"At this time, the wisest of the gods, the moon god, took possession and warned the gods not to use their divine power to stop the mortal fight, which was tantamount to showing the divine power to the mortals to see, and making the mortals marvel at the greatness of the divine power, which would only backfire and increase their motivation to fight for their faith.
"The moon god believes that the best way to stop war is to collect the weapons of both sides of the battle, so what the gods should really do is to take back the magic and divine grace bestowed on mortals, and cut off the extraordinary power that is the root of people's arrogance and intolerance."
"The gods thought that the moon god's initiative was reasonable, but they also feared that taking back the divine favor would lead the believers to defect and weaken the influence of their own church in the world."
The moon god laughed at the gods' concerns and solved them with a clever analogy: there were two bakers in a certain place, one of whom sold his bread at a regular price, and the other often gave bread to the poor for free, and the latter was praised far more than the former.
This made the first baker feel very aggrieved, thinking that he and his peers were providing bread to people, and there was no difference in the amount and taste of bread, why did people praise his peers more than himself?"
Roland's question caused a burst of laughter in the room.
"The answer is obvious: the second baker won social fame not because he made money by selling bread, but because he was willing to give bread to the poor for free, even when he did not make money or even lost money, which is a virtue that the first baker did not have."
Roland and the other listeners put away their smiles and fell into deep thought, and then said: "The metaphor of the moon god is ingenious and easy to understand, and now all the gods understand his intentionsIf a person believes in gods, just to obtain divine grace and divine magic, can this kind of person's faith be regarded as pious and pure, on the contrary, how to test tens of thousands of believers, and distinguish which ones worship gods for the sake of gain, like the master who made money by selling bread, and which ones do not seek fame or profit, True refuge is like the master who gave free bread to the poor, and the answer is obvious: take back the divine grace and divine magic, and see whether the believer leaves or chooses to stick to the faith. ” "This screening method is too cruel, and the vast majority of priests who suddenly lose their divine grace and divine magic may not be able to withstand such a blow, so that they will have a mental breakdown."
Archbishop Claude shook his head and sighed.
As Lord Claude said, the gods also thought it was too cruel to their own believers, and feared that no one would be able to withstand such a test.
In order to prove the viability of his plan, the moon god decided to set an example by sending his incarnation to the earth, throwing himself into the mortal womb, erasing all memories of his life in the heavenly realm, growing up like an ordinary human child, and sending a revelation to guide him to his sect, to elevate him as the chosen person of the moon god, and prophesy that he would have a great and difficult mission. ” "The chosen people of the moon god were determined to shoulder the burden of the heavenly idols and traveled to various countries to spread the belief in the moon god, and in order to temper his mind, he lived in seclusion in the desolate desert for many years, insisting on solitary asceticism, when a devil came to his door and tried to lure the saint to fall."
The churchgoers, including Frank and Gregory, all held their breath and shuddered at the imagination of how the cunning devil would seduce the ascetic monks.
"When the devil first came to the ascetic, and saw him sitting in the midst of a pile of bare stones, tormented by hunger, so thin that he was skinny and bones, he said to him, 'If you are the chosen people of the true God, command these stones to be turned into bread, that you may be saved from hunger.'"
The ascetic rejected the temptation of the devil and remained unmoved.
But the second temptation of the devil soon came, and he cast a spell and teleported the ascetic to the top of a great tower that towered into the sky, and said to him: If you are God's chosen people, you may jump down, for it is written: "God will command his angel for you, to bear you by the hand, so that your foot does not touch the stone." ”” The ascetic still ignored the devil's rhetoric, overcame the impulse of curiosity in his heart, and ignored the devil's temptation.
But the third temptation was even more severe, and the devil took him up to the highest mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the earth, and all the glory of the kingdoms, and said to him, "If you fall down and worship me, I will give you all these things, and I will make you king over all nations, and ruler over all living things in the earth." ” Whispers rang out again in the room, and people seemed to be tempted by the devil's whispers, fascinated by the story Roland was telling.
Roland smiled slightly, and said calmly: "The ascetic has overcome the thirst for power and successfully resisted the third temptation of the devil.
After that, the moon god took him back to heaven, and the gods realized how strong and devout true believers were, so they accepted the moon god's initiative and took back the divine grace, and the clergy on earth lost their divine skills, and people could no longer witness the miracles of rejuvenation, resurrection, and conjuring food out of thin air, and decided whether to stick to their faith by their free will rather than being seduced by divine grace. ” To the relief of the gods, their churches did not disappear quickly, but decayed, and ten centuries later, faith still exists.
However, at the same time, there was also a phenomenon that the gods did not expect, although the gods withdrew their divine grace and took back the powerful supernatural weapons in the hands of their believers, but the human world did not stop the conquest, and people did not have divine arts, but turned to research technology, and developed weapons more terrifying than divine arts for cannibalism, but caused more bloodshed and slaughter than before. ” "The gods were puzzled by this and decided to send a representative to the mortal world to investigate, because the withdrawal of the divine grace was the initiative of the moon god, and the Luna Church had become the mainstream belief in the world at this time, and the moon god believers were the group of people who slaughtered the infidels the most, and the gods thought that the moon god must be responsible for all this, so the moon god separated into an incarnation, changed into the appearance when he was tested by the devil, and sent to the human world to investigate."
At this point, Roland stopped and picked up his teacup and took two sips of water unhurriedly.
During this time, the silence remained in the room, and all eyes were on his face, expecting him to continue.
Roland didn't let everyone wait too long, put down the teacup and continued: "The place where the incarnation of the moon god went down to investigate happened to be the prevalence of the Inquisition, and the city was filled with raging fires every day, filled with black smoke rushing into the sky, and the inquisitors of the Church of the Moon God erected a stake in the square, burning all evil heretics to ashes in a brilliant flame
.
" :