The Protestant Movement delegitimized the Holy Roman Catholic Church Order by ‘outsourcing’ The Bible and the Priests who “interpreted” it.
In essence, the Protestant Restoration was very much the “internet” of the 1500 and 1600s. All of a sudden, the plebian and serf masses, the peasants, could learn to read and write on “their own”, without Catholic Priests and Bishops breathing down their necks. The hypothesis was the same as it is now, “if you educate the peasant masses, then everybody benefits”. But is this really true? The problem and question is one of interpretation and Who Decides exactly, as to what means what? We even see this on this forum today, or anytime over the recent years. Who decides “the correct” interpretation, for the masses? Does Main Stream Media dictate what is ‘true’ or not? Do the “fact checkers” decide what is true and real, or do you?
The problem was and is Subjectivity, that if the masses/peasants/serfs/slaves were given the ability to read/write, that they would then understand what exactly they were reading and writing. This is the false presumption.
For example, there is a thread right now Good News of the Kingdom that debates whether the sacrifice and offering of Jesus Christ is literal, and that it literally means Christians believe in or practice Cannibalism, in the sense of ‘drinking’ the blood of Christ, and ‘eating’ the flesh of Christ. I believe, personally, that this is severely stupid. It misses the point entirely, maliciously so. It degrades from the whole Point/Purpose/Meaning of the writing! It distracts and redirects. It is “Fake News”. Because rather than talk about the significance of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and offering, it misappropriates it into something nonsensical, evil, wrong, and distracting. It takes something that is Good, and makes it as Evil, bad, wrong, as possible.
This is the problem of Subjective Interpretation, and why much credit should be returned back to the Holy Roman Catholics. Because, at the very least, they would not allow such retarded interpretations to go unpunished. This is symbolic of the fact, that, despite Literacy of the Plebs, that they do not understand what they are reading, and why they are reading it. They do not understand its purpose, points, or meaning. They do not understand its symbolism, metaphors, and significance.
The plebs DO in fact need Mediators for them to understand, what and why, they are reading.
And it is true, now, with the internet, with the Overflow of information and data worldwide. That you can give a person mountains and mountains of delicious raw food to eat. But if that person doesn’t know how to cook …then the meat spoils, and s/he gains very little in the end, only a very very small piece of the wealth s/he has inherited.
It is disgraceful.
The Catholics were/are Right. Mediators are needed. Superior Interpretation is needed, between God and Peasant.