So, unfortunately, I've been working on one project since last October or so. I say unfortunately because I was never one to enjoy projects that take this long.
Yes, I'm still trying to write my thesis. Every time Eric asks me how many pages I have, and I say, 23 or 24. He says "yay!" And I say.... boo, because I wish I were finished.
I adore the two people I'm writing about. One because he's old and grumpy and really smart. I bet he was a smarty pants and you probably wouldn't have liked him much, John Wyclif. I like the other because he was young and on fire for God and died trying to bring the Church back to the way it was. Unfortunately for Jan Hus, he was accused of heresy for believing things that the Church professes now. He thought that the laity could receive in both kinds (which is a fancy word for saying "take both the bread and the wine at communion"). He believed that bishops and priests shouldn't buy their positions, imagine that?
The last point is my main topic for comparing these two medieval trouble makers. It's this lovely little thing called Simony. It's a sin named after Simon Magus or Simon the Magician... depending on if you're reading a modern translation or the goodie but oldie version. Anyways, Simon attempted to buy the Holy Spirit from Peter and in that one disastrous move became 1) the patron saint of all corrupt Church officials and 2) the first documented unforgiven sinner. You see, Wyclif and Hus both connected the sin of Simony and the sin against the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said was unforgivable, in this life and the next! Yowzer! As a young Christian, I used to worry that I might do this... but I've been since reassured that if you actually did sin like that, you wouldn't want to be forgiven, hence how you could not be forgiven. Nevertheless, it's probably still safer to pray you never blaspheme the Holy Spirit. :)
That's your little church history for the day. It was very unhistorical on purpose. I'm tired of writing history. I want it to be over.
