I had my awakening during the plandemic. When I started to dig, I found many newspaper articles online announcing that the State was handing out huge amounts of money to faith-based charities under the banner of “Covid relief”. But I’d heard enough accounts about Public Relations narrative sculpting training, to know there was more to the story. Then I found a blog by a small church which did not have the writing skill to cloak the pitch that the State had made to them – so they pretty much repeated it word-for-word on their own blog – right there out in public. It went something like this: “Many people don’t trust the government or big business/pharma. But they trust us as their faith leaders. If we tell them to take the jab, they’ll listen – because we have built a relationship of trust with them over many years – which can now be leveraged.”
Upon realizing what was going on, I then began to make public information requests to establish whether my church had also taken the bribe money. I knew my church would never tell me. So I had to go to the other side of the transaction. I have never been given such a run-around in my life. They broke every rule in the book not to answer my question. And by not answering it, they answered it.
As for your next point, I agree that financial corruption is not necessarily linked to serious sexual crime. But I would say that time preference plays a role in both. If you train your brain to succumb to your short-term desire in one area in life, it’s potentially going to let you down in other areas too. I agree that the impact of time preference predates fiat money.
As for your next point, I don’t know enough yet to say that EVERY church has a “central figure” that has “unquestioned interpretive power”. I’m still fact-finding. It’s a slow and difficult process and life has other demands.
I agree that power corrupts imperfect people.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to me and for challenging my statements. It helps me think clearer.
I wonder what https://iris.to/[email protected] would say

Sounds to me like you're talking about a fiat church problem - where the message of the Church is increasingly influenced by State grants and consessions that are dangled in front of them. Christ rejected material gain, power & rulership when the Devil offered it. Matthew 7 proves that Christ will say to the Church "I never knew you, get away from me you workers of lawlessness." Without this understanding, I too would have been put off "Christianity" and become an atheist. A life without your Lifegiver is no life.

Read the last sentence of Mandibles.

It's a bit like crowd health. If someone takes their v4v payment and configures it to send sats to you and then they just "set it and forget it", they want to know that they have sent you (or a group) more value than what you gave them.

They want it to buy them a place in a community that they can trust and that will be there for them.

Don't think of the CONTENT as v4v. It is just the MARKETING for the v4v. The real value must be the access one gains to a trustworthy, knowledgeable and available community who can be there to provide support in a particular field when needed.

I know that @Daniel Prince does not understand this.

One might think this subject doesn't matter much. But it seems that somewhere in the next 12 years, it's gonna be really valuable to have this clear in out heads.

@MartyBent
&
@johnkvallis
seem like they try to please both sides.

It seems like @jimmysong might understand this.

I don't think @hodlonaut understands this.

I hope that @Pierre Rochard does understand this.

I suspect @Tuur Demeestr does not understand this.

I suspect @Robert Breedlove does not understand this.