Pope Francis has left the Philippines after his much welcome concern for the less fortunate citizens of our dear country. But while his presence and intervention on behalf of the victims of poverty and Typhoon Haiyan was something to be appreciated, a question hangs in the air: Where do we go from here?
Yes, the Philippines has been long known for being predominantly Catholic as mentioned in a few other articles. However, what this translates to in our society isn’t all that encouraging. While we follow the many trappings of what the Catholic Church espouses such as going to church regularly, praying the rosary and observing the many feast days of saints, do we really understand what our religion is trying to teach us? Do we even really understand what religion is in the first place?
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Well these are questions that plague many, if not all, countries. Religion has been with humankind since time immemorial. Ever since our primitive ancestors began to notice the change between night and day and the cycling transition of the seasons, we accepted that there may indeed be entities too powerful for us to comprehend as mortals. To this day, people continue to argue over the existence of God, Their nature, what They have in mind for us humans and what people think They want us to do. Wars have been fought and continue to be fought over these arguments and only time will tell who’s actually right or if all of them are wrong and just wasting their time, lives and supplies of lead and explosives.
Anyway, back to the Philippines. While we may not be the only people who have a problem with religion, it’s clear that one of the sources of our problems such as poverty, corruption, overpopulation and general ineptitude can be attributed to some degree with how we take religion. Religion, or the misinterpretation thereof, might not be responsible for all our woes but it certainly plays a part along with our rotten politics, preposterous media and generally self-defeating mentality.
We may choose to follow the directions of religious texts like those found in the Bible, the Qu’ran, the Torah, the Veda, Dianetics or even the Commandments of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but do we actually know the spirit of what these ancient (and not so ancient) scriptures are trying to teach us? Sadly, I don’t think many Filipinos understand what religion often tries to espouse on them.
Here are some common misunderstandings that I notice:
God Wants Us to Multiply and be Plentiful
Okay, this particular topic has plagued the Philippines since it became apparent that the country is getting overpopulated. While yes, there have been changes as the Church has began to moderate its views on contraception but, unfortunately, many continue to counter these valid points and many still are unaware of them. There is nothing wrong with sex and the desire to have sex. It is a drive ingrained in the human mind and body just as hunger, thirst and the need for air is. Unfortunately, we are all too often too irresponsible in how we go about it and continue to multiply in droves.
Well, the question of overpopulation is also open to debate as there are those who say that there is still plenty of landmass on the Philippines for its citizens to live on. The thing is, this sounds incredibly shallow in the long run because will we have to wait until our cities are overrun until we do something about it? Even if there is still plenty of landmass in the Philippines, are they viable places to live on and raise a family? If so, why are there so many squatters crowding into Manila and other major cities in the country if there are still viable places to live on?
The point is, while it is mentioned in the Bible for people (and animals, mind you) to procreate, it was said in a time when the civilizations of the world were still taking shape. In those days, the death rate among children was quite high, leading to a lot of childless couples who could only lament their loss. It was considered a waste in that age for people to not get married and make babies together.
Today, things are a little bit different. The advances in medical science have steadied birth rates over the decades and many children can be safely. Medical science has also served to counter the many diseases that afflict children and things like chicken pox, measles, mumps and small pox can just be bumps on the road for a family rather than the serious threats they once were. This makes the issue of multiplying like crazy an obsolete idea because people can now support a family of the right number. Unfortunately, this often flies way over the head of some couples and continue to justify having so many children with “because the Bible/our elders said so” even though they lack the resources to support them.
Now, I have always believed that people have a right to love who they want to love and have as many children as they want. However, considering the condition of the country today, would you really want to make so many children with the numerous problems piled against the Philippines? What’s worse is that it is all too often the poor and uneducated who multiply like rabbits despite the fact that they lack the resources to support their children.
Being Poor is Good
While the beatitudes do in fact state something about “blessed are the poor”, this isn’t just about the poor being good guys all the time. Yes, it’s true that we should try to help the poor but that doesn’t mean that they’re right all the time or that we should strive to be poor ourselves. The media helps in confusing the people with ideas like the poor are always the victims of the rich and the rich are always greedy and driven by self-centered goals.
