Sinulog is Idolatry, Plain and Simple
There's news that the Sinulog celebrations in Cebu City will be given new rules. There would be no grand parade but the veneration of the Sto. Nino still continues. I'm really disheartened at how so many Cebuano Catholics are still thinking that the Sto. Nino represents Jesus as a child. The problem of the issue with the upcoming Sinulog is that Catholics think that they're doing God a favor. I heard of many stories behind the Sto. Nino. One story even said that there was a great fire and a miracle occurred. That alleged miracle was that of the image of the Sto. Nino that supposedly survived in the great fire. If that were true then I guess any artifact that survived in the fire means it's from God? Let's say that a Buddha image survived in the fire then does that mean Buddhism is the truth? Certainly not. The logic is not really working at all with the alleged signs and wonders.
Some say that I'm crazy to say that Sto. Nino is idolatry because it's supposed to represent Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. However, it's just another Jesus and not the Jesus of the Bible. I remembered somebody said Satan loves Christmas because he doesn't want Jesus to grow up. In this case, the Sto. Nino makes it look like that Jesus never grew up. The late John Paul II supposedly told Monsignor Cristobal Garcia to tell Cebuanos that Jesus never remained a child. Truth is the problem of the Sto. Nino is that it really makes it look like Jesus never grew up.
One may argue that the Sto. Nino is not the same as Hare Krishna. Some say that the images don't represent the image of false gods and that I agree. However, Isaiah 42:8 says that God will not share His glory with graven images. The Catholic Encyclopedia says, "Relative worship is paid to a sign, not at all for its own sake, but for the sake of the thing signified. The sign in itself is nothing, but it shares the honour of its prototype." If God (the prototype) is the one represented by the image then God must share the glory with the image. However, God, unlike the false gods, will not share His glory to graven images. Remember, Jesus may have walked on Earth, people saw His face, but He never left any real photo of Himself. People had their pictures taken via art. It turns out that the so-called Shroud of Turin was a fake to start with. Veronica the woman who allegedly wiped the face of Jesus never appeared in any of the four Gospels either! This is very different from the cherubims on top of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was not displayed in public but hidden in the Holy of Holies.
It's no wonder that the Catholic Ten Commandments displayed in the catechism omit Exodus 20:4-5 which is still found in Catholic translations of the Bible such as the Good News Translation. Former Jesuit priest turned Christian pastor, Victor Affonso, stated in Catholicism Crisis of Faith that there are business selling idols. What his former religion did was omit the second and split the tenth. It's crookery yet it's done because there's profit in the sales of graven images. It's no different than selling the idols in a Taoist, Buddhist, or Hindu temple. I don't see any difference between buying an image of Sto. Nino (which many of them are sold in the marketplace) from buying an image of Hare Krishna as a child or Gautama Buddha as a child. What's interesting is that these child images are even given baths as part of some ritual by the devotees. I saw Catholic priests give the Sto. Nino images a bath, Buddhists give images of the child Buddha image a bath, and Hindus give images of the child Krishna a bath. They all claim that it's just part of paying respects to the one portrayed by the image and not by the image in itself. However, it's really far from it as their actions speak louder than words about it.
Should it even be surprised that there are also Buddhist temples participating in Sinulog? The talks for the unity of religions are anything but surprising. A Fo Guang Shan Buddhist nun, Yung Ling, pays homage to the Sto. Nino every time she's involved in interreligious dialogue. The late John Paul II had done great in trying to get religious together as he had interfaith dialogues with the 14th Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama is also affectionately referred to as the Buddhist Pope. The common denominator is idolatry where both say that they don't worship the image but the one portrayed by the image. I wonder what die-hard Catholic fanatics (as well as self-proclaimed Catholic faith defenders who have no real training whatsoever) have to even say that John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and the recent Pope Francis are engaging in more interreligious dialogue? Just being missionaries to other religions? I've even heard some Taoist temples have also given a special place for Sto. Nino. A Taoist temple in Davao City even had a Catholic image of Jesus among the gods. It's really not surprising at how ecumenism is happening at a very fast rate!
Sinulog should always be viewed for what it is - a waste of time and money. Catholic processions are really a waste of resources and a major cause of traffics. Jeremiah 10:3-5 which is not about Christmas trees says that they are vain customs. These images must be carried because they can't walk. I don't care if Catholics say that the images are just representations. Deuteronomy 4:15 has God saying that the Jews saw no image of any kind. God can't be represented by an image. The Sto. Nino can't represent Jesus either because Jesus being the eternal Son of God is also God. The Trinity was always existent throughout eternity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit cannot be represented by an image. The Sto. Nino is no exception to that rule.