T he C hristian E xchange

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

CHRISTIANITY AND THE PHILIPPINES His Life Learning Center: Moving Up

(An invitation to dialogue) The His Life Learning Cen- parents and guests. the parents, the HLLC staff
This article was written by Atty. Edwin Catacutan in 2005. It is still ter (HLLC) ended its 4th Greg Ledesma ably em- and of course acknowledged
as provocative today as it was six years ago when he wrote it. This school year with a “Moving Up” ceed the affair with Pastor the efforts of the children in
article is reprinted with the author’s permission. EDITOR ceremony held yesterday, Joebert Ramos delivering his closing remarks. His Life
March 25, 2011 at the River of the inspirational message. The learning Center looks forward
How many years had the Philippines been a Christian nation?
If we base it from the Miguel Lopez de Legaspi expedition in 1565, it
Life Sanctuary. HLLC gave prayer was led by Pastor to the coming school year with
would be 440 years. If we consider the question in the evangelical recognition to its fourteen pu- Glenn Arellano. The Depart- excitement and optimism.
context of Christianity, then we can start it from the December, 1898 pils who moved up to another ment of Education lent its of- HLLC will have a revitalized
Treaty of Paris documenting the transfer of sovereignty over the level for the coming school ficial imprimatur to the event scholarships program and an
Philippines from Spain to the United States of America. Maybe not. At year 2011-2012. with the presence of its rep- intensive enrollment drive this
the time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, there were yet no significant The program began promp- resentative: Ms. Janalyn year as its plan of adding an-
evangelical missionaries in the Philippines. Silliman University was tly at 4PM with a processional Navarro who strongly be- other level (Grade 2) will be
founded by American Prysbeterian missionaries in 1901, financed by led by His Life Senior Pastor lieves in the potential of HLLC pushing through. Parents can
the American philanthropist, Dr. Horace Silliman. Central Philippine
Joebert Ramos, the moving and volunteered her help. also expect a fun summer pro-
University was founded, also by America Baptist missionaries, in 1905.
We can conclude then that evangelical Christianity had been with us
spirit and visionary of the The outstanding students gram for their children which
for at least a century. school. Together with Pastor were given due recognition and begins April 24.
Joebert were the other pas- the Pastor’s Awards were The His Life Learning Cen-
Did a century of evangelical Christianity then reformed the Filipino tors of His Life Ministries who given to the exceptional stu- ter is now accepting enrollees
nation for the better? Does the Philippines comparatively fared
graced the occasion: Pastor dents of each level. For Nurs- for summer and reservations
well with the other Asian nations, who do not even claim
Christianity as the dominant social force?
Armin Ramos, who is also ery: TIMOTHY JAMES MO- for the coming school year.
We need not go very far to find out the answer. We can simply read HLLC administrator, Pastors RENO, Kinder: DORY JEAN HLLC will be adding Grade 2
back the campaign materials and election literatures of Bro. Eddie Glenn Arellano, Eric Nega- VITO and Prep: GRAINGER to its Nursery, Kinder, Prep
Villanueva in the last 2004 Presidential Election. In essence, Bro. Eddie do, Raymond Jamora and DUANE WILSON. The lone and Grade 1 levels. If you want
said three things about the Philippines: Ranty Camponion. Grade One pupil GED BLAZE to volunteer and help or do-
a. The Filipino nation is not doing well. The HLLC staff led by the AGUSTIN VENEGAS was nate to the school or its schol-
b. The Philippine government is not functioning well. school principal Lissa May also given recognition. Ged is arships program call Pastor
c. It would take an evangelical or pentecostal Pastor-President to Diosana, Loida Escobar: an HLLC pioneer and will go Armin Ramos at 441-2561 or
fix the nation, with the help of God.
nursery level teacher, Sheryl on to Grade 2. His family came the HLLC School number: 709-
Whether Bro. Eddie agrees or not, his message then means that
Christianity in the Philippines, for all its worth, and throughout these