In truth, it’s probably this mindset that continues to keep the Philippines well below the poverty line. It’s as if our society glorifies the very idea of poverty rather than doing something to control it. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for this is because the poor aren’t exactly smart voters, making them easy prey for greedy politicians who seek to take control of the country. These same politicians find it profitable to keep the masses dumb with mind-numbing programming on TV so that it will be easier for them to manipulate the people, especially the impoverished masses.
Do take note that the Bible often teaches us to be kind to the poor, but it does not teach us to tolerate their bad attitude either. While there are people who certainly need help, I also notice that there are a lot of people who are poor because of their own doing and refuse to do anything about it. If the poor we’re trying to help are too busy using the money we give them to buy liquors to numb their senses, women to make babies with and drugs to waste themselves into oblivion, then I don’t think we’re really helping them at all.
God Will Always Help You… With Miracles
Look, I’m a believer too. I believe in a God and that They do indeed help us every now and again. However, I can’t help but notice that there are still a lot of people who believe that God will help them literally. That somehow, God will perform a miracle for them like food will suddenly rain from the sky or that they’ll find gold coins in their toilets. And don’t even get me started on the people who find faces of Jesus on their bathroom floor and openly worship it…
This mentality also ties in with the second item above because I have met a number of poor people who continue to believe that God will help them even if they continue to sit idle and do nothing to improve their situation. They seem to believe that God will somehow miraculously solve their problems as if God can make the father stop being an alcoholic, the mother stop being a compulsive gambler and the children stop being idiots.
I know another saying: “God helps those who help themselves.” This means that while helping others is important, helping ourselves is essential if we really want to get anywhere. If we want a solution to poverty, corruption, overpopulation and all the other problems of this country of ours, then we should get up and look for it. I think that God sometimes does favors for us, but it is entirely up to us to make the best of those favors.
[Photo courtesy AsiaNews.it.]
I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!
This is exactly why even though atheists tend to thrive despite all the negative image conjured by the church.
I meant we tend to thrive despite the negative image and all. Damn auto coerect.
I saw a big barrier between the rich and the poor with this post. Maybe next time you can discuss why there’s a separation of church and state.
I’ll be working on that soon.
God wants us to multiply and be plentiful
I really cant imagine that all those teenagers that are pregnant, wanted to get pregnant. Somewhere here or elsewhere I read that the number of teenage-pregnancy in PH is 200,000 annually.
I really think it has to do with lack of knowledge about how our bodies work in relation to sex. Or do PH-teenagers fuck daily with each other?
I just cant emphasize this enough, but is nobody wondering why West-European countries (and many other countries) are not dealing with such high numbers of teenage-pregnancies?
Education, Education, Education. Also, poor access to other outlets to seek recreation and pleasure. Idle fun parts and all.
On the flip side of the coin, Developed nations are struggling to keep up birth rates since having a child is seen as an emotional and economical burden these days, no matter the age spectrum.
Sid come on, please give me a break.
Everytime someone puts his penis inside a vagina, both parties will think that nothing can happen? Its not a rocket science.
You draw me a picture that when being poor in PH that person (or those persons) are also having an IQ (plus EQ & SQ) of an autistic child?
We are not struggling with birth rates. Most couples want much smaller families (1 or 2 kids) and others focus completely on a career in which there is no space, no room & no time for a kid. All the above decisions were/are made deliberate.
BTW: there is a 3rd side of the coin: there are many couples doing everything to get preggy but fail. Even IVF may fail. So what rests them is adopting a young child/baby from – how ironic – a poor country.
BTW: the 4th side of the coin is gay couples not being able to multiply themselves so they also resort themselves to adopting a baby from a poor country. (For lesbian couples its a tat easier. They can go to a sperm bank if they want).
I don’t know what fantasy land you’ve been living but a simple Google search of EU birth rates led me to this:http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=ee&v=25
10.17 births/1000 for 2014. Not dreadfully low but enough to see a downward trend to dwindling native Europeans. Plus the increasing surge of immigrants is skewing the consensus. I’d think you would know that much.
We are not struggling with birth rates, means that it is no issue for any couple. Each couple will decide if they will have kids (and how many) or not.
I know the rate is declining. So what?
Pls give me a (good) reason why a couple should have kids?
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/24/no-kids-no-grief/
The case against having kids
They can hurt your career, your marriage, your social life, your bank book. Why bother?
by Anne Kingston on Friday, July 24, 2009 12:20pm – 652 Comments
Like what Sid said, there’s definitely a lack of education. Just from my own personal experience, parents don’t delve into informing their children about sex. Schools don’t either, even though many first world countries have it on their curriculum e.g. as part of PDHPE.
