World Religions: Iglesia ni Kristo - Assignment Example

 World Religions Report: A Study on Iglesia ni Kristo The Philippines is recognized as a predominantly Christian country. Ironically, another independent religion, aside from Islam, is drawing a great number of Filipino followers. Statistics show that its members grew from 475,407 to 1,414,393 from 1970 to 1990 (PDHS, 1990). As a matter of fact, it has even spread beyond the Philippine Archipelago to almost 85 countries (Santiago, 2003). At present, 25% of its followers are non-Filipino (Harper, 2001). This widespread religion known as Iglesia ni Kristo. Iglesia ni Kristo has already began spreading in the United States and to other sixty-seven nations other than the Philippines with no less than 200 congregations (Catholic Answers, 2004). Marriage of non-Filipinos to those belonging in Iglesia families is just one of the examples of how those comprising the minority of the Iglesia population have been involved in the religion (Catholic Answers, 2004). Despite the widespread estimate of the number of the constituents (which is between three million and ten million including those outside the Philippines), the Iglesia conceals their real population. It has a larger population than the more known Jehovah’s Witnesses, which also assert their being the genuine Church of Christ (Catholic Answers, 2004). Indeed, unlike most of the other cults which have Western origins, Iglesia ni Kristo (INC) or the Church of Christ has its roots from the Philippines with Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) describing it as indigenous. Historically, it was a small church founded by Felix Manalo in July 27, 1914 (Elesterio, 1988). Thus, he was considered by his followers as the messenger of God. After the fast expansion 1945, the number of members reached the 600,000 mark by the end of the 20th century (“Iglesia ni Kristo”, 2007). This has also led to the building of chapels throughout the country and to their being a well-heeled federal religious organization. However, the foundation of INC was not an easy task; it was a great struggle for Manalo. Yet, Harper (2001) noted that one thing is certain: preliminary association with the Bible pushed him to impugn what has been taught to him regarding religion and God in the Roman Catholic Church. According to her research, Manalo had joined other religious groups before he finally established INC. At the age of 18, it was found out that he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church where he trained about the Bible and become a lay preacher. At 22, he also studied with the Presbyterians and joined Mision Cristiana, the Christian Mission of the Disciples of Christ. Harper (2001) added that after having Bible studies, Manalo joined the Seventh Day Adventists in 1911 where he was tasked to be an evangelist in Bulacan until he resigned and become associated with philosophers and atheists as well. In 1913, the turning point of INC took place when Manalo spent three days alone in a closet (Harper, 2001). He thought to establish a new church which is Scripture-based. He also wanted it to be a Filipino church, free from foreign leadership. Hence, was the formation of Iglesia ni Kristo in 1914 and the rest was history. The most basic belief of INC promotes the idea that its founder, Manalo, was the “Angel of the East” being pertained to in Revelation 7 (Harper, 2001). This goes to show that he was the prophet sent by God to restore Christianity which was disrupted early on. The INC’s main headquarters stands on Commonwealth Avenue of Quezon City (“Iglesia ni Cristo in the Philippines”, 2005). See Appendix A. They have a large and distinct aerodynamic cathedral which appears like a rocket. According to an interview with Lita Javier (2007), the curator of the INC museum, the logic behind this architecture is the belief that someday, God will remove their churches on earth; these structures will take off in the earth and will go directly to heaven along with the believers who are inside it. However, some believers argue that this belief is a fallacy. Hence, debates are going on as to how to explain the design of their cathedrals. When some of the INC followers were asked to describe their churches, they would say that seeing breathtaking beauty of the cathedral outside, it is a lot more beautiful inside. One even commented that it’s not the structure of the church alone which is beautiful; for them, it’s the church itself including their practices that makes them extraordinary. A strong sense of solemnity and spirituality can be felt within the church. Aside from the large cathedral, the INC’s headquarters in Quezon City also has a school and a hospital as well. They are