The waves of the Yangtze River push forward, and the preceding waves die on the beach.
In the early days, Catholicism promoted 'justification by works.' 'Works' referred to the righteous in the Bible, God's favored ones, those close to the divine.
But this 'works' wasn't about good deeds making you righteous. Rather, it was about giving money to the Holy See to buy indulgences. The more you buy, the closer you are to God.
Everyone saw this as treating people like fools. Martin Luther then came up with 'justification by faith,' which evolved into the Lutheran denomination.
As long as you believe in God, you are righteous; no need to buy indulgences from the Holy See.
This set was indeed advanced at the time, but it couldn't withstand everyone wanting to seize the right to interpret the scriptures for personal gain, using religion to alleviate the moral guilt of doing wrong.
