Americans singing a Filipino folk song

Just to take a break from the fight, here is something cross cultural.
It is a song about a field butterfly. They sang it really good, they gave me goose bumps.

I am amazed, they pronounced the words so well. They sang it like Filipinos do.

Well done!

Filipinas by Trio Los Panchos

Continuing on with some more cultural postings. I am featuring Los Panchos.

When as a boy who wandered around Manila (in a section called Dapitan to be exact), I heard of the songs on the radio made popular by the Los Panchos. Quizas, quizas, quizas. Amapola. Sabor a mi. It was in the 60s and I was too young to understand of course the enjoyment experienced by the grown ups around me. Searching around the web, I discovered that this Mexican group (actually one is from PR), composed a song about Filipinas. Another Indio (what the Spaniards called us) blogged about it here.



This is my translation of the song which I gave to my children (I would appreciate corrections of course):

Filipinas, mi madre adorada
Filipinas, my adorable mother

Del mundo admirada, por su resplandor
Admired by the world, because of its splendor

Filipinas, mi novia encantada
Filipinas, my enchanted sweetheart

La tierra que ofrece respeto y calor
The land that offers courtesy and warmth

Filipinas, princesa de oriente
Filipinas, princess of the orient

Tú eres la estrella que orienta mi amor
You are the star that guides my love

Filipinas, la tierra de mi amor
Filipinas the land of my love

Tus hijos te adoran
Your children adore you

Te ofrecen la sangre de su corazón
They give you the blood of their heart.

Mexico y Filipinas, hermanas nacionales

Only in the last year did I realize that the two countries were very very close. It was the missus who told me about this. I was shocked to hear that Filipinas and Mexico were like one country separated only by the seas. She highlighted this to me as part of her research into the effects of colonization to a country's psyche and education. I knew the Spanish soldiers that went to Filipinas were first assigned to Mexico, but I did not realize there was more to that. Our history books never spoke of this very close relationship with the Mexicans. I hope the few Filipinos who visit this blog may get to realize what their history books neglected to tell them.



As a tribute, here is Thalia, a Mexican singer, singing a Filipino song when she was in Manila - "I am here".



Muchachos, no sabía que estábamos como hermanos.

The Pacman did it again

He surprised us. He showed amazing athletic abilities.



My buddies and I were offended while watching the fight. We detected a slight cockiness and that annoyed us.

Cockiness is not something we accept in our culture. Flaunting your gifts and abilities is an offensive trait. True enough Manny does not have false humility either, but he does not have to be cocky. We do not tolerate such none sense and shame on him if he develops such a trait.

Fortunately The Age did not notice what we detected, maybe because they are accustomed to it and comparatively, his was mild. Here is the article.

A shout for Arnel and Journey

I heard some quip, we were born singing with a guitar in our hands. Well I am not a good singer but I do music, piano, guitar and now trumpet.

When I was growing up, the typical picture motif in our house was the picture of the Indio (The Spaniard's label for a native Filipino), lazin' away seating and leaning under a coconut tree, with his sombrero (palm hat) on his head strumming his guitar.

In the interview, you can detect some hispanic accent in the way he spoke English. I am puzzled myself, it is hard to pin down a Filipino - is he Asian or Hispanic? May be Latin Asian akin to Latin American?

Anyway.

Thanks Journey, for believing in Arnel.

A brief commercial break

We interrupt our regular programming.

I was about to post again one of Larry's comments but I thought we should interrupt our "celebration" (nope!) of Calvin with a brief ad.

I am the proud Dad of the last girl shown on this Qantas ad. Of course it has been 10 years since, and she has grown mature but I have not stopped being proud of her.

Look ma, no hands - Filipina pilot

You may not realize this but there are Filipinos that are ashamed to admit they are Filipinos.

Jessica is not one of them and she even wears the Filipina national dress - the Maria Clara when she does her motivational speaking.

I am putting this up here because Jessica, in one interview, attributed her abilities to do these sort of difficult things (let's face it, living life with out arms is a bit difficult and challenging, no?) because of the nature of being a Filipino. In a way I kinda believe that because every Filipino that is born has a twin, called sacrifice/suffering, poverty.

Filipinos are known for being friendly, yet they know that the world and life are not as friendly towards them.

