Lots of people who wanted to be “free” used The Church’s alleged sale of indulgences as a justification for leaving.
“I don’t want to be a part of that!”, they’d say, with that smug, self-righteous look and tone we all have when we decide to excuse our vanity.
Let’s look at a hypothetical buyer of an indulgence. A criminal, for instance. He’s doing wrong. He has momentary, but controllable urges to “go straight”. He meets a poor, mendicant priest with the authority to sell indulgences.
“If I give you ten thousand dollars, I get an ‘Indulgence’, and I get to go to Heaven?” he asks in astonishment.
“The Pope has said so.”
“That’s a great deal! Here’s the money!”
Many who want to undermine Catholicism say: “See, this proves that the Church is corrupt!”
Catholic Fundamentalists, as usual, think The Church is always right. When they hear such criticisms, they turn to The Bible, and find that Jesus said: “Where a person’s money is, there also is his heart”, or, depending on the translation, words to that effect.
Catholic Fundamentalists understand that the sale of the Indulgence has made the criminal bet some money on God. If we truly believe that Jesus was telling the truth, spending money on the indulgence will cause the criminal’s heart to move toward God. After all, the indulgence won’t cover future sins, and many indulgence buyers want to protect their investment. The percentage of sinners saved is undeniably increased.
Selling indulgences is good evangelism. Stopping the sale of indulgences keeps some people from putting their money on God. That argues against the very teaching of the His Son.
