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Excersus CXIII: The World Without the Word
One might argue against Lilith here and say that, even if we got rid of every priest, that function is still necessary
to society, and more would just be created by the community to fill the void. We need a conduit with that which assures
our personal immortality, so the thought goes, and so there will always be priests. But will there really? The day is not
far off when men will be Actually immortal - I probably won't see it, but it's going to happen. Outside of a fringe of extremely
unfortunate people, I don't know anybody rushing forward to see Heaven - they say that it's because suicide is a sin, but
I don't think that even they are so self-deluded not to see that the proscription of suicide was placed there precisely to
keep people where the Church can control them. So, death being removed, what game will the Church play, what will priests
possibly do with themselves without the crutch of the fear of death to sustain them as it has done these past millenia?
Well, the traditional answer is that it will provide solace for the tribulations of this life. But the tribulations of this life
are not what they used to be. People do not lose half of their children to disease and malnutrition as a matter of course. If they
lose their job, society does not let them starve, as a rule. And Facebook is doing its best to occupy the minds of people idly spinning
their wheels deathwards - to give a sense of voice and belonging to those who would seek that sense of community in Jesus and church otherwise.
Priests have never been that damn good at offering solace - they were just the best game in town during a particularly dark stretch of humanity's
self-conception. In every sense, they have been outgrown - people know too much about themselves now for the stock answers of the priesthood
to be interesting or revealing, meaning that a priest qua priest has really nothign to say - he might still have good advice just by virtue
of being a more or less observative human being, but then you don't need him AS a priest anymore, do you?
- Count Dolby von Luckner
Hate mail and notes of luscious thanks may be sent to The Count at CountDolby@gmail.com.
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