Philippine President Duterte says Christian belief in Trinity is ‘silly’

Rappler ^ | 12/29/2018 | Mara Cepeda

[SeekAndFind]

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte mocked the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity, calling it “silly” on Saturday, December 29.

In a speech in Kidapawan City, Cotabato, the President attacked the doctrine of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as he once again went into a tirade against priests and the Catholic Church.

"You’re already praying at one God, then you’re going to pray at these cursed saints. There’s only one God. There’s only one God, period. You cannot divide God into 3, that’s silly,” said the President.

Before attacking the Holy Trinity doctrine, Duterte said Jesus Christ is “unimpressive” because he had allowed himself to be nailed on the cross.

"Your God was nailed on the cross. How unimpressive. I’m God and you will crucify me? I’d tell them, ‘Lightning, finish all of them. Burn all the non-believers.'"

The passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is among the central doctrines of Christian faith, with Christians believing that Jesus sacrificed himself to save the world from sin.

The President likewise belittled the belief in saints, whom he previously called as “fools” and “drunkards.”

"Saint Catalina, Saint Anne, Saint Thomas, Saint Sebastian, Saint Rodrigo, they’re nothing… I don’t know them. Look, those documents were written – if at all – 3,000 years ago. Why would they care about our lives now?"

"Who wrote about them? Who’s Saint Thomas? We don’t know who they are. That might even be a name for a cow or camel then"

The President – under whose term a string of priests have been murdered – had previously stirred controversy for calling God “stupid."

On December 6, Duterte even joked that bishops should be “killed” for supposedly doing nothing but criticizing his administration, which is waging a bloody war against drugs that has killed thousands.

[af_vet_1981]

Ok....your point...if there is one?

When appealing to authority, identify the authority being called upon.

Not sure how tightly or loosely coupled the Calvary faith communities are; there is an unsettling account of one Calvary Temple in Virginia her: some consider these marriages of a much older man to a much younger woman to be morally wrong. It seems marriage does not eliminate abuse either.

The Exiles

Former members say Calvary Temple in Virginia pressures people to banish loved ones. What happens to those who leave?

In 2002, Calvary members learned that Scott’s wife, Janet, was dying — and in her final days, had told her husband, then 55, to remarry. Just over two weeks after her death, according to several former members who were present and a published transcript of the sermon, Scott claimed from the pulpit that the book of Leviticus forbade “high priests” to mourn; instead, they were to “take a wife in her virginity.” Toward the end of that sermon, Scott produced a candidate from the congregation: 20-year-old Greer Parker, who joined him onstage dressed demurely in a suit, her blond hair newly bobbed. They married a week later.

The event unsettled many congregants. Marsha Foster’s husband, Gary Foster, who had belonged to the church since the 1960s, called Scott’s second marriage “the beginning of the end”; the only true high priest, for Christians, is Jesus. Another turning point came in April 2008 when Scott’s son, Star Scott Jr., and his then-wife sent an explosive email to Scott Sr., and passed it around among a number of congregants. The email alleged that Scott Sr. had molested his two young nieces for years, starting when he was a youth pastor at Greenfield Assembly of God Church in Bakersfield, Calif., and continuing into his Herndon days in the early ’70s. “THEY WERE JUST INNOCENT CHILDREN AND YOU ABUSED YOUR POWER AND AUTHORITY,” the email said.

[af_vet_1981]

My question is, how can you and I read the same scriptures, and come away with interpretations that are completely different? How do you do this bro?

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

...

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Romans, Catholic chapter three, Protestant verses one to two,
Second Timothy, Catholic chapter three, Protestant verses fourteen to fifteen,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James

[ealgeone]

>>Ok....your point...if there is one?<<

When appealing to authority, identify the authority being called upon.

I did. I clearly posted it was from gotquestions.org.

[ealgeone]

Not sure how tightly or loosely coupled the Calvary faith communities are; there is an unsettling account of one Calvary Temple in Virginia her: some consider these marriages of a much older man to a much younger woman to be morally wrong. It seems marriage does not eliminate abuse either.

You are all over the place with your replies.

Get focused.

[af_vet_1981]

I did. I clearly posted it was from gotquestions.org.

There are those who post from snopes.com; it is more illuminating to understand who owns snopes.com when appealing to its authority (company founded by David and Barbara Mikkelson in 2003, later in litigation over ownership).

[Mark17]

Why do you drag out pernicious, evil cults, like INC, and Herbert W Armstrong, and call them restorationist faith beliefs? I already asked you, which evil cult, will you drag out next, and try to claim it is some sort of restorationist faith movement? That is your term, by the way. I don’t use that term. So, again I ask. What is the next evil cult, that you will claim is a restorationist faith sect? You have brought forth two so far. What will be the next one.
I am wondering, if you will try to say Islam is a restorationist faith belief (your term, not mine) Check out 1st Corinthians 2:14 bro. It speaks volumes. Gee whiz bro, you and I can’t even agree on what the word “orthodox” means, but which cult will you bring up next?

