The Botched Reformation
A Brief History of Recent Western Culture
Must people’s lives be made a living hell in the name of Christ?
It started when Ignatius of Antioch (AD c.35-c.107) in his Letter to the Ephesians, declared that “we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord himself” and suggested that bishops preside in the place of God.
Soon the Dark Ages church leaders acted like they were God. They made up all kinds of rules in the name of God. In truth, they had nothing to do with God and everything to do with power and wealth. They relentlessly punished people. Disobedience was dealt with harshly. The church made spectacles of torturing and executing people for even the most innocent infractions. A mole on your skin could get you burned at a stake in the town square. Their shows of power instilled fear in everyone.
“It is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”
Boniface VIII (1235–1303), in Unam Sanctam.
Eventually, absolute surrender and servitude to the Pope were expected.
Redefining Sin
Sin gave the church an excuse to seize property and enslave people. The more sin there was the richer and more powerful the church got. How did they make sure everyone was sinning? They declared everything sinful. Eating was gluttony, sleep was sloth, treating an illness was witchcraft, thoughts could get you killed, and they told you what you were thinking. If you denied it, you were a deceiver. As the only ones selling salvation from Hell (Hell being another misconstrued word and scare tactic.), they became the richest and most powerful organization on the planet.
Music, dancing, laughing, celebrations, affection, revelry, comedy, and shows of happiness or joy, were all punishable. Only work and worship were acceptable.
Everyone groveled and fawned in fear of the church’s wrath because everything they did was a sin and having the finger of judgment pointed at you was horrifying.
That is where we get the idea, “If it is fun, it must be sinful.”
To this day all Christian culture, Catholic or Protestant, is restrained. Christians can’t let loose. Even in a “charismatic”, clap-hands type of church letting loose is ritualized, selectively sanctified, and made safe and predictable. Google, “Can a Christian laugh?” Sadly, you will get thousands of answers. That should not be a question. Pathetically, you will also get instructions on how to laugh properly. Gloomy Christian reverence was passed down from the Dark Ages.
That is not the only thing that was passed down. Most of what passes for Christianity today was made up during the Dark Ages by tyrannical church leaders exploiting everyone in God’s name. It has nothing to do with the Bible.
Their crowning achievement was the vilification of sex. Who doesn’t have a sex drive? Condemning sex is like condemning a fish for swimming.
Suddenly Augustine’s crazy conclusions, based on reading a language he did not understand, went viral. A misunderstood translation of one passage gave him the idea that sin is like a venereal disease. It was passed on through sexual activities. All babies were born with the disease. Not only does sex condemn everyone but everything to do with sex is evil. Every urge and desire became a ticket to Hell. The only hope is to serve the church, but it is never enough.
Shameless Times
Sexual shame and guilt passed down from the past are so prevalent today that most people can not imagine a time when people were sexually shameless. Before the church tyrants redefined the meaning of, “adultery”, and “lust”, nudity was common for practical reasons, and most times sex was enjoyed without privacy even by the followers of Christ.
Baptisms were full immersion outdoor services done in the nude. Even the Deacon would be nude because once the water was blessed no worldly object could enter it.
In a shameless world, there was no reason for privacy.
Living conditions in the castles of Europe were crowded. For centuries, people bedded down behind castle walls in the Great Hall. Up to 150 staff, guests, and nobles slept together. Castles had few bedrooms. Many had none. If he had one, even the bed chamber of the Lord of the Keep and his ladies would be shared with favorite associates and servants.
Sex was probably enjoyed with lots of good humor, and camaraderie among everyone present, in what would otherwise be a hard, joyless existence.
Common people’s homes were single rooms. The room housed big, multi-generations of extended families, which is still common in many parts of the globe.
Clerical Concubines
Nuns who engaged in sex with “celibate” priests to whom they were not married, were clerical concubines. Many respected priests and bishops had live-in housekeepers that bore them children.
Celibate is another concept that has been redefined over time. At one time, a Priest who had a stable sexual relationship with a woman was considered celibate. The thing the church was concerned with was that she, nor their children have any claim to his property when he died. If the property was pledged to the church, he was celibate. King John V of Portugal, a very religious man, married two nuns.
Sex Starved
The idea that anyone should go without sex was considered preposterous. Refusing sex is as unnatural and absurd as refusing food when starving or warmth when freezing.
Brothels were everywhere and managed by the church as a source of income and a means of moderating sexual appetites so noble women would not be harassed.
The Stews in London employed as many as 1000 sex workers at a time was managed by the local bishop for 4 centuries.
