The debate over indulgences is a small part of a larger racket. This gets started whenever the church of Rome invents a pseudoproblem for Christians. Having manufactured this fictitious problem, it then proposes a fictitious solution. And, not surprisingly, the church of Rome is the only body on earth which is authorized to dispense the antidote.
It’s a very convenient arrangement. Keep churning out new necessities which only you can remedy. The solution is necessitated by first fabricating an unnecessary problem. Given the gratuitous problem, only Rome can solve the problem—for a price.
Indeed, the commercial illustration is more than a metaphor. For example, Peter’s Pence was a very lucrative way in which the papacy funded its building projects. Same thing with the requiem Mass.
It’s like a small business partnership between a funeral home and a serial killer. The serial killer provides the funeral home with a steady supply of cadavers while the funeral home remunerates the serial killer with a prorated kickback (computed according to the weekly headcount) for drumming up new business.
What’s striking is that we see such an inexhaustible supply of suckers for such transparent scam artistry. Long before the advent of televised faith-healers and swooning invalids, we had the church of Rome.
For every con man, there’s someone just waiting to be conned. If you’re looking for job security, this is the most reliable investment in the world. Forget about gold or real estate or Wall Street.
Steve writes:
ReplyDelete"This gets started whenever the church of Rome invents a pseudoproblem for Christians. Having manufactured this fictitious problem, it then proposes a fictitious solution. And, not surprisingly, the church of Rome is the only body on earth which is authorized to dispense the antidote."
An uncanny resemblance to the petty power grabs of modern politicians. They declare an emergency, propose a solution, and promote themselves as the only ones qualified to enact it.
An uncanny resemblance to the drug industry too. "Here's a problem (that only .000001% of the population has to worry about) and you NEED this drug for protection..."
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of people like that these days it would seem.
ah...........it's Billy Bob SunHays with the Blood Red Heifer!
ReplyDeleteCalvinist zombies should be thankful for purgatory: you might get a second chance, after a few centuries of cleansing