From a life of unbelief to a life of faith in God

Binhi sang Pagtuo

February 1, 2010

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

During the Christ Emphasis Week (CEW) celebration last week, a student emailed me and asked if the purpose of CEW is to convert them to the Baptist faith. This has been a common question in the campus. My answer was based on the document entitled, “A Statement on the Faith Posture of Central Philippine University” by Rev. Dr. Johnny V. Gumban, CPU Academic Manual, 1981.

Let us reflect on what the statement says:

“The proclamation of the Gospel is for the conversion of the people from a life of unbelief to a life of faith in God. Christian life means a life of personal faith in Jesus Christ, which issues into a life of discipleship and service for the believer. This necessitates the membership of the believers in a community of faith, which is the Church where nurture of faith is done. Since this community of faith is represented by local churches with different traditions, rituals, and lifestyles, believers are encouraged to seek membership in churches where faith is effectively nurtured according to one’s personal preferences in faithful adherence to the will of God as revealed in the Bible.”

“Central Philippine University differentiates between conversion and proselytizing. While conversion is change from a life of unbelief to a life of faith in God, proselytizing is a sectarian manipulative way of calling people from one church membership to another. Proselytizing is not the reason for proclaiming the Gospel. As a sectarian activity, proselytizing must not only be discouraged but also condemned.”

“Central Philippine University is ecumenical in its perspective in relation to other human concerns. Ecumenical means “one world.” It implies the unity of mankind in the spirit of love as envisioned in the prayer of Jesus Christ in John 17:11, 21 - “That they may be one as you and I are one.” Ecumenicity does not mean unity in one institutional super church. There can be never be, because of our humanity, unity in doctrine and in one system of life, whether secular or religious. Ecumenicity believes and promotes the unity of all believers in the spirit of Christ. It accepts the fact that, even though locally, believers are institutional members of local churches, in faith they are one in the spiritual universal church of Jesus Christ. Their relationship to each other in faith and love transcends the barriers of creed, culture and race.”

“Central Philippine University honors its Baptist tradition. It also accepts and respects the reality of diversity in religious traditions, which are the results of historical circumstances. It is honored to serve its constituency, which is about 80% non-Baptist in their church membership. It accepts the responsibility to convert those who are not yet in faith and to nurture those who are already in faith. It sincerely offers its Christian Baptist tradition and faith as a means by which faith in God can be established and nurtured in the life of all people. It respects the freedom of those whose religious preferences may be other than that which is offered by the university.”

“Ecumenicity of the Christian church, as a whole, believes that faith must be translated into a lifestyle, which is characterized by sincere observance of Christian moral values. These include respect for life and property, the preservation of human relationship based upon love, righteousness and justice, and the preservation and protection of the integrity of creation. It believes that while a man is part of creation, he was created in the image of God so that he can establish dominion over all creation as God’s steward, not as exploiter and destroyer of God’s creation. As a steward, man is accountable to God for his life, and for all the gifts of creation, which is for him to preserve, according to God’s divine purpose.”

“Central Philippine University is committed to Christian mission. Christian mission is for the purpose of attaining wholeness of life on the total life of creation in conformity to God’s design and purpose as revealed in Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures. God initiates this work in history by whatever means He chooses. Central Philippine University offers itself to be a means that God may choose for this purpose.”

May God bless us!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

Let us pray like Jesus

Binhi sang Pagtuo

January 25, 2010

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

The CEW celebration has started this morning with Rev. Jerson Narciso as the speaker. From Tuesday until Thursday the new format of CEW will be implemented. There will be four simultaneous convocations for the college in four different venues in the morning, and another four in the afternoon. This is to ensure maximum attendance.

The method of delivering God’s message this 2nd semester is through a lecture with ample time for open forum. The three main topics are Live like Jesus in your 1. Prayer life. 2. Faith and Integrity. 3. Stewardship and Commitment.

We covet your prayers for our invited speakers: Rev. Cris Amorsolo Sian, Rev. Jerson Narciso, Rev. Dr. Melvin Mangana, Ms. Faith Nava, Rev. Dr. Bernabe Pagara, and Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Fabula.

Let us reflect on some aspects of the model prayer of Jesus found in Matthew 6:9-13, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (KJV)”

The first word in the prayer is “our.” This word is communal rather than personal. This is later affirmed by the following words: “us,” and “we.” Jesus is reminding us that God is the God of everyone. God is not exclusive but inclusive.

In this regard, Jesus is questioning our tendency to make God exclusive to only one denomination, and that God is not present on others. We tend to domesticate God like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Steve Mosher, former CPU Theology teacher, in his commentary on the book of Romans wrote that when we domesticate God, we reverse the spelling of God. God becomes a Dog.

Exclusivist attitude is quite rampant now in our churches. It is as if we own God and that anytime we can put him inside our pockets and when we need him, we take him out of our pockets again. Let us do away this personalistic tendency and let God be God. Our personal faith should not be over-emphasized to the detriment of our communal faith. Let us remember that this model prayer of Jesus later evolved to be a confession of faith by the church.

