Haiti and the Philippines:Cursed by the Gods?

Another event is added to the collection of Mammoth-size destructions since 2000. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the tiny island of Haiti on January 12, 2010, killing close to 100,000 people.

On thatsame day, Tuesday, I began composing a blog on man’s approach to his own expanding consciousness. I wrote about the impact of destructive events and the void it creates intoour minds. Just as man would attempt to fill that empty space and fathom the unfathomable, s/he develops theories by correlating it with other existing theories. Anyone who has the ability to communicate does this, including myself and the rest of us.

For Tele-evangelist Pat Robertson, the killer quake was as an act of punishment forthe pact Haiti made with the devil. According to him, Haitian ancestors sought the devil’s intervention and vowed to serve him in lieu of independence from the French occupation. The devil agreed and a deal was made. In Robertson’s own words:“We will serve you if you get us free from the French.”

Robertson also attributed Haiti’s extreme poverty as direct manifestations of the curse. He compared levels of prosperity/progress between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (the former’s closest neighboring country). The stark differences he said are the malevolent features of the curse.

From a pastoral standpoint, Robertson amplified the Haiti disaster to restressthetheological foundation of duality, better described as the struggle between good and evil. But he did notgo further clarifyingwhose handy workthe destructionwas. He did not identify who,between God and the devil did thejob. Most likely, Robertson knows it that God and Satan could work together and become partners to destroy, wreck havocand create confusion(see Job Ch.1 and 2).

If I follow Robertson’s theosophical line, I would also interpret the misfortunes of Filipinos, both under the hands of God and acts of man, as a curse hovering above,beginning the time when this nation embraced a foreign religion.

Consider this. The Philippines is a pious nation and conforms to the standards of Christian expectations religiously. Whereas, no damnation should prevail because God is supposed to protect a nation that’s His.

But why so, despite its natural wealth, the country remains poor? Our marine life is abundant. The soil is fertile and produces well under its climate. Yet, the numbers of hungry Filipino children and families are increasing. We have injustice, inequality, cruelty, crimes, corruption, gluttony, greed, vanity, avarice, barbaric actsand many more of the attributes that the Bible tells God hates.

I ask, are Christians really sure that they are praying to the right God? Coulditbe one reason why God is not heeding because nobody knows how to call Him by His real name?

Compared to our indigenous form of worship, native priestswouldknow how to summon the gods. Theyperform ceremonies and offer sacrifices to appeasethem.It works wonders because if they ask for rain when the soil is dry, water pours down from heaven. If the people pray for bountiful harvest or catch, Godwouldgrantthesetothem.They don’tneedpesticidesforthey know what to put in the middle of the rice field andtheprayerto recite. Native priests are able to cure the sick without any need for Western pills.

Between pagan and modern religions,whichdoyou thinkismore beneficial and closer togodliness? In remote places where indigenous practices are observed, life is simple, humble, peaceful, honest,sincere, green and ecofriendly. They havetribal norms and ways of resolving disputes quicker thanthe blind justice system.Andnobody has to worryabout hiring someone to lie for them.Healing is free. Money is never a consideration for healing sick people but a shaman’s obligationto God.

Most likely, zealots would put a label on these practices as demonic, evil or Satanic as did for the origin of the story of the Haitian curse when the Haitians sought the intervention of their god/s for freedommore than 200 years ago.

There are similarities between Haitiand the Philippines.Both are island nations with ancestral religionsbefore they wereconverted to Christianity bytheirColonizers.Haiti used to bearich Colonyand so was the Philippines. Voodoo, both as a religion and spiritual practice is observed in Haiti.In the Philippinestribalritualsand magicarealsoexercised.

GrantingthereforethatPat RobertsonandIwouldagree on thesamepretext thatthere isa cursecausing poverty and ravagingcalamitiesintoHaiti and the Philippines;I wouldneverthelessdisagree with him if he insists thatit was his godwho castedallthesedamnations.Iam more inclined totake it as a punishmentfromtherespectiveancestral gods of both countriesfor allowing a foreign god to plunder theirwealth.

The difficulty is, whenever people observe rituals that are differentfrom their religious conventions, they’d banish it right away as works of evil without weighing-in the dual nature of God’s law. For most of them, they are of God and any act of non-conformance is an act of the devil. But little do they know that there aremany gods (Gen. 1:26) while neither would know which god theytrulyrepresent.

The attitude of labeling ancient gods and religions as pagan, Satanic or devilish is a simple sign of arrogance, spreading ignorance and shunning the way to knowing God better. Besides, no one among us couldexactlytell.

Better be, ponder on this as I leave with a quote:“I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”(Luke 11:9).

But please before you do, makesure you are knockingonthe right door.

-ooo-

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