[Mark17]

That looks like another random verse generation, only very, very slightly, even remotely related to the subject at hand. Nailing jello to the wall.

[Mark17]

Howard Hendricks, longtime professor of hermeneutics at Dallas Theological Seminary, set out the method of observing the text, interpreting the text, applying the text in his book, Living By the Book. Other major Christian teachers, such as Charles R. (Chuck) Swindoll, who wrote the foreword, Kay Arthur and David Jeremiah have based their hermeneutics on the principles Hendricks teaches.

I pulled this, from your randomly generated link, concerning Dallas Theological Seminary. I hardly think Dallas is the seminary you would want to invoke, in reference to Catholic interpretation of scripture. But just so you know bro, a certain Freeper, is a Dallas Theological Seminary graduate, so don’t try to pull the wool over his eyes. 😇👎

[boatbums]

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”. President Duterte will, sadly for him, one day KNOW that for a fact! He will have eternity to regret his foolish ravings!

[Elsie]

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,

[Elsie]

One can have assurance of salvation if one does these things: if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

What?

Where are the Sacraments?

The hyper dulia of 'Mary'??

The adoration of SAINTS???

[Elsie]

One can have assurance of salvation if one does these things: if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

So; DO YOU have that ASSURANCE?

[Elsie]

Shameful Workmen: Wrongly dividing the word of Truth.

[Elsie]

This is my commandment,

Sorry Jesus; but the CHURCH says that I CAN call that fella FATHER if I want to.

In practice; I'm almost FORCED to!

---Catholic_Wannabe_Dude(Hail Mary!!!)

[Elsie]

Let me give you a helpful maxim, which is true always and forever, and should help to guide you for the rest of your life.

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

1 Samuel 15:22-24

[Elsie]

Whenever it comes to a discrepancy or contradiction between the personal interpretation of a biblical text by a man called "Augustine", and a directive of the Holy Spirit (God) to one of the biblical authors to write something seemingly contradictory (like actually having them call various men "father" in the inspired Bible), God is always right, and the man called "Basil of Seleucia" is always wrong, without exception.   In other words, if a man called "Bede" interprets something in the Scriptures to mean something that directly contradicts something that God teaches by direct example elsewhere in the Scriptures, that man named Cassiodorus' interpretation is always wrong, and God is always right.

 

 

 Just like the REST of these fellas!!   Cyril of Alexandria,  Origen,   Hilary of Potier...

 

---

 

As regards the oft-quoted Mt. 16:18 (and less understood), note the following Early Church Fathers promise in the profession of faith of Vatican 1:

 

 

 

 

• Augustine, sermon:

"Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter's confession. What is Peter's confession? 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' There's the rock for you, there's the foundation, there's where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer. — John Rotelle, O.S.A., Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine , © 1993 New City Press, Sermons, Vol III/6, Sermon 229P.1, p. 327

 

Augustine, sermon:

Upon this rock, said the Lord, I will build my Church. Upon this confession, upon this that you said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,' I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not conquer her (Mt. 16:18). — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City, 1993) Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 236A.3, p. 48.

 

• Augustine, sermon:

For petra (rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, 'On this rock will I build my Church,' because Peter had said, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' On this rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church. — Augustine Tractate CXXIV; Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: First Series, Volume VII Tractate CXXIV (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.cxxv.html)

 

• Augustine, sermon:

And Peter, one speaking for the rest of them, one for all, said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:15-16)...And I tell you: you are Peter; because I am the rock, you are Rocky, Peter-I mean, rock doesn't come from Rocky, but Rocky from rock, just as Christ doesn't come from Christian, but Christian from Christ; and upon this rock I will build my Church (Mt 16:17-18); not upon Peter, or Rocky, which is what you are, but upon the rock which you have confessed. I will build my Church though; I will build you, because in this answer of yours you represent the Church. — John Rotelle, O.S.A. Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1993), Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 270.2, p. 289

 

• Augustine, sermon:

Peter had already said to him, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' He had already heard, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not conquer her' (Mt 16:16-18)...Christ himself was the rock, while Peter, Rocky, was only named from the rock. That's why the rock rose again, to make Peter solid and strong; because Peter would have perished, if the rock hadn't lived. — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City, 1993) Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 244.1, p. 95

 

• Augustine, sermon:

...because on this rock, he said, I will build my Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not overcome it (Mt. 16:18). Now the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Hold on to these texts, love these texts, repeat them in a fraternal and peaceful manner. — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1995), Sermons, Volume III/10, Sermon 358.5, p. 193

 

• Augustine, Psalm LXI:

