Verbum Dei Philippines
  • Home
  • Watch + Listen
  • Read
    • News
    • Feature Stories
    • Community Updates
  • Events
  • Communities
    • Pasig City
    • Quezon City
    • Pandacan, Manila
    • Tagaytay City
    • Cebu City
    • Cagayan de Oro City
  • Centers
    • Verbum Dei Center (Tagaytay City)
    • Verbum Dei Center of Formation (Pasig City)
    • Verbum Dei Apostolate Center (Cebu City)
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Spirituality
    • Our Founder
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Watch + Listen
  • Read
    • News
    • Feature Stories
    • Community Updates
  • Events
  • Communities
    • Pasig City
    • Quezon City
    • Pandacan, Manila
    • Tagaytay City
    • Cebu City
    • Cagayan de Oro City
  • Centers
    • Verbum Dei Center (Tagaytay City)
    • Verbum Dei Center of Formation (Pasig City)
    • Verbum Dei Apostolate Center (Cebu City)
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Spirituality
    • Our Founder
  • Contact
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

News

Read the news from events, activities and other updates on the different communities here in the Philippines

10/26/2019 Comments

Series of Formations at Verbum Dei-Tagaytay (September 29, 3019)

Picture

Atheism and Belief in God

On Sunday, September 29, 2019, the Verbum Dei-Tagaytay community begun a series of formations entitled “Atheism and Belief in God” facilitated by Sr. Grace Gonzales, FMVD.

It was a whole day formation attended by adult/singles and married individuals from nearby Tagaytay areas and some from Metro Manila. The formation activity covered interesting topics such as:

  • Man’s quest for the divine
  • What is man?
  • ​​ ​What is God?
  • ​​​What is atheism?
  • Various responses to atheism

As one of the attendees, we asked mind-boggling questions which could be on people’s minds, like, What is the meaning and purpose of one’s life?; Where does suffering originate?; What is its purpose? These are questions foremost in our hearts and minds which oftentimes we don’t articulate for fear of being misunderstood or branded as weird.

But, our God provides the answers, because man is a thinking and religious being. The Church document, Gaudium et Spes, #19 gives us a glimpse of the answers and some insights on what atheism is all about, the meaning of human dignity and also man’s capacity to know God.

Likewise, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC, Ch.1 # 27-29) tells us of man’s desire for God which is written in the human heart; and how God never stops to draw us to Himself. As St. Augustine expressed it, man is restless until he rests in God.

Throughout history, until the present day, men and women have continued to express their quest for God in their religious beliefs and actions in prayer, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, devotions, etc. hence, man can be called a religious being.

However, due to man’s sinfulness and weaknesses, the closeness to God can be broken, forgotten, ignored, and even rejected by man (GS #19). Thus, we have atheists who continue to reject God and deny any claim of His divine existence. We also learned in the formation, the various causes of atheism, like, man’s desire for autonomy, that he can exist without divine or God’s intervention.An advocate of this belief, Rene Descartes, said, “I think, therefore, I am.” which means, man is autonomous and can be left to himself. Another German philosopher, Frederick Nietzche, even said, “God is dead.” This reminded me of the famous Beatles member, John Lennon who composed the song, “Imagine” with the famous line: “Imagine there’s no Heaven…” Lennon was tagged by many as an atheist because of this composition, among others.

Finally, a very touching and relevant video film, entitled, “God’s Not Dead” capped our formation session. It was a film which depicted a learned professor’s life of denying the existence of God because “he was angry with God for taking everything away from him.”

The question put forward by the student who challenged the professor was, “How can he get angry with someone if that someone did not exist?” Towards the end of the film, the professorwho met a tragic car accident, accepted his defeat and asked for forgiveness before he passed away.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Amen.

With thanks to Mila Abigan and the WordNews team
Comments

    Archives

    May 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    May 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All Advent Articles Bohol CDO Cebu Christmas Couples Ctk Disciples Retreat Easter Encounter Event Family Bonding Fmvd FMVD President Formation Friends Of Verbum Dei Fundraising General Congress 2018 Gift Giving Hiking Holy Week International Kids Leadership Camp Lenten Local Assembly Luzon Manila Manila/Pasig Marrried Couple Missionaries Mission Trip Music Festival Musuan National Family Encounter 2015 National Family Encounter 2017 Newsletter NFE2020 Olango Online Retreat Outreach Pansol Pasig Pentecost Philippines Pilgrimage Prayer Camp Quezon City Recollection Retreat School Of Apostles School Of The Word Semi-silent Retreat Senior High School Siete Aguas Silent Retreat Singapore Singles Song Forum Spiritual Exercises Tagaytay Teens Testimony TGIS Toledo Valentines Valentines Celebration Vietnam Visit To The Archbishop Working Group Workshop Youth Youth Days

    RSS Feed

Picture
Vertical Divider

Subscribe for updates

© 2025.  Verbum Dei Philippines.