I used to work for Unisys. One time they sent me to Pasadena, California (USA) to work with the engineers there. The engineering manager was so thrilled to meet me and excitedly said - oh we have a Filipina engineer, I want you to meet her. So I did, I went to where her office was and greeted her with some Tagalog words. She spoke back in Spanish saying she did not know any Tagalog. What a load of b.s. Her skin was so brown, her nose was so flat and she wasn't that tall either. Even her name was a dead give away, like Ramos, Garcia or Reyes, one of the famous ones. Her attitude of shame epitomizes the result of colonization. The colonizers taught us we were no good, we were good only to be slaves, for labor. The colonizers have left - or have they really? Yet one thing for sure remains, their cultural imperialism still trickles down to many generations.

So pardon me for giving a shout for Jessica.

We have a saying "Filipino ka, sabihin mo", "you are Filipino, say so".

I am saying so.

Pacman fiesta tonight

This has been a good day for Manny "the pacman" Pacquiao.

Read about it here.

My friends and I were a bit stunned and awed, we thought Ricky "the hitman" Hutton would make life difficult for the pacman, but the fight was over in 2 rounds.

Today, the pacman collected his 6th belt.

Before the start of the fight, the atmosphere was more like what you will find in soccer than what you will find in a boxing match. We watched through our FoxTel and it seemed the pacman supporters and that of the hitman wanted to out do each other with their flag waving and shouting.



Guarding the pacman's corner was another Filipino-blood athlete - the wrestler, Dave "the animal" Batista.

I am just worried for the pacman's future. I hope we Filipinos don't ruin his life by... electing him as the next President of the Republic....

The Church of Whatever

Preacher, of false doctrine?

The only thing I like Oprah for is that she recognizes Charice Pempenco.

On its way down.

Evangelicalism, it is on its way down.

I read from Wittenberg Trail that Michael Spencer that he wrote an article for The Christian Science Monitor here. This is an article about the coming collapse of Evangelicalism. Do you have any thoughts on this?

I offer an observation. I think Evangelicalism is on its way down because it has tied itself with the cult of being relevant with culture, mainly pop-culture, which is exported from the U.S.A. Culture does not offer anything that truly injures, some of them are just older than us and we think they would stay for eternity. That is not true. Ask a Classicist.

This is very unfortunate, because when a Christian movement is riding on the shoulder of a country or civilization, it shares the fate of that civilization.

I was in Charismania for 25 years, last time I looked at statistics, outside U.S.A., my country of birth (Philippines - i.e. Filipinas) ranked 3rd in Evangelical saturation with Guatemala being 1st. That was many years ago.

Only in the last 5 years did I realize that the version of Protestantism I was taught was an American version, a version I am quite sure the Reformers would not recognize nor understand. Yet I have observed the instability as far back as 15 years ago. When I was in Charismania, there was always something new and spectacular happening every 2 years.

Ausgburgeans trying to bring Gospel revival to Latin Asian/American countries would need to contend not only with Roman concepts of theology but the Pentecostal concepts as well. Fortunately the two pan out to be the same, they just don't realize the correspondence of beliefs, but they are mappable from one to the other.

Obfuscations I

To say that Jesus died for you and at the same time give you the impression that you can do it, you can do good works that merit you righteousness is obfuscation.

When I was an RC kid, I certainly did here that Jesus died for me. Yet I also heard that what appeases God was my doing of penance for the sins I have committed. This became the center of approach. The matter is that I was not being given the impression that I was dead in trespasses and sins and that I could not ever free myself. Rather, I just have to try harder next time and don't be naughty again. Hope for the best, do some novenas, get on with the program.

So I talk to some RC friends who are faithful members of Mother Church and they tell me I was mis-catechized when I was a kid. I got it wrong? What changed, don't they still officially affirm Faith + Works = Justification? Strange, I thought my reading of the Baltimore Catechism (OK I am older than you) was at par, I got confirmed at St. Mary's College so should the nuns there take the blame?

All I could say is, what does a kid gotta do, but get obfuscated? Now it is all my fault.

I also feel amused when I speak to Lutherans about my experience when I was with Mother Church, how back home, you can see the teaching in action, at the ground level. They say "Oh the practice is of no concern, it is the teaching that counts". I get obfuscated by such an attitude. The practice is the teaching! Where else do they get what they practice; and and these practices mind you are quite public and are a part of tradition, see for example this one here.
----
Christine: You have always been an Augsburgean deep down, I am glad God showed you from Scripture the centrality of the Gospel. You are at home again, where you have always belonged. God keep us all in the most holy faith.

Looks like we are really everywhere

My posting will be thin. I am in this conference.