The last portion of the prayer speaks about the boldness of the declaration of Jesus that it only God who is the king of all creation and therefore has the power and the only one that deserves the glory. This is very revolutionary because it contradicts the prevailing religious atmosphere that brought by the Romans. The emperor has declared himself a deity and colonized areas must adhere to emperor cult worship. Those who did not worship the emperor faced severe punishments even death. The challenge for us is to make their declaration, that God alone is to be worshipped, be our constant declaration also.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

p.s.

Thank you for your prayers and support to the just concluded 69th national assembly of the Convention Baptist Ministers Association at Camp Higher Ground attended by more than 600 pastors. I covet your prayers because I was unanimously voted as the new president of our association. This is an honor yet a great burden for I am the youngest president of CBMA at the age of 33. If you want to get in touch with Baptist pastors, kindly email me at fnjalandoon@yahoo.com

Live like Jesus

Binhi sang Pagtuo

January 18, 2010

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

Next week, January 25-29, CPU will celebrate Christ Emphasis Week. The Pre-CEW for the Faculty and Staff will be on Friday, January 22, and for the Graduate School on January 23.

The theme for this celebration is “Live like Jesus” with the text coming from Philippians 2:1-4 “If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

The phrase “Live like Jesus” is often heard because it is always preached by the church. But there is a nagging question that comes to our mind every time we hear the challenge to live like Jesus. The question is: can we really live like Jesus?

This is a very valid question because our faith declares that Jesus is God. This leads us to question our capability to follow the commands of Jesus because we are human. We belittle our humanity and blame it when we fall short. Filipinos have this expression, “sapagkat ako’y tao lamang.” Thus, when we hear the challenge to live like Jesus, we have in our minds some doubts that even if we try our best, we cannot really live like Jesus because he is God. And then result is that the commands of Jesus become ideals, and not imperative commands that need to be obeyed.

Paul addresses this issue of doubt. Philippians chapter 2 speaks about kenosis – the self-emptying of Jesus of his divinity to become truly human. “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death — and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.”

This theological statement by Paul should be enough to erase our uncertainties and doubts that we cannot live like Jesus. Yes, we can live like Jesus with the grace of God through our faith in

Jesus the Christ!

May God bless us all!

Sincerely yours,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

Leading the Nation

Binhi sang Pagtuo

January 11, 2010

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

Next week, January 19-22, pastors from all over the Philippines who are members of the Convention Baptist Ministers’ Association (CBMA) will meet in Camp Higher Ground, Barotac Viejo, Iloilo for the annual assembly.

We will be discussing the theme: Ministers as Leaders: Claiming and Leading the Nation. The reflection, discussion and meeting will be timely since there is a national election in the Philippines this coming May.

One of the landmark documents that will be part of the presentation on the historical development of the pastors’ involvement in societal issues is the Statement of Concern by the CPBC Assembly in May 1977 at Capiz Evangelical Church. The approval of the statement by the church people affirms the life and ministry of Baptist pastors and members who involved themselves on societal issues.

Let us reflect on the excerpts of the statement:

“We affirm that the dignity of a person or his worth emanates from his being created in the Image of God. The worth of a person, in other words, is a gift of God bestowed upon him – a gift that can only be tampered with or enhanced in the context of a living relationship with his fellow man.”

“We believe that the environment in its entirety was created by a loving and providing God. Man's use of the environment for the sustenance of his life is a moral mandate.”

“We believe that the world and the resources in it were created by God to be enjoyed by all. We also believe that it is His will that man become good stewards of the world's resources which means that he should exercise effective control of all resources for the good of society as a whole.”

“We believe that life abundant is a right of every man. While wealth is that which can allow man to have stability, security, freedom from want and independence, its concentration in the hands of a few in a world where the majority of people are in want, is a form of injustice that must be deplored.”

“We believe that progress is beneficial, when it provides a place of dwelling and maintains a healthful living.”

“We believe in the worth of every individual created in God's image, and that no circumstances whatsoever can justify practices intended to break bodies, minds and spirits.”

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

p.s.

If you want to send your financial contribution to the CBMA, kindly email me at fnjalandoon@yahoo.com for details. Thanks. It will be highly appreciated.

New Year's Resolution

Binhi sang Pagtuo

January 4, 2010

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Happy New Year!

After much eating during the Christmas break, a lot of people put losing weight on the top of their New Year’s resolution.

As Christians, the words of St. Paul can be our New Year’s resolution – “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

As the new year starts, let us be reminded on some of the radical demands of Jesus upon his disciples. Let me personalized this so that we can feel the challenge of Jesus’ words:

I will let my light shine before all people.

I will become a salt of the earth.

I will walk the extra mile.

I will deny myself and pick up the cross.

I will love my enemies.

I will let my yes be a yes, and my no a no.

I will serve God and not money.

I will not be a hypocrite. I will get rid of the speck in my eye before I will deal with the speck on my friend’s eye.

I will be a good tree that produces good fruit so that I will not be cut down.

I will not worry about my clothing, food, and drink. I will seek the kingdom of God above all for God will give me everything that I need.

And from Paul:

I will do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility I will consider others better than myself. I will look not only to my own interests, but also to the interests of others.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain