at table at the eternal banquet
beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had
happened. [...]
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus
admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and
opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and
the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures;
the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then
becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst. We must note that in this
parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last
Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early
Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and
resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be
pronounced. [...]
* * *
The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church
they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory. We do not
need to examine here the complex historical paths of this
development; it is enough to ask what it actually means.
With death, our life-choice becomes definitive—our life stands
before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life
takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be
people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and
readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie,
people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within
themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of
this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such
people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would
be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell.
On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure,
completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours—
people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their
entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfilment
what they already are.
Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human
life. For the great majority of people—we may suppose—there remains
in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth,
to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is
covered over by ever new compromises with evil —much filth covers
purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-
emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul.
What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge?
Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease
to matter? What else might occur?
Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea
of the differing impact of God's judgement according to each
person's particular circumstances. [...] Paul begins by saying that
Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This
foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and
built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us
even in death.
Then Paul continues: "Now if any one builds on the foundation with
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man's work will
become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be
revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each
one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation
survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up,
he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as
through fire" (1 Cor 3:12-15).
In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take
different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that
in order to be saved we personally have to pass through "fire" so as
to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at
the table of the eternal marriage-feast.
* * *
Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both
burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The
encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze
all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us,
transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All
that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure
bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when
the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there
lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an
undeniably painful transformation "as through fire". But it is a
blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us
like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus
totally of God.
In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also
becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our
defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued
to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed,
it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion.
At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the
overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in
ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy. It is
clear that we cannot calculate the "duration" of this transforming
burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world.
The transforming "moment" of this encounter eludes earthly time-
reckoning—it is the heart's time, it is the time of "passage" to
communion with God in the Body of Christ.
The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because
it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things
cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question
about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of
God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear
to us all.
The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two
together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we
all work out our salvation "with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12).
Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to
meet the Judge whom we know as our "advocate", or parakletos (cf. 1
Jn 2:1).
__________
The Last Judgement,
the decisive image of hope
by Benedict XVI
At the conclusion of the central section of the Church's great Credo
[...] we find the phrase: "he will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead". From the earliest times, the prospect of the
Judgement has influenced Christians in their daily living as a
criterion by which to order their present life, as a summons to
their conscience, and at the same time as hope in God's justice.
[...] As the iconography of the Last Judgement developed, however,
more and more prominence was given to its ominous and frightening
aspects, which obviously held more fascination for artists than the
splendour of hope, often all too well concealed beneath the horrors.
In the modern era, the idea of the Last Judgement has faded into the
background: Christian faith has been individualized and primarily
oriented towards the salvation of the believer's own soul, while
reflection on world history is largely dominated by the idea of
progress. The fundamental content of awaiting a final Judgement,
however, has not disappeared: it has simply taken on a totally
different form.
The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is—in its
origins and aims—a type of moralism: a protest against the
injustices of the world and of world history. A world marked by so
much injustice, innocent suffering, and cynicism of power cannot be
the work of a good God. A God with responsibility for such a world
would not be a just God, much less a good God. It is for the sake of
morality that this God has to be contested. Since there is no God to
create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish
justice.
If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is
understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God
actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and
intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the
greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is
grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim.
A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope.
No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and
nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling
ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world.
This is why the great thinkers of the Frankfurt School, Max
Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, were equally critical of atheism
and theism.
Horkheimer radically excluded the possibility of ever finding a this-
worldly substitute for God, while at the same time he rejected the
image of a good and just God. In an extreme radicalization of the
Old Testament prohibition of images, he speaks of a "longing for the
totally Other" that remains inaccessible—a cry of yearning directed
at world history.
Adorno also firmly upheld this total rejection of images, which
naturally meant the exclusion of any "image" of a loving God. On the
other hand, he also constantly emphasized this "negative" dialectic
and asserted that justice —true justice—would require a world "where
not only present suffering would be wiped out, but also that which
is irrevocably past would be undone."
This, would mean, however—to express it with positive and hence, for
him, inadequate symbols—that there can be no justice without a
resurrection of the dead. Yet this would have to involve "the
resurrection of the flesh, something that is totally foreign to
idealism and the realm of Absolute spirit."
* * *
Christians likewise can and must constantly learn from the strict
rejection of images that is contained in God's first commandment
(cf. Ex 20:4). The truth of negative theology was highlighted by the
Fourth Lateran Council, which explicitly stated that however great
the similarity that may be established between Creator and creature,
the dissimilarity between them is always greater.
In any case, for the believer the rejection of images cannot be
carried so far that one ends up, as Horkheimer and Adorno would
like, by saying "no" to both theses—theism and atheism.
God has given himself an "image": in Christ who was made man. In him
who was crucified, the denial of false images of God is taken to an
extreme. God now reveals his true face in the figure of the sufferer
who shares man's God-forsaken condition by taking it upon himself.
This innocent sufferer has attained the certitude of hope: there is
a God, and God can create justice in a way that we cannot conceive,
yet we can begin to grasp it through faith. Yes, there is a
resurrection of the flesh. There is justice. There is an "undoing"
of past suffering, a reparation that sets things aright.
For this reason, faith in the Last Judgement is first and foremost
hope—the need for which was made abundantly clear in the upheavals
of recent centuries. I am convinced that the question of justice
constitutes the essential argument, or in any case the strongest
argument, in favour of faith in eternal life.
The purely individual need for a fulfilment that is denied to us in
this life, for an everlasting love that we await, is certainly an
important motive for believing that man was made for eternity; but
only in connection with the impossibility that the injustice of
history should be the final word does the necessity for Christ's
return and for new life become fully convincing.
To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A
world without God is a world without hope (cf. Eph 2:12). Only God
can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does
so.
The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror,
but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of
hope. [...] God is justice and creates justice. This is our
consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace.
This we know by turning our gaze to the crucified and risen Christ.
Both these things—justice and grace—must be seen in their correct
inner relationship. Grace does not cancel out justice. It does not
make wrong into right. It is not a sponge which wipes everything
away, so that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being of
equal value.
Dostoevsky, for example, was right to protest against this kind of
Heaven and this kind of grace in his novel "The Brothers Karamazov."
Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at table at the eternal banquet
beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had
happened. [...]
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk 16:19-31), Jesus
admonishes us through the image of a soul destroyed by arrogance and
opulence, who has created an impassable chasm between himself and
the poor man; the chasm of being trapped within material pleasures;
the chasm of forgetting the other, of incapacity to love, which then
becomes a burning and unquenchable thirst. We must note that in this
parable Jesus is not referring to the final destiny after the Last
Judgement, but is taking up a notion found, inter alia, in early
Judaism, namely that of an intermediate state between death and
resurrection, a state in which the final sentence is yet to be
pronounced. [...]
