as the cultures we've been studying have changed, i wondered where the rebellion against the church was going to come. It made me smile that translating the text of the scriptures was illegal, and when they were translated, it was found that they were ridden with contradictions. Yet another example of how the past corresponds to the present, authority figures were lying to keep us quiet thousands of years ago. They still lie to cover their posteriors today.
I found it strange the the church was irritated by the waldensians missionary procedure, it seems that the church would have wanted people to be attracted to religion. I guess there will always be people that say, as far as religion goes, that their own beliefs are true and no variation can be accepted. Obviously the followers of the variations were seen as heretics, but instead of causing trouble, why would the church just, use that method of teaching gospel to their advantage?
Was there ever a ruling party that wasn't in some way propelled by favors or power or greed? Ever? Anyone? Reading the Crises in the Medieval Church section, i couldn't help but try to recall a completely honest political party. There sure isn't one now.
3 comments:
Political parties as a whole can be seen as greedy, deceiving and entirely immoral. However, that is a gross generalization and even bad people can have great kids. So, I would say that grouping everyone is unfair because there have been many fantastic leaders, just in the U.S. alone. For example, the Federalist party, which is no longer in the sense, but held leaders like George Washington and John Adams. The political party itself may not have seemed entirely fair, however they still brought great leaders to this country
How I echo your words... religion makes my mind spin... Translations have been ridden with contradictions, and yet depending on the translation that you are reading depict the religiosity of the sec.
Religion is man made, and spirituality is of the heart, of which should one listen too. Hence the problem being man is of two forces one is of good and the other is of evil. Forever in battle the forces of good and evil.
Religion a written code of conduct to protect man from man. When that conduct fails, its is rewritten and correct to show that man is better than what man actually is, for man has to be good. Man will always fall short of expectation of himself.
I agree with Megan that it is dangerous to assume the absolute truth of a generalization. Just as there have always been corrupt individuals in positions of power, there have been those who were honestly trying to do good and fight for what is right. Some of them were way off and some were right on, but we have the advantage of being able to look back and judge. We have easy access and common application of/ to knowledge that they coud not even imagine. Similiar to the Catholic church, in the biblical stories, you have the pharisees and saducees who believed in the letter of the law and the many laws that they added to them. They believed that if they could somehow keep all these (often outrageous) laws that they would achieve some sort of righteousness. Then Jesus comes along and eats with tax collectors, associates with prostitutes, beggars and the least desirable people in society. He defies many of the ideas of the day and the religous institution that is in power has him killed. After that, the early church starts out as Jesus himself intended it. Even so,the apostles still have to get after those who are still trying to cling to the old ways of legalism and on the opposite end, debauchery. The catholic church was much like the pharisees. So how did the Catholic church get so far off? Again, straying from the intentions of the teaching that their faith was built on and adding in needless rules and legalities designed more to collect power, influence and wealth than to honor God. Sure, some in the mix thought they were doing right, but they couldn't see the forest for the trees. The lesson I get from it is that we all need to take a step back along the way and see where we started, where we have been since and where we are going. It's only then that we can make the necessary corrections along the way and hopefully not ending up repeating the history that others will end up condemning.
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