Sui Xiong feels that for gods, the church is not only a tool for preaching, but also the embodiment of his ideas.
Perhaps from a strategic perspective and practical interests, the gods should encourage or at least acquiesce to the various ideas and factions in the church. Gods with powerful churches such as Wenner, the Lord of War, and Menis, the Goddess of Wealth, did exactly this. But Sui Xiong did not want such a church.
What he wants is a church that is relatively pure, full of vitality and fighting spirit. Although everyone has various ideas, they can basically agree on the basic life philosophy and goals of struggle.
He knew that his idea was a bit too idealistic and unrealistic - it would not be easy to establish such an organization, even with the support of the true God. But he felt that it would be fine if there were not enough conditions. Since he is a powerful god who can know what the believers are thinking and can grant power to the priests based on how well they conform to his ideals, there is no reason not to do so. .
It is true that this approach will reduce the number of devout believers and the number of priests, but as the saying goes, soldiers are more valuable than elites. One high-level priest is worth more than a hundred low-level priests. More powerful. A temple presided over by one outstanding priest is more valuable than ten altars run by shabby people.
At least, that's what he thought.
So after careful consideration, a few days later, he issued another oracle, asking believers, especially clergy, to study their own teachings, use the teachings to compare their lives, and reflect on whether they have a tendency to become secular and vulgar. , thereby purifying thoughts.
He did not criticize those clergymen who were "greedy for the mortal world". Instead, he established a new department within the church to let them do more work in dealing with society and requiring more flexibility and flexibility. matter.
In this regard, he received a lot of support and advice from Law God of Law.
Rau Blanc, the God of Law, is often also revered as the "Lord of Justice". Although he is not the main god of a pantheon, so he cannot be called "Lord of So-and-So", but what he does, Especially the paladins under his command have won him such prestige.
The paladins of the God of Law are a group of stubborn old-fashioned people who respect and maintain the dignity of the law and do whatever it takes to maintain the normal order of society. In most cases, they protect the weak, limit the powerful, and maintain order that benefits the middle and lower classes. But if necessary, they will also attack those who resist violently to help the rulers maintain social order.
If evaluated based on the "nine camps" system, the paladins of the God of Law probably belong to the two camps of orderly good and orderly neutral, with more of the former and quite a few of the latter.
Unlike churches such as the Lord of War or the Goddess of Wealth, the church system of the God of Law is much purer. From priests to priests to paladins, they all strictly follow the teachings of the God of Law. Even the smallest details require temporary prayers and special instructions.
This rigid and inflexible approach naturally greatly reduces the efficiency of work, so much so that the priests of the God of Law are often ridiculed as having "wooden heads" and "brains full of stones". But it is undeniable that it is this stubborn and almost rigid style that allows them to gain the trust of the entire society. Everyone knows that the priests of the God of Law absolutely follow the rules - even if they do not follow these rules. If they agree, they will only choose to leave, or persuade the rule makers, and will never fight against the rules.
With such a reputation, the staid priests of the Law are welcomed in even the most troubled areas. Even the evil lords showed a friendly attitude towards these strong men who maintained order and enforced rules.
The key to all of this lies in "organizational purity."
Among the gods, there is no one who pays more attention to the purity of the church than the God of Law, but if you want to grasp "moderateness" just right and turn it into a force for the growth of the organization instead of a restriction that hinders the development of the organization, no one can. Do better than the God of Law.
So when Sui Xiong wanted to promote internal rectification of the Void Mask Church and improve the purity of the organization, he naturally thought of asking the God of Law for advice.
The God of Law was very pleased that he came to inquire about him, introduced him to many experiences, and sent several clergymen with outstanding achievements in the history of church development to help Sui Xiong, two of whom were even His Holy Spirit.
With the help of this group of experts, Sui Xiong quickly compiled a series of documents and plans, and launched a large-scale retraining of clergy members from all over the Mask of the Void Church. He listed a long timetable, planning to spend two to three years recalling all the priests to the main temple in Void City for retraining.
The first to receive training were the priests who were sent to the Mystic Tower Federation to preach. Because of the influence of their missionary work, these clergy were the most friendly to the lords and nobles, or in other words, they were most influenced by the upper class society. Sui Xiong gathered them together, analyzed the development of society, and reviewed the struggle between the upper class and the lower class people, so that they were shocked, realized their mistakes, and repositioned their positions.
Of course, some of them have changed their minds and no longer believe that development and progress should come from the bottom up and be based on the people of the middle and lower classes. Sui Xiong did not reprimand these people severely, but decided to teach them a lesson.
Although he is not a historian, he has read a lot of squabbles on the Internet, and he naturally understands that this kind of idea actually has a market - it is nothing more than so-called "reformism."
In the earth's network society, reformism is quite popular, because in areas with widespread access to the Internet, economic conditions are generally not too bad, social conflicts are relatively less intense, and "reform" is naturally more popular than "struggle."
In this world, most of the clergymen who tend to be in the direction of reform come from wealthy families. During their daily missionary travels, they come into contact with people who have relatively better living conditions, or where the lords are relatively wealthy. Enlightened local activities, so the social conflicts they feel are relatively relaxed, so that they feel that as long as they promote the enlightenment of the upper class, they can promote the development and progress of the entire society.
The lesson Sui Xiong taught them was to place them in areas where the lords were not enlightened and the Void Mask Church was weak, so that they could fully appreciate the naivety and ridiculousness of the idea of "reform."
Should we rely on improvement to make progress? sure. The premise is that you must first be able to force those who hold power to the point where they must accept reforms.
Relying on propaganda and persuasion to achieve reform and progress, how can there be such a good thing in the world!