* * *
The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church
they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory. We do not
need to examine here the complex historical paths of this
development; it is enough to ask what it actually means.
With death, our life-choice becomes definitive—our life stands
before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life
takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be
people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and
readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie,
people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within
themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of
this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such
people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would
be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell.
On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure,
completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours—
people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their
entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfilment
what they already are.
Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human
life. For the great majority of people—we may suppose—there remains
in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth,
to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is
covered over by ever new compromises with evil —much filth covers
purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-
emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul.
What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge?
Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease
to matter? What else might occur?
Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea
of the differing impact of God's judgement according to each
person's particular circumstances. [...] Paul begins by saying that
Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This
foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and
built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us
even in death.
Then Paul continues: "Now if any one builds on the foundation with
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man's work will
become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be
revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each
one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation
survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up,
he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as
through fire" (1 Cor 3:12-15).
In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take
different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that
in order to be saved we personally have to pass through "fire" so as
to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at
the table of the eternal marriage-feast.
* * *
Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both
burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The
encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze
all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us,
transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All
that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure
bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when
the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there
lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an
undeniably painful transformation "as through fire". But it is a
blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us
like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus
totally of God.
In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also
becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our
defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued
to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed,
it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion.
At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the
overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in
ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy. It is
clear that we cannot calculate the "duration" of this transforming
burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world.
The transforming "moment" of this encounter eludes earthly time-
reckoning—it is the heart's time, it is the time of "passage" to
communion with God in the Body of Christ.
The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because
it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things
cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question
about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of
God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear
to us all.
The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two
together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we
all work out our salvation "with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12).
Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to
meet the Judge whom we know as our "advocate", or parakletos (cf. 1
Jn 2:1).
__________
born in poverty
Sorry
> but i want to share some perspective
> on this view of education
> with regards to teacher and kids
> or kinder or daycare
> first of all let's clarify
> what does it really meant by kuya alex of daycare???
>
> secondly with the situations
> of culion now your community involvement
> is another planet for them...
> as we can see the poverties around
> it's noble that you'll see people doing
> what we're talking about volunteering
> or service...
> to be sure we need your help on this
> we need people like you who can
> serve these kids..... without pay.
> it will be a miracle for sure!!!
> it could be justice and grace
> or maybe judgement........... the vision of hope...
> we need your help sister or mother or father.....
>
> sorry
thanks for clarifications
our solicitations is community development and bayanihan revival or
revisiting not individualism and everybody is contributing in ways
they can, small or big, hidden or anonymous but in lights...
thanks for the community group going on now esp the family days
thanks you po
........
Hi Jong,
Sorry if I was not clear about my suggestion. I was not criticizing Alex
regarding daycare center. Not at all. If I said something offensive, I
apologize.
First of all, I spoke only for what I know about daycare center here in
America and what it means. Forgive me if I assumed you have the same
meaning and purpose of what a daycare center is in Culion.
Second, I am an experienced retired school teacher and I don't think I
need you to tell me what education is all about "with regards to teacher
and kids."
My point was, I thought some people in Culion with proper guidance and
inspiring encouragement could learn to help themselves and others since
there's not enough money to go around. That they don't need to depend on
people outside their community to give their own children a good start in
education. Forgive me for giving them more credit on their capability to
help other people. I did not think that doing community involvement is
"another planet for them" in your opinion.
Jong, you mentioned about poverty in Culion, how do you define poverty?
The way I saw it last time I was there, most people if not all, own their
houses. They're homeowners. Is this poverty? Some of them learned to be
a business entrepreneur as well. They can survive by fishing, planting
fruit trees or have a vegetable garden in their backyard, or raise
chickens and pigs.
Please do share your perspective and clarify what Alex really mean on
daycare issue.
Ate Meldy
Hawaii
P.S. Thanks Bhong for the compliments. I agree with your e-mail. It's
good to hear from you. "Mele Kalikimaka"
...............
DAYCARE CENTERS
again thanks for clarifications
it was great light
especially as a teacher
i'm very happy about that...
and to be sure it's just views in perspectives
great encouragement... nothing more...
for the poverty
i just want to have a great suggestion
try to live in the philippines
and you'll know in details what i mean of poverties....
as simple as that... what you see is just a slice of it
there are hidden sorrows...
i'm not blaming poverty as a whole either
i'm with you 200%...
so we'll end here
thanks a lot
aloha
merry new year! happy christmass!
...............
DAYCARE CENTERS
Peace be with you. Sorry, Jong, I can't "end here" just yet.
With comment like this: "Try to live in the Philippines and you'll know
in details what I mean of poverties", you have invited me to respond.
That was a great suggestion Jong, I assumed your comment is directed to
those you never lived in the Phil. and not to me who was born and raised
in Culion, who also lived and studied in Manila.
Speaking of poverty, did I tell you that I am also a Social Worker (not by
profession, just a volunteer, no pay)? I know first hand "in details"
what poverty means. Poverty is not restricted in the Philippines. Most
people in Culion or Filipinos in general has a different concept about
people in America. Americans are not all rich. America has its share of
poverty as well. In Hawaii to be exact, has many homeless people. Which
is why I think people in Culion is fortunate to own their homes. I've
seen poor people in Hawaii sleeping in public parks, beaches, under the
bridge, or under the freeway and anywhere they can put their little
belongings they have, just like the "squaters" in Manila. Hawaii is not
at all "paradise" to some people. We do have government services being
offered to help them. But there's not enough shelters for all of them.
And some of them I heard are too proud to ask for help or embarrassed to
be seen what became of them. There are some who have degrees, former
professionals. I have seen their "hidden sorrow" when I volunteer at the
homeless shelter or in our church to feed these people especially on
holidays. I can tell you so many sad and unfortunate stories about but I
don't want to make you cry on this holiday season. Please pray for them
if you can not volunteer to help them wherever you are.
If I live in Culion I would help you Alex. I would devote my time for
free to your daycare center. What I suggested is my dream to do for the
children of Culion. Maybe when I retire here. But right now I can only
suggest and give financial help whenever I can because my charity work in
Culion begins at home, with my relatives who need help with their kids
tuitions and school supplies, etc. I know some of you can relate to this.
Lastly, I want to thank all the members of the COG, especially those
active members who go to Culion to help in person. Thank you for all your
help, your dedication and love for Culion and its people. God bless you
all.
Wishing you all a Blessed and Merry Christmas....Maligayang Pasko at
Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat, mga mahal kong kababayan. As we say
in Hawaii "Mele Kalikimaka, hauoli Makahiki Hou!"
Aloha, a hui hou (good-bye, until then). Take care. Be safe, well and
happy.
