Duterte: Show me proof God exists, I’ll resign

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Show me your selfie with God and I will resign immediately.

President Duterte dared anyone who has gone to see God and have a selfie with Him to come back and prove the existence of God.

If this happens, then he would immediately step down from the presidency.

He told more than 1,000 participants at the 2018 National Science and Technology Week celebration held at the SMX Convention Center at SM Lanang Premiere the other night that he never said he does not believe in God.

“I tend to talk a lot about things…I believe in one supreme God…I never said I do not believe in God. I’m not agnostic and I’m not an atheist. I just happen to be a human being believing that there’s a universal mind somewhere which controls the universe,” the President added.

Duterte tackled once again the controversial issue on the existence of God rather than delve on science and technology which, he admitted, is not among his strongest points.

He clarified that what he was questioning is the logic of why is there so much agony, pain and injustice in the world.

“We’ll never really know until maybe God chooses the time for us to know the answer,” he said as he lambasted religions that ask money from people on the pretext of helping other people.

Duterte, who was criticized recently for his comments on religious matters, added that he would step down as the country’s President if someone is able to talk to God in heaven and have a selfie with Him.

“You do that today, one single witness that there is a guy, a human being, who’s able to talk and to see God. Of the so many billions that passed through Earth, I just need one. And if there is one, ladies and gentlemen, I will announce my resignation immediately,” he said.

The President questioned why God created a perfect paradise only to allow humans to be besmirched with malice and original sin, in a way questioning the theory of creation where Adam and Eve were tempted by a snake with an apple.

“So where is the logic of God there? You create a perfect (world) then you spoil it through a snake and an apple. And you give us the sin that we never even agreed to commit and that is the original sin,” Duterte added.

Meanwhile, a lay group has asked the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to issue a very strong statement condemning the blasphemy of President Duterte for calling God stupid.

In a letter they submitted to the CBCP’s 117th Plenary Assembly attended by 73 active and six retired bishops, the Purple Cross Movement (PCM) also asked their leaders to condemn extrajudicial killings in the country.

The group members, who wore sacks and covered their faces with mud, went to the Pope Pius XII Center in Manila to relay their request.

Aleta Tolentino, a PCM member, said they expect the bishops to issue at the end of their three-day plenary “a very strong statement condemning the blasphemy and to call on the faithful to reject such blasphemy and to speak out against it.”

Tolentino asked one of the security guards at the center to deliver to the bishops their two-page letter expressing their sadness over the events that have been taking place since Duterte took power.

They asked for wisdom and guidance from their Church leaders and to tell their flock “what is right and what is wrong.”

“If the President is disrespecting our church and our God, is that right or wrong? They should categorically tell us because we are listening to them, they should lead us,” Tolentino stressed.

The PCM also appealed to Duterte to end his war against illegal drugs as it denounced the killing of Catholic priests Mark Ventura, Tito Paez and Richmond Nilo.

“Your Eminences and Excellencies, they are killing our flock – even the most vulnerable children are not spared. They are killing our flock – the rule of law is disregarded, the leaders who fight relentlessly for truth and justice are viciously silenced, and the indigenous people who live peacefully in the land they have nurtured all their lives are oppressed. They are killing our flock – our freedom of speech, our right to information and the sacred guarantee of the Constitution to due process are now clear casualties,” the PCM said in their letter.

“We refuse to be defeated and just stand idly by. We choose to learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless and plead the widow’s cause,” they added.

They asked the prelates “to take your rightful place as God’s stewards of His Church. Reflection is a special time when God speaks to us and reveals Himself in silence, but from reflection comes action – a privilege and responsibility to represent God’s infinite love and justice.” – Evelyn Macairan