"I'm told that in your sermon, God loves people regardless of who they are. What matters is whether the believers conform to the teachings of the Cannon, not their identity. No matter whether they are sorcerers or vampires, as long as they believe in God from the bottom of their heart and behave in accordance with their beliefs, they are pious and can be redeemed." Lucien ignored Richard's astonishment and spoke frankly like a scholar, seeking guidance.
Lucien did not completely follow the content of "Justification by Faith" in the Library of the Soul, because the Saint Truth was not the same religion as the Crucifixion on Earth, and the interpretation of "Justification by Faith" was based on the fact that the savior became a flesh body and saved the world. There was no such "miracle" in the Saint Truth, and there was no such savior. Therefore, Richard would be laughing his head off if he simply applied it.
Therefore, Lucien expanded the content of "Justification by Faith" into a more general religious law.
Hearing Lucien's question, Richard gradually calmed down. He suspected that it was the devil's temptation or the sorcerers' persuasion. With a gentle smile on his face, Richard said, "So it tells us that the honest man is no longer afraid because he will ascend to the Holy Residence; the merciful man is no longer afraid because he will ascend to Mountain Paradise; the righteous man is no longer afraid because he will be blessed …"
This was a passage from the Cannon. After Richard recited it, he said, "If a sorcerer or a vampire can believe in God from the bottom of their heart, and everything they do strictly conforms to their beliefs, then they must be pious and can be redeemed. There are many such examples in the night watchers of the inquisition. As for the other sorcerers and dark creatures, which part of their behavior conforms to the teachings of the Cannon?"
"Bishop Richard, you are talking about the ancient sorcerers. They were cruel, crazy, and bloody. They were indeed unrighteous and could not be redeemed. But what about the modern sorcerers? Most of them abide by the laws of the kingdom. They don't live extravagantly, they don't indulge in sensual pleasures. What part of them doesn't conform to the teachings of the Holy Scripture? "Lucien smiled.
Richard knew that the young man was not talking about the battle sorcerers whose hands were stained with blood, but the arcanists who were devoted to their experiments. Even if they accepted missions, they were mostly about eliminating devils, demons, dark creatures, obtaining resources, exploring dangerous areas, and so on. Therefore, Richard did not refute the young man's statement but said seriously, "They're doing blasphemous things every day, and they're full of lies when they're with the believers."
"Blasphemy against the Lord? Lucien pointed to the sky. "Is there any scripture in the Holy Scripture that says we can't explore the world? Has God ever warned the world not to approach His domain? "
Richard thought carefully and found that there was indeed no such content in the Holy Scripture. The Holy Scripture only contained the rebuke and warning to the false believers, the evil ones, and the bloodthirsty ones. There was no specific mention that exploring the world would blaspheme the majesty of God.
Lucien had been a disciple of God Ell for a while, and he had seen Francis copy the doctrines of the Holy Scripture several times. There were also books in the Library of the Soul for reference. Naturally, he knew that the Holy Scripture, which was relatively simple, did not contain such content. After all, when the Holy Scripture was written, the Congress of Magic had not even been found yet. At that time, Douglas was only a middle-rank arcanist and had not yet proposed the idea of exploring the world.
Therefore, in the Holy Scripture, there was only a clear objection to the evil and bloody experiments on human beings. The Holy Scripture believed that human beings should not explore the forbidden areas of life, and many arcanists were not good at Necromancy at all.
After a few minutes of silence, Richard said, "God said, don't approach Me, don't face Me … This means that mortals should not approach God's domain."
Lucien underestimated the clerics' ability to interpret the classics. They could interpret different meanings from the same sentence at any time. For a moment, Lucien did not know how to lead the conversation to the direction that he had set.
Fortunately, Richard, the old man whose face had traces of age, continued, "Also, the Doctrines clearly states that no mortal can step into the forbidden areas of God."
"The Doctrines? It's not the words of God, but the words of the popes and some clerics. Does it have authority? "Lucien was a bit relieved after hearing that. This was exactly what he wanted to talk about.
Richard frowned, "The pope is the only spokesperson on earth appointed by the Lord. His words represent the Lord's majesty."
"The North Church doesn't think so." Lucien brought up the doctrine of the North Church. He was very grateful that the Saint Truth and the different factions within the Saint Truth had provided him with 'cannonballs'. Otherwise, it would be suicide for him to debate with a real theologian like Richard. Also, Lucien's original intention was not to debate the doctrine, but to 'help' Richard sort out his own thoughts. This was the content of psychological guidance in the school of illusions!
