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offerings, showed sorrow, did their penance, bought indulgences, etc., until they scored enough brownie points to merit God's grace. The priests, bishops, and popes mediated the transactions. And the Church waxed rich and powerful.
In contrast, the Pelagian system had nothing to sell but faith in the goodness of God. For that, money was superfluous. Ever since those early times, theologies have survived through a Darwinian selection process on the basis of their retail value rather than their truth content. But now, with the coming of universal education, the information explosion, and the destruction of much superstition through the advances of science, all that is changed. This was illustrated by a recent survey of church people in England in which about eighty percent gave the thumbs down to the atonement doctrine and the exclusivity concepts that only allow for Christians to receive God's promise of an eternal life.
For nigh on 2000 years, natural selection has ensured dominance of theologies centered on the death of Christ. But the Christian Church is now dying. If it is to survive the 3rd millennium (and I believe it will), then surely it must now become centered upon that beautiful revelatory life of Jesus and his teachings in regard to the indwelling of those spirit forces1 that herald something entirely different from authoritative, legalistic religion. Essentially Jesus' religion is founded upon a personal, intimate, and inner relationship between each individual and their God. It is a religion of universal, living love. It makes us responsible to God, and for one another.
Until the present, Christian men have been content to excuse their selfish and anti-social behavior on the basis of their animalism and their testosterone, relying on the blood of Christ for their rescue. The effects were not completely disastrous until clever male chemists came up with the means of comparatively safe birth control, followed by an insidious male-fostered program of female education that permits the male testosterone to run riot. One result has been the destruction of our moral codes and stable family life. Maybe the women have to take charge. At least their minds would not be befuddled by testosterone.
Reference
1. John 14: 16, 17, 23; 1 John 4: 16; Romans 8:14, 15; Galatians 4: 6.
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