Fetalvero: In all this, choose to love

STEPHEN Prothero, author of ”Religious Literacy,” approached the study of the Bible in a non-sectarian position. But can we truly alienate belief in God from the teachings of the Bible? King Solomon puts it this way: “The beginning of wisdom is the honoring and reverence of God.”

President Rodrigo Duterte recently questioned the intentions of the writers of the Bible and even called them “fools.” To depart from the intentions upon which the Bible was written is to malign the significance of faith. As a Catholic, it is my firm belief that a true appreciation of the contents of the Bible can only be achieved by acknowledging first the existence of God.

Duterte had denied the existence of God. Honestly, I am very much confused as to what his religious belief is but I can only hope that he will respect the religious belief of millions of Filipinos, some of whom had voted for him.

The Bible is supposed to be accepted in its entirety in order to fully grasp the significance of the Word of God. Millions of believers, by the grace of God, are able to embrace faith without doubt, without question. Many of our countrymen are losing hope because of failed promises to alleviate the plight of the poor... “He will also deny us the only thing that give us hope and that is our faith in the Almighty.”

Christians, Jews, Muslims may differ in their perception of events depicted in the Bible. To the Christians, the book is a sacred guide for the moral and spiritual development of the members of the Church headed by His Holiness, Pope Francis. To the Jews, on the other hand, the Bible—which they refer as Torah—is a book studied in Hebrew by young Jewish boys who eventually graduate in a Bar Mitzvah ceremony: a formal acceptance to the Jewish faith. To the Muslims, the events and places mentioned in the Bible are but geographical and ethnic in origin upon which they establish their territorial grounds where they can practice Islamic traditions without fear of contradiction.

In the courtroom, a person at the witness stand is directed to put his hand on the Bible and to swear “to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.”

The dull and the ignorant believe the Bible contains a fairy tale upon which Christmas and Easter are based upon. In the Bible, particularly 1 Corinthians 13:13, one will find the best definition of love.