The refutation of the North Church had been the focus of the South Church's research for hundreds of years. Naturally, Richard retorted with a lot of quotations without exception. Lucien's head was swelling, and he was waiting for Richard's' that 'sentence to appear.
"… All the lambs will be saved through the baptism, prayers and rituals of the Church, and through the guidance, persuasion and help of the shepherds, and the head of the shepherds is my will …" Richard said the passage that confirmed the identity of the pope skillfully.
Lucien's eyes lit up, and he immediately interrupted Richard, "So, we can't be justified by faith? No matter how devout we are, and no matter how our actions conform to the teachings of the Cannon, we still have to go through the Church, the clergy, and the pope to be saved? "
This was a question that had been bothering Richard for many years. Now that it was exposed so directly, Richard did not know how to answer for a moment.
"God loves the world, but loves the shepherds more? God loves the world, but is unwilling to communicate with everyone's mind directly? Is the majesty of God different when praying at home and in the church? To be bestowed with divine power, we have to go through the guidance of the clergy? "Lucien seized the opportunity and asked a series of questions.
Richard wanted to refute, but he suddenly remembered that many gifted pastors and bishops had accidentally acquired divine power when they prayed with their parents or read the Cannon when they were young. They did not go through the guidance of the monasteries and the clergy at all. Therefore, he fell silent.
Lucien's "fighting style" was to strike and run away immediately. Seeing that Richard's mind was even more confused, he changed his voice and asked,
"If the pope is God's spokesperson on earth, why did he misinterpret the Cannon so many times? Why did he change the Canon so many times? "
"If God does not allow mortals to explore the world, why did he change the theology and divine power according to the results of the arcanists' exploration?"
This was the source of Richard's confusion in the past thirty years and the reason why he started to advocate that "God loves the world". Although he thought that the sorcerers must have contributed a lot to the revision of the Canon, he did not know how to refute.
"Therefore, I believe that the pope and the Church are both obstacles between the believers and God for their own personal desire for power. No matter whether we can acquire divine power or not, we should all be equal in front of God, and we will all fall into hell because our actions do not conform to the teachings of the Cannon."
"Those who ask for complicated rituals, worship of the Church, and ask the believers to go through the clergy are all false believers who are trying to stop 'God loves the world'."
"Those who frequently revise the Canon according to their own intentions and interpret the Cannon randomly must be lurking devils."
Before Richard realized what was going on, Lucien continued to shout.
"Those who say 'faith, faith' to the believers but blaspheme the faith themselves, go away!"
"Those who say 'God loves the world, God loves the world' to the believers but try to monopolize the path of the soul, go away!"
"Between the believers and the Lord, there should be no artificial obstacles. There should only be faith and the behavior that matches the faith!"
Richard stared at Lucien in the eyes. He had said everything that he wanted to say but dared not to, and it was more detailed, clearer, and more radical!
After that, Lucien stared at Richard and did not say anything else.
After a long time, Richard put on a bitter smile and said, "The rights of the clergy should be regulated. The Lord gave them divine power not to stand above the believers, but to protect the believers and the faith."
Hearing that, Lucien immediately smiled.
…
When the mist dissipated, Richard opened his eyes and found that he was still praying in front of the cross. He sighed in his heart, "Fallen Morning Star is indeed worthy …"
Outside the church, Alferris stared at Lucien with its two translucent amber eyes and said, "Lucien, you convinced him just like that? I remember that many people failed before! "
"It's not me who convinced him, it's him who convinced himself. If he didn't have similar ideas in his heart, even if he fell into a contradictory situation under my language trap, he would soon find a reason to explain it. He's a theologian, but I'm not." Lucien was not proud at all. "Do you think that I can win a debate with a real theologian with my shallow knowledge of theology? I just instilled an idea in him. If it resonates with him, then he can be convinced. If not, there's nothing else I can do. "
Alferris didn't understand, "In short, you're very good!"
"That's not it. It's mainly psychological guidance combined with my understanding of the development of theology. In other words, among the lobbyists, I'm the one who knows the most about theology among those who are good at psychological guidance in the field of illusion. I'm also the best at psychological guidance among those who know theology. Both are indispensable." Lucien laughed. And most importantly, he had the support of the Library of the Soul.
After observing Richard's situation for a while and confirming that there were no problems, Lucien could recommend him to Natasha. Finally, Lucien felt a little more relaxed. Just as he was about to ask Alferris to leave, he suddenly felt a faint sense of danger.
A strong man is coming to the Redemption Church?
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