the New Era University and New Era Hospital, respectively. These make the INC area cover a very large unit of land along the highway of Commonwealth. In a nutshell, INC cathedrals are prevalent in almost all of the villages and towns of the Philippines and even abroad. Apparently, all of their church buildings possess almost the same appearance. See appendix B. According to an interview with a pastor in INC Commonwealth who wished to be unidentified (2007), INC debunks most of the teachings of Christian faith. Examples of these are the beliefs in the Trinity, Jesus Christ, and Salvation by Grace Alone. The pastor emphasized that INC is distinguished by their belief that they are the true Church as they claim to be the restoration of Christianity. By being the “true” Church, they recognize themselves as the only organization of God and all the others are just pseudo-organizations. As INC puts it, the believer must coincide to anywhere God decide His children to be, that is, in the true Church—the Church of Christ” (Costa, 2002). Furthermore, he added that they have a strong Biblical authority unlike the others. As stated earlier, their religion is very Scripture-based. However, they believe that the bible alone is not enough; INC believers are taught that they cannot comprehend the Scriptures without the Church, presently headed by Erano Manalo, the son of the founder. In their own words, "…it is beyond man's power and intelligence to study and understand the truth, which is God's word (John 17:17), by himself, without the guidance of God's messenger" (as cited in PASUGO, 1973). Hence, the bible became a “closed” book for believers. This is essential to avoid biased interpretation of the Scriptures. In order to have a more effective way of spreading the good news among the INC community, they have an official publication called the PASUGO (Harper, 2001). The pastor said that the publication serves as the eye-opener for the followers about the current situation of their community. Thus, it also serves to unify the entire INC group from different parts of the nation as well as the world by means of instilling awareness to everyone. Aside from this, the pastor stressed their rejection of the Trinity, particularly the belief in the Deity of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, they always have something to say about the denial of the Trinity in almost every issue of PASUGO. For their point of view, Christ is just a human being and not God; he just served as the mediator between man and God. For them, his atonement is incomplete; hence, he did not totally save anybody. In addition, the pastor reported their belief about salvation. For them, grace is not enough to be saved. They believe that concrete works must be done for salvation to be attained. More importantly, association with their Church is vital for human salvation. Apparently, INC serves as a reaction primarily towards Christianity which is more dominant in the Philippines. To put it briefly, the two religions have opposing beliefs since INC debunks most of the Christian faith and practices like the beliefs in Trinity, Jesus Christ, salvation by grace, and a lot more. The pastor interviewed also pointed out that their religion is distinguished by their tight control over their members unlike Christianity. In this regard, the pastor admitted that their main prospects for conversion are the Christians. They wish to enlighten those who are skeptical about their faith and who are ignorant of the teachings in the Bible. Thus, it is observable that most of their followers are former Roman Catholics while others are from Protestant Christianity. But even though INC opposes most of the beliefs of Christianity, they are still similar in their belief in one God and the Bible. However, INC is generally criticized by being overly critical of the other religions and this has brought up tension between them and others. One flaw seen by Christianity in INC is its self-centeredness. They promote the idea that they are the sole church and their members are the only messengers of God (Harper, 2001). This is directly contradicting the Christian belief that God created everyone with equal rights and privileges (Scott and Hahn, 1993). By saying so, everyone then has the right to be called His church and His messengers of the Good News. Another criticism thrown at INC is about its being strictly Scripture-based. They have the tendency to have the proof-reading approach of studying the teachings in the Bible instead of focusing on the context of the passages (Harper, 2001). Moreover, the authoritarian, centralized structure of INC is also seen as an imperfection (“Iglesia ni Cristo in a nutshell-Doctrines exposed”, 2005). Because