Ate Meldy
Hawaii
................
born in poverty
yes
we can the face of it all over the world
but the greatest poverty i've ever seen is the
the poverty of the heart soul body and mind
if we lost all of this
even the commands of the kings or queens
will never be heard or recognized or ponder
we will only have those blind deaf insensitive indifference
that is happening around
the corruption of..................!
ok let's just try to tell them to work without pay or incentives
and we'll live happily ever after...
that's why we cannot live a life without faith
to explain all of these...
why there so much of these corruptions!?.
can you imagine
a boy born in poverty
who is the creator of everything
he lives in poverty
yet he owns it...
to redeem that corruptions we have until now
another suggestion
can we live in a manger
culion can be one of them
we'll go fishing
planting rice and veggies
do carpentry
and carrying our crosses
by teaching our children our kids...
yes education
the biggest share of budget in our gov't
yet look at our system of edu in the phil..
another story of poverty
thanks for all
esp. to ate meldy
we really need people like you
born of poverty
> but i want to share some perspective
> on this view of education
> with regards to teacher and kids
> or kinder or daycare
> first of all let's clarify
> what does it really meant by kuya alex of daycare???
>
> secondly with the situations
> of culion now your community involvement
> is another planet for them...
> as we can see the poverties around
> it's noble that you'll see people doing
> what we're talking about volunteering
> or service...
> to be sure we need your help on this
> we need people like you who can
> serve these kids..... without pay.
> it will be a miracle for sure!!!
> it could be justice and grace
> or maybe judgement........... the vision of hope...
> we need your help sister or mother or father.....
>
> sorry
thanks for clarifications
our solicitations is community development and bayanihan revival or
revisiting not individualism and everybody is contributing in ways
they can, small or big, hidden or anonymous but in lights...
thanks for the community group going on now esp the family days
thanks you po
........
Hi Jong,
Sorry if I was not clear about my suggestion. I was not criticizing Alex
regarding daycare center. Not at all. If I said something offensive, I
apologize.
First of all, I spoke only for what I know about daycare center here in
America and what it means. Forgive me if I assumed you have the same
meaning and purpose of what a daycare center is in Culion.
Second, I am an experienced retired school teacher and I don't think I
need you to tell me what education is all about "with regards to teacher
and kids."
My point was, I thought some people in Culion with proper guidance and
inspiring encouragement could learn to help themselves and others since
there's not enough money to go around. That they don't need to depend on
people outside their community to give their own children a good start in
education. Forgive me for giving them more credit on their capability to
help other people. I did not think that doing community involvement is
"another planet for them" in your opinion.
Jong, you mentioned about poverty in Culion, how do you define poverty?
The way I saw it last time I was there, most people if not all, own their
houses. They're homeowners. Is this poverty? Some of them learned to be
a business entrepreneur as well. They can survive by fishing, planting
fruit trees or have a vegetable garden in their backyard, or raise
chickens and pigs.
Please do share your perspective and clarify what Alex really mean on
daycare issue.
Ate Meldy
Hawaii
P.S. Thanks Bhong for the compliments. I agree with your e-mail. It's
good to hear from you. "Mele Kalikimaka"
...............
DAYCARE CENTERS
again thanks for clarifications
it was great light
especially as a teacher
i'm very happy about that...
and to be sure it's just views in perspectives
great encouragement... nothing more...
for the poverty
i just want to have a great suggestion
try to live in the philippines
and you'll know in details what i mean of poverties....
as simple as that... what you see is just a slice of it
there are hidden sorrows...
i'm not blaming poverty as a whole either
i'm with you 200%...
so we'll end here
thanks a lot
aloha
merry new year! happy christmass!
...............
DAYCARE CENTERS
Peace be with you. Sorry, Jong, I can't "end here" just yet.
With comment like this: "Try to live in the Philippines and you'll know
in details what I mean of poverties", you have invited me to respond.
That was a great suggestion Jong, I assumed your comment is directed to
those you never lived in the Phil. and not to me who was born and raised
in Culion, who also lived and studied in Manila.
Speaking of poverty, did I tell you that I am also a Social Worker (not by
profession, just a volunteer, no pay)? I know first hand "in details"
what poverty means. Poverty is not restricted in the Philippines. Most
people in Culion or Filipinos in general has a different concept about
people in America. Americans are not all rich. America has its share of
poverty as well. In Hawaii to be exact, has many homeless people. Which
is why I think people in Culion is fortunate to own their homes. I've
seen poor people in Hawaii sleeping in public parks, beaches, under the
bridge, or under the freeway and anywhere they can put their little
belongings they have, just like the "squaters" in Manila. Hawaii is not
at all "paradise" to some people. We do have government services being
offered to help them. But there's not enough shelters for all of them.
And some of them I heard are too proud to ask for help or embarrassed to
be seen what became of them. There are some who have degrees, former
professionals. I have seen their "hidden sorrow" when I volunteer at the
homeless shelter or in our church to feed these people especially on
holidays. I can tell you so many sad and unfortunate stories about but I
don't want to make you cry on this holiday season. Please pray for them
if you can not volunteer to help them wherever you are.
If I live in Culion I would help you Alex. I would devote my time for
free to your daycare center. What I suggested is my dream to do for the
children of Culion. Maybe when I retire here. But right now I can only
suggest and give financial help whenever I can because my charity work in
Culion begins at home, with my relatives who need help with their kids
tuitions and school supplies, etc. I know some of you can relate to this.
Lastly, I want to thank all the members of the COG, especially those
active members who go to Culion to help in person. Thank you for all your
help, your dedication and love for Culion and its people. God bless you
all.
Wishing you all a Blessed and Merry Christmas....Maligayang Pasko at
Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat, mga mahal kong kababayan. As we say
in Hawaii "Mele Kalikimaka, hauoli Makahiki Hou!"
Aloha, a hui hou (good-bye, until then). Take care. Be safe, well and
happy.
