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Notes -
I think without the firm conviction of a Truth or Right Way to Live such a thing is impossible. Dante could damn people to hell because he lived in a time and place where everyone agreed that hell existed and that God had certain conditions to be met if one wants to avoid going there (and everyone agreed on what they were of course, as this was Roman Catholic Europe). We’ve lost that because we no longer have a bedrock of Certain and Known Truths that must be reckoned with.
And going to the point you bring up with the church, the thing that softened her most was plurality. Protestants at first, then monotheistic religious people and so on. She doesn’t want to drive wedges between people and herself and so she softens her position on as much as she can without anyone noticing. In the early days of Trent, they ordered the faithful not to accept a Bible from a Protestant. In fact, the idea was to take it an throw it in the fire with obvious contempt. Obviously they no longer do that, and in fact consider that Islam and Judaism are now okay even if imperfect (from their point of view). Why? Because now the church is trying to not seem like meanies to other religious groups who look at Rome.
Of course the problem is that once a social institution loses the idea of absolute truth and one right way, it essentially becomes a social club. They still wear the robes and chant in Latin on occasion, but without the ability to give a firm Yes or No, without a Thus Saith The Lord, there’s no power behind it. University is going the same way as it abandoned the idea of a dispassionate search for Truth and teaching of Truth it’s just glorified indoctrination with a side of hopefully useful job skills. It’s lost authority because it no longer believes in Truth, searches for Truth, or teaches even the Truth it does know.
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