I listened to the man Rodrigo Duterte’s peroration on Adam and Eve and the original sin last Friday, June 22 at the SMX Convention Center.
I now believe the President was grossly misunderstood. And if you follow his logic (he is a lawyer and was a prosecutor for nine years), Duterte could be right. There is no stupid God like the God who created Adam only to subject him to temptation. The Catholic hierarchy probably saw the context of Duterte’s speech and thus was groping for words to make a rebuttal.
Consider this: In the Age of AI or robots, a perfect robot should not be programmed to have sex with the opposite sex. In fact, it should not even be aware of sex and gender. Robots should be designed that way, unlike in the movies, where robots acquire emotions. Can you imagine robots being allowed to multiply by the billions! And they happen to be non-Catholics?
To me, religion is a personal thing, a matter of faith, as it should be with most Catholics and even for non-believers. Science and truth are often betrayed when it comes to religion.
There is no single hard-and-fast rule or template on how one can go to Heaven. If you read the Bible in passing and read history, mass murderers, adulterers and all types of criminals could, for all you know, go to Heaven.
So there is no reason to believe Duterte won’t go to Heaven despite having said recently that God (god) is stupid. In Duterte’s view of God, He is all perfection and cannot commit mistakes.
In the story of Adam and Eve, God apparently made a mistake or was not sure about Adam’s perfection. He wanted to test Adam’s capability to resist temptation. Of course, being man, Adam would fail the test. He and Eve had sex, which is one reason, if you believe Catholic teaching, there are now 7 billion people on earth today.
You know how many people are called Christians—from the word Christ or Messiah? Only 1 billion. Now, 1 over 7 is 14 percent. One hundred minus 14 is 86. Does it mean Jesus Christ, who was sent by God to save mankind, was failure? He saved only 14 percent of mankind, with 86 percent being non-believers or belonging to other religions. Jesus’s passing grade was 14 percent; in grade school, passing grade is 75. That is the kind of argumentation that usually rattles religion teachers. Because there is no right or wrong answer.
So Duterte must have been in the same mood when he asserted his own doctrine on Adam and Eve. Here is what he said in his speech (I think Duterte was being flippant and half serious):
Then He created paradise and that’s planet earth, okay? And He saw that the paradise, the product of His industry was beautiful. Birds, fish, lahat. Tapos —and so God said, “I will create man.” So pa-ganun. [whistles] Ayun si Adam. ‘Yung gusto kong tanungin sa p***** i**** mga bishop na ‘yan…
Nandiyan na si Adam. Okay na sana ‘yun. Sabi ni God—God found that Adam will be lonely. So he took one of his ribs, bone, and created the woman. Na-l***** na. [laughter] ‘Di kung si Adam lang, mag-dumugan na tayo lahat ng lalaki dito. Okay na ‘yun. Okay lang.
Grade 4—Ateneo ha, Ateneo, San Be—Katoliko, Ateneo, San Beda ako. Tapos sabi niya, “And God doubted His creation.” So tinesting (testing) niya.
Tinawag niya ‘yung ahas. [whistles] “Come here.” Tapos binigyan niya ng apple, ipinakagat niya doon sa bunganga. Tapos sabi niya sa ahas, “Dalhin mo itong apple doon kay Eve and tempt her to eat it, taste it.”
So ang g***** ahas, walang utak… Pareho diyan sa—karamihan diyan sa gobyerno ganun man. Mga ahas sa ganun. Dineliver (deliver) doon kay Eve. And Eve, because apple eh. Naka-balot pa ‘yung parang foam na net. [laughter] “Made in China.” [laughter]
Ang ginawa niya—kinain ni Eve. Tapos si Eve ginising si Adam. Siguro katatapos lang. Kumain ka rin. So kinain ni Adam. Then malice was born.
Who is this stupid God? Estupido talaga itong p***** i** kung ganun. You created some—something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work.
How—how can you rationalize a God? Maniwala ka? [Ikaw, Imee, maniwala ka?] Kaya nga sabi ko diyan ‘wag ka maniwala niyang…
So tayo ngayon, all of us are born with an original sin. Ang original sin—ah sin—ano man ‘yan? Was it the first kiss? O… What was the sin? Bakit original? Nasa womb ka pa, may kasalanan ka na.
C****-c**** man lang ‘yun ng nanay pati tatay mo. Wala ka mang kasali. Tapos ngayon may original sin ka. T**** i**** klase. Anong klaseng relihiyon ‘yan.
Eh ‘yan ang hindi ko matanggap. Very stupid proposition. Anong kasalanan? Original sin, tapos i-baptize ka. Basain pa ‘yang ulo mo ng tubig. Maniwala ka niyang pari na ‘yan.
Ako, I believe that is a universal mind. But to what extent is the influence of that… You know, I cannot picture Him as a human being in the image of God.
I… But I really believe there’s a… I have this faith and abiding thing about… Pero ‘yang relihiyon? Sus maniwala kayo diyan. Tama ‘yung ano mo…
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