Ate Meldy
Hawaii
................
born in poverty
yes
we can the face of it all over the world
but the greatest poverty i've ever seen is the
the poverty of the heart soul body and mind
if we lost all of this
even the commands of the kings or queens
will never be heard or recognized or ponder
we will only have those blind deaf insensitive indifference
that is happening around
the corruption of..................!
ok let's just try to tell them to work without pay or incentives
and we'll live happily ever after...
that's why we cannot live a life without faith
to explain all of these...
why there so much of these corruptions!?.
can you imagine
a boy born in poverty
who is the creator of everything
he lives in poverty
yet he owns it...
to redeem that corruptions we have until now
another suggestion
can we live in a manger
culion can be one of them
we'll go fishing
planting rice and veggies
do carpentry
and carrying our crosses
by teaching our children our kids...
yes education
the biggest share of budget in our gov't
yet look at our system of edu in the phil..
another story of poverty
thanks for all
esp. to ate meldy
we really need people like you
born of poverty
Saturday, August 11, 2007
banca
yes thank you po
please pray that we'll make it happened
i'm already preparing my reports and the proposals
and will try to present them on first friday of sept.
our pinoy priest will also support me on this project
actually in God's way & will he'll also be with me
this sept. for vacation to see and visit culion
with other friends so hopefully we can visit all tangays camp.
the financial support will take effect maybe late october na
after our "anihan festivals" here in kuwait
just our simple celebrations of pinoy cultural programs
with fund raisings and cultural presentations.
we do this every year.
last year we helped the flood victims
and some tribes or the ifugao minorities in baguio
we also supported some school building construction
at infanta quezon... and maybe next year the gawad kalinga
filipino communities here are very active in supporting
our country in general and in a very simple ways
that's why i tried to open up our proposals
for our help this year and that will be the tangay projects..
so we'll do the banca donations for tangay families that really
needs it... and maybe some scholarship too.
i just have some question:
i remember when i was in elementary
during that time the tangays are free to go
or attend schools
i think they are automatic scholars?...
is that still working this days?
can they still go to school for free.???
i'm not sure but can anyone enlighten us..?
anyway hope that yo can still suggest some
projects... but this is not sure yet
the final decision will be revealed
on first friday next month
and i still don't know how much will they give us...
so for now let's just pray that it'll be approved.
i'll tell them that our objective
is to preserve their cultures and their tribes.
plus education and livelihood if possible...
and ecological preservations of their islands...
this will comprise eco-tourism. they can be the guardians
of our natural resources and environment in general.
our greenpeace in culion...
thanks po sis. Josie
is sr. Evangeline in culion?
hope to meet her too
please pray that we'll make it happened
i'm already preparing my reports and the proposals
and will try to present them on first friday of sept.
our pinoy priest will also support me on this project
actually in God's way & will he'll also be with me
this sept. for vacation to see and visit culion
with other friends so hopefully we can visit all tangays camp.
the financial support will take effect maybe late october na
after our "anihan festivals" here in kuwait
just our simple celebrations of pinoy cultural programs
with fund raisings and cultural presentations.
we do this every year.
last year we helped the flood victims
and some tribes or the ifugao minorities in baguio
we also supported some school building construction
at infanta quezon... and maybe next year the gawad kalinga
filipino communities here are very active in supporting
our country in general and in a very simple ways
that's why i tried to open up our proposals
for our help this year and that will be the tangay projects..
so we'll do the banca donations for tangay families that really
needs it... and maybe some scholarship too.
i just have some question:
i remember when i was in elementary
during that time the tangays are free to go
or attend schools
i think they are automatic scholars?...
is that still working this days?
can they still go to school for free.???
i'm not sure but can anyone enlighten us..?
anyway hope that yo can still suggest some
projects... but this is not sure yet
the final decision will be revealed
on first friday next month
and i still don't know how much will they give us...
so for now let's just pray that it'll be approved.
i'll tell them that our objective
is to preserve their cultures and their tribes.
plus education and livelihood if possible...
and ecological preservations of their islands...
this will comprise eco-tourism. they can be the guardians
of our natural resources and environment in general.
our greenpeace in culion...
thanks po sis. Josie
is sr. Evangeline in culion?
hope to meet her too
Sunday, August 5, 2007
fullness of life... the Paschal mystery
THE basic belief that
“every leader and
every organization,
big or small,
must have a clear idea of what they ultimately want to accomplish,
and of the specific ways to achieve the declared goals.”
Every leader must publicly commit to and aggressively pursue
“a clear vision, mission and core values.” Moreover,
“leading by example is the best, if not the only,
way to accomplish the vision/mission.”
In short, visionary leadership by example is the best success formula.
Fullness of life.
Every leader—whether of the family,
the community,
the church or
the country—must declare a vision that answers basic questions, like: “What is my ultimate goal?
How am I going to achieve it?
Who will help me in my journey?” AND
“It is treason to lead without a vision.
Without a vision, the leader betrays God and the people.”
“fullness of life” as the “diwa, the heart, the spirit” of the vision...
love of God and love of fellow humans. No vision can be attained
unless the leader exemplifies love and selflessness
as core values.
Paschal mystery.
More than forgiveness of sin, fullness of life refers to the
“development of the human person.”
Just as redemption implies freedom from sin,
“development means deliverance from anything that enslaves.”
To enable people to enjoy fullness of life,
the leader must envision how to liberate them from
(1) ignorance,
(2) poverty,
(3) sickness,
(4) selfishness,
(5) unjust values (like ako muna, or worse, ako lamang), &
(6) sin.
In turn,
the people must be willing to undergo to this so called the
“paschal mystery.”
Leaders must demonstrate by their personal example that the vision can be attained through sacrifice and
“the only way to overcome suffering
that leads to growth is to experience the suffering …
it is the roughness of the grindstone that sharpens the blade of the sword; it is the storm that hardens the oak tree;
and it is work that develops the muscles.”
Aside from human experience, there's the Bible teaching
“…unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest (I John 12:24). For the seed or the grain to produce new shoot and fruit, it has to fall to the ground, to die and germinate new life, and give the promise of new fruit….
Sacrifice and discipline provide the passage to better, freer new life and character.”
However, in the secular field of political governance,
would our people be willing to undergo the paschal mystery of no-cross-no-glory, considering that, many times in the past, they have been manipulated to do just that without any positive results?
Even more important, is the President sufficiently trusted by our people for them to suffer now to be able to reach the promised fullness of life some day?
In short, the bottom line is credibility.
Will our people believe and follow our government leaders when they invoke the paschal mystery?
Can our leaders show by their personal example the core values
(like “discipline, integrity, self-control, the banishment of greed”) necessary to lead our people to sacrifice today to be able to enjoy fullness of life tomorrow?
Or will the people dismiss this well-intentioned vision as one more gimmick to beguile and fool them again.....
by c rosales
......
so what is our vision/mission?
our core values?
our Pashcal mystery of no-cross-no-glory.....
;;;;;;;;;;;;;
can anybody help us on tangay project/s and proposals....?
i will post it soon...
but in summary: it's like this....
the vision
Vision:- living the life of “Tangay*” (fullness of life)
Building a regulative and ennobling Tangay communities in preserving their unique identity.
Calamian Tagbanua
COMMUNITY / TRIBE & HERITAGE / ENVIRONMENT
An Indigenous tribe (Tagbanua brothers)
poor & destitute :
:- Community-based conservation program for seafaring Tagbanua tribes identified as one of the important areas for biodiversity...
:- Preservations of their tribes, cultural heritage & community including the environments...
:- DATA gathering: Film & video documentaries plus write-ups as to understand them more practically or deeply...
