Thoughts.

Religion is often a hot topic for debate, and for a very good reason. For those of us who have strong religious beliefs, faith is not just a part of our lives, it is the whole meaning of our lives. With that being said, in everything I am going to say I say with due respect to people of all different creeds. If you've read my earlier posts, you know that I am a Christian. To go even further I will point out that my religion is Roman Catholic and my faith is in Jesus Christ. You may wonder why I am differentiating between religion and faith, and my answer to you is that they do not always go hand in hand. In "The Praise of Folly" and other works of Erasmus, he points out the need for reformation within the Church, and he stresses huge grievences he has with the organization and practices of the people who run the church. I was really moved by his sincerity to cultivate faith, along with religion. He didn't believe in the people just blindly following the priest or pope, he calls on princes, clergy, and ordinary people to read the bible, trust in God, and most of all seek to know God. I believe that the larger picture of what Erasmus was getting at was that faith, the true meannig of Christianity, is what we should be striving for. He changes Jerome's theories on penance and brings about the revolutionary word "repent" that most of us believe in today. We know from the bible that God is a forgiving God as well as a just God. Erasmus also spells out what it is to be a Christian leader; it's not all about appearances and armies and who's in cahoots with who. Erasmus tells them to be virtuous and a leader to their people by example. This brings me to another point, leading by example. Machiavelli discusses that the ends justify the means, but this only works if you do not believe  in divine judgement. In "The Prince" he discusses being deceitful and doing whatever it took to gain wordly possessions and power. Erasmus on the other hand based his beliefs off the bible and as 2 Corinthians 5:10 says:

 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. "

This is to say that it's not just the people of the church that need to be pious, but the clergy, the princes, and the pope as well. Going to church on Sunday and owning a lot of land does not secure you a spot in heaven. He wants us to be meak, to be noble, to be like Christ.

In a final note, because I could ramble on and on, take this for food for thought:

Just because you park a bike in the garage, that doesn't make it a car.