Greetings, friends! Kumusta? Hope all is well with all of you. Well, I finally had the time to complete reconstructing my website. I had an issue kasi with the old setup of my website, so I rebooted everything to fix the issue. And it took me a while to get everything back up and to write something again. Now that it's back up, nagbabalik na din ako para pasakitin ang mga ulo nyo. Hahahaha! BTW, please let me know if you see issues with my website. Hehehe.

Agreeing to Disagree

Sa mga nakalipas kong blogs, I have addressed yung tendency ng mga Pinoy to be anti-intellectual and/or to regard debates, contentions, and argumentations to be "un-Christian and unloving." Kung nabasa mo 'yon at hindi ka na-offend, malaki ang chance na hindi ka Pilipino (LOL), or maybe you're matured enough to accept the fact that Christianity will always be against the trends ng mundo, or perhaps you agree with me sa problems that I have observed with our culture and with the attitude of Christians about these things.

Though I do not encourage debating and contending for the sake of winning an argument or to be proven intelligent via 'pataasan ng ihi', I think contending for the faith and the knowledge of God is necessary at times to bring down false arguments and claims against God and His truth (2 Corinthians 10:5, Jude 1:3)–either inside or outside the Church. And no, contending for the faith does not have to mean "hate thy neighbor" or "disown your brother" (Ephesians 4:15, 1 John 3:18). We can argue and still be kind to one another (Proverbs 27:5). We can argue and disagree and rebuke in service of love for one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21). And it's always necessary to practice contending for the faith in grace: making sure that we're arguing to the glory of God and nothing else (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17, 2 Timothy 2:23-26); keeping in mind that God has only been gracious to us kaya natin alam yung mga nalalaman natin and why we are even saved and thus able to argue for His sake.

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:23-26

Also, we cannot force people to change their minds. We're simply not sovereign. Only God is sovereign (Isaiah 46:9-10) and He alone has the power to change people's minds and hearts (Deuteronomy 30:6, 1 Samuel 10:9, Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 36:26, Jeremiah 24:7, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Acts 16:14). We can argue all day, we can even exhaust lahat ng strength, wit, and laway natin for the sake of trying to change someone's worldview and perspective about certain things, but all of that is futile unless it is God who works to provide repentance sa mga taong we argue against. At the end of the day, it's not because magaling tayong mag-reason out or mahusay tayong magsalita or mataas ang influence and charisma natin that people come to God–but only because God willed it so (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

Therefore, we just have to let God be God. We may have been commanded to contend for the faith (1 Peter 3:15, Titus 1:9, 2 Timothy 4:2, Philippians 1:16, Ephesians 5:11), but it is still God who wills pagdating sa repentance and salvation (John 6:44, Acts 13:48, Titus 3:5), and so our task is hanggang doon lamang sa speaking about the gospel and preaching of the Truth. We need to recognize na may sinet talaga si God na limitation sa atin (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17): limitation sa knowledge, reason, words, and even trust from our opposition among others. And so may mga times lang talaga na all we can do is to simply recognize the need to agree to disagree and rely on God na ma-open ang hearts ng ating opposition to the Lord despite the disagreement. At least nagmahal tayo in the truth, we spoke to them of the truth. Yung gospel na ni Lord ang bahalang mag-work sa hearts ng kapwa natin (Romans 1:16) unto their repentance, sanctification, or salvation.

Google Theology and Personal Theses

And as a person who reasons out a lot with people for their opposing views against God, I see a common problem with how people commonly argue against the Creator, His Law-Word, or even against Christian orthodoxy. The problem is this: people love to argue against ideas that they are not even knowledgable about. The common bases for arguments of people against certain doctrines of the faith are their personal opinions that were derived out of their personal experiences and observations of the world–not based on facts, not based on absolute truth.

