THEOLOGY-FAITH-RELIGION

Theology, Faith, Religion – these are words which are often times mentioned in discussions on religious matters.

What is the difference of each one from the other?

Based on my readings I have gathered the following:

Theology is what we know about God.
Faith is what we accept or believe of what we know.
Religion is how we live or practice what we believe.

When it comes to Theology, practically every man has some knowledge of God and His relationship to the world from what he reads, hears or experiences. One, however, does not necessarily accept whatever he reads or hears. When he accepts what he knows, then it becomes a conviction, though not may be a certainty. This is what we call Faith.

One’s faith is manifested in the way one lives. If one merely believes but does not put into practice what he believes, his faith is dead. Thus, St. James, the Apostle, says” “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). When one does not live what he believes in, he becomes a person with a split personality. Faith to be meaningful must therefore, be put into action in one’s everyday life.

We pride ourselves as a Catholic country, since the great majority of us (80%) subscribe to the Christian Faith. This Christian Faith tells us that we should love one another as Christ loves us. It tells us to break the cycle of evil by overcoming evil with good. It tells us to be honest, responsible and to share our time, talents and treasure for the good of our community. But, why is there so much graft and corruption in our country? Why are we considered as among the most corrupt country in the world?

I believe that the answer is simply because most of us, so-called Christians, do not live what we believe. For this reason many of us may be branded as KBLs – because we go to Church only when we are wedded (Kasal), when we are baptized or have our children baptized (Biniag), and when we die (Libing) to be blessed. We are sacramentalized but not evangelized.

The great challenge for us is to have a decent life in our country.

While the means to meet this challenge may somehow be answered politically and economically, I submit that the real answer lies in the sphere of morality – when every citizen would live according to the dictates of his conscience and abide by what our Christian Faith dictates.

Then and only then can we form communities where there is true love. And where there is true love, there will be peace and harmony in our relationships with each other; and there will be generous sharing of what we are and what we have to make our country truly great.

By: Salvador "Buddy" Cagurangan
Sep. 27, 2009