Gawen

Imagine those folks of long ago that believed in God and Jesus and that belief was upheld through Pelagius. And imagine their discontent when they were told that to believe as Pelagious believed was a heresy, and that Augustine of Hippo is the way to go, or be excommunicated. Beginning with Paul and cemented by Augustine, priests became power hungry. I wouldn’t call it a con game of sorts because I believe they actually believed. But they knew something ‘good’ when they saw it. Some will tell you it is the power of God they have. I would tell you it is the power to control the masses through their beliefs, as harsh as the beliefs were.

The power to sway men’s minds is the greatest and most lethal power of them all. So when I ask the rhetorical question spoken by a man of 400 CE, “When is the last time God spoke with you?� the reply would most likely be “God does not speak with men directly, only with priests�. And it doesn’t matter if the God was Baal, Moloch, Jupiter or Helios, He has his priests to make known His will to men. I may be speaking of false Gods and false priests, but there has never been a god without a priest or holy man of some sort.

Priests accepted sacrifices on the God’s behalf and they shape the minds of worshipers the way they wish them to be shaped. Priests always had their hands out, either demanding sacrifice or pointing an accusatory finger, except for those like Pelagius, a lawyer, of all people. All priests are power mongers and deal in the exploitation of men’s minds. So imagine the new breed of priests around the turn of the century of 400CE. They called themselves Christian, but I think they had little in common with the priests that taught of the gentle Christus. According to the new breed of savage-eyed zealots who ruled from Rome (and their dictates) virtually everyone was a heretic who stood with Pelagius; misguided sinners who led their flocks astray using the shepherd image they are so fond of. Just imagine the fighting between those who followed Augustine and Pelagius.

Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius of Britain may have bred what was the biggest power struggle and probably eclipsed the politics of all the Emperors of Rome up to that date. Using Paul’s teachings and having the ear of the Pope in Rome (who claimed power above all bishops), Augustine had Pelagius’ teachings made illegal and Pelagius excommunicated for heresy. This meant that a huge chunk of the population of Britain and any outlying areas of the Empire were barred from salvation. Why? Because Pelagius was a humanist. He dared to stand up against Augustine. Pelagius believed in the dignity of man, in personal responsibility, in freedom of choice and freedom of will. Pelagius was condemned because his teachings undermined the priests themselves. Give a man the right to talk to God on his own terms, to bear God in his heart and deal with Him in justice on his own behalf, and you negate the need for priests. That is why Pelagius was excommunicate.

Pelagius and those like him taught love and mercy and that no sin is unforgivable. But the men of God in Rome ruled that Pelagius was unforgivable. They damned him and those like him for daring to differ with their views. There is no love of God here; this is politics, pure and simple. In their lust for power, these bishops and priests have condemned much of the people of the world unless they change their beliefs, repent and worship the way they want them to worship. And who is to say otherwise? They call themselves the Fathers of the Church. They spoke, they claimed, with the full authority of God Himself and of His Holy Saints, chief of which is Paul.

It is now, I think, that the Christian anti-woman movement really began. For centuries, the women of Rome were held in esteem, but no longer. It seems to have become ‘fashionable’ to denigrate women, believing they are now Devil’s spawn and servants dedicated to the damnation of men. But why would this new breed of priests condemn women more and more virulently? Perhaps it is because they were convenient. The Church in Rome was a predominately male hierarchy ever since the earliest times; it’s roots in Judaism. Perhaps the ‘elders’ sought to crystalise their hegemony.

Imagine the arrogance of this new breed of priests and their new way of monasticism. A complete withdrawal from public life, these adherents enclose themselves in monasteries with men only who dedicate their life wholly in penitence. These people mortify their own flesh. They abase themselves constantly before their God who is a contradiction in terms: a Christian God as stern and unyielding as they are. Everything they do flies in the face of Pelagius’s teachings; a gentle and humane Jesus. And there is no power to change them. These men are convinced they are right and the rest of the entire world is wrong. There is no giving in to them, no compromise, no gentleness, no humanity. They are zealots. Fanatics. They seek to change, to rule and conquer the world. And they call themselves Christians.

This involves the condemnation of Pelagius and his teachings. But on a subtler level, it involves surrendering the ‘will’ to the dictates of the priests in Rome and THAT was what Pelagius was against from the beginning. His contention and fear were that these so-called men of God were taking unto themselves the attributes of God. They began taking the teachings of Jesus and interpreting them to suit their own needs. They have proved him right by condemning Pelagius. Pelagius thought that Christ would never hand down such a harsh punishment.

Pelagius was simple in his teachings. There was nothing anti-christ in him. He taught that we must choose between the laws of God and the ways of licentiousness. That it rests in us to choose to follow the Christ or not to. That we are made in Gods image with the innate ability to aspire to joining God’s heavenly host. It is this innate ability that is at the centre of the controversy between Pelagius and Rome. Our will is free says Pelagius, as was the will of Satan. The temptations we face are the same as Lucifer’s. Pelagius gave us hope and dignity in ourselves and a sense of worth. The men in Rome denied this worth. The followers of Augustine say we are born in sin and deny us a sense of worth, doomed to fate unless we subjugate ourselves to their ways, begging their intercession with the divine to give us grace.

Imagine if Pelagius won.

Gregg

This is a classic case of "nice guys finish last."