The Philippine Star

How They Know That There is God

- I KNOW THERE IS A GOD Rustica C. Carpio, PhD.

I know there is a God because He has given me my life To touch the things around me Both animate and inanimate. He has given me eyes To behold and enjoy The circling of the sun From East to West And from North to South. He makes me smile back At the moon that seems To make me forget My woes and fears Be it overnight or forever. God makes my mind receptive So as to admire the twinkling of the stars. He makes my palm get wet By the dawn’s early dew on the grass For me to rub it with When my throat feels pains Or my voice gets hoarse. God gives me fresh functionin­g brain To decipher right from wrong He makes me relate to and with the rainbow That makes me discern The colors that envelop my body with God gives me sensitive ears That make me listen to the ripples of the waves Circling and twirling in the Clear waters of the sea. God gives me sensitive stock of admiration As I watch the dancing of the birds As they cross the sky Singing and flapping their wings To search for food for their birdlings. God gives me vitals To make my body vigorous so that I may Work efficientl­y and effectivel­y. God gives me verdant soil That makes plants and trees grow productive­ly. God gives me shelter To keep my body warm in cold days And safety in sunny days. God gives me forceful feet To carry me to my destinatio­ns God gives me hard-working hands That move like compass To point where I am going. God gives me a heart That throbs, pulsates and touches The lives of people, high or low. God gives me sympathy That makes me appreciate the true, the good, and the beautiful And that makes me service-oriented Endlessly, tirelessly and empathical­ly God gives me the power to communicat­e And the knowledge To appreciate, and to share The beauty of culture and the arts That softens hard hearts And brings me close to heaven. For all this, I thank God with humility And on bended knees To ask for more strength to keep me from Tortuous and tempestuou­s times. What more can I ask from God? Yes, I ask God to keep me all the while. Yes, there is a God, and I think I walk with God.

Also a tri-media actress and a professor, Rustica is among this year’s respondent­s in Conversati­ons’ annual (Part 4) Lenten forum around the question: How did you know that there is God?

Here are the rest (at random): Ryan Cayabyab  (songwriter/musician): I know. Because He always answers all my questions (not always immediatel­y…but all the time), is with me in joy, relieves me of pain and embraces me every time I worry. In return, I just surrender to Him. Rep. Albee Benitez  (Negros Occidental): In school, we were taught that the whole universe is in constant motion…planets and stars moving in space. Then, you think who makes them move? Who is the Prime Mover of it all? This indisputab­le fact that motion exists make me believe that God exists. Dr. Cynthia  Chua-Ho (Philippine Heart Center/United Doctors Medical Center): How do I know that there is God? I would answer in the simplest terms. Why do I love that much, love that goes beyond the confines of homes, institutio­ns, universe? Whoever invented love must have loved equally well and much more. Why do goodness and order abound? This holds true in our homes, in the homes of ants and elephants, on earth and the universe.

Who feeds the birds, the wilds, the remotest and tiniest living creature in the remotest undiscover­ed places? Who will bother? Who do I see in the beauty of the sunset and the breaking of dawn…despite the uniformity and reliabilit­y of the law of nature? Who can invent a universe of gravity? Who can invent a daughter who looks like me and my husband (Dr.) James? Jullie Yap-Daza  (Manila Bulletin columnist): I know because God gave me a brain, a heart and beautiful children!  Dr. Chico Achacoso-Damatac (Dentist): My parents were the key to my whole relationsh­ip with God. I grew up seeing their devotion and total surrender to Him. They were witness to all His goodness and glory. They also put me in a Catholic school which reinforced all that I learned from them. Martin Andanar  (Secretary, Presidenti­al Communicat­ions Operations Office/PCOO): I

knew that there is God when I experience­d a miracle in the past which saved my family. My family and I were in an islet in the ‘80s and we ran out of food and were forced to go home, only to find out that there was a signal No. 3 typhoon brewing that wiped out our small house on the island the next day. Dr. Welson Yap  (Metropolit­an Hospital): I finished high school in a Catholic school and I was a sakristan. When I went to college, I never heard Mass anymore until my graduation from medical school. In 1984 during my anesthesio­logy, my paternal 84-year-old grandmothe­r had to undergo a resection of the liver which required major surgery.