Additionally, contraception can be taboo. There’s a certain sense of shame if you use contraception like you’re some kind of sex addict. And it can be inaccessible for poor people. When you’re poor and barely surviving, it’s not exactly at the top of your to buy list.
There’s also the continuing attitude embedded in many Filipino families that having more children will be better in the long run because there are more people who can take care of you when you’re old.
Ask a 12-year-old in Australia what a condom is and they’ll know. Ask a 12-year-old in the Philippines and I wouldn’t be so sure.
Deerless, this is what you wrote but I cant see it here anymore:
“deerless commented on Pinoys and Religion: Blind Faith Without Spirituality.
in response to Robert Haighton:
God wants us to multiply and be plentiful I really cant imagine that all those teenagers that are pregnant, wanted to get pregnant. Somewhere here or elsewhere I read that the number of teenage-pregnancy in PH is 200,000 annually. I really think it has to do with lack of knowledge about how our bodies work […]
Like what Sid said, there’s definitely a lack of education. Just from my own personal experience, parents don’t delve into informing their children about sex. Schools don’t either, even though many first world countries have it on their curriculum e.g. as part of PDHPE.
Additionally, contraception can be taboo. There’s a certain sense of shame if you use contraception like you’re some kind of sex addict. And it can be inaccessible for poor people. When you’re poor and barely surviving, it’s not exactly at the top of your to buy list.
There’s also the continuing attitude embedded in many Filipino families that having more children will be better in the long run because there are more people who can take care of you when you’re old.
Ask a 12-year-old in Australia what a condom is and they’ll know. Ask a 12-year-old in the Philippines and I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Exactly what you wrote here, is what Benign0 c.s. has labeled “dysfunctional society”. It really seems that parents dont care about their own kids’ wellfare and wellbeing. And you want me (the so-called rich people from the West) to donate money to the poor? Excuse me but giving money to such people is like giving money and nothing will change.
Giving away (without any reciprocity) money to poor people is the dumbest thing a person can do.
Regarding the comment about the lack of knowledge about condoms, I recently had to explain to (university-educated) acquaintances what vasectomy is. They’d never even heard of the idea.
I checked Google and couldn’t even find any information on vasectomy clinics in my city, there’s only a volunteer mission that visits once a year to give some for free to the poor. The front page of their website begins by debunking ‘common’ myths about vasectomy causing impotence and lack of arousal.
Why are they so ignorant about this?
200,000 annually because stupid noytard believe the so-called pro-life priests. Filipinos don’t have access to sex education and talking about proper reproductive health is taboo on most filipino families. It’s ok if teenagers want to fuck as long as they know their duties should get impregnated.
As with European countries having low number of teenage pregnancies, Noytards don’t give a damn, they just want to go to mass every sunday and listen to those inspirational dumbness about go forth and multiply. Stupid poor people even think that having many kids is a blessing.
And you know what other stupidity Francis said? That having many kids is not a reason for poverty, that he’s afraid Philippines will end up like Argentina with low younger population.
I’d like to challenge him to get 6 kids, go unemployed or have low salary, and pray to god that he won’t fuck up their future. 7 billion people in the world and he’s too fucked up worried that 2 countries will be eliminated of human beings.
Archie,
if only you knew what kind of questions Pinays ask me all the time.
“Why arent you married?”
“Why dont you have kids? You hate kids?”
Such questions are really a sign of mental and emotional poverty.
if only you knew what kind of questions Pinays ask me all the time.
“Why arent you married?”
“Why dont you have kids? You hate kids?”
Such questions are really a sign of mental and emotional poverty.
========
Or sometimes there could be intelligence in those kinds of questions. Let me explain.
A “why aren’t you married” question to a guy would suggest that it is an indirect inquiry or peek to the sexual preference of the guy. Is he gay? Or is he still on the process of looking? Looking for a woman, girl or a boy? I mean, if he is not married and at that age, there could be something there. So the question.
The “why don’t you have kids/you hate kids” question is also a variation of the intent to sneak into one’s privacy. Is he a pedophile? Foreign single men roaming around are usually targets of this kind of question. The ‘you hate kids?’ is really the reverse of ‘you like kids?’.
So you see those kinds of question oftentimes are loaded.
Okay point(s) taken.