:- Education (scholars?) and livelihood programs...
like giving them banca. (how much a banca?)
:- Experiencing & participation in their culture & traditions in the form of eco-tourism...
HELP!!!
cause i'm going to present this proposals
in our filipino community here in kuwait
and they are willing to give us the support
they need enlightenment
how are we going to lead this community by examples...
living a fullness of life? :)
thanks
jong
kuwait
hello karen and ethan and all...
what do yo think??? give us more insights please...
thanks:)
let's interact!
also on the medical programs of ate cynth and rachelle...
sickness and health...
“every leader and
every organization,
big or small,
must have a clear idea of what they ultimately want to accomplish,
and of the specific ways to achieve the declared goals.”
Every leader must publicly commit to and aggressively pursue
“a clear vision, mission and core values.” Moreover,
“leading by example is the best, if not the only,
way to accomplish the vision/mission.”
In short, visionary leadership by example is the best success formula.
Fullness of life.
Every leader—whether of the family,
the community,
the church or
the country—must declare a vision that answers basic questions, like: “What is my ultimate goal?
How am I going to achieve it?
Who will help me in my journey?” AND
“It is treason to lead without a vision.
Without a vision, the leader betrays God and the people.”
“fullness of life” as the “diwa, the heart, the spirit” of the vision...
love of God and love of fellow humans. No vision can be attained
unless the leader exemplifies love and selflessness
as core values.
Paschal mystery.
More than forgiveness of sin, fullness of life refers to the
“development of the human person.”
Just as redemption implies freedom from sin,
“development means deliverance from anything that enslaves.”
To enable people to enjoy fullness of life,
the leader must envision how to liberate them from
(1) ignorance,
(2) poverty,
(3) sickness,
(4) selfishness,
(5) unjust values (like ako muna, or worse, ako lamang), &
(6) sin.
In turn,
the people must be willing to undergo to this so called the
“paschal mystery.”
Leaders must demonstrate by their personal example that the vision can be attained through sacrifice and
“the only way to overcome suffering
that leads to growth is to experience the suffering …
it is the roughness of the grindstone that sharpens the blade of the sword; it is the storm that hardens the oak tree;
and it is work that develops the muscles.”
Aside from human experience, there's the Bible teaching
“…unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest (I John 12:24). For the seed or the grain to produce new shoot and fruit, it has to fall to the ground, to die and germinate new life, and give the promise of new fruit….
Sacrifice and discipline provide the passage to better, freer new life and character.”
However, in the secular field of political governance,
would our people be willing to undergo the paschal mystery of no-cross-no-glory, considering that, many times in the past, they have been manipulated to do just that without any positive results?
Even more important, is the President sufficiently trusted by our people for them to suffer now to be able to reach the promised fullness of life some day?
In short, the bottom line is credibility.
Will our people believe and follow our government leaders when they invoke the paschal mystery?
Can our leaders show by their personal example the core values
(like “discipline, integrity, self-control, the banishment of greed”) necessary to lead our people to sacrifice today to be able to enjoy fullness of life tomorrow?
Or will the people dismiss this well-intentioned vision as one more gimmick to beguile and fool them again.....
by c rosales
......
so what is our vision/mission?
our core values?
our Pashcal mystery of no-cross-no-glory.....
;;;;;;;;;;;;;
can anybody help us on tangay project/s and proposals....?
i will post it soon...
but in summary: it's like this....
the vision
Vision:- living the life of “Tangay*” (fullness of life)
Building a regulative and ennobling Tangay communities in preserving their unique identity.
Calamian Tagbanua
COMMUNITY / TRIBE & HERITAGE / ENVIRONMENT
An Indigenous tribe (Tagbanua brothers)
poor & destitute :
:- Community-based conservation program for seafaring Tagbanua tribes identified as one of the important areas for biodiversity...
:- Preservations of their tribes, cultural heritage & community including the environments...
:- DATA gathering: Film & video documentaries plus write-ups as to understand them more practically or deeply...
:- Education (scholars?) and livelihood programs...
like giving them banca. (how much a banca?)
:- Experiencing & participation in their culture & traditions in the form of eco-tourism...
HELP!!!
cause i'm going to present this proposals
in our filipino community here in kuwait
and they are willing to give us the support
they need enlightenment
how are we going to lead this community by examples...
living a fullness of life? :)
thanks
jong
kuwait
hello karen and ethan and all...
what do yo think??? give us more insights please...
thanks:)
let's interact!
also on the medical programs of ate cynth and rachelle...
sickness and health...
Monday, July 30, 2007
Angels
Angels
by Mark Shea
As the existence of everything from SETI to Star Trek attests, our civilization is fascinated with the question of the existence of non-human intelligences. The Faith says that we already know of at least one such class of creature. It is called an "angel". However, our culture's response to the existence of the angelic is deeply confused.
Materialists have long scoffed at angels in their knee-jerk way, but now are (unwittingly) placing themselves in a bit of a bind in their effort to go on scoffing at God.
It's like this: the universe science is discovering is fantastically fine-tuned. If the strong nuclear force constant were not just so, either no hydrogen or nothing but hydrogen would form after the Big Bang. If the gravitational force constant were not just so stars would be too hot or too cold for life. If the electromagnetic force constant were not just so, chemical bonding for life could not occur. If the expansion rate of the universe were not just so, either no galaxies would form or the universe would collapse back to a singularity. And on and on this goes for over thirty different variables, all requiring fine tuning of such a degree that expressing the odds of getting them all right would require writing more zeros than I can fit in an 800 word article.
Because of the immense fine-tuning of the universe, sensible theists are rather understandably reminded of Paul's remarks in Romans 1 that "Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made." But fallen man is nothing if not ingenious, so not a few materialists have lately attempted to lick this problem of the fine-tuned universe by positing what is known as the "Multiverse" theory. According to this evidence-free theory, the ultra-super-duper fine tuning of basic physical laws which strongly suggests that You Know Who might have had a hand in the creation is just a statistical illusion. Based on absolutely no facts at all, some materialists insist the reason the universe looks ultra-fined for life is that we just happen to be lucky enough to live in the one-out-of-an-infinite-number-of-universes where all the physical laws happen to be fine-tuned enough to produce us. According to this theory, there are, in fact, an infinite number of other universes with other physical laws tuned to other variables. This is not the sort of thing that would keep you from getting shot in Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1880s ("Wal, pardner, I cain't hep it if every hand I'm dealt is four aces. We jes' happen to live in the multiverse where I always git four aces!") but it is a consolation to atheist materialists desperate to avoid You Know Who.
The problem for the atheist is this: If, for the special purpose of getting rid of God, you can say there are an infinite number of "natures" out there, why can't the Christian say the same thing?