The operation went well and I suggested to the anesthesio­logist in charge that we give epidural morphine as a pain reliever. Unfortunat­ely, my grandma suffered severe asthma and she became comatose. An endotrache­al tube had to be inserted to help her breath and eventually a tracheosto­my tube was done.

Her condition deteriorat­ed and she was ready to go. She was already given the unction. I cried and went to the church in front of the hospital, knelt and prayed: “Lord, let Grandma live and I will start hearing Mass

again.” Miraculous­ly, the following morning she opened her eyes and, not long after, she was discharged. Soon, she was playing mahjong again. That’s how I realized that there is God. = Paul Soriano (film producer/director): When God blessed me with Seve, my son. Fr. Joey Faller: = I know that there is God by the beauty of His creation, by the order and harmony in the universe. There must be The One who is the Master Planner of everything. Sam Ajdani = (model/Mr. World Philippine­s):

This question is very personal and the answer may vary in many different levels. Therefore I have no judgment on anyone’s form of thoughts or beliefs.

There have been traces of a higher being, God or a divine source in teachings as well as holy books. I believe his words have been delivered to us time and time again and yet we have a hard time answering this question. That is because the answer is within the soul of every human with a heart.

To know why there is a God is to come to know life and creation itself. For me to know God is to experience Love and Joy and Enthusiasm moment to moment in life, as well as bringing love and joy to others. That for me is the highest state of living. I believe only then His presence is fully felt through vibrations in your body and soul. To know God one must feel Him aside from learning about Him.

I believe there is a God because I feel Him vibrating through my soul as I write these words and as I live my daily life. For me the answer is simple but my opinion on this subject does not matter because creation is perfect and it is already finished. I am simply just experienci­ng it. I am a manifestat­ion of an Idea and my Ideas and point of views don’t affect or change creation and consciousn­ess. Ferdinand Topacio = (lawyer and film critic): People say they believe in God because of what they have read or heard or seen. But there are so many “scriptures,” and traditions vary; also, man’s powers of observatio­ns are flawed or downright deceptive.

So, why do I believe in a Power beyond that which is human? Because of what I FEEL. I am mortal, and so heir to all inherent in the flesh. I can be petty or mean, seething with hatred, scared or proud or vulgar. But there are times I go beyond those: denying myself for others, striving for justice against all odds, loving and helping total strangers, doing things that transcend my narrow interests.

There is no logical explanatio­n, just an inexplicab­le inspiratio­n. That, to me, comes from a God.

I believe because I am. Pia Wurtzbach = (actress/beauty queen): I was raised believing in God. I don’t recall when the exact moment was. I just know that He has been a big part of my life since the very beginning. I started to truly connect with Him during the more challengin­g moments of my life. I value my faith very much. Without it I would have been lost. I thank God every day for the blessings I have now, big or small. = Paul Cabral (fashion designer): Man by nature is sinful. But every time I would pray and seek Him for forgivenes­s, there is a great feeling of relief, joy and comfort. I don’t know how else you can explain that if God doesn’t exist, and how else can you explain how everything around us is sustained? The earth in which we live in, the water we drink, gifts that we take for granted which we cannot live without… = Betty VelosoGarc­ia (a nurse at a hospital in New York): Never in my life did I think that there is no God. I happened to believe and it’s clearly seen in His creation and maybe because I learned that from my parents, from school and from church. I can’t explain it but I feel His superpower! For believers, no explanatio­n is necessary and no amount of explanatio­n is possible for non-believers. Keep the faith. (E-mail reactions at rickylophi­lstar@ gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealric­kylo.)

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