THINKING OUT OF THE BOX
In response to a previous post by Morolaw on "Philippine Constitutionalism and the Mindanao Conflict"
The very same Constitution which Atty. Zainudin S. Malang (LL.M., I.M.R.I, J.D.) blames for so much of what has failed over the course of many years of peace negotiations (a result of "the clash between TWO CULTURES" - Christian Filipinos and Muslim Filipinos - within A SINGLE NATION, i.e. the Republic of the Philippines), is the self-same document which assures the protection of the many Filipino tribes residing mostly in the southern parts of the Philippines who do not subscribe to the predominantly Catholic-Western culture of the Northern, Central and Southeastern parts of the country.
If the negotiations reach such an impasse (Constitution and Sovereign Will of the People vs. Right to Self-Determination), then there are only three possible options left.
OPTION NO. 1. WAR.
Since nobody's backing down, it will be war. Nobody wants war nor the spectre of war over their heads. Nobody wants to have to sacrifice and suffer the loss of loved ones in the veritable bloodshed that will surely be a consequence of the total breakdown in talks. But if it has to be fought (just as the Philippine War of Independence and World War II had to be fought), then the call to arms will be answered. If it is a war between 95% of the population who do not want the dismemberment of our country versus the 5% whose wishes are purportedly represented by the MILF, then it will be a decisive war... it will not be a quick war... but it will be a very decisive one... it could only result in victory for one side, not both... so the result will either be: (1) the destruction of the Republic of the Philippines as we know it (partitioned into several warring Republics, going the way of Yugoslavia), or (2) the total annihilation or exile of 5 million Muslim Filipinos (reminiscent of the Holocaust at the height of Hitler's Aryan lunacy). Either way, the Philippines as we know it today, will never be the same again.
OPTION NO. 2. PEACE TREATY GOES EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL ("Out of the Box")
Under pressure to finally cement a lasting legacy of "peace" (or appeasement) for Mindanao, GRP finally concedes to MILF demands to recognize and assist in the establishment of a "separate, distinct, exclusive homeland" for the Muslim Filipinos, who will then cease to be called that (as some have insisted that this should be the case), and start being regarded simply as Moros (their Filipino citizenship will therefore be nullified or abrogated, unless they re-apply under our"dual citizenship" laws).
Since the preferred solution by the MILF and their legal experts would mean that our Government must totally ignore the "political contract" - aka "the Constitution" - between them as public servants and the public they are supposed to serve, the provisions of which expressly delineates the parameters within which the employees of the sovereign people of the Philippines are allowed to work and operate (their work load, duties and responsibilities), then it must therefore also be equally logical to expect that since the employees (Government) have chosen "out of expediency", to ignore the instructions (Constitution) of their boss (the people), then the expectations of civic duty and responsibility by the citizens to FOLLOW THE LAWS OF THE LAND are thereby broken, freeing the people to interpret any NEW WAY of "solving the problem".
If the "experts" on the negotiating table appropriate unto themselves the authority to "think out of the box" - or in other words - give themselves the license "TO VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION (the box)"... then those same experts should not cry foul if the people themselves seek EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL SOLUTIONS... actions which are the result of "thinking out of the box".
Dire scenarios. Not "peace in our time", even if the Neville Chamberlain in all of us would like to scream it from the top of our lungs, in bold fonts, on the front pages of our national dailies (I wonder if PDI will open a Bangsamoro Daily Inquirer, too).
OPTION THREE. SEPARATISTS LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS AND ACCEPT THAT THE PHILIPPINES IS THEIR NATION, TOO.
Maybe this is too much to ask. And then again, who's to say? MAYBE, the MILF Leadership, the Abu Sayyaf and their myriad second-rate, trying-hard, copy-cats from the "Pentagon" to "MILF rogue commands" could also... oh, well... conceivably... hopefully... I pray so hard that they would... probably consider... ahm... THINKING OUT OF THEIR BOX!?
Since the suggestion came from their sympathizers... why not do it themselves? Why can't the MILF and the rest of the "separatists" ever consider the possibility of all of us living under ONE ROOF?