Christianity does not really posit a three story universe (Hell, Earth, Heaven). It posits a universe with (potentially) any number of natures—and even the possibility that such natures can interact. In the Tradition, "Earth" refers to the creation we can see: not just the planet on which we live but the whole field of time, space, matter and energy to the furthest reaches of the furthest galaxy. Similarly, "Heaven" refers, not simply to God (the "Highest Heaven"), but to the realm(s) of the angels and even of the demonic "powers and principalities". Such natures are "higher" than we are in the order of nature and so the angels are traditionally pictured floating around in Heaven next to God. But, of course, there is an infinite gulf between the Creator and his angels just as there is an infinite gulf between the Creator and us (in the order of nature).
Revelation speaks of these "in between" angelic natures only insofar as it concerns us so we know only a little. The angels, which are pure intelligence without corporeal bodies, exist to praise God and to help us in our salvation. The demons are angels who have refused an affirmative to the fundamental law of existence: to worship the Triune God who is life, love, truth, goodness and beauty. They are the enemies of creation because they are the enemies of the Creator. For the purposes of our salvation, all we need to know is that.
Unfortunately, the devil being a liar, we have been fuddled. So rejecting atheistic materialism is not enough. Next week, we will look at the opposite problem from atheistic materialism: the New Age tendency to love angels more than angels want to be loved.
by Mark Shea
As the existence of everything from SETI to Star Trek attests, our civilization is fascinated with the question of the existence of non-human intelligences. The Faith says that we already know of at least one such class of creature. It is called an "angel". However, our culture's response to the existence of the angelic is deeply confused.
Materialists have long scoffed at angels in their knee-jerk way, but now are (unwittingly) placing themselves in a bit of a bind in their effort to go on scoffing at God.
It's like this: the universe science is discovering is fantastically fine-tuned. If the strong nuclear force constant were not just so, either no hydrogen or nothing but hydrogen would form after the Big Bang. If the gravitational force constant were not just so stars would be too hot or too cold for life. If the electromagnetic force constant were not just so, chemical bonding for life could not occur. If the expansion rate of the universe were not just so, either no galaxies would form or the universe would collapse back to a singularity. And on and on this goes for over thirty different variables, all requiring fine tuning of such a degree that expressing the odds of getting them all right would require writing more zeros than I can fit in an 800 word article.
Because of the immense fine-tuning of the universe, sensible theists are rather understandably reminded of Paul's remarks in Romans 1 that "Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made." But fallen man is nothing if not ingenious, so not a few materialists have lately attempted to lick this problem of the fine-tuned universe by positing what is known as the "Multiverse" theory. According to this evidence-free theory, the ultra-super-duper fine tuning of basic physical laws which strongly suggests that You Know Who might have had a hand in the creation is just a statistical illusion. Based on absolutely no facts at all, some materialists insist the reason the universe looks ultra-fined for life is that we just happen to be lucky enough to live in the one-out-of-an-infinite-number-of-universes where all the physical laws happen to be fine-tuned enough to produce us. According to this theory, there are, in fact, an infinite number of other universes with other physical laws tuned to other variables. This is not the sort of thing that would keep you from getting shot in Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1880s ("Wal, pardner, I cain't hep it if every hand I'm dealt is four aces. We jes' happen to live in the multiverse where I always git four aces!") but it is a consolation to atheist materialists desperate to avoid You Know Who.
The problem for the atheist is this: If, for the special purpose of getting rid of God, you can say there are an infinite number of "natures" out there, why can't the Christian say the same thing?
Christianity does not really posit a three story universe (Hell, Earth, Heaven). It posits a universe with (potentially) any number of natures—and even the possibility that such natures can interact. In the Tradition, "Earth" refers to the creation we can see: not just the planet on which we live but the whole field of time, space, matter and energy to the furthest reaches of the furthest galaxy. Similarly, "Heaven" refers, not simply to God (the "Highest Heaven"), but to the realm(s) of the angels and even of the demonic "powers and principalities". Such natures are "higher" than we are in the order of nature and so the angels are traditionally pictured floating around in Heaven next to God. But, of course, there is an infinite gulf between the Creator and his angels just as there is an infinite gulf between the Creator and us (in the order of nature).
Revelation speaks of these "in between" angelic natures only insofar as it concerns us so we know only a little. The angels, which are pure intelligence without corporeal bodies, exist to praise God and to help us in our salvation. The demons are angels who have refused an affirmative to the fundamental law of existence: to worship the Triune God who is life, love, truth, goodness and beauty. They are the enemies of creation because they are the enemies of the Creator. For the purposes of our salvation, all we need to know is that.
Unfortunately, the devil being a liar, we have been fuddled. So rejecting atheistic materialism is not enough. Next week, we will look at the opposite problem from atheistic materialism: the New Age tendency to love angels more than angels want to be loved.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
parang ayaw ko nang bumalik sa culion...
parang ayaw ko nang bumalik sa culion...
i'm not surprise to learn this statement
from someone who LOVE culion
it's really sad view of our town
but the pictures in our site
can tell some HOPE
to restore our beloved place
we'll both promote eco-tourism
and at the same time
earn some income
by saving the environment
that people will now realize
how good it is and can be a beautiful source
of income... kalikasan is where we live.
if you lost it even if you have millions
of gold it's nothing... so let's go for it
we'll start on the health
then environment as what ate cynthia & rachelle suggested...
the unique park in balala that kids used to play wala na po.
there's a new swimming ground at the back of the big church
that is one of the beauties of culion now!
kami ng mga taga balala ang dumadayo ngayon doon
wala na kasi sa panatalan...
now the quest is who's going to lead this projects
are the new leaders aware or concerned about it...?
or do we have the 'rights' to lead this objectives.?
but we already started imagine we have scholars now!
and the projects of rachelle and ate cynthia!
plus the balikatan culion. wow
we need more groups in culion
we have to stablish stable community there now
and start rebuilding culion sphere under the economy of
culion eco-tourism even just what had left for our children...
we still have mountains, sea, and landmarks...
we can still have the natural resources.. hopefully
let's plant trees now...
so the office near leonard wood park
will not be possible for us...
the park is really nice
i think that should be the main park now of culion...
a very historic place... where the oldest town of culion stand
town hall... :) plus the beautiful acasias...
let's generate incomes to culion
and one of them is eco-tourism
can anyone define
eco-tourism......?
thanks po kuya renato liwanag
mabuhay po kayo
nakakalungkot pong talaga
ang kalagayan natin doon
but we're survivors.....
hope to meet yo there...
we need to find ways in many ways
cheers
jong
q8
--- In Culion_Palawan_Online@yahoogroups.com, Renato Liwanag
wrote:
>
> hello Karen, magandang idea yan potscards,you need capital o
funding dyan,ano ba purpose ng card.pag bibili o to promote lang ng
culion.if pag bibili yes babalik ang capital mo.tanong ko lang
karen,meron naba kau committee,strickly for fund raising??dapat mag
karoon kau,alam mo sa lahat ng liwanag,ako lang tagala lumaki sa
culion,,dyan ako nag aral ng elementary at high school,kaya i know
how culion use to be.
