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Apparently, my last post entitled Keeping the Faith stirred some reactions on the Friendster blog. I got a couple of mild messages from it too. Here’s one of the messages:

********* wrote:
> hi i just happend to see your blog regarding keeping
> the faith... may mga concerns lang ako... don't get
> offended or smething i saw kasi yung mga comments
> dun medyo heated arguements na siya e.. and i don't
> want to argue i just want to clarify somethings and
> some what correct some mistaken statements about
> my belief...
>
> Lei, may i asked who said this? "“Kasi mukhang sila
> yung mase-save eh…” “It looks like they are the ones
> who will be saved…”" Is this your friend's own opinion
> kasi parang lumalabas she just said it out of her
> feeling e...if it's your friend's own opinion you
> shouldn't judge the people of different faith as yours.
> When you say na Christians use this as their
> marketing tool it is some what judgemental kasi e.. on
> our part for my years being in the faith i never heard
> any ministers or anyone that i know said something
> like that.. we are taught to be humble and not proud,
> by what you wrote you are like judging other people's
> religion without digging into what is really their faith
> and belief. Sana next tym before you post anything
> like that you will verify muna kung totoo o hindi.. I
> know you may be offended by what your friend said
> na mukhang sila masasave... well it's her own
> opinion.. and that reasoning of hers wanting to
> change religion is not even acceptable... When you
> want to change religion you should know and
> understand the stand of their faith and not just mere
> feeling or opinion.
>
> I don't intend to judge you i just want to clarify and
> somewhat correct some mistaken view regarding my
> faith hope you will understand kasi you too have your
> own faith and i respect that.. and i believe when
> something is say wrongly about your belief you would
> also correct and clarify... thanks for taking time...
> hope medyo naclarify naman yung wrong notions mo
> regarding my faith..
>
> ********


Some similar comments can be read on my Friendster blog : http://jessielei.blogs.friendster.com/confessions/2006/05/keeping_the_fai.html

My entry might have sounded like I judged the other faith but it wasn’t done so explicitly because I know other people reading my blog would’ve missed it even. I think on the whole, my point was clear – no religion can ever claim exclusive salvation.

I replied to the message above explaining that I do have a lot of Christian friends. I also have friends who are atheists, wiccans, agnostics, ragnarok-ians and so on and I accept them all. I didn’t mean to say that the faith in question claimed exclusive salvation. If a nerve was hit at anytime after reading the post, then that nerve belonged to a guilty party. Also, if you read the post objectively, I was trying to paint a better and broader picture of the reality of religions. That not all religions believe in the Christian Bible or the New Testament. Even so, those religions who do not subscribe to Christian beliefs can still be saved / raised to be one of the gods / reincarnated to a better lifeform– even salvation here is relative. You see, for third-world country citizens, we have a ridiculous tendency to be self-centered.

Feels like I’m going back to my glory days in Pinoy Exchange’s Realm of Thought…

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