Finally after so many rejections, there are those who understand what my professor and I are doing. They said that when Godel gave his theorem, they did not understand it either. Well I am far from Godel, my problem is something else.

At any rate my biggest blunder was when I entered a doctorate program. I did not realize how much it would pull me away from the time meant to be spent for loved ones. I am now tired and weary, the thesis is nealy there, but not quite. I need prayers not to throw the towel, or the 5-6 years go down the drain with nothing but memories of what I have done, not done. Could I ask for your prayers?

Anyway, if there was any un-expectations I had coming to this conference, I was not expceting to find a Filipino in Porto, Portugal. Never. It was unlikely, in Spain maybe but not Portugal. I was wrong. At breakfast today, I heard someone else in the restaurant blurting Filipino sentences. I came over to the man and I met Mike. Mike is from IBM, Philippines and he has been assigned here to help install a software system. He is not alone but a team of Filipinos are with him. They have been hired to get this system up and going.

I feel somewhat elated and semi-proud about this. I guess I am like this because all you hear coming from the home land are how things are going down to the dogs. I am happy that there are some who on the human level still try to do good and a job well.

Full/fool, or many Gospels

My sister-in-law just recently understood the free gift of God - Christ. She was a bit in tears when I relayed to her the story of our salvation. Needless to say, she and her family attend our local church.

So time went on.

A month ago she and her husband went to a fiesta held by the Filipino community here in Melbourne. She was hired by our friends to distribute some promotional leaflets, so naturally she bumped into lots of people in the fiesta.

Amazingly she did bump into one of her old time friend from Manila. So she and this friend began to talk. In the course of conversation, the friend semi-proudly said to my in-laws that she attends a "born again" Christian church. In my sister-in-law's excitement she and her husband spoke about me and how they now attend church with me.

Her friend disappointedly said to them, "oh what a shame, he should be Full Gospel and should attend a Full Gospel Church". This threw my sister-in-law into a confusing spin. When she reached home with a concerned face, she relayed this incident to me. I had to do a lot of explaining.

My reply to her: "You see these folk believe there are several components to the Gospel. Unlike us, these folk do not believe that there is one and only one Gospel - the forgiveness of your sins at the Cross of Christ freely given by God. For them, it is just one aspect of the Gospel. Jesus came not just to die for you but to make you healthy, wealthy and wise. These for them are all equal in importance to Jesus' payment for sins. So when we simply preach Jesus at the Cross, they criticize us for being not-Full Gospel".

Full or Fool Gospel?

Poverty, an excuse?

Proverbs 30
8Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is^(A) needful for me,
9lest I be^(B) full and^(C) deny you
and say,^(D) "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be poor and steal
^(E) and profane the name of my God.

Thank you for your prayers, I arrived back safely at my home base.

As I moved in and out of Manila, I have noticed the increase of depressed areas in the midst of high rise apartment buildings, something I am not accustomed. You see when I left more than 20+ years ago you could stand in the middle of the street and look high and would see blue sky . Not anymore. You will either see the smog or a high rise will block your view.

Last time I was here was 1999, but something acute has changed. It used to be that Filipinos have what they called "bayanihan concept", meaning, they will gladly help you without expecting anything in return. It used to be that people would be insulted if you try to pay them for the service they are gladly giving to you. Hmm, not anymore, the reverse is happening, and in a more profound way. They still will help but they expect you to tip them.

I know poverty is the cause of the 'Filipino Diaspora'. This has reaped families apart, a husband or wife goes to the Middle East and leaves his/her partner behind to earn and send money back home, but this has also introduced complications, loneliness and countless sufferings.

Upto what extent does poverty make people do things they know they prefer not to do?

In many ways I can appreciate that people will do things to earn a living so as to survive, but I am also asking, to what extent is poverty used as an excuse to engage in risky, dangerous and even illegal activities?

The Lord does not remove the poor so he can give us a job to do - to care and help them.

Just another self-absorbed boomer

Hagibis - the Filipino word for being rapid or swift. When I got this machine last Saturday, that is what the missus called the whole affair. The machine gave me a good enjoyable ride, it was swift yet smooth. However, the process of buying this machine revealed certain things about me. I am not so sure if what I have found is something I am happy about, I got the word "idolatry" spinning in my brain. The whole process showed things that went inside my heart, what went on inside me.

For starters, it confirmed to me that I am a self absorbed baby-boomer, I am still intent on re-living or realizing some old teen-age dreams. What's up with us baby-boomers, why are we like that? They say what separates men from boys is the cost of their toys.