> i was there last may during the 100th.yr ng culion and i was
disappointed,ibang iba na,,parang ayaw ko na bumalik,but i still
love culion,,,so karen count mo na ako tulong sa inyo..any way i
can,,uwi ko next month uli.visit ko sa culion..madami ako suggest na
need na ngaun ng mga bata sa culion.kawawa mga bata don.walang mapag
laruan na lugar,,beautification ng culion wala.,kung meron lang mag
lead sana madali magawa yon.dapat ang baranggay at community kahit
sa landskaping ng area nila',gawin na..siguro ngaun na iba na mayor,
mag iiba na ang culion.
>
>
salamat,from toronto,canada
>
renato t. liwanag
> Karen Fami wrote:
>
> Hello folks!
>
> We just came up with an idea of making postcards out of Jong's
> collection of pictures then sell them to Culion tourists,to be
able to
> raise fund for our lined up Projects.
>
> What do you think? We want to hear your comments. We understand we
need
> a certain amount of money to print post cards, so we need your
> suggestions.
>
> Thanks
>
> Karen Fami
i'm not surprise to learn this statement
from someone who LOVE culion
it's really sad view of our town
but the pictures in our site
can tell some HOPE
to restore our beloved place
we'll both promote eco-tourism
and at the same time
earn some income
by saving the environment
that people will now realize
how good it is and can be a beautiful source
of income... kalikasan is where we live.
if you lost it even if you have millions
of gold it's nothing... so let's go for it
we'll start on the health
then environment as what ate cynthia & rachelle suggested...
the unique park in balala that kids used to play wala na po.
there's a new swimming ground at the back of the big church
that is one of the beauties of culion now!
kami ng mga taga balala ang dumadayo ngayon doon
wala na kasi sa panatalan...
now the quest is who's going to lead this projects
are the new leaders aware or concerned about it...?
or do we have the 'rights' to lead this objectives.?
but we already started imagine we have scholars now!
and the projects of rachelle and ate cynthia!
plus the balikatan culion. wow
we need more groups in culion
we have to stablish stable community there now
and start rebuilding culion sphere under the economy of
culion eco-tourism even just what had left for our children...
we still have mountains, sea, and landmarks...
we can still have the natural resources.. hopefully
let's plant trees now...
so the office near leonard wood park
will not be possible for us...
the park is really nice
i think that should be the main park now of culion...
a very historic place... where the oldest town of culion stand
town hall... :) plus the beautiful acasias...
let's generate incomes to culion
and one of them is eco-tourism
can anyone define
eco-tourism......?
thanks po kuya renato liwanag
mabuhay po kayo
nakakalungkot pong talaga
ang kalagayan natin doon
but we're survivors.....
hope to meet yo there...
we need to find ways in many ways
cheers
jong
q8
--- In Culion_Palawan_Online@yahoogroups.com, Renato Liwanag
>
> hello Karen, magandang idea yan potscards,you need capital o
funding dyan,ano ba purpose ng card.pag bibili o to promote lang ng
culion.if pag bibili yes babalik ang capital mo.tanong ko lang
karen,meron naba kau committee,strickly for fund raising??dapat mag
karoon kau,alam mo sa lahat ng liwanag,ako lang tagala lumaki sa
culion,,dyan ako nag aral ng elementary at high school,kaya i know
how culion use to be.
> i was there last may during the 100th.yr ng culion and i was
disappointed,ibang iba na,,parang ayaw ko na bumalik,but i still
love culion,,,so karen count mo na ako tulong sa inyo..any way i
can,,uwi ko next month uli.visit ko sa culion..madami ako suggest na
need na ngaun ng mga bata sa culion.kawawa mga bata don.walang mapag
laruan na lugar,,beautification ng culion wala.,kung meron lang mag
lead sana madali magawa yon.dapat ang baranggay at community kahit
sa landskaping ng area nila',gawin na..siguro ngaun na iba na mayor,
mag iiba na ang culion.
>
>
salamat,from toronto,canada
>
renato t. liwanag
> Karen Fami
>
> Hello folks!
>
> We just came up with an idea of making postcards out of Jong's
> collection of pictures then sell them to Culion tourists,to be
able to
> raise fund for our lined up Projects.
>
> What do you think? We want to hear your comments. We understand we
need
> a certain amount of money to print post cards, so we need your
> suggestions.
>
> Thanks
>
> Karen Fami
GREAT FUTURE indeed!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7582986795752940587&q=2057+world&total=26&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
GREAT FUTURE indeed!
but...
"for people of faith, and Christians in particular,
we know that technology is not to be our God,
and technology is most definitely not our Savior.
Each of us has to examine the role of technology in our own lives,
and how it squares with what we consider to be most important in life.
This does not mean that we become luddites,
rejecting new forms of technology.
What it means is that we carefully consider
how technology fits into our lives,
whether it helps or hinders the goals we've set for ourselves"
and what goals could that be...?!!
we need to involve taking a closer look at those very goals.
where do we draw the line...
and what should happen to those who cannot
afford or access this kind of tech. again a giant gap...
We can't afford to be unaware of the challenges facing us today.
The future is almost here.
(bioethics:)
the 11th hour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IBG2V98IBY
GREAT FUTURE indeed!
but...
"for people of faith, and Christians in particular,
we know that technology is not to be our God,
and technology is most definitely not our Savior.
Each of us has to examine the role of technology in our own lives,
and how it squares with what we consider to be most important in life.
This does not mean that we become luddites,
rejecting new forms of technology.
What it means is that we carefully consider
how technology fits into our lives,
whether it helps or hinders the goals we've set for ourselves"
and what goals could that be...?!!
we need to involve taking a closer look at those very goals.
where do we draw the line...
and what should happen to those who cannot
afford or access this kind of tech. again a giant gap...
We can't afford to be unaware of the challenges facing us today.
The future is almost here.
(bioethics:)
the 11th hour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IBG2V98IBY
Monday, July 16, 2007
'BALIKATAN'
yes
let's find first the alternative jobs
as solutions for our poor peoples
before we can solve our
eco-system problems and all.
we'll just like filling
a bucket full of holes...
and worst make their lives more misery.
the quest is source of economy
then everything follows...
first let's eradicate the kind of systems
like ppa, dpwh, dnr, customs, justice,
education, health, comelec etc etc etc...
look at our edu. system
the billions of pesos of books they
printed full of wrong informations
being given to our children!!!
where is justice?
dr. were there
in culion for a life time
but... look at culion!
the question is who gives permit
to the first talipapa?
and tapping of spring waters...
anyway we'll just blame poverty
that's all it is
but
it's not about the talipapa
it's not about the kamidling
it's not about the spring or anesvad
it's about the quest for love
beacause our God is not punitive God
It is love for other human beings
that permits us to go beyond or transcend death.
