Seeing Father Soljie fall into silence, Fang Zhengyi smiled faintly: "Father, do you know why my Dajing fleet was able to explore Feika?"
"Why?"
"To be honest, it was you Feika people who accidentally drifted to my Dajing. Before I came here, I asked them for some information about the Taifu Religion." Fang Zhengyi said, "From what I know, your religion has a great influence and a large number of believers, which is rare in the world. But on the other hand, your religion uses its own advantages to levy heavy taxes on the people, making them miserable."
"I heard that you have an activity called the Holy Year. During the Holy Year, countless believers gather together to offer countless gold and silver to cleanse their sins. There are also inheritance donations, etc. Dare I ask if anything I said is false?"
Father Solger was silent for a moment, then asked, "Isn't this a malicious question?"
"Malice? No, no, no, we're just chatting and exchanging information."
"The believers are all volunteers, and I have never heard of anyone expressing dissatisfaction. Lord Fang, I now understand that you look at the church with prejudice. You won't believe anything I say, right?" Father Soljie said unhappily, "How can you let us preach? Just set the conditions."
Fang Zhengyi suddenly slammed the table and said, "That's great! I just like your temper."
"Then I'll be frank. If you want to preach here, you must first earn money to buy land and build a church. Second, you must complete the targets given by me before you can accept believers in my Dajing. Third, the number of local believers and candidates must be selected by the court before they can enter the church. Do you accept these three conditions?"
After hearing this, Father Soljie's face began to change, and then he said indignantly: "You don't want us to preach at all! How can we make money? What's more, we don't speak the same language. Sir Fang, are you trying to help us solve the problem? I think this is not prejudice, you are playing tricks on us, this is hatred!"
It seems that the reaction is similar to what I imagined. We need to talk slowly and brainwash slowly.
Facing Father Soljie's impotent rage, Fang Zhengyi said calmly: "Father, do you know? I used to be a devout Buddhist. Buddhism often talks about saving people from suffering and transcending the dead to ascend to heaven. When I was young, I was inspired by these great aspirations and put them into practice, such as helping an old lady go home and handing over the money I found to the police. But as I got older and saw more, the seeds of doubt gradually began to grow in my heart."
"Buddha said that all people are equal, but everywhere I look, there are strict hierarchies. In a temple, the treatment of monks from novice monks to abbots is different. The temples that should be places for asceticism have also become places for money-making. Countless believers have offered incense and spent countless people's money to build a golden body for the Buddha who is supposed to save the world from suffering. In the end, it even started to disrupt the government."
"As far as I know, your church is the same. Your pope wears a golden crown, and the churches he built are all extremely magnificent. Your doctrine is also similar to saving the world. Am I right?"
Soljie looked a little embarrassed and explained, "The gods have no form, but the world is ignorant and cannot see through their true meaning, so they can only use statues and gorgeous decorations to attract believers and spread the doctrine. This is for the sake of the overall situation. And I want to remind you that Taifuism is not the same as the Buddhism you mentioned!"
"Of course it's not the same thing. Buddhism has no right to levy taxes." Fang Zheng said lightly, and the priest clenched his fists.
"If you say that the purpose of amassing wealth is to take the overall situation into consideration, I can understand and I will assume that what you say is reasonable. But God loves all people and all beings are equal, so why does the Pope enjoy such privileges and wear gold and silver? Of course, you can say that this is also to attract believers, but I can tell you that a poor pope in a high position will have a much greater appeal than a luxurious person. You should understand this."
"Also, why can the Pope stay in a luxurious palace and communicate with the nobles, while people like you from the lower class have to live a down-to-earth life in poverty, and even travel thousands of miles to Dajing to save the world in the most godly way? This is not fair at all. There is only one reason for this, that is, the upper echelons of the church are obsessed with money and only care about their own enjoyment. You are just one of the tools used by the church to make money."
Father Solger suppressed his displeasure and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "You are making malicious speculations."
Fang Zheng shook his head and said calmly, "No, this is not a simple speculation, but a statement based on experience. Your status is too low to see the conflicts among the upper echelons, but I am at the pinnacle of power, so the higher I stand, the farther I can see."
"Father, let me ask you a question. Do you know where heaven is?"
"In heaven, of course." said Father Solger.
"And where is hell?"
"Hell is underground."
"No, that's not right. What you said is just a situation that everyone knows, but the truth is always unexpected." Fang Zhengyi raised a finger and pointed to the roof. "In fact, hell is below heaven, and the human world is the lowest level."
"Nonsense, what makes you think what you said is true?" Father Solger sneered.
Fang Zhengyi said calmly, "Believers go to heaven, heretics go to hell, and the human world is stuck in the middle. Logically, both heaven and earth should have equal opportunities, so why are there always more people going to hell than going to heaven? There is only one truth, and that is, we are closer to hell."
"The church promises you noble goals, pure ideals, and an unreachable destination, which will take you to heaven. But no one knows that there is hell between the world and heaven, and that you will have to go through mountains of swords and seas of fire to reach the other side."
"During this process, corpses piled up into mountains, blood flowed like seas, and bones formed forests. Only a small number of people stepped on the corpses of the masses to reach the material heaven. In the end, these people had long forgotten their original promises and still waved their golden scepters high above, accusing the believers in the bloody hell of not having pure faith, not devoting themselves hard enough, and not loving God sincerely enough. Am I right, Father?"
Father Soljie stood up suddenly, his face flushed as he angrily shouted, "You are simply slandering me! Master Fang, you have no faith at all and you don't understand anything!"
Fang Zhengyi shook his head slowly, staring at the priest with compassionate eyes: "If what I said was false, you shouldn't be angry. It shows that your faith is not pure and you are beginning to doubt in your heart. Otherwise, why would you think of bad things?"
"I am...you are slandering my religion, of course I am angry! Since you have this attitude, let's not talk about it. I want to go home! Go home!" Father Soljie was trembling all over.
Heretic! This Oriental man was definitely the most evil heretic he had ever seen!
Fang Zhengyi almost laughed out loud.
Go home? You're so surprised you said that.
"Father, I think you misunderstood what I meant. I am on your side. Sit down and talk slowly. Don't get angry easily."
......
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