So then I tell them that I had multiple GFs (not simultaneously of course). Then they ask me why not married to one of them? As if it is impossible that a relationship ends.
And you know what? Who do you think is asking me such questions? Pinay women who have kids and being abondoned by their pinoy BF or pinoy husband. How ironical, dont you think?
If only they started using the internet in a far more wider way then they could read some foreign newspapers (online) and notice how we live here in the West.
I always ask them why their pinoy BF/husband left them. They all say “I dont know”. Then they say: “he left me for a younger chick”. Dont people talk with each other about what is lacking/missing in the relationship? Going to a younger “chick” is not a cause, it is a result.
Forget about the “mano po”. I just got carried away.
Robert, you are hurting my feelings there…
Why am I hurting your feelings, Grimwald? Are you a pinay? Was I talking about you?
And you know what? Who do you think is asking me such questions? Pinay women who have kids and being abondoned by their pinoy BF or pinoy husband. How ironical, dont you think? – Robert
========
Pinay women with kids asking you loaded questions? First off, why are you with abandoned women with kids? Are you doing some kind of voluntary work for them or something? Are you friends with them?
“Pinay women with kids asking you loaded questions? First off, why are you with abandoned women with kids? Are you doing some kind of voluntary work for them or something? Are you friends with them?”
– I dont mind the loaden questions at all
– I am not with them. They are the ones who sent me a FB friend request (may sound arrogant but thats the way how it goes). I accept their request and I will see how things will evolve from there. After x-months, I will delete them from my FB by lack of being able to have a good conversation.
– That will be the last thing I will do (voluntary work for THEM)
– Yes “friends” but only digitally on FB.
Because I’m not likely to get married any time soon.
And no, don’t start with me on “you just haven’t met her yet” and other similar crap. Bottom line: I’m just a bit TOO DIFFERENT for women.
People have gone on to tell me that Sheldon Cooper and Stephen Hawking both found someone. Well, those people live in countries where people can appreciate their intellect.
Sorry for the rant, but it just made me sad, that’s all…
I understand Grimwald.
Here are a few other remarks made by pinays:
– I will look after you; I will take care of you
As if I am bound for the rest of my life to a wheel chair (Grrrrrr) being autistic and not being able to feed myself.
Okay, Robert, I get you. There’s no face to face contact, hence, misimpression is possible on both sides. I think you remain friends with them if you like and you may cease stories using their ‘stories’ here for whatever thoughts you may have. Who knows, they maybe be taking you for a ride or something, we don’t know. 🙂
If a person wanted to be single let them enjoy their decision, right?
Even male Noytards ask that stupid question, Robert. You can also add it as a sign of regret. They want their colleagues to suffer their problems raising kids so they force their single friends to join the club. I have 2 kids but when poor friends with 4 to 6 minions approach me and ask me why I don’t want to reproduce again, I know that deep inside it’s eating them with insecurity that they can’t provide enough for their family.
Sorry, I forgot to mention some other things.
It really is stupid to listen to a guy, who is not married and has no kids (I am refering to Mr. Jorge Bergoglio), telling the flock what to do.
What was his latest statement? “Dont fuck like rabbits”?
I wonder where all these horny teenagers (and adults living with their parents) even go to do the deed, when the whole family shares one room or even one bed?
How do teenage boys find the privacy for their number one hobby in that environment? No wonder they’re so repressed.
Ever heard of motels, hotels?
😉
Religion and spirituality are concepts, Filipinos cannot understand them…so, they fall on all kinds of false beliefs…
To a large extent, religion is irrelevant in Filipino society. If it were gone tomorrow, little would change. It is a vestigial structure in the body politic.
Psychology, social work, counseling and community activism can replace religious magic.
FYI: http://www.salon.com/2015/01/18/bill_maher_is_right_about_religion_the_orwellian_ridiculousness_of_jesus_and_the_truth_about_moral_progress/
Regarding the part on “being poor” and Phil TV – we all recognize that TV plays a big part in shaping societies, and how Phil TV has failed this country. But is that enough?
I think we need to take it one more step further. I think it is time to name names, to enumerate the culprits. Time to shame these producers, writers, directors. Make them accountable. Expose how their products are dumbing down pinoy society.
I am clueless who to blame, I don’t watch Phil TV. We can’t simply blame Marian and Dingdong, nor their fans. They are mere puppets. Sure we know which TV networks they belong to. But the puppet masters are still largely anonymous.
