Image of persons being crucified in the Philippines courtesy of the BBC.
Christians all over the world are celebrating one of the two major events in our calendar, Easter.
In the Philippines Easter has a unique way for people to show their faith. Some people are actually crucified, remembering the torture and agony Jesus went through. A gruesome event, not to mention that Crucifixion was one of the three most horrible ways to execute a person ever devised by evil men.
I have never spent Easter there, but I witnessed the extent of the faith of Filipinos in many ways. Ninety five per cent of Filipinos follow the Roman Catholic church, it is by far the largest Catholic country of the world. It used to be Brazil, because of its population, more than double of the Philippines. In the last two decades the Evangelical movement made got an immense number of followers and even though most Brazilians are Christians, the Catholics are no longer the main group.
I remember once shopping in a huge Department Store and it was 6 PM. Literally everybody, employees, managers, customers, everybody, bowed and I could hear people praying the "Holly Mary" that was also being played in loudspeakers, PA systems etc. I was taken by surprise. I was educated by German Benedictine monks, saying the mass in Latin and listening Gregorian chants all my childhood till I was in my late teens, a very strict and stern environment, we were trained under severe rules (they punished us even physically, I will never forget, this was one of the reasons I became a Protestant) and still, I had never seen that. I bowed my head and prayed with everybody else.....
The Catholic church has a say in every aspect of Filipino life. No wonder the explosion in births, since one of the fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church is that one should not either avoid or interrupt the birth process. This can become an endless discussion and both sides, those who follow the church teaching and the ones so called "Pro-Choice" get really passionate about it. Personally, I feel that is an immense tragedy to have destitute street children all over the world, not only in the Philippines. What is more tragic, is that exactly the poorest are the ones that have the largest families. A huge number of children die daily, others live literally in the streets, dirty, hungry, sick, in pain, open to abuse and exploitation. I advise the readers to watch the video "5 thousand children die a day in the Philippines" on Youtube. It will shatter your world..... It brought tears to my eyes when I saw it, very graphic. I have seen it there, right before my very eyes.
Even the former powerful Soviet Union is facing this problem, that unfortunately is Universal. One million children live in the streets in Russia, in spite of some people have become incredibly rich and there are now several Russian billionaires in the list of the richest people of the planet.
By nature, I guess this is a common characteristic of people that live in islands, Filipinos are quiet, peaceful, humble, subdued, has a mention before they love to sing and dance. Their deep faith I guess helps them to endure their hardships. it looks like their faith is bigger than life itself. they accept all the wrongdoing in their country, that has probably the most corrupt politicians on Earth, hunger, disease and all the evils, like sheep. It worries me, because I look at the Phils and I ask for how long they will accept the Status Quo. It looks to me that the country like is an immense powder keg, all it takes is a spark .....
Lenin used to say that "Hunger is a bad adviser"..... I am not communist, I consider Communist one of the Big Lies ever, but I have to concede that those were wise words.
Perhaps the faith of Filipinos is so great, I have a great deal of respect and love for their people, that they already accept all the bad things of this life and just wait for the moment to enter the 'Kingdom of Heavens".
I hope that you all and your families had a Happy Easter.
Could you please explain the crucifixions - are you saying that people are actually put to death, or that they are not put to death but are actually nailed to the cross, or is this a re-enactment of the Crucifixion of Christ in order to demonstrate one's dedication to the Church? What exactly are the motivations behind this act?
The crucifixions are a re-enactment, but people are actually nailed to the crosses exactly the same way it was done to Jesus. If left there, they would die. The whole idea behind crucifixion was to inflict a slow, agonizing and painful death. Progressively the victim would have troubles breathing, till the deprivation of oxygen started to take its toll and the victim would then succumb. It was applied only to foreigners, Roman citizens were not crucified, and usually was the punishment of choice for hard criminals and people perceived as "enemies of Rome". It was such an horrific death, the person gasping for air, that made people afraid of having the same fate, since it was public execution. The two criminals that were executed with Jesus had their legs broken to speed up their death, because the army garrison could only leave the place after people were dead. Since people had a foot rest, which somehow at the very end would help them to lift the body a bit and ease a bit the extreme difficulty in breathing (they were suspended by the fully stretched arms and the diaphragm could not work properly and the lungs would not fully inflate). Once the legs were broken, they could not lift the body anymore and death would follow shortly. The Scriptures, as we know, had said that Jesus would not have any of His bones broken, and as we know he died before the criminals expired and was not touched by the soldiers, only one wounded Him with a spear, to make sure he was dead.
In the Philippines during Easter, there are also people that flog themselves and bleed quite a bit, soaking their garments with blood. A medieval scene.
The motivation behind the Crucifixions of the Filipinos, is to have a public display of faith, so they want to suffer as Jesus did. The Church does not approve either the Crucifixions or floggings, but this is already a tradition and it happens every year.
the situation, do you think so?