Let us call to mind the Gospel: 'Upon this Rock I will build My Church.' Therefore She crieth from the ends of the earth, whom He hath willed to build upon a Rock. But in order that the Church might be builded upon the Rock, who was made the Rock? Hear Paul saying: 'But the Rock was Christ.' On Him therefore builded we have been. — Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), Volume VIII, Saint Augustin, Exposition on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXI.3, p. 249. (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf108.ii.LXI.html)

 

• Augustine, in “Retractions,”

In a passage in this book, I said about the Apostle Peter: 'On him as on a rock the Church was built.'...But I know that very frequently at a later time, I so explained what the Lord said: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,' that it be understood as built upon Him whom Peter confessed saying: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,' and so Peter, called after this rock, represented the person of the Church which is built upon this rock, and has received 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven.' For, 'Thou art Peter' and not 'Thou art the rock' was said to him. But 'the rock was Christ,' in confessing whom, as also the whole Church confesses, Simon was called Peter. But let the reader decide which of these two opinions is the more probable. — The Fathers of the Church (Washington D.C., Catholic University, 1968), Saint Augustine, The Retractations Chapter 20.1:.

 

 

 • Basil of Seleucia, Oratio 25:

'You are Christ, Son of the living God.'...Now Christ called this confession a rock, and he named the one who confessed it 'Peter,' perceiving the appellation which was suitable to the author of this confession. For this is the solemn rock of religion, this the basis of salvation, this the wall of faith and the foundation of truth: 'For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.' To whom be glory and power forever. — Oratio XXV.4, M.P.G., Vol. 85, Col. 296-297.

• Bede, Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, 3:

You are Peter and on this rock from which you have taken your name, that is, on myself, I will build my Church, upon that perfection of faith which you confessed I will build my Church by whose society of confession should anyone deviate although in himself he seems to do great things he does not belong to the building of my Church...Metaphorically it is said to him on this rock, that is, the Saviour which you confessed, the Church is to be built, who granted participation to the faithful confessor of his name. — 80Homily 23, M.P.L., Vol. 94, Col. 260. Cited by Karlfried Froehlich, Formen, Footnote #204, p. 156 [unable to verify by me].

• Cassiodorus, Psalm 45.5:

'It will not be moved' is said about the Church to which alone that promise has been given: 'You are Peter and upon this rock I shall build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.' For the Church cannot be moved because it is known to have been founded on that most solid rock, namely, Christ the Lord. — Expositions in the Psalms, Volume 1; Volume 51, Psalm 45.5, p. 455

• Chrysostom (John) [who affirmed Peter was a rock, but here not the rock in Mt. 16:18]:

Therefore He added this, 'And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; that is, on the faith of his confession. — Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Homily LIIl; Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf110.iii.LII.html)

• Cyril of Alexandria:

When [Peter] wisely and blamelessly confessed his faith to Jesus saying, 'You are Christ, Son of the living God,' Jesus said to divine Peter: 'You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.' Now by the word 'rock', Jesus indicated, I think, the immoveable faith of the disciple.”. — Cyril Commentary on Isaiah 4.2.

• Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Book XII):

“For a rock is every disciple of Christ of whom those drank who drank of the spiritual rock which followed them, 1 Corinthians 10:4 and upon every such rock is built every word of the church, and the polity in accordance with it; for in each of the perfect, who have the combination of words and deeds and thoughts which fill up the blessedness, is the church built by God.'

“For all bear the surname ‘rock’ who are the imitators of Christ, that is, of the spiritual rock which followed those who are being saved, that they may drink from it the spiritual draught. But these bear the surname of rock just as Christ does. But also as members of Christ deriving their surname from Him they are called Christians, and from the rock, Peters.” — Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Book XII), sect. 10,11 ( http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/101612.htm)

• Hilary of Potier, On the Trinity (Book II):

Thus our one immovable foundation, our one blissful rock of faith, is the confession from Peter's mouth, Thou art the Son of the living God. On it we can base an answer to every objection with which perverted ingenuity or embittered treachery may assail the truth."-- (Hilary of Potier, On the Trinity (Book II), para 23; Philip Schaff, editor, The Nicene & Post Nicene Fathers Series 2, Vol 9.

[Elsie]

First mention?

Did the separate books of the Bible fall from Heaven in the order that they are printed today?

Come ON!

---

Catholicism sure does NOT have the same order of the OT as the Jews do!

WHY??

[Elsie]

Why???

---

John 4:22
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

[Elsie]

...yet have ye not many fathers:

HMMMmmm…

Worldwide. Worldwide, the number of priests in 1970 was 419,728. In 2012, there were a total of 414,313 priests.

While the total number of priests worldwide has therefore remained about the same since 1970, the Catholic population has nearly doubled, growing from 653.6 million in 1970 to 1.229 billion in 2012.

Priest shortage in the Catholic Church - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_shortage_in_the_Catholic_Church

[Elsie]

For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

(Though I don't know what the HELL has gotten into those 7 Catholic churches in Asia!)