Church going to Heaven or Hell?
Ashley Lewis
Sale of Indulgences
The first of the three things that I will be discussing in this flyer are indulgences, or dare I say 'tickets to Heaven?' Do you really think that God is sending the Pope tickets and telling him to sell them to the people who would like to go to heaven? Honestly, what verse says "I will be sending your tickets to the Pope pick them up on your sunday vist to the alter." In Proverbs 16:3 it states: "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans." This shows that you don't get into Heaven by buying indulgences but by believing in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. This is shown in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Extreme Power of the Pope
The second thing I will be discussing in this flyer is the extreme power of the Pope. You may be wondering extreme power of the Pope? He is just a Pope. Well yes he is just a Pope to us but during the Renaissance he played a much bigger role in the people's lives. One way he did is he had the power to excommunicate you which means, officially exclude someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church. This in a way was like a death sentence to the person, because it restricted them from interacting with the church. This may not be a big deal to you but to them this is huge, because the Pope has the power to decide weather or not they achieve salvation or make it to Heaven or Hell. This shows how much power he has by simply thinking about the situation would go against the man that decides if you achieve salvation or make it to Heaven or if you go to Hell. Not many people would act out against a man with this much power.
Extreme Wealth of the Church
The third topic I will be discussing in this article is the extreme wealth of the church how was the church wealthy you may be asking? Well as you know if you attend a church they take up tithes. This is one way that they continuously have money going throughout the church. Another way is that in the Renaissance it was all centered around the church so they were bound to have some extra money pouring in from somewhere. The church also was a place of education so im sure that the people that could become educated there were not poor or if they were the church commissioned them to attend their until they could work for the church or represent them in some way. Another way they gain money was the richer families paid for their sons to have positions in the church. Last but not least you had to pay for all the things such as having a child christened, pay to get married, and pay to have someone buried in the Holy ground. In the end you ended up paying for a lot of things and the churches pocket of cash just got bigger and bigger, when some people might have actually needed the money.
The Big Problem
The biggest problem I do believe is the sale of indulgences reason being not only is it wrong it in a way is a scam for the Pope to make some easy money, but this isn't the biggest problem with this. The big problem is that the Pope is fooling these good people into believing that they can buy these indulgences and they have a full ride 'ticket to Heaven.' This is unfortunate because if these people believe they will achieve salvation by buying these 'tickets' and end the end they will not and will end up in hell if they do not believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Another reason this is wrong is because the Pope who is the one making all the money and supposably teaching the word of God is just using God as a way to make money and take control of people. It does state in Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. These people also were choosing to follow the man that said he would make it possible for these people to make it to Heaven even when they would commit crimes and sin. If they would just buy the card...well this was just so they would get more people in the church and also their money.