So the scholars of the Theology Council will tell you when the scholars of the Theology Council are misleading you? That seems… flawed.
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Hypothetically if the Theology Council is a corrupt body then I have faith God will send those so inspired to excise them from its body just as Saint Tetrimon was sent to kill the Emperor Without Name.
Yes, but anyone could claim to have been sent by God to reform the Faith. People could even claim to simply be seeking to reform the Faith without the pride and arrogance of claiming that God spoke to them clearly and unambiguously, couldn’t they?
If someone did show up claiming to have been sent by God for exactly the purpose you’ve suggested… how would you know if they’re lying or not? I mean, the Theology Council, obviously, couldn’t be considered to be unbiased in that situation—if the emissary’s telling the truth, the of course the corrupt body needing purification would oppose that purification, wouldn’t they?
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There is a reason many Saints are made so posthumously: the scope of their revelations by God only made clear with time and hindsight. The importance of the Holy Throne and Theology Council is that indeed, anyone could claim they have been sent from God, so we require temporal authority and the wisdom of the learned to arbitrate and investigate properly the requirements of holy revelation.
But again, that doesn’t answer the question. If you bear some of the responsibility for following the misguided directives, then you, on some level, are expected to do better than follow those directives. If the way you know is because God sends someone to take the errant orthodoxy to task, then you need a way to determine at the time whether your obedience to God demands siding with the orthodoxy or the reformer.
Otherwise, you wind up with a situation where God is telling you ‘you did everything exactly as you were supposed to. You served Me exactly as you should have. Now I will punish you for that.’ Which… seems a little off, doesn’t it?
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No. As I have said before, human understanding of God is flawed and our covenant at present is imperfect. It is entirely possible to follow flawed teachings and be damned as such for it. All that can be expected is for the benevolence of God and understanding of our imperfections, for salvation is only up to God, not human beings.
So it’s for God to make those determinations about who was right and who was wrong, and determine what, if any, consequences the ‘wrong’ should suffer?
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In the end, yes.
Awesome. Let’s stick a pin in that, though, because it’ll be important later. Instead, let’s back up for a moment to the part you didn’t address up there. If someone were to show up on a legitimate mission from God to excise the corruption in the Theology Council, then God’s Will is for that corruption to be excised, and your duty to God is to support that effort. God would not, for obvious reasons, want you opposing God’s Will[1]
And you obviously cannot trust the word of the Theology Council in that situation. So how are you expected to know if a reformer is genuine?
You’re entrusted with massive amounts of money and power, after all. It’d be child’s play to use that money to hunt down such a ‘reformer’ and put a laser through their brain… or to track them down and make sure nobody else puts that hole in their skull before they can be heard. Capability, after all, comes with responsibility to use it well.
1. I mean, unless God’s some kind of sadist or schizoid. But for purposes of this discussion, let’s stick to the idea that God isn’t a raving psychotic hiding behind the fig leaf of ineffability.
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What is it about the faith of others that compels you to attack it? You attempt to coerce admission of doubt as though it were faith’s opposite rather than a vital element.
Faith is a gift from God in answer to that doubt. For my part no proof is required; for you I doubt any would suffice.
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It attacked us first?
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What is it about your faith that causes you to see any discussion of it as an attack? Of course doubt is a vital element in anyone’s belief system. That is hardly a matter of contention. Please, stop trying to anticipate a discussion you’ve never had any intention of being an honest part of.
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If it makes you suffer, make it suffer back, so hard that the damn thing squeals for mercy and cries “I didn’t want that! I’m sorry!”.
That is the only way this world works.
Arrendis trolling Amarrians to find holes in their faith is always an amusing sight to behold.
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Then I would look for guidance as to how to act from other institutions of authority such as the Holy Throne or Royal Heirs.
The Holy Throne and Royal Heirs who selected the members of the Theology Council? In the event of corruption at the level of the TC, aren’t the Throne and Heirs also just as invested in maintaining the corrupt cabal?
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I would remain obedient to the Holy Throne because it is they who are in communication with God and would know best how to act.
Then why would God have needed to send Saint Tetrimon? Wouldn’t the Throne already know to purge the TC?
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God sent St. Tetrimon to purge the Throne.
I don’t presume to know the mysteries of the Throne.
A discussion implies equal parties, but the posture you’ve adopted with respect to the Knight-Preceptor is more akin to an interrogation.
As someone who remembers Karsoth’s regency well, it is hard to see your position as sincere; the spurious claim that he was the Empire’s leader is the smallest problem with your assessment. The Court Chamberlain has only ever answered to the Throne. That it was vacant left the Theology Council, and even the Royal Heirs, significant uncertainty concerning protocol. This didn’t stop His Grace Lord Uriam from publicly castigating the Chamberlain for delaying the election of a new Emperor, or several Theology Council justices from giving their lives attempting to remove the traitor.
You persistently place the onus on Knight-Preceptor Fereyd to justify his faith and explain to you how he would know God’s will. It cannot be explained. We allow ourselves to be guided by the Rite, and where judgement is necessary, look to the elevation of those in our service, fidelity to those we are in service to, and pray to God for the wisdom to find the proper path.
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