Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Colorum Preacher and His Supporter Cast the First Stone

He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone. –JOHN 8:7

I am Catholic, but I am admittedly not the very religious type. However little my efforts might seem to others, the faith that I have means more to me and is as much a big part of myself. I see this faith as my own. I don’t see the need to impose what I believe in upon others who do not share the same. If we have different faiths, it is not because one is better than the other. We’re just different. No more, no less. Plain and simple.

I don’t mind when, once in a while, I hear words from other people seemingly convincing me to adopt the same faith as theirs. What appalls me are the people who talk and preach as if they are sincere in their endeavors in sharing the word of their God, but are actually those who simply think that theirs is a more superior faith.

Unfortunately, I came across two such persons last night.

Of all places, I was on my shuttle ride home when some guy, who I could only surmise as someone young and optimistic, at the back row of the van suddenly started talking aloud. I had my earphones on, as always, so, at first, I thought it was just another person talking loudly while on his mobile phone.

It was when I started to hear, even with my blaring music on, statements like, “I encourage you to get in touch with God” and “I’m sure it will change your life the same way it did mine” that I realized that I was in the midst of something very odd.

I did not bother to listen to what he was saying. It was one thing that he was preaching in a tightly enclosed space. It surely was another that he was doing this in a van full of tired office employees, all of whom can’t wait for some rest and peace and quiet.

At the end of his “speech”, he even started getting political. He asked “us” to pray for our city mayor as, apparently, the public official needs all the help in shutting down all those night clubs along Sucat road.

Colorum Preacher: …These women deserve better. The married men who go into these clubs deserve better. These night clubs cheapen our society…so let us help and pray for our mayor for him to be successful in dealing with this issue.

Something to that effect.

At that point, he was making some sense, I admit. Nonetheless, I had half an ear to lend to him.

As he ended his “speech”, he said “goodnight” to all of us and stopped talking. All of a sudden, the man, probably in his mid-50s, who was conveniently seated beside me, was apparently so moved by Colorum Preacher’s speech that he himself began his verbal commentary on the matter.

I was not able to make anything out of the things he said. In fairness, his was just, I think, two or three short statements which lasted less than a minute (as opposed to Colorum Preacher’s seven minutes). I could only assume that the statements were some kind of affirmation of what Colorum Preacher had to say as I also heard Colorum Preacher thank him after he gave out his comment. Colorum Preacher then proceeded to start a conversation with his apparent “Supporter” (note that the Supporter and I were on the third row, while Colorum Preacher was behind us):

Colorum Preacher: [in a voice that resounded within the four tin walls of the shuttle] What church are you from, Sir?

Supporter ni Colorum Preacher: [mentions his church]

Colorum Preacher: Ah, wonderful.

They kept on their loud talk and I was actually successful in ignoring them. But of course, I wasn’t that fortunate the whole ride home.

Supporter ni Colorum Preacher: So, if you want, just text me because we [his church group] are in the process of interpreting the Torah.

Colorum Preacher: Yes, wonderful, sir.

Just as I was beginning to think that it was all over and done with, the two delved into the discussion of specific biblical verses, the exact denominations of which I overlooked, only remembering that they were talking about the book of Genesis, the days of creation, and the number of times God said, “It was good,” every time he created something. I did not hear how the discussion progressed, but I did witness the following appalling turn of events, right down to the last elitist sigh:

Supporter ni Colorum Preacher: Do you know that that is the most violated commandment? Many of us don’t even know that we are already committing sin.

Colorum Preacher: ‘Yan ang hirap sa mga Kristiyanong hindi inaaral ang Bibliya.

Supporter ni Colorum Preacher: Sssssshhhhhh… [points to the rest of the passengers of the shuttle, including Xtin, in a gesture that looked to me as if he was saying, “Don’t say that, baka marinig ka nila (the other passengers), ang mga taong hindi nag-aaral ng Bibliya”]

xtin: [in deep thought] Hallur. Narinig na namin noh! ‘Tong epal na ‘to…

I once said in an old post:

You see, the significance of believing or not believing in a god does not lie on
the correctness or fallibility of things. what is, though, is how a person,
through experiences and maybe even research, ended up as a believer or
non-believer.

If you, Colorum Preacher and Supporter, spend more time in analyzing the Bible, word for word, it will never mean that those who do not devote their faith in the same endeavors as yours are inferior, as the both of you obviously feel.

I certainly did not appreciate how condescending these two were to the others in the van. They didn’t know who we were, yet, they felt that they could easily assume that we were beings of a lesser stature. What disgusts me even more is the fact that their only criteria in passing judgment is the assumed lack of knowledge of the rest of us as regards Biblical verses and its true meaning.

That just brings me to wonder, have these two half-wits spent some of their precious time mulling over John 8:7? Concerned lang ako at baka sila naman ang nakaka-violate nito.

Pwede ba. The two of you are hypocrites to me. Kaya magtigil kayo. Cast the first stone, damn it. Cast the first stone, why don’t you?