|
REPORT ABUSIVE REPLY
|
|
Message Subject
|
Light of the World. — Be the Light.
|
|
Poster Handle
|
Coming Into Existence |
|
Post Content
|
Church back in the day: [ link to www.ancient.eu (secure)] The Church regulated and defined an individual’s life, literally, from birth to death and was thought to continue its hold over the person’s soul in the afterlife. The Church was the manifestation of God’s will and presence on earth, and its dictates were not to be questioned, even when it was apparent that many of the clergy were working far more steadily toward their own interests than those of their god.
A dramatic blow to the power of the Church came in the form of the Black Death pandemic of 1347-1352 CE during which people began to doubt the power of the clergy who could do nothing to stop people from dying or the plague from spreading. Even so, the Church repeatedly crushed dissent, silenced reformers, and massacred heretical sects until the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648 CE) which broke the Church’s power and allowed for greater freedom of thought and religious expression.
The lives of the people of the Middle Ages revolved around the Church. People, especially women, were known to attend church three to five times daily for prayer and at least once a week for services, confession, and acts of contrition for repentance. The Church paid no taxes and was supported by the people of a town or city. Citizens were responsible for supporting the parish priest and Church overall through a tithe of ten percent of their income. Tithes paid for baptism ceremonies, confirmations, and funerals as well as saint’s day festivals and holy day festivals such as Easter celebrations.
Ordeals, like executions, were a form of public entertainment and, as with festivals, marriages, and other events in community life, were paid for by the people’s tithe to the Church. The lower class, as usual, bore the brunt of the Church’s expenses but the nobility was also required to donate large sums to the Church to ensure a place for themselves in heaven or to lessen their time in purgatory.
The Church’s teachings on purgatory – an afterlife realm between heaven and hell where souls remained trapped until they had paid for their sins – generated enormous wealth for various clergy who sold writs known as indulgences, promising a shorter stay in purgatory for a price. Relics were another source of income, and it was common for unscrupulous clerics to sell fake splinters of Christ’s cross, a saint’s finger or toe, a vial of water from the Holy Land, or any number of objects, which would allegedly bring luck or ward off misfortune.
|
|
|
Please verify you're human:
|
|
|
Reason for reporting:
|