It was accepted that a person’s well-being naturally required basic things like food, water, sleep, shelter, and sex. A person’s well being suffers without any one of those things.
Annihilation
Mankind was in a race against annihilation. Archaeologists have discovered that almost 50 percent of human remains in Medieval graveyards are of children.
Even if someone survived infancy, adult life was short. Young men died in frequent raids. Women died giving birth. A small cut while butchering a chicken for dinner could lead to a deadly infection. Drinking water was a risk because of inevitable contaminants.
Inbreeding was always a danger because of isolated, sparse populations. People who raise livestock know that. As such there was no shame in enjoying sex with visitors and travellers to mix the gene pool.
Sex was important to sustain the population. It was never discouraged.
Because nobody believed they needed to abstain from sex, abstinence became a form of religious penance. It was an extreme outlier to the norm. Flagellation, prolonged fasting, and other forms of mortification and self-torture were supposed to increase the burden of faith, prove a point to God, and impress Him.
Martin Luther and Katharina’s Bedding
The middle class was established during the Renaissance. People emulated the formal marriages of the upper class. However, most people were not married. Marriages were political alliances of the elite.
For a marriage to be formalized, there would be a bedding. The bedding was a ritual where a couple had sex while in the company of their friends, family, and members of their community.
Martin Luther wanted no doubt about his marital status for political and theological reasons. The father of the Protestant Reformation, and his wife Katharina took part in their betrothal night consummation with many witnesses in the room. According to Oberman’s scholarly biography, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, 1989, p. 282, among their witnesses were Luther’s closest friend, Justus Jonas, a man by the name of Lucas Cranach, and his wife, Barbara, whom Katharina lived with before the wedding, as well as another local friend named John Apel who was the “official witness” to the marriage.
While some insist that their consummation took place behind curtains, that is a prudish revision. Curtains would have made the event pointless, and possibly scandalous. Even blankets concealing them would leave room for doubt and questions. There needed to be corroborative, eyewitness, proof that the marriage had been fully consummated.
Luther and Kat’s bedding was traditional. Couples made sure their sexual activities were clearly viewed. There had to be no room for doubt. At some beddings, the room had an elevated platform to make sure those in the back of the group could see so that there would be no doubters or possibility of dispute. What fun!
A Cosmic Shift
After tens of thousands of years of casual nudity and sex as a social activity everything changed. The Roman Church’s extreme condemnation of sex, the cruel threats, and punishments for thoughts, feelings, and desires instilled fear in everyone.
A well-known moral guide of the Middle Ages, the Speculum Doctrinale (Mirror of Doctrine), written by Vincent of Beauvais, c. 1184/1194 — c. 1264, decreed, “A man who loves his wife very much is an adulterer. Any love for someone else’s wife, or too much love for one’s own, is shameful.” The author went on to advise, “The upright man should love his wife with his judgment, not his affections.”
Vilified sex ushered in a new era in human history. The most natural, normal need and inevitable aspect of being human was punishable by death.
Sexual shame and inhibitions are not a natural part of the human condition. Despite that, fear, shame, and guilt became ingrained, and every child grew up with them branded on their heart. They made sure everyone felt it and carried that burden.
Shame and guilt haunted everyone who had a sex drive. It made everyone feel like a sinner, which was the point.
This is what was passed down from the Dark Ages. This is what has become an extreme blight on the mental health and well being of mankind. To this day people believe sin is largely a matter of their sexual needs, desires, and preferences. The damage that has been done is profound beyond any other event in history.
Now people feel like sinners for the wrong reasons. Instead of focusing on real issues, many are preoccupied with controlling themselves and others. Dealing with one’s sexuality has become a huge burden instead of a constant source of joy and togetherness.
Power and Consequences
Nobody wanted to face the church’s wrath. Everyone was eager for the church’s approval to avoid accusations and the consequences. Filled with fear, everyone was compliant. Everyone fawned. Everyone was obedient.
Everyone was easy to manipulate, control, exploit, and rule.
Popes and Bishops lived in opulent luxury. They indulged themselves in every debauched and decadent way. Rules and standards did not apply to them. They felt they were God’s chosen. We still see that among the social elite today.
The Great Deception
Most Christians assume moral standards are from the Bible. No. It is far more complex than that.
The power-hungry, greedy, terrorists of the Dark Ages created an extreme morality, fabricated in the name of God, to empower themselves. That morality has been passed down to us. It does nothing good for anyone. The harm it does is insurmountable, and I am not talking about mere sexual frustration. The harm goes much deeper.