of their tight control over the members, the have been imposing a number of strict rules and regulations to its followers such as women are not allowed to wear pants, the entire community should only have one vote in elections, and a lot more. For Christians, this strict control is a violation of human rights. They believe that God endowed humans with freedom and free will to live his or her life accordingly. They firmly believe that God gave humans the capacity for reason, the capacity to choose and decide for himself or herself based from his or her conscience. By telling the members what to believe and by insisting that they cannot understand the Bible by themselves are clear contradictions for this belief. Furthermore, the rules and regulations set by INC also touch a number of issues like those of gender (e.g. women on wearing pants) and political issues (e.g. elections) which are almost considered outside the realm of religion. There are still a number of arguments against INC but the predominant of all is its seemingly hostile attack on other religions particularly on the Evangelicals (Harper, 2001). INC firmly upholds the belief that these “born-again” Christians are actually false groups for they, the INC themselves, are the only “true” Church of God. As a result, the infamous gap between INC and Ang Dating Daan is still continuing and heightening as time passes by. Ang Dating Daan, also known as Members Church of God International, is one of the most major and entrenched religious group in the Philippines headed by Bro. Eli Soriano (MCGI, n.d.). This congregation encourages the careful reading understanding of the Bible which is against the belief of INC that the Bible is a “closed” book. At present, the gap between the two is so intense that a religious war is already established on and off air. In general, INC is such a powerful religion not only in the Philippines but also abroad. It has attracted a great number of followers due to its contemporary teachings and beliefs. However, it is a sad fact that it has to collide with other religions which has caused tension among the people. In order to compensate with these shortcomings, it is important to look back at the definition of religion as a group of rituals and beliefs generally practiced by a faction of people and more often than not it is condensed as rites, prayer and laws capping off the religion. It is also defined as originating from collective conviction of people forming alongside unified faith, personal and group routines (Wikipedia, n.d). By saying that religion is a product of a shared conviction implies that there is no single absolute religion. Each individual is entitled to his or her faith; hence, instead of focusing on mocking other religions as false, respect for each others beliefs should be practiced. As Harper (2001) puts it, evangelism of friendship is a much more efficient means of acquiring trustworthiness than just determining and criticizing error of the doctrine. References: Catholic Answers (2004). Iglesia ni Cristo. Retrieved July 29, 2007, from: http://www.catholic.com/library/iglesia_ni_cristo.asp Costa, T. (2002) The “Iglesia ni Kristo”: A Christian Analysis. Retrieved July 27, 2007from http://dshortt.homestead.com/files/cults_iglesia_ni_cristo_tony_costa.htm Elesterio, Fernando G. (1988). The Iglesia ni Kristo: Its Christology and Ecclesiology. Cardinal Bea Studies V. Manila: Loyola School of Theology. Iglesia ni Kristo. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 27, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9042056 Harper, A. (2001). The Iglesia ni Cristo and Evangelical Christianity. Journal of Asian Mission, 3, 101-119. Iglesia ni Cristo in the Philippines. Retrieved Jul 27, 2007 from http://goasia.about.com/od/philippines/a/INC.htm Javier, L. (Jul 2007). Interview. MCGI. (n.d). Ang Dating Daan. Retrieved Jul 27, 2007 from http://www.angdatingdaan.org/about/about_faq.htm Network 54. (2005). Iglesia ni Cristo in a nutshell – Doctrines exposed. Retrieved July 27, 2007 from http://www.network54.com/Forum/70213/message/1124398452/Iglesia+ni+Cristo+in+a+nutshell+-+Doctrines+exposed PASUGO. (1973). QC: INC Press. Philippine Department of Household Statistics. (1990). 1990 Census of Population and Housing. Household Statistics, 477. Religion. (n.d). Retrieved Jul 27, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion Santiago, B. C. (2003). Four Decades of Reminiscence. Pasugo, 3, 55. Scott & Hahn. (1993). Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. APPENDICES: APPENDIX A: The main headquarters of Iglesia ni Kristo along Commonwealth Highway, Quezon City, Philippines APPENDIX B: The typical structure of Iglesia ni Kristo’s cathedral Read More