GRATEFULNESS, A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE

The Old Testament and the New Testament are full of principles of gratitude to be practiced by the people of God.  The choosen nation of Israel was often rebuked from the time they went out of Egypt through the leadership of Moses because they forgot Jehovah to be the one responsible for their deliverance from bondage and exchanged him for idols.  The result of their forgetfulness was forsaking Jehovah in favor of the idols of people around them.  In the New Testament, members of the church are often admonished by Apostle  Paul to be thankful for the salvation brought about by the sacrefice of Christ.  Though the act of the Savior in submitting himself to his Father’s will  to come and die for us was voluntary, Christians should thank him for that by offering their bodies a living sacrifices in worship for the glory of God.  In all prayers we offer THANKS not once, twice nor thrice, but many times.  That is Christian gratitude!

The equivalent of the virtue of gratitude in Philippine setting is the “UTANG NA LOOB”.  It has a literal translation to “Debt of Gratitude” but in our culture as Filipinos, it is deeper than “debt of gratitude” to the point that it becomes negative because gratitude results to blind loyalty.  However,  gratitude when practiced  as paying back “good things receive” by “giving good things in return” is embodied not only as a part of our culture but it becomes a Christian virtue. The Bible teaches us to repay “evil” with good. How much more of repaying “GOOD” WITH “GOOD DEEDS”?

People who do not recognize paying good deed with good deeds are liken to THE WOLF AND THE CRANE, THE SNAKE AND THE WOODMAN,  THE ULOPONG AND THE FARMER, AND THE BALITE TREE,  which fables were the initial postings in this blog.  I  urge the readers to once more visit the twin post (Archive for December, 2009 in this blog).

Edwin Valencia, in his effort to defend the actions of the Baguio Church elders and leaders in taking back three rooms granted by the BCOC congregation to the LTE operated by Bob, Ken, Seb, Dick, and Becky and giving financial assistance to CRIS SACAYANAN when he was operated on for heart ailment, he asked, “Were the acts of Bob and Ken with string attached?”.  If this were the views of Edwin and the Elders,  then I can’t find a harsher word than being and INGRATE to describe such attitude.

The email to Bob by TOMMY MAPALO in behalf of the Elders asking that the WHITE ROOM be taken back by the congregation because it is needed by the Preacher smacks of being ingrate and done in disregard of  delicadeza.  It was pointed out by Seb, Dick, and Becky that the WHITE ROOM is intended to be a dwelling place of Bob and Ken when they visit Northern Luzon for their mission. The whole building was constructed by the effort of Ken and Bob.  The American brethren were driven out prematurely after the church claimed that the building was given to them and it was ripe in 1994 for the local church to manage their own affairs.   It was given to the LTE as a result of the LETTER OF APOLOGY as a result of admitting that the local church committed a mistake in prematurely ending the USUFRUCT.  It was approved by the Congregation.  However, it was taken back from the Donor, Bob Buchanan,  in favor of the Local Preacher who demanded that he be given the best housing in the campus. The Local Preacher is  Marlon Locaberte, the son of RAYMUNDO LOCABERTE, elder of the local congregation, and brother-in-law of TOMMY MAPALO. Linda Pajo-Locaberte, the wife of Marlon is the first cousin of Tommy Mapalo. When Locaberte applied for a job as Preacher of BCOC, he knew very well that there is a preacher’s house built for local preachers where previous local preachers (Emilio Panday and the others after him) lived.  The choice of Marlon and his family against Bob is an act of INGRATITUDE. “Looks like to me that their attitude is like the attitude of King Ahab who wanted the "best vineyard" so Jezebel had Naboth the owner of the vineyard, be murdered via false witnesses and Ahab took over the best vineyard. Very sad, indeed!”, commented one reader.

The local congregation tried to repay the good deeds of Bob (according to the local church by giving the property to them) by granting him the use of the WHITE ROOM, so it seemed, but eventually the elders turned their back against Bob by getting it back. This may be out of line, but I must tell my readers that this LOCABERTE was the person who fed LEONARDO CORPUZ A WRONG INFORMATION THAT I AM GRABBING A GREATER PORTION OF THE LAND BELONGING TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AT 18 RIMANDO ROAD, BAGUIO CITY.

What re the other acts of the American brethren who could have been repaid by good deeds as acts of gratitude aside from the gratuitous deed of assignment of certain properties to the BCOC?  My wife and I remember clearly that it was Bob and Barbara Buchanan who initiated the marriage of CRIS SACAYANAN and ELVIRA SACAYANAN at their (Bob and Barbara)  house.  My wife LEONY was very close to Elvira and she knew.  It was Bob and Ken who raised majority of the money used in the heart operation of Cris Sacayanan.  The money was personally delivered by Dick Baguioen at the Hospital in Manila.  TEOFILO ALCAYDE was taken back as an Instructor in the early 70’s after he abandoned his classes at Philippine Bible College in 1970  and went to the United States for study.  He came back to the Philippines because Teofilo cannot withstand the cold weather in the United States.  He was without a job after that.  Ken Wilkey took Teofilo back to PBC without the latter applying for a teaching job.  Would it be too much if these Elders should have seen these generous acts of the American brethren and repaid it with good deeds instead of kicking them out of the properties NOT ONCE,  BUT TWICE (excuse the borrowing of the words of SUSAN ROCES)? DO THE AMERICAN BRETHREN DESERVE THE TAG “OUTSIDER” OR “KALABAN”?  DON’T WE, AS PERSONS WHO KNOW THESE, HAVE THE RIGHT OF RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION? I WAIT FOR ANYBODY TO TELL ME IN MY FACE THAT I AM WRONG!

What is the connection of getting back the WHITE ROOM from LTE for the comfort of the son of one of the Elders and the brother-in-law of the Church’s Secretary/Treasurer and the SUMMER LAND LEARNING CENTER?  IS THIS A CASE OF CLOSE FAMILY CORPORATION AND SCRATCH MY BACK AND I WILL SCRACTH YOURS?  Watch for the next Article on the Summerland Learning Center managed by ELVIRA SACAYANAN, wife of Elder Cristino Sacayanan.  

The gratitude of the Elders that was expected of them is not act of “blind loyalty.