After taking this bike home, I sat down that night to reflect on what has just happened. What kind of example have I just given my kids? I felt so ashamed of this. How could I do this when I know there are folk around the world, my neighbor, who do not even have something to eat. I just insulted them. The brat is still alive and well and as I grow older, it reveals itself to me, and I wish it would die. Yesterday, I felt like returning the bike to the dealer. If I was not locked in legally, I would have asked them to take it back; of course, they would not return my deposit. Boomers are into symbols - this one is now a symbol of my shame. I was mumbling - I am so sorry, God, forgive me. How could I be like that? I am so sorry for my example, deeply sorry. Lord, have mercy on me.

Freddie the Burping Caller and the F..ting Preacher

Apparently Freddie thinks it is the sign of being filled.

I am suspecting he is Filipino. His accent and the frequent exchanging of the sound of 'f' for a 'p' is a dead give away. This is a typical English pronounciation mistake, committed by Filipinos. Couple that with the humor like asking --- how do you reconcile burping with being filled and well, what can I say?

Yeah, how do you reconcile that?

Let's take a break...let's do the Papaya

Let us take a break, let us dance the Papaya!

This is becoming the national dance of Filipinos. The tune was from Urzula Dudziak, a Polish disco singer of the 70s, but I think her style is what we would call in Jazz as skat (to use Louise Armstrong's lingo).

I heard that this is becoming a dance craze in P.I. It has been said that in supermarkets while shopping, you might hear this song and shoppers and staff would suspend whatever they are doing and do the dance. We are just so so so dance crazy.

This just shows you how Filipinos can be so happy and have fun about....nothing. Well, at least you do not have to be loaded just to get some.

How come he gets it ?

Jeff of Onebread, a fellow [Filipino] blogger gave an interesting comment. I am so amazed that Jeff who happens to be RC gets the implication of what happens when the word "Protestant" is dropped from your psyche!

Jeff said:

Interesting discussion here. I was forming a thesis in my mind recently about Evangelicals, confessional Protestants, and Roman Catholics. There seems to be a trajectory for Evangelicals towards an increasingly Roman Catholic outlook, which seems to also translate a diminishing level of hostility towards Roman Catholics. The thesis is simple, really: by identifying themselves as Evangelicals, born again, or simply Christians, these folks are not as grounded on the Reformation. Hence they are no longer steeped in the bitterness of the Reformation.

....

Anyway, the Evangelicals I know seem to have shed all identification with being "Protestant" and, instead of defining themselves as being against something, are embracing the way forward as being for something else.

You can read the full context of his comments here.

I do not know why he who happens to be an RC gets it but those in the camp don't. My theory is that this is what happens too, if you are Lutherite and you chuck away your vocabulary of the vestiges of "Protestantism".

The Black Nazarene

Yesterday was January 9. Yesterday, in Manila was the festival of The Black Nazarene. The Black Nazarene is a statue of Jesus, kneeling with the cross on his back with Jesus depicted as a black man. You can see the whole festival here.



The video was taken last year but yesterday's affair was no different. Yesterday 2.5 million Filipinos went on pilgrimage to where this statue of Jesus is paraded, in the RC Church of Quiapo, Manila. Yesterday 2 people died. Considering there were 2.5M people who came, forgive me for saying, this was not a bad turn of events, many more could have died!

Why do people go to this festival, risking their lives, even though one can see The Black Nazarene everyday in the Church of Quiapo, any time? Well, they believe that it has to be on this festival day (and mind you not on another day) for this is the day of honoring The Black Nazarene, that is its anniversary. Thus, if you want a blessing, you must turn up on that day at the Quiapo (RC) church, then you can hope for blessings or graces from Jesus to happen. These might be healing of the body or the realization of some private wishes or dreams, perhaps a good year of prosperity or so etc etc. The people believe that by just being able to look at the face of The Black Nazarene as it is paraded will get them blessings from Jesus. Even better if one gets to touch the carriage or even touch the statue itself, that will really ensure graces or favor from Jesus. Some can not get any nearer, so, as an act of faith, they throw their towels to the carriage in the hope that it might reach and gets to touch the statue itself. That will give them comfort that what is required for a blessing has been met.

It does happen as some testify of healing and good fortune. Even the Vice-President of the country goes to this festival because for the last decades (I think I heard from the news he has been going since 1989) now, he has received good turn of events or good outcomes for his life. I think it goes like this: you make a vow to The Black Nazarene (turn up for the anniversary) and in return you can expect a blessing.

