Mindanaotoday.com | GETTING OUT OF HAND
BY: Churchill Aguilar
On The Road With Doh
I have a question to all the local government units who declared Pura Luka Vega as “persona non grata” and consequently restricting him entry in their places, how are we better than him in this case?
What the said drag artist did in a couple of his performances were outright disrespectful to Catholicism but what we are doing is worse because in our desire to teach him a lesson, we are also going against the very teaching of the religion we are trying to defend. In a way, we are somehow becoming the persecutor of the Christ we worship.
None, as in not a single line in the New Testament calls us to persecute anyone of different belief or values, rather all Christ hoped for was for us to love even the most unlovable. He never even stopped loving those who put him to death. He did not even fight back while he was being crucified.
We must have forgotten the lesson He wrote on the ground (John 8:7) which says, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
In a situation where our faith is being disrespected, I believe the best response is to show the offender what our faith is all about, and that is, to love and embrace him despite his lack of understanding and appreciation on who we are. If we ask ourselves, “What would Jesus, do?” I bet declaring someone as persona non grata would not be in his options. I mean there’s the story of Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene,, and the two theives crucified with Him.
Did Pura Vega’s disrespectful performances make us less of a Christian? NO
Did our making him persona non grata and curtailing his fundamental right to travel in the name of our faith make us less of a Christian? YES.
So who’s the bigger sinner in the picture now?
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