well, while we were in kiev to give birth to isaac (see pics here), i was in some of the shopping centers and realized that john tetzel was not dead, he had just moved to ukraine (and aparently switched allegiance from the roman catholic church to the ukrainian orthodox church). this is a "coffer" that stood by the entrance of the shopping center in downtown kiev for donations towards the construction of a new church in kiev, and i saw many identical ones in other shopping centers:
the translation of the inscription is: "place your brick in the foundation of the holy habitation and in her walls prayers will sound for you eternally". guess tetzel hasn't lost his knack for jingle-writing even after almost 500 yrs.! it's truly heart-rending that men would gladly sell out the truth of the Gospel of grace to finance their programs (and no, it's not limited to the catholic or orthodox churches!) luther also had a slogan of sorts which, while perhaps not as catchy, certainly rings loud even to this day with the great truth of the Gospel:
"Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria"
(by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, by Scripture Alone, by Christ Alone, to the Glory of God Alone)
(by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, by Scripture Alone, by Christ Alone, to the Glory of God Alone)
2 comments:
Interesting kiosk. Would that in America, land founded on Scriptural principles, we would see an opportunity in a mall to give to the work of God. If someone tried to erect one of these 'coffers' in a mall in America, no doubt the ACLU would cry, 'Foul!'
I don't see John Tetzel in this kiosk. John Tetzel waved the threat of extended time in purgatory and/or the eternal flames of hell over the heads of Catholics who would not give their substance to build the palaces of Rome and the pope, I believe these 'gifts' were called indulgences. The only thing 'indulgent' about the money given was the Catholc administration's use of them; to pour luxury and power upon themselves.
Jesus acknowleged that the mite the widow woman donated in the coffer of the Jewish temple would resound in heaven for her glory. When a believer gives out of their heart in an act of worship, God sees and will reward them accordingly. It all depends on the heart of the one donating to the cause. A true heart of worship will always be rewarded by God himself. It's a good thing that God distinguishes not based on the individual cause or on the hearts of those making the pleas for monetary contributions, but on the hearts of the ones who give.
welcome to the blog, whoever you are! :) thanks for your thoughts. in response to your points:
you're right, you'd NEVER see anything like that in a mall in america. of course, here you will never see anything like that in a mall from any church other than the ukrainian orthodox church.
i agree with your statement about God's seeing a true heart of worship despite whatever the intentions of those receiving it may be. however, a couple points i'd bring up to that:
1)though there may be a few who drop in money out of a desire to simply worship God, the large majority are motivated by the same general motivation that tetzel used in selling indulgences. though the eastern orthodox church doesn't teach explicitly the existence of "purgatory", there is the concept that after death, relatives can purchases candles and priestly prayers for you to help your chances of eventually entering heaven (and apparently "placing a brick" in this cathedral exponentially increases those chances). it's this fear that is being played on in the inscription on the box and hence the most likely motivating factor for anyone contributing (though i'll agree not the motive for all).
2) the idea promoted here is in essence the same pushed by tetzel and the RCC: that by giving money to the church, you greatly increase your chances of entering heaven, albeit more subtly. now, in this scenario it's not the givers of the money who are the guilty party (at least not the primary guilty party), but the orthodox church (just as tetzel and the RCC were the guilty ones in the 16th cent.) hence some may be capable of true worship through the mall coffer (as comical and unlikely as that seems), but the indictment is against the church authority structure and leadership.
3) i say the people giving are not the primary guilty party. but they can't be entirely innocent. if in 16th cent. germany the common man had no access to read the Word of God for himself and see that the lines being spun by the RCC were lies, in our days that is no longer the case. even in ukraine, since the fall of the USSR, the Bible is freely available to all who want it. the people remain deceived now not because of lack of opportunity, but because of lack of caring, and hence are also to some extent "guilty".
hope that clears up any confusion as to my intent.
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