Casa Santa for your daily dose of Christmas!

The Philippines is one country that is crazy about Christmas. It is often said that the longest celebration happens in this mostly Catholic country. 

So if you are already excited about Christmas then you should head to Jardin de Miramar. Inside is where you an experience Christmas in a house called Casa Santa. 

The outside looks like a ginger bread house, something again associated with the holiday There are Santa's already on the outside with pine cones hanging from the ceiling. 

Once you go in, you will marvel at the scale of the collection. Everything you see is Santa. In all shapes and sizes. Truly amazing!

36th Manila International Bookfair

It's that time of the year again for me to buy postcards and to drool at nice books. It is always good to go early on such big events. There are less people still and there are no fucking annoying stupid cosplayers. Yes, I fucking hate cosplayers.

Entrance fee for the MIBF is just Php 20.00

There are rows and shelves of books everywhere. There are textbooks, technical books, tons of religious books and even hobby books.

Walk with Chan Chinese New Year Tour (Part 2)

Now we are stuffed with food from Ramada hotel we go to the next part of the tour.

We head for the San Nicholas district.

At the Plaza we meet the on going street parade. There are dragons, establishments and lions. It's true Chinese New Year in Binondo is still about business.

Walk with Chan Chinese New Year Tour (Part 1)

It's the Year of the Ram or the Goat. Whatever you like. China town once again is alive with superstition and culture. There are lots of reds and mythical creatures.

There is also food and things to see.

I was early at the meeting place - Sta. Cruz Church. Many people have already gathered because I have seen many people also use this area as a meeting place for the Chinese New Year.

This is the only Church that I have seen that allows dogs to go up the altar. That is just cute and at the same time interesting. I know there are protocols that allow them not.

The Church is covered in red and Chinese decorations despite that it was Ash Wednesday yesterday. The community was allowed by the Church to use red for the Churches in the area instead of purple.

Deliverance or further enslavement: A list of sins according to one Born-again Church

An office file serves usually contains files needed for work. It's the place where we put books for classes as well as some other reports. But then again you will see people put other things like movies, music and pictures.

I was foraging the files when I saw a folder with the name bible. Looks innocent enough and within the folder is another one called deliverance.

It looks like a list of things a person must be sorry for and must acknowledge and the accept Jesus as a personal savior. You know the drama and fuck most of these born-agains say.

It's composed of four files and the two files are actually the same. I have no idea why one is called short and the other long.

WARNING! This is not for the faint of heart. 

(click on the image to enlarge)

Going to mass on Mary's birthday (2014)

When I am bored I tend to just kill my time with anything despite the fact that I need to do many things.

It's just Monday and I have no work. I got to my feet and decided to go to the mall and at the same time hear mass. I made sure to be there before 6 because I know most masses are at 6. I as at the mall despite the drizzle of rain past 5 pm. The Church seems to be closed at that time so I decided to check their schedule.

I was right the mass starts at 6 pm. So I wandered the mall of course going to booksale just to kill time. I also went to see what is new and checked for water at the food court. SM MOA seems to have removed all the drinking stations at the food court what a bummer.

So I went back after 30 minutes and the Church is now open with the rosary going on. Some people are kneeling while the rest are like people at the movie theater bored with the trailers for upcoming movies.

Welcome to the Christian world!

Welcome to the Christian world!

Often that is the post on Facebook when a person is baptized. Since I am Catholic and I live in the Philippines, it is very likely that that child is now Catholic. But somehow I feel sad for this child and many other children who are forced to be in a belief before being able to decide about it.

In the Philippines babies are required like a rite of passage into life to be baptized. Parents will be busy preparing and making sure the party is a blast. Pinoys love parties and eating and will make sure to have one prepared even if they have no idea why they have to do it anymore.

With the changes brought by Pope Benedict XVI into the canon law. It is no longer possible to have yourself defected from the Church. Although many people still believe that ex-communication just means the same.

We are taking the right of a person to decide on what to believe just because we have what we think as the right belief.

