Just asking...

Just read a news article about the bishop who sees the Pablo disaster as a warning against the passage of the RH bill. It sparked debates, as always. In as much as there is much to say, I don't want to join the black-and-white discussion because in my opinion, the RH Bill debate will never end.

It's because people are arguing on the matter using different paradigms. You have one side which banks on realism and practicality; while on the other, you have one that argues using theology. How can you get to a common answer when you are answering two different questions?

Apart from the Bill, there are also a lot of things that are often viewed through different opinions that are most dichotomized as theological and secular. Examples of these would be democracy, homosexuality, cloning, etc. Granting that most of the opinionated (and rather head-on) online posts are from the secular-side, I've had a fair enough understanding of where they are coming from. But more than that, I do not want to be ignorant of the theological perspective too. Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to ask the following questions in hope that somebody can answer it.

1. How do religious institutions base their judgment? Is it by the will of God or by tradition handed from generation to generation?

2. If it's by tradition, are these traditions infallible or were they altered at some point along history? Are the traditions practiced by the first believers exactly the same as the traditions followed by people now? Are these traditions absolutely theological in premise and were never influenced by societal and cultural norms?

3. If it's by the will of God, how do we know that it is the will of God and not the will of the person who thinks of it? Who determines which is God’s will and which is not?

4. Is God’s will revealed only to those who are chosen? If so, who determines the chosen? And if ever such is the case, how can we be assured that the will of the chosen is absolutely uninfluenced by mundane desires?

5. The Latin phrase 'Vox Populi Vox Dei' means that 'the voice of the people is the voice of God'. If such is the case, isn't this counter-intuitive to the idea of 'the Chosen'?

So yeah. There are some questions which I already have a personal answer; but then, I still want to know what other people think. Also, be reminded that these questions are not directed to a specific religious order but to all theological institutions. v(^_^)