Just like what the Lamanites would say, "Everything is the will of God." Everything in this world always has pros and cons as if it was deliberately arranged by someone.
Religion itself is naturally the same.
There are people who support it and regard it as a lifelong belief, and naturally there will be people who are dismissive and cynical about it.
In the final analysis, perhaps no one in this world can truly "objectively" analyze the existence of religion and belief. After all, it is really difficult to have a so-called "neutral" position other than the two opposite sides of a thing that exists if you believe it and does not exist if you don't believe it.
But if we were here to be a little clever and try not to delve into the nature of religion, but try to explore the history related to religion-the history related to those who believe in or oppose the existence of religion, we might be surprised to find that , all this is so distinct.
At the beginning of the rise of the Laman Empire, there was a powerful kingdom in the far north of the East China Sea that was inextricably linked to the Skeen pirates of the later four northern islands - the undefeated Snow Kingdom Suomir - although it was eventually conquered And it became the first monument to establish the Laman Empire. Its famous general Rosenthal Gustav Kievel was the owner of this huge empire that expanded crazily to the entire east coast in the following ten years. , left a deep impression.
It is said that after conquering Suomir and seizing the province of Aurora, the proudest territory of the Suomi people, the great and arrogant founding emperor of the Laman Empire, the "fearless" "conqueror" "the one who makes the snow melt" and "the tame" His Majesty Cesario V. Gallocondi, the Lion Hand, ordered his most elite Seventh Legion to travel in a mighty fleet to transport the bones of Marshal Kevil to the distant sea for burial - just for fear He will rise again and bring destruction to the "Eternal Empire."
——Of course, from the perspective of future generations, we can now judge that the person who caused the destruction was not the lonely soul of a marshal who died many years ago, but this tall Suomi man with black hair and blue eyes commanded The influence brought by the official to the prosperous Laman Empire and even the entire Rigal world is indeed long-lasting.
Today's chivalry system and the tactics and strategies of many legions' coordinated attacks originally originated from the hands of this marshal. When the new empire on the east coast encountered this enemy for the first time, he was ridiculed as hiding in the snow. The proud people of the Kingdom who dared to go south but were completely defeated on the battlefield left behind a cautionary motto. There is one sentence that can be applied in many ways.
"There is never the best army or weapon in the world, there is only the most suitable army under the right conditions."
"As a commander, the most important thing is to understand the appropriate moment and dispatch your troops to take appropriate measures."
——Many scholars today believe that it was precisely because of the battle with Marshal Kevir that the Laman Empire in later generations would learn from the pain and give birth to many famous generals. But now we take the liberty to apply this famous saying to religion. It is incredible, or perhaps expected, that it can also be used universally.
The birth of any religion cannot be separated from the background of the times.
The birth and development of the White Church took place in the twilight years of the Laman Empire for more than a century.
The society is rife with corruption, aristocrats who abuse their power, and priests of traditional polytheistic faiths abound. On one side, there are merchants with potbellied wives and concubines, while on the other side, the lowly slaves are all skinny.
The better-off and more knowledgeable scholars denounced these practices, believing that they would lead to the empire's demise. Such remarks extended and were recognized by many people. In the midst of dissatisfaction, attempts to correct all of this and the promise of a beautiful spiritual sustenance were naturally born.
Donovan Ethanhorst, a scholar at the end of the Lamanite era, once sharply criticized religion as something that "hits a stick to make a pie" - first it threatens you with hell and torture, and then promises you as long as If you persist in doing good deeds and discipline yourself, you will be able to go to heaven. In his opinion, this kind of behavior is simply "no different from a gambler who is in debt but still fantasizes about making a lot of money" - but even this famous anti-white Holy See scholar has to Admit it, they did succeed.
Poor people need a kind of psychological sustenance. The church explains the suffering and inequality they experience in reality, the sad cold facts that exist every day, as the punishment "because you bear original sin."
Strict self-discipline asceticism is the answer they give. This "body burdened with sin can no longer be saved", so at least they must "sublimate their souls".
——Escape from reality, some people might say. But as we said before, no one can remain absolutely objective on this issue. Any one-sided and subjective thoughts will inevitably be unfair.
Just like history itself, religion, a product with strong spiritual civilization, cannot be completely summarized by a single right or wrong.
Pain in reality is unacceptable.
Countless slaves and people struggling at the bottom of society can only make a small change in their entire lives. And more people can only spend their lives in this kind of despair and cold pain. They have no ability to change this huge society, and the huge pressure exerted by everyone with a higher status than them oppresses these small people to breathe. The children of slaves will only remain slaves, and there will be no hope for them no matter how hard they struggle.
This is already the case in "this world", so at least there is a glimmer of yearning and hope for the "next life".
The "hope" of the poor slaves who accounted for the largest base ignited the torch of this belief. After it spread, many people were afraid of being guilty of their actions and worried that they would go to hell after death. The nobles and merchants began to believe in eternal torture, and it expanded further and further until the entire country began to believe that as long as they restrained themselves, they could obtain eternal death.
We already know what the final result was, but although the faith of the White Church failed to save the disintegrated Laman Empire, to a certain extent, it also brought peace to some people in the world.
Today's White Holy See is spread across most of the city-states on the Rigal continent, and when our sage and his four others came to the most important turn on the long and winding road from Corey Conrad to the coast, , they also saw such an iconic building.
The building materials must be white.
Although using locally produced fired clay would save more on various costs, they still went all the way to dig limestone from the inside of the Thoradin Highlands to build a typical white church.
