Pinoy Christianity and corruption

How can a supposedly Christian country,” a taipan asked me, “allow its culture to be so permeated by corruption?” The taipan sounded dismayed and worried about how foreign investors look at us.

- BOO CHANCO

The taipan then said we are fake Christians, that’s our problem. He blames our Christian churches for their failure to properly teach the basic tenets of the Christian faith.

Look at something basic, he said... sin. The God we claim to worship hates sin. Psalm 5:4 says “O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness; you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked.”

Sin caused Adam and Eve to be thrown out of Eden and suffer the consequence of death. Yet, the taipan said, we do not take sin seriously. We don’t think hell is real.

A UP sociologist, Prince Kennex Aldama, writing in the Inquirer observed: “Ours is a nation of faith yet also a nation haunted by dishonesty, patronage and moral compromise. Every Sunday, millions of Filipinos attend Mass, pray for grace and seek a divine guidance. Yet on Monday, the same society tolerates deception, favoritism and abuses of power as if they were part of ordinary life.”

If we took our Christianity seriously, we should know sin leads to death (spiritual and physical) (Romans 6:23) and separation from God (Isaiah 59:2). Good for us, God offers forgiveness and restoration through confession (1 John 1:9).

The taipan asked me, is public repentance enough?

The taipan pointed out the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector, who repented and promised Jesus he would pay back four times the amount he had cheated people (Luke 19:1-10).