Tit for tat. Those restrictions imposed on the GRP Panel by the Constitution are just as heavy as the limitations and leeway afforded the MILF Panel by their principals. If the complaint is: Why can't we "think out of the box"? Then the very same question can be asked of the MILF and the separatists as well.
QUESTION IS: WHAT IS THE BOX?
I have known enough Muslim friends to be able to assert with all the force and verity of real, actual observation and fact... that the myth about Muslims being "marginalized," "discriminated upon," "oppressed," or "neglected" is just that... A MYTH.
Marginalization, discrimination, oppression and neglect IS TRUE, AND IT IS GOING ON EVEN AS I WRITE. This much I must admit. But the myth does not lie in the assertion that these AREN'T HAPPENING, BECAUSE THEY ARE... the MYTH lies in the assertion that only the Muslims suffer from this, because nearly everybody born in Mindanao (or for that matter even the Visayas, Bicol and Northern Luzon) suffer from it.
Believe it or not, and I am sure, the many millions of Probinsyanos - both Muslims and Christians - trooping to the rarefied (never mind polluted) air of the Big City up north, have felt pretty much the same... we've all seen the smirks, we've all heard the put-downs, we've all grown livid over the obvious references to our "lack of civilization", and we've all suffered through decades of unpaved roads, unreliable power, dirty water and a corrupt, uncaring, insensitive government.
What's jarring to the senses is when my friend Abdul complains about the abject poverty that he and his family has been relegated to... victims of a system that has not done enough to pull him out of the quagmire he thinks he has fallen into. What's even more jarring is when our quiet reflective conversation is interrupted by the loud "wang-wang" of an 8-vehicle all-SUV cavalcade down main street... the pick-ups are filled to the brim by men no older than Abdul, bristling with high-powered firearms, their bodies wrapped in ammunition (which makes me wonder where all the fuss about the lack of guns and ammo in our army is coming from... when its plain for all to see... we know, where all the flowers have gone... the guns, too). We crane our neck to see what all the ruckus is about, and find that it is the newly-appointed Mayor of a 10-Barangay Municipality somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with a population of about 3,000 souls (inflated by NSO to 20,000 just to reach minimum IRA requirements).
Someone quipped of Ernie Maceda once, early in his flamboyantly closeted career in public office: "So young, and yet already so corrupt." And then we consider today, fast-forward three decades, and we sigh "So young, and yet already so powerful." Looking at the speeding vehicles, realizing that the aforementioned local God-king is no more than a few days past his 23rd birthday.
Marginalized? Its hard to think that, and then remember the picture imprinted in our minds, of that procession of power, wealth, privilege and ostentation waved like a red flag in front of their surprisingly docile constituents. To this day, I know, despite our friendship, Abdul looks at me, and blames my family for his status in life. All because we're different... or at least, he thinks that we are... he was fed by a lifetime of propaganda, more than enough for him to believe that he and I are creatures cut from different cloths, this despite the fact that we were born within days of each other, in the same hospital, sharing the same nursery room for the first few days of our lives.
I too, was told that the Muslims are different. I've heard horror stories passed down from generation to generation, about how the Muslims were vicious criminals, pirates, brigands, bandits and all-weather terrorist IED-bomb specialists from hell. I've heard close friends and family give me the "cardinal rule" of living in this part of Mindanao: "Never trust a Muslim," they said. "They are traitors to the bone," they added. The one that took the cake for me - even in my very young and untutored mind was: "A good Muslim is a dead Muslim."
I am saying this here because I know now that all these, too, were MYTHS... these were myths about people who turned out to be really good and trustworthy friends. As an example, I've had way better business dealings with a Yakan farmer (Hji. Marah), who used to come to our house in what I used to describe as pajamas, and tattered slippers... but who now has just married his third wife and is driving around in a 2nd-hand Red Toyota Corolla, one of a very few who actually have cars in Basilan. I call him Don Marah, to his delight, and we're still friends. He still calls me "Sir" even if I have remained several million pesos below his last bank statement. I have likewise had much smoother business relations with a Tausug businesswoman (Mrs. Omaga), who is rich beyond anyone's reckoning, her father used to work at our plantation, she now owns at least 5 SUVs (and she's not related to any Mayor)... but she stills goes around Zamboanga in a tricycle!!! (Because she doesn't want people to have the wrong notion that she is "kidnappable")
Compare this with several Christian farmers and businessmen I know of who are the scum of the earth. They'd cheat you off your own skin and bones. And they'd gloat about it afterward, blaming me for trusting them in the first place.
