Although everyone still had doubts about Guo Kang's suggestion, they did not directly oppose it. Because of similar operations, the Roman Church did do it very often. And the church of God worship is not short of such cases.

The Cao clan has been engaged in diplomatic activities all year round, and even in the Purple Horde, a country with more active ideas, it is relatively flexible in thinking. In their opinion, although Guo Kang's idea is a bit out-of-the-way, it is not incomprehensible.

And Mrs. Elena, although she has a close relationship with the Kyiv Church, she has been married into this family for decades and has long been accustomed to the Church of God.

Because the church in Kiev is far away, the believers are scattered, and many people are still old-fashioned, and the church as a whole appears to be more conservative. However, in the process of developing and proselytizing, they also often co-opted indigenous beliefs – such as the frequent "Bear Priest" as a typical example.

Therefore, Mrs. Elena needs to think more about how to explain it more easily for the Kiev church to accept, so as to cooperate with the efforts of the Grand Lama Wang at the official level to push them to approve of this matter. For herself, as long as she doesn't go too far, she doesn't have to be serious.

After a few moments of thought, it was Lady Elena who asked the question.

"If we do do that, it can be explained in theory, but will it raise questions from other quarters?" "Stacking two religions together gives the impression that you want to recreate the Pantheon," she asked. I fear that many people will not accept that we are doing this as pure paganism. ”

Guo Kang also thought about it a little and was ready to answer this question. However, before he could speak, Cao Zhonglin, who had been drinking tea and hadn't spoken much, couldn't help but speak first.

"Mother, in my opinion, you still go abroad too few times." He shook his head and said, "We are not accepted by everyone in religion in the first place, and the Crucidian world has indeed always regarded us as heretics. Since the account was established, it has not changed. ”

"So, we don't need to think so much about it—it's already a heretic anyway, and even if they don't do it, they won't change their minds; And even if it did, the diplomatic environment couldn't have been worse. ”

"In that case, as long as it is beneficial to us, heresy is heresy." He spread his hands: "We have all been subjected to so many crusades, and if we are not heretical, we are not worthy of our name." ”

"This isn't heretical." Lady Elena said: "It's already retro to the level of polytheism......"

"Isn't it better to be a heretic?" Cao Zhonglin teased: "Compared with heretics, everyone is more tolerant of heretics." ”

Lady Elena was speechless for a moment.

"Well, it's not the same." Guo Kang hurriedly played a round and explained: "There are indeed some problems with polytheism. The biggest disadvantage is that it's too poorly organized. ”

"The pantheon of the ancient Romans was still in a very primitive state, only a simple collection, and there was no follow-up work." He began to look back at history: "At that time, the Romans often went out to fight, and when they saw that other people's gods were good, they moved back directly. Some foreign gods, which everyone finds very interesting, will also be sacrificed together. ”

But in essence, this is still the order of the gods and goddesses. This led to an extremely large number of sacrificial activities in Rome, and even caused great trouble to the public. Many of the gods were also distinctly territorial, and rejection and strife among believers were not uncommon, effectively hindering the unity of the empire. ”

"I think that's the crux of the matter." Guo Kang pointed out: "What really matters is not one god or many, but effective organization. ”

"In contrast, the monotheistic religion of the time was more organized and more adapted to the state of the empire after the unification. The Church has eliminated a great deal of duplication and wasteful religious practice, and has adopted universal doctrines that are not bound by ethnicity or geography. Compared with traditional polytheism, it naturally has an advantage. ”

"Isn't it because the doctrine is closer to the truth and more easily accepted by everyone?" Lady Elena didn't seem to have thought about it.

"Let's make a comparison and we'll find out." Guo Kang said: "At present, our religion was reformed on the basis of Judaism, and there are many basic principles, all of which are the same. But the two sides were at odds with each other, and a fierce confrontation broke out, and the Jewish priests were quick to get rid of him. ”

Later, it was also the Cross Religion founded by Brother Tian that was widely spread and accepted by the world, rather than the original Judaism. The biggest difference here is that he and his disciples added another set of scriptures, changing the saying that God only blesses the Jews, so that Heavenly Father has truly become a God that anyone can believe in. ”

"In this way, although the basic rules are similar, the Crusades have gained a huge advantage far over their opponents."