So please stop baptizing children and save them from indoctrination.

God and Lord: The Battle with nouns

Often times people confuse the use of the word God. Often times people use the word as a proper noun and not as a common noun.

This is evident in Tagalog. People will often say si God instead of God. The same applies to the word Lord. Often times this mistake is made by born again Christians and Catholic charismatics. I often wonder why.

I think the confusion comes from the way most Bibles are translated or printed often times you will that when it refers to the central deity in the book the printer or the publisher makes sure that the word God is capitalized, the same applies to the word Lord.

But clearly earlier Bibles didn't prioritize on capitalization because most of the were written in all caps. With the later and modern translations they had to differentiate their God from the other gods by that simple device. Without even reading the fine print.

I bet that most of the people don't even know why LORD is spelled that way in the Bible. Or pastors and priests explaining it well. Ignorance is bliss I say.

So is God a common or proper noun? Let us see the definition and difference.

Wikipedia explains:

A proper noun is a noun that in its primary application refers to a unique entity, such as London, Jupiter, Sarah, or Microsoft, as distinguished from a common noun, which usually refers to a class of entities (city, planet, person, corporation), or non-unique instances of a certain class (a city, another planet, these persons, our corporation). Some proper nouns occur in plural form (optionally or exclusively), and then they refer to groups of entities considered as unique (the Hendersons, the Everglades, the Azores, the Pleiades).

But there are parts of the article that says it can be used as a proper noun. That is when referring to the Judeo-Christian god. I find that idea disturbing as if its saying that other gods are illegitimate. Such is the power of English in the way it makes it's rules work for its own ideals.

Received postcards (August 15, 2014)

Her some of the postcards I got today and some others I was lazy to post. I am starting to slow down a bit and absorb the value of each written and stamped postcards I get.

I think you also do. My collection needs also to be albumed than stacked in one box.

Where is Yoo Byung Eun? What will happen for the Sewol victims?

Wanted Yoo Byung Eun

It's been weeks since the tragedy in Sewol happened and many people in Korea are up to this day still enraged.

A few days ago, I was intrigued by the search for the owner of Sewol. I read his profile on Wikipedia and all the stories. I comes out that Yoo Byung Eun (sounds like Jong Eun to me) has already committed some mistakes in the past but despite that he still was able to make money and more money.

His Church The Evangelical Baptist Church is considered a cult in Korea and is not recognized by many Churches in Korea. So continuing the read I learned that he was a photographer and a minister. I read his authored booklist and something familiar struck me.

Reading thought John's Gospel.

Wait! This is familiar. OMG! I have read this fucking book in a Korean Church I was went to in Greenhills. the Church is called Evangelical Layman's Church which is the old name of Mr. Yoo Byung Eun's Church in Korea.

I asked my friend about it and confirmed that the old English Academy for phone English I worked for is owned by Pastor Yoo Byung Eun. He also owns a toy factory in Taytay, Rizal.

There are other Churches in the country but so far I forgot where they are. Every week members from Korea visit the Church to donate money for Church as well as to support the work of their dear leader on spreading their so called gospel.

Knowing the love of money of the Bureau of Immigration and airport people I would not be surprised if Yoo Byung Eun is in the Philippines. The members in Korea are as fanatic any cult is and is willing to risk their lives for their beloved leader.

BTW, I left that Church ages ago because I was disgusted with their hypocrisy and teachings.

Bambike Ecotour (A bike tour of Intramuros)

It's been ages since I learned how to bike and I was never a fan of biking. I get scared of small spaces and I get out of focus when I see cars drive by.

I arrived quite early at the venue actually I saw first so I went to Manila Cathedral since San Agustin was closed. There was a mass there and I lingered for a few hours. Then after a few minutes I saw a friend bloggers and the rest of the group came.

The firs ting I took a picture of is this little kitty sleeping at the gate of Casa Manila. He seems so tired and in peace. I hope I am in peace later when the tour starts.

We gathered in Plaza San Luis as the sun rises in the east. The air is warm and its going to be a hot day!