To be fair, In one of our lighter "hamburger" moments with Mrs. Omaga, she did confess that in her childhood, the children were admonished to hide the slippers which they habitually leave by their doorstep whenever a Christian comes near. Because, "Christians would steal it!" Of course, we'd laugh about it. But then, when you do come to think of it, that wasn't bad advice after all. "Christians are landgrabbers!" "Christians are greedy!" "Christians want to acquire everything for themselves!" "Christians do not know how to share!" "Christians will bleed you dry before they buy your produce!" These are the flashing neon warning signs for several generations of Muslims. A Yakan classmate whose family came from Sumisip, Basilan (Myra), asked me once when we were still in Grade 3 or thereabouts.."Why do Christians have to have the biggest and most beautiful houses? The best clothes? The latest shoes? The biggest yard? The most money?"
And I wondered out loud: "Ahm, because that's just how things are, I guess."
Considering how kids of my generation - both Muslim and Christian - were raised...No wonder we're in such a rut now.
I learned a whole lot more about life since those innocent elementary years. I know now that what we see in the surface is much, much different from what lurks beneath. And from that vantage point, our advocacy has been one fraught with obstacles, enemies, and naysayers.
It's my way of "thinking out of the box"... a box that has been built up and padlocked all around us from the day we were born. The box which says Juan is different from Abdul. The box which says Abdul should be mad at Juan. The box which says Juan should be afraid of Abdul. The box which separates what's theirs, from what's ours. The box which exhorts me to help a Muslim to be good by killing him. And the same box that says a Christian will only cease to acquire what is not his, when he is dead...or gone.
I prefer to think that these labels were drawn up by people who will profit most by pitting Christian against Muslim in this part of the world. By our intramurals, this gives them the free hand to exploit OUR MINDANAO, and PROFIT FROM IT, profit from our struggles and our deaths.
SEEKING NEW SOLUTIONS: THINKING OUT OF THE BIGGER BOX!
We solve this by erasing those labels. We solve this by realizing that even if you bend to the West, and we kneel to the East in fervent prayer, we both seek the guidance of that same Divine Being, known to all of us by His many names as God, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, Bathala, Poong Maykapal, etc. We solve this by working to expose the common humanity in all of us, while encouraging each to take pride in each one's culture and upbringing. We solve this by accepting that the world wasn't created for all those 240+ (and growing) countries it now hosts... instead, we solve it be understanding that the world was created to be enjoyed by all 8 billion human beings, plus the many, many, many billions more - creatures big and small - whom we share our ONE HOME with.
I know, this is going to be a hard sell. People will continue to find security in groups, and then find fault in other groups. People will continue to create the need for "nations" - imagined or not. People will continue to separate, distinguish and exclude until there will be more than 50 billion "nations" on Earth... all invoking the right to self-determination... all reserving the right to be "different".
And then again, I guess, this is the meaning of a life lived in the road less traveled. Sometimes, even what seemed like the most cockamamie ideas at the time of its inception, eventually turned out to be hallmarks in the advance of human civilization: DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, HUMAN RIGHTS, HAPPINESS, FAITH, LOVE, etc.
Maybe, just maybe... we will yet find a creed for the New Millennium...and though it remains unnamed and unknown to most... I just know that its out there, waiting for us to discover, grab and embrace it just as we did other "crazy, out of the box" ideas before.
Have hope. Take heart in the immortal words of the sage in Dianne Reeves: "There ain't no better days, lest we make it through the night."
And so let us all pray, that the nights will be shorter, and the days longer. And that all Filipinos - Muslim or Christian - enjoy that same nourishing sunshine in equal abundance... for all our good.