"So, the key to this, I can really say, is to see who is more acceptable to everyone." Guo Kang corrected: "But the causal relationship is reversed—not because the priests pondered for a while and thought that their ideas were close to the truth, so they were directly accepted by everyone; It was because everyone was more accepting that he was able to confirm that he was closer to the truth. ”

"The next question is why it's more acceptable. If we understand the principle here, then we can get closer to the truth. ”

"What do you think is the truth here?" Lady Elena asked.

"It's the organizational skills I just mentioned." Guo Kang replied: "Another example is actually Seris. ”

"Some clergy believe that they are still primitive polytheism. But there are also those who believe that they are already essentially monotheistic. However, in my opinion, their understanding is still insufficient, and their cognition is also biased. ”

"The key to the difference between monotheism and polytheism is not the number of gods, but the form of organization of gods."

The Church has also co-opted many pagan gods, referred to them as angels or saints, and interpreted the legends as stories with a background in the worship of God. So, is there any difference between being called 'god', being called 'saint', and being called 'immortal' in Chinese? I don't think so. ”

"Some ancient philosophers and theologians believed that language contains divinity and reason, and that behind it lies the law and order of all things. But I think that the name is just a code name, and it has nothing to do with the nature of the object. Otherwise, if we use a different language and vocabulary to describe the Father, wouldn't we be the same deity? This is a great heresy. ”

"Since the name of the Heavenly Father is not important, it makes no difference whether these spiritual secondary beings are angels, immortals, or sages."

"Seris, for example, has a clear supreme god, 'heaven'. The imperial court was very concerned about the supremacy of the 'heavens' and forbade sacrifices beyond him. The other objects of worship are called 'gods', but in fact they are just names, and they are even given official positions and positions to establish order among these 'gods'. ”

"From that point of view, it's simple. Not to mention anything else, just looking at Seris's concept of 'heavenly court' and the habit of registering and appointing gods in the imperial court, it is much more perfect than the divine system of the Cross Sect. ”

"So, who is more primitive and closer to polytheism?"

At this time, Lady Elena didn't know how to answer.

"The level of education of the Europeans was too poor for the clergy to understand this. But we still have to figure it out. Guo Kang said: "Instead of referring to them and caring about their bizarre theories full of prejudice and ignorance, it is better to learn from Seris and see how people do it." ”

Lady Elena nodded approvingly.

On doctrinal issues, she is also a layman. But Guo Kang said this, and she agreed very much.

After all, even now, from time to time, there are people on the Roman Catholic side who stir up trouble and make things difficult for the Orthodox Church on doctrinal issues.

Of course, the Orthodox side is not vegetarian either. The church employed a large group of Greek theologians for many years, and every debate basically ended in the failure of the Roman church. After a long time, it is understandable that everyone thinks that the priests over there are not good at the level and have a lot to do.

"I'm not a professional priest, but these ideas can logically justify themselves." Guo Kang continued to persuade: "You can think about it, whether it is our church or the Roman Catholic Church, although the missionary time is not short, who has the scale of the 'heaven' worship of Seris, and has such a perfect organization as theirs? ”

Obviously, their theory is more universal. And the results of the spread also tell us that that is the closest to the truth. We can refer to it and find out what suits us. ”

"If the Heavenly Fang Sect and the God Worship Sect are directly put together and are not managed at all, then they will indeed regress to the state of the Pantheon. Now that we have the conditions, we shouldn't do it. He shook his head and said, "Instead, we should take the initiative to promote integration between the two sides." ”

"From the Celtic Church in Ireland to the 'heaven' belief in Seris, everyone believes in the same religion and the same deity."

"If there is consistency in the doctrine, it can be merged and simplified. If there are differences, everyone should discuss them and determine which ones are necessary and need to be maintained. What is imperfect or even wrong needs to be corrected. ”

"They have something closer to the truth that we can refer to; We have theories that are closer to the truth, and we should allow them to learn from them. This is the tradition and strength of monotheism. ”

"At that time, Rome recognized the worship of God, and it began to flourish. As the rightful successors of Rome, we also have a duty to pursue justice and truth and to make them flourish. ”

"The proverb says: The worm that dies in the twilight of life does not know the replacement of day and night; The cicadas that are born in spring and die in summer do not know the two seasons of spring and autumn. Barbarians have no history and no cultural heritage. Even if Heavenly Father were standing before them, they would only say, 'Frightened! Something strange that I've never seen before! ’”

"How can such a person understand what is the truth and what is the glory of the Father?" Guo Kang asked rhetorically.

(End of chapter)