Greed, selfishness, poverty, exploitation --
these are all lingering manifestations
of a failure to love.
They show how far we are
from achieving full humanity.
i'm just being an advocate of it all
nothing personal...
cause we're already facing consequences.
for a long long long time
can we define quest?
simply perception
My advocacy or perspective
is more on evolutionary.
If we really have LOVE,
we need to develop our true institutions -- (mentioned above!)
institutions that enjoy independence, (no pressures from above)
institutions that operate
according to their own MORAL CodeS! (vitues + values = morality)
Whether this is to be done by (green)revolution, (or others)
or by (buying)election, or by (pork-barrel)charter change.
IT is not as important as knowing
what kind of society or
coron city we should put in place. (demo. or revo.)
There are no shortcuts to developments. (just what ppa did)
it will never be possible (even dev't)
for as long as there is mass POVERTY.
So, the first business of the day (now)
should be the elimination of mass poverty
and the large GAPs in wealth and power
that characterize present-day COMMUNITY.
not only culion but our country itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jongnono
buscucolin city palawan
:)
just having fun...
sorry
but yo can make it personal if yo want
cause we're just doing it to gain ourselves
this is our
'balikatan'
minus
the foreign men
plus
'mga dayuhan sa sariling bayan...'
cheers
life is beautiful in the midst of them all
but the greatest of them all is always love
thanks po kuya alex
mabuhay kayo!!
let's find first the alternative jobs
as solutions for our poor peoples
before we can solve our
eco-system problems and all.
we'll just like filling
a bucket full of holes...
and worst make their lives more misery.
the quest is source of economy
then everything follows...
first let's eradicate the kind of systems
like ppa, dpwh, dnr, customs, justice,
education, health, comelec etc etc etc...
look at our edu. system
the billions of pesos of books they
printed full of wrong informations
being given to our children!!!
where is justice?
dr. were there
in culion for a life time
but... look at culion!
the question is who gives permit
to the first talipapa?
and tapping of spring waters...
anyway we'll just blame poverty
that's all it is
but
it's not about the talipapa
it's not about the kamidling
it's not about the spring or anesvad
it's about the quest for love
beacause our God is not punitive God
It is love for other human beings
that permits us to go beyond or transcend death.
Greed, selfishness, poverty, exploitation --
these are all lingering manifestations
of a failure to love.
They show how far we are
from achieving full humanity.
i'm just being an advocate of it all
nothing personal...
cause we're already facing consequences.
for a long long long time
can we define quest?
simply perception
My advocacy or perspective
is more on evolutionary.
If we really have LOVE,
we need to develop our true institutions -- (mentioned above!)
institutions that enjoy independence, (no pressures from above)
institutions that operate
according to their own MORAL CodeS! (vitues + values = morality)
Whether this is to be done by (green)revolution, (or others)
or by (buying)election, or by (pork-barrel)charter change.
IT is not as important as knowing
what kind of society or
coron city we should put in place. (demo. or revo.)
There are no shortcuts to developments. (just what ppa did)
it will never be possible (even dev't)
for as long as there is mass POVERTY.
So, the first business of the day (now)
should be the elimination of mass poverty
and the large GAPs in wealth and power
that characterize present-day COMMUNITY.
not only culion but our country itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jongnono
buscucolin city palawan
:)
just having fun...
sorry
but yo can make it personal if yo want
cause we're just doing it to gain ourselves
this is our
'balikatan'
minus
the foreign men
plus
'mga dayuhan sa sariling bayan...'
cheers
life is beautiful in the midst of them all
but the greatest of them all is always love
thanks po kuya alex
mabuhay kayo!!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
coron city
yes indeed
reality in the making...
maybe the puerto just forgot
to mentioned city
cause of their hectic minds
and how to get their bonuses & rewards... :)
but there will always be the clashes
of dev't vs nature or environment
(again basin)
where are they going to put the
int'l airport
int'l port (ppa) waaaaaa! :((((
int'l hotels & malls
and
dams & powers???
a bridge too far
then culion will become coron 2!?
let's name it
buscoculin city
welcome
busuanga-coron-culion-linapakan city
panlaytan & maglalambay(ethans place now:) is busuanga??
so the whole calamianes
wow!
let's start it now
but first let's save earth
watch
inconvenient truth!!!
50 years from now earth will never be the same
hi rachelle
how can we be member of greenpeace
let's put it in culion 2
welcome po
cap. mercado
i'm sure he knows
the inconvenient truth about culion
we'll do documentary
as al gore... slides presentations
we're simply cog not sec. :) po
our specialties were distributed evenly
simply like a body of a human being
mind-body-soul
of course with the anatomy
& spirit
as a good samaritan
we will try to become
the good neighbor
fulfilling our duties & commandments
loving our neighbors as ourselves totally-
with all our heart-mind-soul-strength
that could be loving culion or maybe coron city
by this we'll show our love of God
with the option of justice!
cause we already have mercy
maybe coron city is a lie
that will enable us
to see the (inconvenient) truth....
better remove all the dogs :))
cheers again
reality in the making...
maybe the puerto just forgot
to mentioned city
cause of their hectic minds
and how to get their bonuses & rewards... :)
but there will always be the clashes
of dev't vs nature or environment
(again basin)
where are they going to put the
int'l airport
int'l port (ppa) waaaaaa! :((((
int'l hotels & malls
and
dams & powers???
a bridge too far
then culion will become coron 2!?
let's name it
buscoculin city
welcome
busuanga-coron-culion-linapakan city
panlaytan & maglalambay(ethans place now:) is busuanga??
so the whole calamianes
wow!
let's start it now
but first let's save earth
watch
inconvenient truth!!!
50 years from now earth will never be the same
hi rachelle
how can we be member of greenpeace
let's put it in culion 2
welcome po
cap. mercado
i'm sure he knows
the inconvenient truth about culion
we'll do documentary
as al gore... slides presentations
we're simply cog not sec. :) po
our specialties were distributed evenly
simply like a body of a human being
mind-body-soul
of course with the anatomy
& spirit
as a good samaritan
we will try to become
the good neighbor
fulfilling our duties & commandments
loving our neighbors as ourselves totally-
with all our heart-mind-soul-strength
that could be loving culion or maybe coron city
by this we'll show our love of God
with the option of justice!
cause we already have mercy
maybe coron city is a lie
that will enable us
to see the (inconvenient) truth....
better remove all the dogs :))
cheers again
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