The very same Constitution which Atty. Zainudin S. Malang (LL.M., I.M.R.I, J.D.) blames for so much of what has failed over the course of many years of peace negotiations (a result of "the clash between TWO CULTURES" - Christian Filipinos and Muslim Filipinos - within A SINGLE NATION, i.e. the Republic of the Philippines), is the self-same document which assures the protection of the many Filipino tribes residing mostly in the southern parts of the Philippines who do not subscribe to the predominantly Catholic-Western culture of the Northern, Central and Southeastern parts of the country.
If the negotiations reach such an impasse (Constitution and Sovereign Will of the People vs. Right to Self-Determination), then there are only three possible options left.
OPTION NO. 1. WAR.
Since nobody's backing down, it will be war. Nobody wants war nor the spectre of war over their heads. Nobody wants to have to sacrifice and suffer the loss of loved ones in the veritable bloodshed that will surely be a consequence of the total breakdown in talks. But if it has to be fought (just as the Philippine War of Independence and World War II had to be fought), then the call to arms will be answered. If it is a war between 95% of the population who do not want the dismemberment of our country versus the 5% whose wishes are purportedly represented by the MILF, then it will be a decisive war... it will not be a quick war... but it will be a very decisive one... it could only result in victory for one side, not both... so the result will either be: (1) the destruction of the Republic of the Philippines as we know it (partitioned into several warring Republics, going the way of Yugoslavia), or (2) the total annihilation or exile of 5 million Muslim Filipinos (reminiscent of the Holocaust at the height of Hitler's Aryan lunacy). Either way, the Philippines as we know it today, will never be the same again.
OPTION NO. 2. PEACE TREATY GOES EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL ("Out of the Box")
Under pressure to finally cement a lasting legacy of "peace" (or appeasement) for Mindanao, GRP finally concedes to MILF demands to recognize and assist in the establishment of a "separate, distinct, exclusive homeland" for the Muslim Filipinos, who will then cease to be called that (as some have insisted that this should be the case), and start being regarded simply as Moros (their Filipino citizenship will therefore be nullified or abrogated, unless they re-apply under our"dual citizenship" laws).
Since the preferred solution by the MILF and their legal experts would mean that our Government must totally ignore the "political contract" - aka "the Constitution" - between them as public servants and the public they are supposed to serve, the provisions of which expressly delineates the parameters within which the employees of the sovereign people of the Philippines are allowed to work and operate (their work load, duties and responsibilities), then it must therefore also be equally logical to expect that since the employees (Government) have chosen "out of expediency", to ignore the instructions (Constitution) of their boss (the people), then the expectations of civic duty and responsibility by the citizens to FOLLOW THE LAWS OF THE LAND are thereby broken, freeing the people to interpret any NEW WAY of "solving the problem".
If the "experts" on the negotiating table appropriate unto themselves the authority to "think out of the box" - or in other words - give themselves the license "TO VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION (the box)"... then those same experts should not cry foul if the people themselves seek EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL SOLUTIONS... actions which are the result of "thinking out of the box".
Dire scenarios. Not "peace in our time", even if the Neville Chamberlain in all of us would like to scream it from the top of our lungs, in bold fonts, on the front pages of our national dailies (I wonder if PDI will open a Bangsamoro Daily Inquirer, too).
OPTION THREE. SEPARATISTS LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS AND ACCEPT THAT THE PHILIPPINES IS THEIR NATION, TOO.
Maybe this is too much to ask. And then again, who's to say? MAYBE, the MILF Leadership, the Abu Sayyaf and their myriad second-rate, trying-hard, copy-cats from the "Pentagon" to "MILF rogue commands" could also... oh, well... conceivably... hopefully... I pray so hard that they would... probably consider... ahm... THINKING OUT OF THEIR BOX!?
Since the suggestion came from their sympathizers... why not do it themselves? Why can't the MILF and the rest of the "separatists" ever consider the possibility of all of us living under ONE ROOF?
Tit for tat. Those restrictions imposed on the GRP Panel by the Constitution are just as heavy as the limitations and leeway afforded the MILF Panel by their principals. If the complaint is: Why can't we "think out of the box"? Then the very same question can be asked of the MILF and the separatists as well.
QUESTION IS: WHAT IS THE BOX?