An atheist, for instance, would argue against the existence of God simply because they do not see Him. Though some atheist at least try to be fair by studying the Christian worldview, the majority of those who claim to not believe in God can say they have proper knowledge and education of the Christian position. An agnostic may think that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament simply because he drew his conclusions out of his shallow understanding of God's wrath and love. A person who is pro-abortion may argue that the human in the womb is just 'a clump of cells' even though science disproves it. An Arminian, who only learned about Calvinism by quickly doing a Google Search, may argue against Calvinism without even reading John Calvin's works and hearing the defense behind the position. A continuationist who learned about cessationism from a random article online that did not do justice to the position may assume that cessationism simply argues that miracles today should and do not happen–which is NOT the position of cessationists at all. Christians who fear theocracy and dominionism may quickly dismiss theonomy as heresy for their wrong assumptions on it and ignorance, without even attempting to do proper research and reading.

The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.
Proverbs 10:18

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Proverbs 12:22

Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.
Proverbs 13:16

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes disgrace.
Proverbs 18:2-3

My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right.
Proverbs 23:15-16

For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
Isaiah 32:6

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Exodus 20:16

Low information folks tend to jump into conclusions without doing their study. Madalas, satisfied na din sila sa low information that they got, thinking that it will get them somewhere. And it's like saying that dynamites and fire when combined make rainbows... and we already know how chaotic its result would be!

Don't get me wrong: doing Google Search is okay. I do it all the time. But we have to be honest and careful in the representation we do. Hindi porke someone summarized a position somewhere does it mean na laging tama yung summary of that man for the reason na not everything we read from the Internet is accurate or truthful and nobody is infallible. Similarly, when in an actual discourse with anyone, there must be no room for 'baseless conclusions' kung ang goal natin is to be honest in what we do.

Wrestling a Straw Man

I could go on and on in my attempt to how many misrepresentations can be done against Christianity and its doctrines. However, hindi 'yon ang goal ng blog post ko na ito. Hindi ko din goal na mag-brag about how well-studied or how right I can be with the positions I take. I know I need to grow more sa knowledge of God and marami pa akong hindi alam. Therefore, I am in no position to say that I know everything there is to know about God or the world. My goal for bringing this up is to show us that all of us are capable of misrepresenting one another if we are not careful in trying to win arguments. I, myself, have done this many times in the past. I was guilty. And I'm no better than anyone because I am being careful now. But I think we all need to mature to properly argue for the truth: na we expect our opponents to stand sa truth, and at the same time, tayo din, we will remain sa truth when we argue. Unbeliever man or kapatid sa pananampalataya, the goal should be for us to be truthful in every discourse that our hearers would benefit from hearing the truth.

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene...
2 Timothy 2:14-17

The tendency of many who argue is that they make straw men of the opposing views... Primarily, because it is easier to destroy straw men rather than real arguments; and secondarily, because straw men don't fight back. I personally think that this poor attempt to be proclaimed 'correct' by wrestling against straw men is just the coward's choice.

The Bible teaches us to be confident and be bold (Acts 4:13–20) when we are contending against the world–not because we are fighting straw men, but because we have the Truth on our side. And those that put their hope in the Lord will not be put to shame (Proverbs 14:26-27, Psalm 25:1-3)–even in times when the enemy attempts to shut us down.

The Ninth Commandment

Well, it would not surprise me if unbelievers would take the route of misrepresenting their opponents. They are godless. But it is kind of unfortunate that even Christians do this in their vain attempt to be 'right' in the eyes of many. As Christians, hindi dapat tayo yung nangunguna to do such because we know that the Lord is not at all pleased by nor is He in favor of misrepresentations.

We are called ambassadors or representatives of Christ in this world (2 Corinthians 5:20, Ephesians 5:1, 1 Peter 2:9). Do you think it would please God if we are misrepresenting Him as a liar for not being able to represent others accurately? Who does the Bible say as the father of lies (John 8:44)? And who does the Bible say is the Truth (John 14:6)? Did Christ not pray that we would be sanctified by the truth (John 17:17), which means therefore na the Word of God would transform us to be Christ-like? Does God's Law not say that we shall not bear false witness against our neighbor (Deuteronomy 5:20)?

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:25-32

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Luke 6:31

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
Titus 2:7-8

If there's anyone who must speak accurately of our opposition, it's us: the Christians. Not because I say so, but because God says so. Let us not grieve the Holy Spirit by our misconduct and by making void God's election and salvation. Friends, I pray that the Lord would transform us to be more teachable in this area and that we would be lovers of the Truth and not of our own selves. Blessings to you!