The almost paranoid and demanding requirements for the details of the White Church's beliefs are an important reason for the hostility of many unbelievers and even the classification of churches - but we do not intend to describe these things too much at the moment.
It rained lightly again this morning. In recent days, we can often see dark clouds in the sky. Maybe the next storm will come soon.
The rain-washed sky looks exceptionally clear, and the moss still stained with water drops and the grass and trees on the roadside add a bit of spreading vitality to the abandoned church.
The four people in the group were all wearing cloaks. From Maximilian to Corey Conrad, this kind of rain gear soaked in tung oil was everywhere. The reason why they stayed here was because of Emmanica.
The blond girl clearly showed her intention to get closer since she saw the silhouette in the rain from a distance. She would stare at this side of the road almost every short distance without paying attention to avoid the water on the road. The appearance of the pit could not escape the attention of several people around him. And as if there really was a god controlling all of this secretly, when they came to the vicinity of the ruined church, the drizzle of rain stopped.
"If you want to go in and have a look, just go in." The person who spoke was Henry. Because of his eyesight, Joshua was not particularly clear about the situation, but he was familiar with Emmanica's temperament and related to other things. I can guess more or less closely.
"Well, go ahead." He nodded in the general direction. Emonica took off her hood, then looked back at Mira, her eyes seeming to beg the Luoan girl to come with her. Go in normally.
"But I... don't believe in the White Church." Mira was a little embarrassed, but then she changed her mind and took a step forward out of concern for Emonica.
"Joshua..." "Sorry, I really don't like this." The red-haired swordsman's answer seemed to be what Emmanica expected. The blond girl sighed, and Henry on the side said in time He said, "The two of us will guard the horses and supplies outside here. You two can just go in. Be careful."
The sage said this, and the two girls nodded together. Because they were worried that it would rain later, they did not take off their cloaks and walked in directly.
The spreading shrubs and weeds hindered their movement. Mira first drew out the long sword from her waist, but it was not very convenient to use the sword half-handed to open a path, so she switched to using the sword Henry originally gave her. With the small sword, he chopped through the weeds full of water drops and opened the way to the church for the two of them.
The tall church is not far from the road.
After the rain, the sky cleared and the dark clouds began to disperse. When the light shone down, Mira could clearly see that there were some decayed and dilapidated wooden frames that looked like they had once been residences. Some stone and clay structures could still see charred fire marks on them. Traces - Mira doesn't need to be a sage to judge that this is obviously the result of a conflict between the clergy who preached the religion and some people, and the vines climbing all over half of the wall clearly prove this. It is not a fact that it was abandoned for a year or two.
"Pa-tap--" Emmanica walked over first. The door of the church had long been damaged. Judging from the feces on the ground, most of the high-rise tower structures had become the home of bats. However, even this dirt was not Can cover up its former magnificence.
The dark clouds cleared and the sun once again showed its power, casting its blazing light down. The multiple pieces of stained glass still reflected beautiful light even though the outside was covered with a layer of dust - the dust on the ground inside the dry church. Projected into the mid-air, together with this wonderful light, it forms the most typical scene of the white church branch on the West Coast.
The two branches of faith that eventually evolved from the Laman Empire at that time, and the Yetina sect that is still left in the Padrosi Empire today, are primitive and pure ascetics - and this branch that was defeated and fled, You need to have more "tricks".
Presumably during the heyday of this church, the priests would wear luxurious clothes, and the sunlight would shine in as it does now, but the dust around would be replaced by precious incense, and the cardinal would loudly use ancient incense on the podium. The language declares the glory of the gods - all of this is to create a "heaven on earth" to make believers awe and worship.
The book from Sivalier allowed Mira to imagine all this in her mind - but what she cared more about than all these things was that she missed the sign of the god and went directly to Emoni on the left Card move.
"This is?" The mottled female statue can vaguely be seen as praying - the brief history written by Henry for the Sivalier people he bought for her only briefly summarized some things, without going into detail. to discern the explanation of all religious symbols, she asked.
"The Saint...is the Saint." Emmanica turned around, not knowing why her emotions were not very high. She continued: "We walking on the earth are all equal people. If we can really If you make up your mind to sincerely do good and uphold justice, it will never be too late to start atonement."
"This is what she said to the enemy general who tried to commit suicide and die for his country after the defeat." Emonica tilted her head towards Mira and said with a smile: "She is indeed a saint, with such a calm spirit. , It’s really admirable..."
"It's just...are we all really equal..." Emmanica muttered in a low voice. "Huh?" Mira didn't hear clearly, so she made a questioning sound. "No, it's nothing. It's time to leave. I just want to see the Holy Lady. I used to go to the church when I was in a bad mood in the village."
"I don't know why, but just looking at her, even though I know it's just a stone statue, I always feel at ease in my heart."
"How should I put it..." Emonica smiled sheepishly: "It's like, 'everything will be fine'."
"Let's go, let's go, I want to see the sea soon~" She turned her head as if to hide her shyness. Mira looked at the back of the blonde girl with amusement, and she took a step to follow her. , but stopped again.
The pale yellow sunlight shone on her body through the stained glass window. The Luoan girl with white hair tied in a ponytail turned back to look at the mottled moss-covered female statue, and frowned.
"Sang..." The font on the ground is no longer very clear, and the writing can be seen to be Lamantic cursive characters. Mira recognizes them because the Shivariya language evolved from Lamani.
"Sanga?"
"Strange name..." The white-haired Luoan girl frowned and shook her head to get rid of the strange feelings in her mind, and then strode to catch up with Emonika. (To be continued.)