I have known enough Muslim friends to be able to assert with all the force and verity of real, actual observation and fact... that the myth about Muslims being "marginalized," "discriminated upon," "oppressed," or "neglected" is just that... A MYTH.
Marginalization, discrimination, oppression and neglect IS TRUE, AND IT IS GOING ON EVEN AS I WRITE. This much I must admit. But the myth does not lie in the assertion that these AREN'T HAPPENING, BECAUSE THEY ARE... the MYTH lies in the assertion that only the Muslims suffer from this, because nearly everybody born in Mindanao (or for that matter even the Visayas, Bicol and Northern Luzon) suffer from it.
Believe it or not, and I am sure, the many millions of Probinsyanos - both Muslims and Christians - trooping to the rarefied (never mind polluted) air of the Big City up north, have felt pretty much the same... we've all seen the smirks, we've all heard the put-downs, we've all grown livid over the obvious references to our "lack of civilization", and we've all suffered through decades of unpaved roads, unreliable power, dirty water and a corrupt, uncaring, insensitive government.
What's jarring to the senses is when my friend Abdul complains about the abject poverty that he and his family has been relegated to... victims of a system that has not done enough to pull him out of the quagmire he thinks he has fallen into. What's even more jarring is when our quiet reflective conversation is interrupted by the loud "wang-wang" of an 8-vehicle all-SUV cavalcade down main street... the pick-ups are filled to the brim by men no older than Abdul, bristling with high-powered firearms, their bodies wrapped in ammunition (which makes me wonder where all the fuss about the lack of guns and ammo in our army is coming from... when its plain for all to see... we know, where all the flowers have gone... the guns, too). We crane our neck to see what all the ruckus is about, and find that it is the newly-appointed Mayor of a 10-Barangay Municipality somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with a population of about 3,000 souls (inflated by NSO to 20,000 just to reach minimum IRA requirements).
Someone quipped of Ernie Maceda once, early in his flamboyantly closeted career in public office: "So young, and yet already so corrupt." And then we consider today, fast-forward three decades, and we sigh "So young, and yet already so powerful." Looking at the speeding vehicles, realizing that the aforementioned local God-king is no more than a few days past his 23rd birthday.
Marginalized? Its hard to think that, and then remember the picture imprinted in our minds, of that procession of power, wealth, privilege and ostentation waved like a red flag in front of their surprisingly docile constituents. To this day, I know, despite our friendship, Abdul looks at me, and blames my family for his status in life. All because we're different... or at least, he thinks that we are... he was fed by a lifetime of propaganda, more than enough for him to believe that he and I are creatures cut from different cloths, this despite the fact that we were born within days of each other, in the same hospital, sharing the same nursery room for the first few days of our lives.
I too, was told that the Muslims are different. I've heard horror stories passed down from generation to generation, about how the Muslims were vicious criminals, pirates, brigands, bandits and all-weather terrorist IED-bomb specialists from hell. I've heard close friends and family give me the "cardinal rule" of living in this part of Mindanao: "Never trust a Muslim," they said. "They are traitors to the bone," they added. The one that took the cake for me - even in my very young and untutored mind was: "A good Muslim is a dead Muslim."
I am saying this here because I know now that all these, too, were MYTHS... these were myths about people who turned out to be really good and trustworthy friends. As an example, I've had way better business dealings with a Yakan farmer (Hji. Marah), who used to come to our house in what I used to describe as pajamas, and tattered slippers... but who now has just married his third wife and is driving around in a 2nd-hand Red Toyota Corolla, one of a very few who actually have cars in Basilan. I call him Don Marah, to his delight, and we're still friends. He still calls me "Sir" even if I have remained several million pesos below his last bank statement. I have likewise had much smoother business relations with a Tausug businesswoman (Mrs. Omaga), who is rich beyond anyone's reckoning, her father used to work at our plantation, she now owns at least 5 SUVs (and she's not related to any Mayor)... but she stills goes around Zamboanga in a tricycle!!! (Because she doesn't want people to have the wrong notion that she is "kidnappable")
Compare this with several Christian farmers and businessmen I know of who are the scum of the earth. They'd cheat you off your own skin and bones. And they'd gloat about it afterward, blaming me for trusting them in the first place.