The store is located besides Paper Tole. It's a good sized place for their bikes and their small bar. They have different kinds of bikes for all sizes and uses. They have cheap ones as well as expensive ones. The best part is that they can also customize a bike for you.

The Bambike. 

Who wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliot Friedman (on bargain)

I am almost out of money and then I went to National Bookstore in Megamall. It's one of the places I go to. Then I bought some pineapple hopia from Holland. Too bad they didn't have kundol hopia.

After that I passed by Powerbooks to look at magazines. So far nothing interesting. I browsed without thinking through their bargain books then I saw this book. "Who wrote the Bible." The fuck I read this book for free from a PDF file I got online. I grabbed it and paid for it.

"Who wrote the Bible" by Richard Elliot Friedman is the common's man guide into the origin of the Bible. It presents the scholarly facts that was gathered concerning the authorship of the Bible without the crap most Christians put in the name of their religion.

It talks about the documentary hypothesis and how each of the first five books of the Bible were created. It's a must read for everyone since many people are still blind about their Bible and just assume everything they hear in Church is real.

Who wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliot Friedman

I am re-reading it again with much more gusto.

Weekend activities for May 10 and 11, 2014

source: Filipino Freethinkers
Filipino Freethinkers meet-up this Saturday (May 10, 2014)

It seems the summer is gonna last for years like Westeros. I don't believe PAG-ASA and their predictions of this and that. I can do a better job of learning about weather just by looking at the sky. Weather prediction is the same as reading horoscopes at times.

So since it rarely rains these days, take your time to explore and have fun.

Here is one event I recommend for the weekend:

Filipino Freethinkers Meetup, Saturday, May 10, 2014

Venue: 2nd floor of Bread Talk Promenade, Greenhills
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2014
Time: 2:30pm – 5:30pm

Sta. Cruzan and the abuse of Mary

Last Sunday me and my friend went to SM MOA to see if the Mabuhay Temple is going to celebrate the halls with Buddhist music and rituals. We found the hall with a few people and a bunch of gay guys. Its the Flores de Mayo sa SM Mall of Asia they say.

I think these people didin't study the right term for the event.

Again it happens that Mary is dressed up like a barbie doll by people. Used as an excuse to have a lame ass fashion show.

It's funny that an atheist like me found this program something wrong. And I am offended by they way they disrespected and used the image of Mary.

Shame on some people!

The religious privilage (the excuse to build this and that)

Once we start giving favor to religion we would soon need to give favor to all religions. That is the usual excuse used by other religions that is not Catholic in the Philippines.

It is not hard to find in any building even government buildings structures and altars by Catholics. You can have the boy Jesus called the Sto. Nino and her mother all over the place. Sometimes it makes you wonder if you went into a Church or what.

No one is bothered by this and so now the Muslims are also using the same arguments used by the Catholics. They also want their own sacred place.

I am quite OK with Catholics because most of their places of worship can also be places of art. Statues are beautiful and many chapels are places of solitude and relaxations like the one at SM Megamall.. I go there to rest my feet and get away from the noise of the mall. The blaring sounds and people talking about buying this and that.

Islam is different case. We know for starters that Islam is not a religion of peace. Most of the regular Muslims are quite good but turn and say something about their religion they will go nuclear with you.

I saw a Muslim prayer room at the PHLPost and my heart sinks bad. I was thinking this is bad. They have a Muslim cooperative in the PHLPost and now they have given them a prayer room as well.

If my memory serves me right. Muslims have already taken over the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation. I will not be surprised if they soon ask that their Sharia law be also respected.

We need to stop this take over of Muslims in Manila.

I don't want my right be taken away by Muslims or any other religion. And I would also like other people to have their freedom as well.

Holy Wednesday readings and music (April 16, 2014)

I am not sure how my Holy Week will last but surely once the vacation starts it will be quite boring. Maybe it means more sleep time for me.

Here are the readings: Isaiah 50: 4-9, Psalm 69: 8-34, Matthew 26:14-25