I want to know who these people are that are shaping the minds of the common pinoy, what schools they went to, qualifications, etc. Maybe by putting their reputations on the line, they’ll be more responsible the next time they put something on the air. Maybe the next time awarding bodies select their best directors, writers, the judges will be a bit more discriminating.
About God’s statement, “Be fruitful and multiply” – He told that to Noah and his family, after, mind you, AFTER DROWNING ALL THE BAD PEOPLE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD.. He doesn’t want irresponsible people multiplying, far from it..
However, I can’t help but notice that there are still a lot of people who believe that God will help them literally. That somehow, God will perform a miracle for them like food will suddenly rain from the sky or that they’ll find gold coins in their toilets.
=======
Of course, that’s a bit of a distortion. While I agree on the general idea of the article, most Filipinos understand their religion; follow the rituals and trappings therein and absorb with gusto the spiritual aspect of their faith.
But having said that, yes, Vatican, we have a problem. 🙁 Let me expound.
Filipinos understand their religion so much that they know they can always get away with sins and mistakes so long as they confess to it. 🙁
The ‘God Wants Us to Multiply and be Plentiful’ is already an obsolete dogma. Even the poor now knows that that teaching is incorrect and does not depict them (because it’s always attributed to them) in the proper context. It’s new version goes like this, “Children are a blessing”.
Now, to who the blessings will exactly redound, medyo malabo. 🙂 Is it to the parents who will now work double time or to death supporting 4 or more children or to the children who will compete on the crumbs of the meager salary of their parents? Or the blessings will be spread equally, meaning, everybody will be able to graduate elementary and that’s it? After that, to each his own. And then the ‘blessings’ continues. 😉
‘God Wants Us to Multiply and be Plentiful’ ‘Children are a blessing’
I don’t think the “poor and uneducated” even think of that when they want or are having sex. Let’s get real here. It’s not for that reason why Filipinos propagate like rabbits. It’s the fact that they are poor and uneducated.
It’s more like a lame excuse when you want to justify your many children and can’t support them.
Ah. When I was a child I actually thought that God would help me literally. After years of that not happening, I gave up on religon. I am now an atheist who despises religious extremists.
To a large extent, religion is irrelevant in Filipino society. If it were gone tomorrow, little would change. It is a vestigial structure in the body politic.
Psychology, social work, counseling and community activism can replace religious magic.
========
I don’t think so. In fact, religion is so relevant that we’ll all die and it will survive us. I don’t see religion disappearing on the face of the country (PH) in my and my great-great-great grandchildren’s lifetime.
Nothing can replace religion in our country. Remember, we are Filipinos because of our religion. There was no Filipino before the ascension of Catholic religion in the country. And that’s the reason Muslims in the South refuses to acknowledge that they, too, are Filipinos.
It’s not going away and nothing will make it go away. Any attempt in the future in that direction will surely meet a resistance stronger and destructive than anything you have ever seen. The creation of this country was made possible by the power of faith bestowed upon its people.
Frightening and corny but true. ;(
@ jameboy;
My statement had nothing to do with the popularity of religion.
“Relevance” means: “appropriate to the matter at hand” and “being connected in a way that makes it useful.”
How useful has religion been in helping to solve the great problems that face our country? How has religion helped over population? How has religion helped poverty? How has religion helped social injustice?
If anything, religion like television (another wildly popular preoccupation) is conservative by nature and stands in the way of progress and positive social change. The clergy has always had an intimate relationship with the wealthiest and most powerful elements within society. These people do not want change because they are benefiting greatly from the status quo. Religion may have been useful in the development of the country. However, someone should ask, “What have you done for me, lately?”
See the link I provided in my earlier comment.
So you know where I’m coming from. I’m a Catholic. A non-practicing one. On matters of religion, during discussion I often, if not always, veered towards the view that is more atheist than a believer. Catholics often cross with me for I do not share the same passion as they do about the faith. I understand them and most of the time I do not agree with them. The same goes with atheists.
The beauty of my position is I can see where people are coming from and the focus of their views about religion or absence of it.
The questions you raised implies that religion is the answer to everything. It is not. If it was, majority of the people in the world would all be atheists by now because religion failed them.