To be fair, In one of our lighter "hamburger" moments with Mrs. Omaga, she did confess that in her childhood, the children were admonished to hide the slippers which they habitually leave by their doorstep whenever a Christian comes near. Because, "Christians would steal it!" Of course, we'd laugh about it. But then, when you do come to think of it, that wasn't bad advice after all. "Christians are landgrabbers!" "Christians are greedy!" "Christians want to acquire everything for themselves!" "Christians do not know how to share!" "Christians will bleed you dry before they buy your produce!" These are the flashing neon warning signs for several generations of Muslims. A Yakan classmate whose family came from Sumisip, Basilan (Myra), asked me once when we were still in Grade 3 or thereabouts.."Why do Christians have to have the biggest and most beautiful houses? The best clothes? The latest shoes? The biggest yard? The most money?"
And I wondered out loud: "Ahm, because that's just how things are, I guess."
Considering how kids of my generation - both Muslim and Christian - were raised...No wonder we're in such a rut now.
I learned a whole lot more about life since those innocent elementary years. I know now that what we see in the surface is much, much different from what lurks beneath. And from that vantage point, our advocacy has been one fraught with obstacles, enemies, and naysayers.
It's my way of "thinking out of the box"... a box that has been built up and padlocked all around us from the day we were born. The box which says Juan is different from Abdul. The box which says Abdul should be mad at Juan. The box which says Juan should be afraid of Abdul. The box which separates what's theirs, from what's ours. The box which exhorts me to help a Muslim to be good by killing him. And the same box that says a Christian will only cease to acquire what is not his, when he is dead...or gone.
I prefer to think that these labels were drawn up by people who will profit most by pitting Christian against Muslim in this part of the world. By our intramurals, this gives them the free hand to exploit OUR MINDANAO, and PROFIT FROM IT, profit from our struggles and our deaths.
SEEKING NEW SOLUTIONS: THINKING OUT OF THE BIGGER BOX!
We solve this by erasing those labels. We solve this by realizing that even if you bend to the West, and we kneel to the East in fervent prayer, we both seek the guidance of that same Divine Being, known to all of us by His many names as God, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, Bathala, Poong Maykapal, etc. We solve this by working to expose the common humanity in all of us, while encouraging each to take pride in each one's culture and upbringing. We solve this by accepting that the world wasn't created for all those 240+ (and growing) countries it now hosts... instead, we solve it be understanding that the world was created to be enjoyed by all 8 billion human beings, plus the many, many, many billions more - creatures big and small - whom we share our ONE HOME with.
I know, this is going to be a hard sell. People will continue to find security in groups, and then find fault in other groups. People will continue to create the need for "nations" - imagined or not. People will continue to separate, distinguish and exclude until there will be more than 50 billion "nations" on Earth... all invoking the right to self-determination... all reserving the right to be "different".
And then again, I guess, this is the meaning of a life lived in the road less traveled. Sometimes, even what seemed like the most cockamamie ideas at the time of its inception, eventually turned out to be hallmarks in the advance of human civilization: DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, HUMAN RIGHTS, HAPPINESS, FAITH, LOVE, etc.
Maybe, just maybe... we will yet find a creed for the New Millennium...and though it remains unnamed and unknown to most... I just know that its out there, waiting for us to discover, grab and embrace it just as we did other "crazy, out of the box" ideas before.
Have hope. Take heart in the immortal words of the sage in Dianne Reeves: "There ain't no better days, lest we make it through the night."
And so let us all pray, that the nights will be shorter, and the days longer. And that all Filipinos - Muslim or Christian - enjoy that same nourishing sunshine in equal abundance... for all our good.
Comment
-
Comment by Carolina B. Balmaceda on September 30, 2009 at 11:18am -
Peace = the merging point.
I salute everyone with peace. Indeed, let all men and women of prayer heed the call to peace and not war. We all know that all true believers of Islam and Christianity have never been called to war. Let us therefore not permit ourselves to stumble and fall in senseless divisive wars. But we have better things to do for our and our children's future. We know that we must not be kept from living out our purpose, or do we? Our God/Allah/Bathala is holy, and we are taught that we are brothers and sisters under one life-sustaining sun.
