As his servants, the priests minister for him. Therefore I conclude that
donations to priests and to church buildings count for more than dona-
tions to other people and other things. Furthermore, part of the work of
the ministry is blessing, which means that the donations are sanctified.
“Afterward nothing makes the mind more elated and cheerful than
seeing one’s donations in the form of as many sanctuaries.”
[ 11 ] Then someone from the fourth row to the right stood up and
said this: “My opinion is that goodwill is the ancient Christian family feel-
ing.I support my opinion as follows: Every church that worships the true
God begins with goodwill. So did the early Christian church. Because
goodwill unifies people’s minds and makes one mind out of many, early
Christians called each other family, but family in Jesus Christ their God.
Since they were surrounded at that point by barbarous nations that they
feared, they made a communal life with what they had, which brought
them a great and like-minded happiness. They met together every day
and talked about the Lord God their Savior Jesus Christ, and over lunch
and dinner they talked about goodwill. This led to a family feeling
among them.
“After those times, however, schisms began to occur, and then came
the unspeakable Arian heresy, which robbed many of the idea that the
Lord’s human manifestation was divine. That caused goodwill to break
down and the family feeling to fade away.
“The truth is that all who worship the Lord in truth and do what he
commands are family (Matthew 23 : 8 )—family in spirit. Since nowadays
people don’t recognize what others are like in spirit, there is no reason for
them to refer to themselves as a family.
“A family feeling based on faith alone is not real; still less real is a
family feeling based on faith in another god besides the Lord God the
Savior. The goodwill that causes a family feeling is not part of that faith.
Therefore I have concluded that the ancient Christian family feeling was
goodwill. It was,but it is no more. Nevertheless, I predict that it is going
to return.”
When this last point was made, a fiery light appeared from outside
the east window and tinged the speaker’s cheeks—something the gather-
ing was astounded to see.
[ 12 ] Lastly, someone from the fifth row on the left stood up and asked
permission to add something to the last speaker’s remarks. The group
gave permission. The statement was this: “My opinion is that goodwill is
forgiving anyone’s wrongs.I base my opinion on the usual conversation
singke
(singke)
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