When The Coin In The Coffer Rings, A Soul From Purgatory Springs!
Comments(4) The headline of this post isn’t original with me – in fact it’s far from it! It comes in fact from around 500 years ago in Europe and was a major contributing factor in causing the Reformation. It was a clever sales pitch by one Johann Tetzel.
Tetzel is a showman. When preaching to gullible crowds in German towns he goes far beyond the official doctrine of indulgences. He promises the immediate release of loved ones from the pain of Purgatory as soon as a purchase is made. He even has a catchy jingle to make the point: ‘As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, The soul from Purgatory springs.’ [Source]
Well thank God we don’t have to worry about anything as grass and obviously fake and unbiblical as indulgences right?
Wrong! They’re Baaaaaaack!
According to The Lede, a New York Times blog, you now have not one, but two different ways to get rid of your sin!
Today, Pope Benedict XVI put out the latest offer of indulgences, with two highly-detailed options. The harder way to get one, at least if you don’t live in southwestern France, involves making a pilgrimage to Lourdes, where the faithful believe that the Virgin Mary appeared to a teenage girl 18 times over a five-month span in 1858. The pilgrimage, which must be made in the next year, can be accomplished using Vatican charter flights that began over the summer.
The easier way involves a tighter window of time — just nine days in February — but what will probably be a much shorter trip, to “any church, grotto or decorous place” that displays “the blessed image” of the apparition. (Would a front yard in Staten Island qualify?) In the presence of the image, one must “participate in a pious exercise” to show devotion to the Virgin Mary, the announcement says.
Isn’t this just nauseating? I’m sorry to sound so anti-Catholic, but this is really inexcusable and just incredibly sad! I think most Protestants hoped that the Catholic Church had moved for beyond such gimmicks. Good Lord, this puts them in the same sad category as those hokey TV preachers who offer “miracle prayer cloths” and other blatant rip offs to make money!
Vatican charter flights indeed! If the Vatican needs money (as I’m sure they do, all churches do, mine being no exception) then let them teach their people to give. Not deceive them with an ancient rip off that does nothing but bring disgrace to the cause and the Name of Christ!
What this does for us to highlight some important doctrinal issues where the Catholic Church is still outside anything that even approaches the Biblical norm:
- Salvation by Grace. Clearly the Pope is still teaching salvation by works of one kind or another. This is neither true nor acceptable.
- Superstition. This appeal to Lourdes and Mary make it plain that the Catholic Church is still allowing other things to push Jesus out of the center of their faith. Believing that a physical place (any place) hold some kind of power or anointing is nothing short of pagan superstition and must be rejected!
- Spiritual Abuse. Leading people to believe they can “earn” or “buy” an indulgence that offers forgiveness from God is a lie! It’s spiritual abuse for the Pope to do it, just as it’s spiritual abuse for all the TV preacher crowd when they do it too!
- The Bible. Sometimes we forget that the Catholic Church believes that the church and the Pope have authority over the Bible. This type of nonsense forcefully reminds us this hasn’t changed, and of all the dangers inherent in that belief.
I don’t like criticizing other parts of the Christian faith but come on- enough is enough!
We need to take a stand against this one and let the Catholic Church know that this type of behavior is not acceptable to those of us who follow Jesus and believe the Bible. I know this will raise all kinds of cries for unity and against me for being “judgmental.”
We cannot, and I will not, be unified with ANYONE who willfully lies, distorts the truth and leads people away from Christ and towards putting their faith in anything other than Him!
I don’t care if they are on TV, in the Vatican, or members of my church! This type of evil must be confronted head on in love. Because forsaking the truth for the sake of unity produces neither real unity nor truth. In the end it only results in the ruination of everyone involved.
So let’s take our stand, and let the chips fall where they may!
Thank you so very much for your illustration of Pope Benedict XVI…I found you because I am preaching on the life of Elijah, God’s man of the hour…and using Martin Luther as an illustration. So I typed in Tenzel’s expression and found your blog.
Thanks so much for a great Sermon Illustration.
Larry Williams B.A.; Th.B.; Th.M;
please check out my blog post about prayers for the dead. The Church has always suggested that prayers could be said and penance made for the departed. the sale of indulgences was wrong, but the principle of such was not. Jesus gave the power to loose and to bind to his Church. Yes even the temporal consequences of our sin can be remitted, but not the actual sin. Only Jesus can forgive sin, but the Church has the authority to remove the temporal consequences of such sin through indulgences.
http://crossed-the-tiber.blogspot.com/2009/11/happy-all-souls-day.html
First of all I have to say I always find it so sad when well meaning Christians attack other Christians. Sometimes we spend so much time trying to convert other Christians that we overlook our mission to bring the gospel to those who have had no real exposure to Christ. That being said, I will try to point out the basic error of your premise in a respectful way. The Catholic Church does not teach that an indulgence forgives sin. This may come as a shock to many non Catholics and even some Catholics(I was an adult before I ever learned this) An indulgence only absolves someone from the temporal punishment that comes as a result of dying in a state that is not quite worthy of heaven but not bad enough for hell. Catholics call that state purgatory. Now the validity of purgatory is an entirely different debate that well meaning Christians can have, but the idea that the Pope believes that money or anything other than God can forgive sins is simply incorrect. And as for Tetzel’s statement about coins and souls, it is now regarded as highly dubious that he ever said it, but even if he did, it was not the doctrinal position of the church at the time nor is it now. As for the Pope having authority over the Bible that simply isn’t true either. The Pope is bound by the word of God just like everyone else. The difference between Catholic and Protestant views on Biblical interpretation is that Catholics believe that the Church has the sole right to interpret the often confusing passages of the Bible, and other Christian denominations believe that any pastor or indeed any person has the ability to do so. I strongly urge all Catholics and non-Catholics to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church so as to better understand what the Church actually believes. Christians can have valid debates, but they must first come from a true understanding of what the other believes. As a Catholic I am sure that I am guilty of believing things about my Christian brothers and sisters that are incorrect, but only through respectful dialogue can we begin to truly understand each other. We live in an age where militant atheism is on the rise and secular society is stealing our children’s souls. Now more than ever all Christians of the world have a solemn duty not to focus on fighting each other but to come together as one to fight the very real evils all around us. Peace in Christ. JK
hey you bearded man, good blog, get a life.