Amen to Peace, and not to War. We all know that war is contrary to the nature of GOD who created us.
"God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM." -Exodus 3:14
"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness'..." -Genesis 1:26
Men should then be able to say YES...
I
AM
GOD's
PRIZED POSSESSION
ABIDING IN HIS PURPOSE.
LET NO FLOODS OF ADVERSITY
KEEP ME AWAY FROM THE LOVE OF MY CREATOR.
-
Comment by Victor and Sally Brubacker on September 28, 2009 at 7:10pm - Negative words means Satanic. Positive words are God's. Is WAR a negative word? In our situation today, is WAR the solution to all problems? If there is WAR in a certain country, why do other countries have to be involved? What did the Lord intend to say when He instructed His people to LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU, BLESS THEM THAT CURSE YOU AND PRAY FOR THEM THAT DESPITEFULLY USE YOU...? How about when He said, FOR THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS,GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE: AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW...Does He mean, we have to possess these characteristics and that there is no need of argument about following HIS LAWS? Who LAW is greater, the worldly one or the Laws of God? Who are the GODLY people? Are they called Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Atheists, Catholics, Mennonites, Protestants, Adventists, Baptists, Lutherans, etc...? We are truly thinking out of the box, aren't we? FOR GO SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, Jesus Christ, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. Let's start preparing ourselves for His soon return. It is the beginning of the end and the SCRIPTURES are now fulfilling its end-time prophecy. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thine house. God bless the Universe! Have you 50 friends? It is enough. Have you an enemy? It is too much. Love one another as Christ has loved us.
-
Comment by Perigine Cayadong on September 16, 2009 at 7:41pm -
"thinking out of the box"
.....for me is looking back at ourselves as individuals, as members of a cultural/ethnic group and as citizens of a nation...looking back means finding the "peace" within us by having our own "quite time", listening to the sound of silence within us and from Above (sounds too simplistic??? but it'really worth a try...it's already proven in fact!)...this observance of quite time and skill in listening has been proven effective in the Moral Re-Armament or MRA (now known as Initiatives of Change) effort after the WWII and is still running at the present...bridging the gap between France and Germany, US and Japan, Japan and other countries which it had destroyed during the WWII...it has helped in a lot of postconflict reconstruction tasks in a lot of countries such as Cambodia, Somalia, etc...(starting from informal talks and dialogues of individuals who find forgiveness in their hearts)...the MRA builds on the cornerstones of forgiveness and reconciliation...it builds on self-attainment of peace that radiates toward a community, a nation, and ultimately to the whole world..."how can we work for peace if each and everyone of us have no peace in ourselves?"
we have wasted so much resources on our past and present peacebuilding efforts, simply because the parties involved are not being true to theirselves...they lack the skill of listening to their own inner voices, much more to the voice of the other party, and the directly affected families and communities (who were not even represented in all those money-burning peace processes)
i had the privilege to meet those people whose lives have been changed through the MRA approach (or whatever you want to name it) in Caux, Switzerland...sounds out of this world, huh!!! but it works...
thinking aloud...allow me to categorise the Mindanawans: protagonists, antagonists, bystanders, victims...if we can unite them all together to work for peace, for sure we will achieve a great milestone for Mindanao...and together as one people, we can the bright light at the end of the tunnel...Insha Allah!!!
-
Comment by Carolina B. Balmaceda on August 24, 2009 at 12:55pm
-
And so let us all pray, that...
It's worth it, my friend, we may be virtually treading on dangerous grounds, but it's all worth it. At least when we're finally put to rest, we can honestly say that we've stayed neutral but true to the good fight that He has begun in us...
Passages from the Old Testament:
Joel 2:28-29
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
Jeremiah 31:33
But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
http://taboan.ning.com/profiles/blogs/god-help-us-break-free-from-a
http://taboan.ning.com/forum/topics/a-new-charter-your-proposed
About
© 2009 Created by Taboan.net Team on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of Taboan Mindanao to add comments!
Join this Ning Network