‘…what I am saying is that whether PRRD runs for vice president or not will not be God’s decision; I am sure He has far too many greater worries to attend to. It will be PRRD’s decision, with a little help from those who have his ear and who may benefit one way or another from his decision whether it goes one way or the other.’
I WAS about to entitle this piece “Tempting God,” but then images of Satan talking to Jesus crossed my mind and I realized I really didn’t want that kind of imagery in this piece.
Anyway, what I would like to dwell on — PRRD’s alleged statement that he will leave it up to God to show him a sign whether he should run for vice president or not — is not on the level of Satan in Matthew 4-1:11 asking Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple to see if God will save His son.
This remark of PRRD is more like a tease, as we all know what a tease he is. His five plus years in the presidency is littered with such: teasing about resigning if he is proven to have said this or done that or shown to be unable to do this or that; teasing about the ride to the disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea; teasing about punching this or that person (but never Manny Pacquiao); and so now this teasing of God to send a sign is but the latest in the long line, which can still lengthen in the ten or so months that are left in his term.
My younger brother is a priest, a member of the Louisiana Province of the Society of Jesus, and I distinctly remember him commenting some time back that we should not be asking God for a sign, like whether they should marry this or that person. Unfortunately, I don’t remember his exact reasoning; but if I try to think of a reason perhaps it is that we mortals should never ask God for signs about things we want to do (or even say) so that we cannot have God but ourselves to blame later on. Yes? Not to mention the fact that our brain is a wonderful piece of creation (some would say, God’s!) that works in funny ways — it reads things the way it wishes to read things! — and hence what we would attribute to God as His “sign” was in fact our very own preference at heart that is being “read” by our mind in a “sign” we convince ourselves came from the on-high.
But then this is no different from the belief accepted by some that whoever we elect as leader of our country was chosen by God Himself. Which means that whether your leader is an Atilla or an Adolf, a Pol Pot or an Idi Amin, he (or yes, she!) was “enthroned” by none other than God Himself. (Or Herself?)
Me, not surprisingly, I choose to put the responsibility — meaning, the credit or the blame — squarely on our shoulders, the way Jose Rizal intoned that governments are as good or as bad as the people they lead. In effect, what I am saying is that whether PRRD runs for vice president or not will not be God’s decision; I am sure He has far too many greater worries to attend to. It will be PRRD’s decision, with a little help from those who have his ear and who may benefit one way or another from his decision whether it goes one way or the other.
But remember — deciding to run is one thing; actually winning is another. And whoever wins wins because the People so decided, not God.
Let’s try to take on more of the responsibility for whatever is happening in our lives, shall we? It’s time to give even God a break.
