Oil exploration in Mindanao must proceed

VIEWPOINT

Atty. Batas Mauricio

LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray…” (1 Peter 4:7, the Holy Bible).

                            ***

 INJUSTICE IN LUISITA LAND DISTRIBUTION: Isn’t it that there are more than 10,000 farm workers working or living at the Cojuangco-Aquino owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac City? How come the Department of Agrarian Reform is thinking of distributing the Hacienda’s 4,915.75  hectares of land to only about 6,000 of such farm workers? What is going to happen to the 4,000 or so others who will not get any piece of land? They will be ejected by the new owners? Isn’t this injustice of the highest order?

                                                ****                                      

 AMERICANS MUST RETURN TO GOD: New Yorkers and Americans are wondering, according to news reports published Wednesday, 31 October 2012, “when---if---life would return to normal” for them in the aftermath of the debilitating damage inflicted by Superstorm Sandy, which even prompted New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to quip: “Nature is an awful lot more powerful than we are.” Indeed, if man will not return to God, “normal life” will now mean a life of death and destruction from calamities. This is written in the stars.

                                                *** 

 OIL AND GAS EXPLORATIONS IN MINDANAO CAN NOW PROCEED: I have a suggestion: why not allow the Aquino government to already carry out the oil and gas exploration contract being offered by the Malaysian government to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) even as the peace process is still on-going? That way, jobs and business could already be made available and created, and economic prosperity in Mindanao could already be achieved. As to wealth-sharing arising from the contract, that can already be agreed upon even at this point, since there are existing rules on the matter already prevailing in the country.

                                ***

 “FAKE PRIESTS” CANNOT PRAY FOR THE DEAD? I don’t know but, was it necessary for the Catholic Church to warn, through an Internet posting, against supposed “fake priests” who will roam to pray for the dead on All Saints Day and All Souls Day, especially if  “genuine” Catholic priests, or those from other religious groups, cannot go to the cemeteries themselves and pray for and bless the departed? And more importantly, cannot just anyone---whether priest or not---pray for the dead and intercede for their souls?

                                ***

PRAYING FOR, AND PREACHING TO, THE DEAD: The Bible, in at least two verses, is emphatic that anyone can indeed pray for, and still save, the souls of the dead who died as sinners, contrary to the teaching of many so-called Christian denominations, to the effect that once a person dies, there is nothing more that can be done to save his soul, if he or she died as a sinner.

               

In 1 Peter 3:18-20 of the Bible, it is written that Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, after having been raised from the dead after His crucifixion, went to the place where spirits are imprisoned---obviously not in hell or in heaven---and preached and proclaimed to them the Word of God.

Here is the exact verse, taken from the New International Version: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits---to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built…”

                                ***

 SINNERS CAN STILL BE SAVED: The other verse about this talks about preaching to those who died after the days of Noah, and, quite clearly, even during these days that the end of the world is already coming. This other verse is more emphatic about saving the soul of a sinner who died as a sinner but who, because of prayers and preaching to him even when he is already dead, can still go to Paradise.

1 Peter 4:6 says: “… For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit…”

                                **

 REACTIONS? Please call me at 0917 984 2468, 0918 574 0193, 0922 833 4396. Email: batasmauricio@yahoo.com.