Monday, July 17, 2006
I have always wonder what gave the "Church" so much political power during roughly 1500's AD to about 1800's AD and I think I have my answer. I am presently reading the history of the middle ages, I just finnished reading how the monasteries became the dispositers of knowlege during the Dark Ages, I knew this, but I have never considered this fact before until now. The book never said that this was the reason but I came to my own conclusion based on the concept, "knowledge is power", and since the Church had all the knowlege at the time I think that this is one reason the Church was able to amass such political power in the time frame that I have been thinking about. It is sad though that the Church used this power in unworthy persuits of it's own agenda; money and more political power.
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4 comments:
It is kind of ironic that the only reason the Henry VIII broke with Rome was because of his desire for a divorce, not that the church was abusing it's power towards the English people. From what I have been reading, Constantine was using Christainty for his own political gain, not so much that he really believed the gospel message. There are numerous historians that question the conversion of Constatine. When one considers the history of the church it makes a person wonder how what is valued by the church more: wealth and power, or a person's soul. I tend to think wealth and power.
I don't think that you can make that kind of sweeping condemnation or generalization. Just like saying all the youth today are doing drugs and having sex before marriage. That may look like the norm and be what is in the news, but that is not totally true. Certainly there were abuses, but what about the lives and ministries of Spurgeon, Whitefield, Judson, Murray, Schaeffer, Sunday, Graham - just to name a few.
I did not know I was making a generalization, just making a judgement on the history of the church for that last 1000 or so years.
I guess it comes down to semantics. What do you mean by 'the church' The church as the overall organization and institution and or the people that make up the church - of which I am a part of both. Unfortunately, you are going to have corruption in anything that has people involved. Mechanics are probably distrusted as any profession. But I am not going to say that mechanics are corrupt and dishonest because that would make one Autotuner very unhappy and it would be untrue!!!! The Bible says that even the devil masquarades as an 'angel of light.' So, even inside the church, there are going to be unbelievers saying they are believers that will mislead people. That is why it is so important to have a close, vibrant, intimate walk with the Lord so that His Spirit inside of you can identify with His Spirit in the lives of other believers so that you can have a calm assurance as you meet other believers.
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