Religion was not meant to solve worldly or secular matters. It is supposed to serve our spiritual needs where love, mercy, generosity, kindness, etc. reign supreme. It is not like an equipment you will resort to when you need something fixed. Problems like population, poverty, social injustice, etc. are man-made. They should be able to solve it with or without religion.
But does it help solve problems? Yes, in a manner that man is enabled by his faith to look at the problem with positive disposition and have the courage or tenacity to accept whatever the result maybe.
Religion and people of religion are two different things. The doctrine and those who promote and advance them are not the same. Men are of this world, faith is not.
P.S.
On a personal level, religion is often the search for a deeper meaning and significance that exists in life, and things that happen to us. We often attribute to things that happen to us, a power greater than ourselves, rather than ourselves. This distracts us from a frank analysis of the nature of the problem and who or what stands in the way of resolving it. Bahala na (If God wills it) typifies this mindset.
On that, we’re on the same page. 🙂
My question was “has religion (organized faith) helped to solve those problems?” Organized religion is one of the key institutions in this society. If it is not a force for positive change in these desperate times, it should disband and hand its power over to those that can help. Your answer is that religion and the Church are separate. If that is so, then why do devoutly religious lawmakers hinder those that are attempting to solve problems like over population? (see the recent efforts to kill the RH bill) Are they acting out of personal conviction or are they minions of the powerful church? Is such a clear distinction possible?
The military, the oligarchy, and the large religious organizations are the power bases within this society. They rarely remain neutral in terms of influencing government policy.
You end by claiming that organized religion and followers of organized religion are not the same thing. Do you mean the difference between the clergy and the laity? Are you saying the clergy is political but the laity is not????
I think we need some clear definitions here. What is religion? What is faith? What is spirituality?
My question was “has religion (organized faith) helped to solve those problems?”
========
Originally you don’t have a question. What I commented on you is your declaration about religion as irrelevant in Filipino society. You only asked questions after my comment. And I answered you on that.
If it is not a force for positive change in these desperate times, it should disband and hand its power over to those that can help.
========
I wish that is possible but it is not. Disband a religion that made this country in the first place? How will you do that? When and where did that happen? Just because it is not helping on something it has nothing to do you want it disbanded? Just because so-and-so legislator prevented the passing of a bill, you will target his religion? For what end? To solve a problem? You will mess on the faith of the millions because a few in gov’t. cannot solve it’s problem? For the life of me, I don’t get the logic of that.
Your answer is that religion and the Church are separate. If that is so, then why do devoutly religious lawmakers hinder those that are attempting to solve problems like over population? (see the recent efforts to kill the RH bill) Are they acting out of personal conviction or are they minions of the powerful church? Is such a clear distinction possible?
========
No, I said, religion and people of religion (followers and church people) are two different things. Granting for the sake of argument you are correct, that those religious lawmakers ‘hinder’ the solution to solve problems, will it solve the problem then if we disband their religion or would it make matters worse? Why go there instead of focusing on those bills subject of approval and make adjustments or concession to meet half-way in order to have an agreement? Why go out of that bill and make it worse when you can make people agree on something acceptable to all sides? You think disbanding religion will create a perfect world? I don’t think so. Man-made problems should be solve by man themselves. It may take time, I know, but that’s life. Live and learn.
You end by claiming that organized religion and followers of organized religion are not the same thing. Do you mean the difference
between the clergy and the laity? Are you saying the clergy is political but the laity is not???
I think we need some clear definitions here. What is religion? What is faith? What is spirituality?
========
I think I was very clear in my point. I do not agree with the idea that religion is irrelevant and removing it, which I think is impossible, would make little change.
I beg to disagree.
Filipinos are poor,just like the Africans (or NOT) because we simply don’t have enough opportunities. We are cursed by geography.And whatever wrongdoings committed against us, we all leave it all up to GOD. Which is good! Because at the end of the day,its better to be happy & free.
Because Happiness, even those perceived as fake, results into less Psychotic People.
Trixie,
you are telling me that Filipinos want to stay poor even if they get the chance for a financial better life?
Living in constant denial iisn’t any better. You’re trading one shit sandwich for another.
“As with European countries having low number of teenage pregnancies”
Also, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong.
Japanese people don’t have sex, especially those in their early 20s because they’re too busy working. Their population is decreasing. So is Hong Kong, from what I’ve heard.
The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
May religion be as pure as the message in the tune and lyrics of this one (mine too): Be Thou My Vision: