Ma. Angela Luz L.

Espinosa 2/16/2019
Prof. U Eliserio PI 100
Essay Homework #3

Rizal’s View on God

While Jose Rizal was exiled in Dapitan, he exchanged letters with Fr. Pastells discussing
his thoughts regarding God and religion. They had a treatise of various topics like personal
judgement, the subjective perceptions of God and the varying Truths that each different religions
impart to their believers. Rizal would question the traditional beliefs of the Catholic Church and
for the most part, Fr. Pastells is suspecting that maybe Rizal is turning into a heretic. In the end Fr.
Pastells kept sharing the wonders of God and trying to change Rizal’s views on religion but alas
Rizal says it is lost cause to do so. Upon reading these letters, I find myself agreeing with most of
the things that Rizal talked about in his letters.

In the first letter of Rizal,

According to the second letter of Rizal, perceptions about the truth shared by religions are
relative and all religions believe that they hold the truth in their teachings. Rizal would argue that
religions would all religions would talk of praise about their belief and shun those who do not
believe their teachings or claims. He compared their religions to that of students sketching a statue
from different angles and distances. Each of them would sketch something completely different
since they see the subject in different perspectives. Those who would just copy the sketch from
another student are considered ignorant or an idle follower, someone who cannot think for himself.
In the end, one can only see what the student is sketching if you can place yourself in the exact
same place as the student but that is extremely difficult because even your retina has to be similar
according to Rizal in order for both of you to see the exact same thing. Thus Rizal concluded how
if it is difficult to view something in a physical space what more on the world of morals?

At present, I believe this is applicable to ideologies and religions found in the Philippines.
In a homily that I was listening to last Christmas, the priest was preaching about his disdain
regarding Muslims and how their teachings are crooked. The same is seen with the Iglesia ni Cristo
claiming that they are the one true Church and that their founder Felix Manalo is actually a
messenger from God as predicted in the book of revelation. I do not necessarily believe that all of
them have false claims nor right ones. Religious beliefs are something very personal and I feel like
how true their beliefs are relative to the follower but they do not have the right to say that people
of other religions are below them. It is also important to take into consideration that though you
find solitude or a sense of hope in your religion one should also be a critical follower so they can
be aware and call out the malpractices of their fellow believers.

Relative perspectives can also be seen in the political ideas and ideologies here in the
Philippines. Until now, Marcos loyalists still exist since they believe that the Martial Era was a
golden time in Philippine history even though the reality is completely different. Similarly, fans
of Duterte adore his frankness and fervor against drugs and yet they shun the statistics about the
growing poverty rates and lack of proper education amongst the youth. I cannot blame them for
seeing the world in a very narrow way. Hopefully in the future we can create spaces in which
people will not only listen fervently to understand one another but to be open minded to criticisms
against their political beliefs if ever proper evidence is shown.

In the third letter of Rizal, there was a segment there regarding the concept of God and how
imperfect our knowledge of Him is. Rizal would dispute that everyone creates their own image of
God in their own likeness. As seen in the imagery of Greek sculptures in which they always
portrayed their idols in human forms but with supernatural powers. In the Catholic religion as well,
one of the members of the holy trinity is in the form of a human which is Jesus Christ. Rizal points
out how it is bold to assume that religions know everything about God when we ourselves are
flawed and He is a being which is incomprehensible in greatness.

The persona of God with each and every being differs depending on their culture,
upbringing and environment. If one is plagued with a terrible life full of miserable circumstances,
maybe at some point they might perceive God as a punisher rather than an all-loving being.
Likewise if one is blessed with things in their favor their image of God would be a generous
creator. I do agree with Rizal that we cannot have a perfect image of God (if ever a God truly
exists) but I do believe that each picture of that being is unique to each believer. However, if
someone else has a different impression of how God truly is, one should not shun them nor see
your faith above theirs. It is important to respect people’s belief regarding the concept of God so
that unnecessary clashes can be prevented.

Religion and the concept of God is something very intimate and special. It differs among
a lot of people and it gives meaning to the lives of the believers. It is also important to make sure
that you are not blindly following since religions can also be a powerful entity which controls huge
masses of people. All in all in the exchanges of Rizal and Fr. Pastells, it emphasizes that we should
question things and be critical of the world around us. Through opening our eyes into new ideas
and being fully aware of the injustices around us, by then true radical change can materialize onto
reality.