I'm sure you've been invited to a house blessing before. Every housepinoy has gone through it (even offices and business places) and the belief is that the ceremony wards off evil spirits, harm and bad luck, and invites good fortune in return. It has a similar outlook with feng shui (foong suy), which basically suggests that rituals and good-luck formulas control blessings and prosperity--and somehow God endorses them. God is somewhere in the equation.
Christians are not far behind. They also believe house blessings and blessing offices and business places will do a lot of good from God. They do it a bit different, putting in a lot of bible references and Christian rituals to give it legitimacy in God's eyes, if it were possible. We think that blessing a place with our Christian ceremonies will do the trick.
Pinoy Architecture and Spiritual Blessings
We should study these things more rather than paying much attention to construction superstitious beliefs that only a few rich folks care about--and those who wish to be rich, thinking that fung shui is the answer to riches. To really serve the greater majority--and formulate a truly Pinoy Architecture that the Pinoy masses really need--we should look for ways how to better improve what home features most Pinoys are limited to. We should conceptualize how to make them better, put some art into it, and offer it at a reasonable cost to them. That's a better blessing design concept than fung shui and other superstitions.
Have you been to really congested areas in the country where every nook and cranny is used up for residence purposes? If they have a mere 4 X 4 meter square area, they'd build a tall, lean tower of 5 to 6 floors in that space just to house all their family members and put their furnishings in. Sometimes, they'd crowd in 5 to 6 different families there, with each family having some 5 to 6 members. An authentic Pinoy Architecture (HOUSEpinoy) should find ways to make this living condition better so that people would have more decent and comfy shelters.
What about those who are particular about fung shui and other magic considerations in design? Better yet, how about comfy considerations for the greater majority?
As Architecture students we were told to always consider people's religious beliefs and perspectives. Filipinos have a thousand and one superstitions derived from their Chinese and Spanish backgrounds. And the tradition remains even among Christians and evangelicals who claim to be "bible-based." With most of my architect friends, this mystical requirement is a major consideration especially with Chinese clients. And it's understandable. The client has all the right to require what he or she wants for her house.
So we considered counting the steps of the stairs when designing houses and buildings. We must be particular that no step fell on mata when we checked the stair sequence using the oro, plata, mata formula. We were also reminded to consider the placements of openings, like deciding where to face doors and windows and passageways and other similar orientations.
Things like this--what others call feng shui considerations--are really the prerogative of the rich few. They are not part of Pinoy Architecture. As I have discussed in another article in this blog, Pinoy Architecture should be defined more according to what the majority Filipinos--the masses--are apt to do with their houses and environs. Lower middle class Pinoys and those below that (the majority Filipinos) do not care about the number of steps they have at home, or where their doors and windows face.
Photo by Alvin Cabaltera on Unsplash.
The marginally poor, the segment that dominates our communities, just want protective walls and a roof over their heads. That's it. As long as they have stairs to get them to the next higher floor, or doors to enter in and windows to get some air, they're content. That's indigenous Filipino architecture. I remember our ancestral home in San Juan, La Union built during pre-Spanish times and preserved until it was demolished in the 1980s to give way to a modern, Zen-design two-floor house. Back then, it was of rough Narra wood, large windows everywhere, doors opening to every which way, and no wall partition on the second floor. Nothing was positioned to attract or dispel anything. The house was put up to provide shelter. Period.
We should study these things more rather than paying much attention to construction superstitious beliefs that only a few rich folks care about--and those who wish to be rich, thinking that fung shui is the answer to riches. To really serve the greater majority--and formulate a truly Pinoy Architecture that the Pinoy masses really need--we should look for ways how to better improve what home features most Pinoys are limited to. We should conceptualize how to make them better, put some art into it, and offer it at a reasonable cost to them. That's a better blessing design concept than fung shui and other superstitions.
Have you been to really congested areas in the country where every nook and cranny is used up for residence purposes? If they have a mere 4 X 4 meter square area, they'd build a tall, lean tower of 5 to 6 floors in that space just to house all their family members and put their furnishings in. Sometimes, they'd crowd in 5 to 6 different families there, with each family having some 5 to 6 members. An authentic Pinoy Architecture (HOUSEpinoy) should find ways to make this living condition better so that people would have more decent and comfy shelters.
What about those who are particular about fung shui and other magic considerations in design? Better yet, how about comfy considerations for the greater majority?
Christian Blessing Rituals
Jesus and his apostles never did it and Christ most definitely never requires or commands it, but Christians hate being left out of the picture (left out of importance and recognition) so they join in the circus. They also want a piece of the pie because folks who want protection from financial harm and bad luck pay handsomely. So churches join in. It's also a way into the homes of unsuspecting and trusting people, hoping to make them future church members and supporters. It's a business strategy.
But house blessings and blessing of offices and business places have no power. ZERO. That's the truth. There's no promise in the bible or a precedent that praying for a house and performing religious rituals there will ward off evil spirits. An unclean spirit, says Jesus, looks for dry or arid places and calls them his "home" or "my house." He finds it clean and in order but EMPTY. Then he invites 7 more wicked demons into "his house," making the house worse than before.
Thousands of "bible-base" rituals and prayers and songs can still leave people and places totally EMPTY.
The "house" here can either be a place or a person. Why can demons possess a house? Because it is EMPTY, says Jesus. What can remove the emptiness of a house? Prayer? Rituals? Bible passages? Emptiness is rid only if the people occupying the house genuinely surrender their lives to Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and repent from their sins. The indwelling presence of Jesus in a person---not in a place or dwelling or shelter--can ward off demons. And that is never done through rituals or cute house blessing programs. Pastors should know this.
And it's not about making the occupants "accept" Jesus after sharing and explaining a bible passage to them in a bible study, much less during the house blessing. Lots of pastors do this, make people do things, thinking it's how God thinks and does things. A lot of people "accept" Jesus but have never personally met Jesus in spirit and never totally surrendered to him. They still hold on to superstitions, to religious practices and traditions, to ego and pride, and relying on their efforts than in God's Word and ways. There's no total surrender because they don't know what it is.
But why does it seem that people who get their houses blessed during these rituals get really materially blessed and prosper? God gives material blessings to anyone, even those who do not believe Jesus Christ or those who are unscrupulous and corrupt. Even to criminals. Remember, the devil owns nothing so he cannot bless people with anything--except God's properties which HE allows him to have temporarily. But people who get materially blessed but unsurrendered to Jesus have zero spiritual protection from God. Having a lot of money and possessions does NOT mean you are blessed spiritually. Material possessions can be a curse. You can be living very materially and financially well now in this life but later end up in hell. Where's the protection in that?
Bible-base Pinoy Architecture
Instead of subscribing to pagan practices when designing houses and buildings for clients who require them, we should gradually introduce the concept of real prosperity attraction in Pinoy architecture. Christians can and should start this, instead of riding on the bandwagon of rituals and mystical chanting supposedly to keep places blessed and away from harm. We should STOP blessing houses and other places to avoid giving people the impression that God approves of this silly tradition and that other similar rituals can actually ward off demons and negative energies or whatnot and bring in prosperity.
Here are other musts:
- Emphasize true repentance and total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
- Day and night meditation of the bible and obedience to what God's Word says.
- Putting a meditation nook in homes located in a quiet place where occupants can spend time with God quietly. I think the attic or a narrow loft would be suitable for this. Old Pinoy farm houses had small attics or lofts for keeping farm products and also as sleeping quarters.
- Keep cursed objects, luck charms or symbols and idols out of the house.
- STOP using the bible as a luck charm or a display at home to invite God's blessings.
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