Hinola, teacher’s aide and in full force to support him and 0131 for inquiries. HLLC is lo-
times, had failed. Or, is it our “practice of Christianity” that has failed newly hired male teacher cousin GABBY MABAQUIAO, cated at The His Life Park,
because it has never reformed the nation from its economic, political Halgene Rufon, put up a who is in Nursery. Sta. Clara Drive, Mandalagan,
and societal woes? memorable program for the Pastor Armin Ramos thanked Bacolod City. *
Is 440 years of Christianity long enough to have effected change?
Or, is 100 years of evangelical Christianity too short to reform a
nation?
We all know that it took the early Christians about 300 years to
effect a dominant theological influence on the Roman Empire. By the
reign of Constantine the Great in 313 A.D. Christianity, which was earlier
persecuted, became a recognized religion in the Roman Empire. There
was no mass media then. No telephones, no internet. The speed of
travel is only as fast as a horse can run, and a ship’s speed is measured
by the efficiency of its sails and the wind condition. When everything is
slow, 300 years of struggle to influence the culture of the Roman Empire
is fast in comparative present day standard.
In a fairly modern example, the Meiji Restoration in 1868 jump
started Japan from oriental backwardness into almost at par with the
leading nations at that time in less than 40 years. After frenzied Meiji
years of modernization, of buying patents, copyrights, drawings, inviting
and hiring of foreign consultants, of sending scholars abroad, doing
away with the samurai and replacing it with a conscripted army, Japan’s
Meiji regime transformed Japan into a modern nation. In 1895, Japan
defeated China in the Sino-Japanese war. Japan got Taiwan as main
settlement concession in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. In 1904 it defeated The fourteen ”movers” of HLLC.
Russia in the Russo-Japanese war as an aftermath of the decisive
defeat of the Russian Navy in the Battle of Tsushima Bay. As a result of
the peace treaty brokered by the American President Theodore
Roosevelt in 1905 known as the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan got the
southern half of Sakhalin Island, control of the Liaodong Peninsula and
part of Manchuria. China recovered its lost territories from Japan only
as an aftermath of the latter’s defeat in the Second World War. Forty
(40) initial years of the Meiji Restoration is long enough for Japan to
effect massive social, economic, and political changes, and the Meiji
Restoration does not even claim any link to Christianity, nor does it
claim to be a theological movement. Is 100 years to reform the Filipino
nation still short for evangelical Christianity then?
If we go to Europe, the driving force for its modernization is the
Protestant Reformation initiated by Martin Luther by the nailing of his
95 thesis on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg in 1517. The
waves of Industrial Revolution happened only after the Reformation Pastor Joebert Ramos congratulates solo 1st Gra-
movement when the theological reforms triggered by it also influenced Pastor Armin Ramos thanked the children, the der Ged Blaze Agustin Veniegas as DepEd official
the other aspects of human activities and relationships. Christianity parents and the teachers for a job well done. for Private Schools Ms. Janalyn Navarro looks on.
does wonderful things to the human spirit, to the human intellect, and
to the soul, ultimately manifesting into the social, economic and political
spheres.
Has that power of Christianity manifested in the Philippine society?
Are we satisfied with what is happening?
Is this thing happening in our own nation all there is in Christianity,
and all there is that Christianity can do?
Is there no other dimension to our present practice of Christianity,
even to the present day Philippine pentecostalism?
Shall we not long for anything more in Christianity?
Is this all there is that the Christian leadership has to offer, and need
offer? These are the three Pastor Awardees with their
proud parents: From the left: Nursery: Timothy
ATTY. EDWIN R. CATACUTAN
Iloilo City, August 5, 2005
Proud father Pastor Glenn Arellano with four year James Moren spanish no; Kinder: Dory Jean Vito;
old son Nathan, the “littlest” boy in Nursery. and Prep: Grainger Duane Wilson.