Already, today in Manila, devotees are ensuring that the festival will continued in the next generation. Today boys as young as age 3 are now being trained to make vows and be a devotee of The Black Nazarene.

This is theology in practice... from the ground.

The 3rd Use of Grace

OK, OK, back to blog work...

It might be a wonder, we know of the 3rd use of the Law, but in my book there is the 3rd use of Grace. First a review of the uses of the Law is in order:
- 1st use: to externally discipline society
- 2nd use: to make us see our helpless state of sin
- 3rd use: to guide us as to what is pleasing to Him

The 3rd use predominates Evangelicalism so much so that it has been said to be Law-Gospel-Law. The 3rd use is overemphasized that it becomes a New Law which determines Gods attitude towards the Christian. It determines if one's life will be filled with blessings or filled with misery. You do it, then expect blessings to flow to you or you violate it and expect discipline at the corner. There is truth to this of course. This, as you know, either makes you feel you are pulling God's commands off making you Pharisaical or leads you to despair.

We really are Law makers. In fact I recall when I was finishing my degree in Religious Studies, in my OT Judaism class, I recall that the Rabbis believed that "man was created for the Torah". Contrast that with Mk 2:27, but I digress.

The question now is how does Evangelia rescue you from being a Pharisee or from being despondent. Well, to correct our Phariseism, it will say to us "now, that is not nice, don't be like that - stop being a Pharisee" -i.e. more Law. To rescue from despondency, either none is given thereby we burn out and eventually check out of Christianity, or it may say to us "God has grace, you can do it". Here is where the 3rd use of Grace comes in, but let me review first the ideas of Grace.

Taking my cue from the way Grace is mentioned in Thomas Oden's The Justification Reader, I will restate the 3 ideas of Grace in the Bible.
-1st idea: a phase in history when God overrides the Law to show mercy.
-2nd idea: God reconciling himself with humanity, we call this favor dei, God's merciful attitude towards sinners - (cf. the Cross).
-3rd idea: a gift of enabledment to perform a distinctive action by God's help.

The same way that the 3rd use of the Law predominates, the 3rd use of Grace predominates also amongst our Evangelian brethren. Let me illustrate this 3rd use of Grace from a current popular highly acclaimed Evangelical author, from Dr. John Piper's Future Grace. BTW, I appreciate his illustration of the Filipino insight of gratitude in that book, this is called "utang na loob" -i.e. the ethics of gratitude or debtor's ethics (Chapter Two).

Here is a quick quote enjoining us on the 3rd use of Grace, making Grace "gratia infusa" in p.65

In Dr. Piper's Future Grace he says:

The only life I have left to live is future life. The past is not in my hands to offer or alter. It is gone. Not even God will change the past. All expectations of God are future expectations. All the possibilities of faith and love are future possibilities. And all the power that touches me with help to live in love is future power. As precious as the bygone blessings of God may be, if he lives me only with the memory of those, and not with the promise of more, I will be undone. My hope for future goodness and future glory is future grace.

This is quite revealing, because it seems that grace is disentangled from the Cross, the lens from which we see things. It is 180 degrees opposite of the Concordian focus on the uses of the Law and the ideas of Grace. For a Concordian, it is the 2nd use of Grace that predominates, and also the 2nd use of the Law that is lifted high. Hence, for him, the grace in the past at the Cross is still the grace that he needs and clings to for his future , it functions literally in his here and now (this is strange to some), so there is no new or fresh batch of grace. Grace in this respect is neither diminished, gets stale, like bread or is increased. Grace is outside him, that is the focus, whereas in Evangelian talk, Grace is seen as something imparted inside the constitution of the Christian - intra gratia.

Grace for sure
Bluntly we have no promise of future grace as a free standing idea we can hold on to from God. If we want to know if God has "future grace" for us - we will be grasping at straws if we do not see it from the 2nd use of Grace. Yes, God by nature is gracious but where do you find it with certainty? There is no naked Grace of God towards us that is not clothed in Christ's Cross. Besides this, we will interpret our circumstances from a temporal world view and not in the light of eternity.

Which drives what?
In other words, which drives what, which idea of grace drives? I believe there is 3rd use of Law and 3rd use of Grace, but the question is which drives what? We should not disagree that we do have sanctification, we do have it absolutely! That is the nature of faith in the Gospel. We should just refuse for it to be driven by anything except by the 2nd use of Grace.