50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 637 Making Baptism More Fun
Bishop Wilson was provoked by Sun Zhiwei's call of him a cook, and he also thought about his own lack of ability when preparing communion in the past two years.

"When there are dozens of believers, it's very easy for you;"

"When you have hundreds of believers, you start to struggle."

“If there are hundreds or thousands of people, you won’t have to do anything all day except bake flatbreads.”

Sun Zhiwei actually exaggerated Bishop Wilson's culinary skills.

In fact, most of the believers who come to St. John's Church for communion do not like the bread made by Bishop Wilson, mainly because it tastes terrible.

Bishop Wilson's culinary skills have played a significant role in keeping the number of people attending communion services at the church at a consistently low level.

At this point, Bishop Irwin asked another question: "What if a very wealthy believer wants to use up all their money to raise their level of faith?"

"Then let's add some restrictive clauses."

"For example, if you donate less than $1 per month, you can exchange it for 'contribution points' at a 1:1 ratio."

"Monthly donations under $1 million will be converted into 'contribution points' at a ratio of 10:10."

"Monthly donations under $1 million will be converted into 'contribution points' at a ratio of 100:100."

"In this way, the larger the donation, the smaller the exchange rate, in order to prevent believers from donating blindly."

Seeing the exchange rate designed by Sun Zhiwei, Owen asked with some difficulty, "Won't the wealthy have any objections?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhiwei looked at Owen and uttered a few words.

“I tell you, this poor widow has given far more than those rich men.”

"Because they invested their own wealth, while she gave up her entire life."

This is a story from chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark, in which Jesus himself affirmed the value of the two small coins the poor widow offered.

Irving was very familiar with the scriptures, and he understood Sun Zhiwei's words after hearing half of them. He nodded silently and wrote it down in his notebook.

"Furthermore, more restrictions will be imposed on wealthy believers who increase their 'contribution' through donations."

"For example, you need to attend 10 church services to advance to a higher level, etc."

"In short, when it comes to actually implementing it, you can just add conditions as needed. After all, the church has the right to interpret the rules."

"We must adhere to the principle that we are receiving donations to serve the Lord, not to do business, so we should stop donating as much as possible."

Bishop Wilson, who had been listening quietly, interjected, "Mr. James makes a good point, Father Owen, you should write this down."

Irving bowed respectfully and replied, "Yes."

Those who know, know. Sun Zhiwei is planning to implement the upgrade system for online games in the future for them, so that they will never lack money again.

However, the formulation and preparation of this entire set of 'contribution' rules will take a lot of time, and Sun Zhiwei is a little worried that the church will go bankrupt before the 'contribution' system is implemented.

"In addition, let me mention a few other methods that can be implemented with minor modifications."

"That would be great. The previous approach was good, but it took too long to prepare. We can implement it gradually."

“Mr. James, what’s the fastest way you could do it?” Father Owen stared at him with his bright, piercing eyes.

"Let me tell you two stories first. The first is church ceremonies." "What's wrong with ceremonies? They're all the same for everyone. Every believer participates in roughly the same ceremonies."

"That's where the problem lies, for example, like a baptism ceremony."

“Reagan’s son and the child of the Afghan immigrant who just moved across the street had the same baptism ceremony. Do you think Reagan would have a problem with that?”

“The Lord says, ‘God does not show partiality.’” Bishop Wilson disagreed and recited a proverb.

"The Lord doesn't need dollars, but the church does."

“If the church goes bankrupt, we won’t even have a place to worship. Maybe the capitalists will buy it and turn it into a temple.”

Sun Zhiwei retorted without hesitation, adding a threat. But the church was the bishop's lifeblood, and Bishop Wilson immediately fell silent.

"Moreover, we only prepare different levels of rituals. We don't need to actively recommend them to believers or emphasize the differences in their effects. We just let believers choose for themselves."

Even making money requires a certain level of prestige; only those who are willing will take the bait.

"For the lowest level of ceremony, we can use the props we have now. The ceremony will be presided over by an ordinary priest, and the cost will remain the same."

"But we need to give it a name so that it can be distinguished from other levels of rituals. Hmm, let's call it the 'Primary Baptism Ritual'."

"These are the basics, so what about the advanced ones?"

"Let's not talk about the advanced ones yet, let's talk about the intermediate ones first."

"In the Elementary Baptism Ceremony, the baptism is performed using river water, a copper basin, and is presided over by an ordinary priest. It is inexpensive, short in duration, requires virtually no special preparation, and can be held immediately upon arrival."

"For the Intermediate Baptism Ritual, we can use the snow water from 'White Face Mountain,' which is definitely cleaner than river water."

The 'Whiteface Mountain' he mentioned is located in the Adirondack Mountains, about 400 kilometers from New York City, where it is 1483 meters above sea level and covered in snow all year round.

"As for the ritual supplies, we can bring out some fine porcelain. If they are devout enough, Father Owen, you can personally preside over the ceremony."

“I think it would cost at least $1000 to have the future bishop of St. John’s Church preside over the ceremony,” Father Irwin said, hesitating to finish his sentence.

He felt the price might be too high; a baptism ceremony now only costs a few dozen dollars, and suddenly jumping to $1000 seems ridiculous.

"Father Irwin is very busy and can only hold a maximum of three sessions a week." Hearing Sun Zhiwei's understanding, he nodded gratefully to Sun Zhiwei.

But then Sun Zhiwei changed the subject: "In order to give every believer a fair chance, we can auction off the qualifications for the three Intermediate Baptism Ceremony at the end of the month."

Just as Irving was about to object, Sun Zhiwei's words silenced him: "The extra funds can be used for the church's charitable work."

Churches in Europe and America often hold welfare activities such as providing free food to the poor and free accommodation for the homeless.

In the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness," the protagonist and his son run wildly at dusk in order to snag a free room with a sink.

"As for the 'Advanced Baptism Ritual,' you should pay attention to that."

"Why do you say that?" Sun Zhiwei really liked how quickly Irving could respond to a joke.

“First of all, it’s scarce; there’s only one event a month.” He held up one finger.

(End of this chapter)