Martin Luther ended pay-to-win salvation

Answers for Globle, Chronogram, and Metazooa from June 24 - June 30

The Trainwreck Labs Newsletter

Coming to your inbox every Monday with educational fun-facts and all the answers to Trainwreck Labs games from the past week.

This week, we have…

  • A fun fact inspired by a recent Chronogram answer

  • Answers to last week's games

  • Sponsorship and survey

Martin Luther ended pay-to-win salvation

He was so successful with the Catholic Church, maybe Martin Luther should take on EA too. Image generated by DALL-E.

A notable feature absent in Trainwreck Labs games is pay-to-win. If you cannot find the answer in Globle or connect your corners in Linxicon, there is no amount of money in the world nor anywhere to send it to to find a shortcut (although solutions are pretty easy to find on Discord). It’s no question that the pay-to-win model is unpopular in video games, however, this was briefly the business model of the Catholic Church until they crossed paths with Martin Luther (Chronogram guest #456).

The Catholic Church is still one of the most powerful institutions in the world, but it used to be even stronger. In the Middle Ages, the kings and queens of Europe competed with the Church for influence over their citizens, with the Church controlling many institutions not provided by the state. This included, to the very religious people of Medieval Europe, the business of who would enter heaven after they perish and who would burn in hell.

For many years, the Catholic Church accepted the sale of indulgences, allowing people to do extra prayers and good deeds to counteract their earthly sins. In the late Middle Ages, they discovered that asking for money instead of prayers would be much more lucrative, and could raise funds for church projects. This was a counterintuitive move for followers of a Gospel that preaches “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Apparently now, being rich would be less of a hindrance to an eternity in paradise and more of a leg up.

Enter Martin Luther, the instigator of the Protestant Reformation. Luther's claim to fame was the Ninety-Five Theses, which he famously nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in 1517. One of his strongest objections was to the Sale of Indulgences. His writings rippled through the Christian world and were the spark of Protestant Christianity, one of the most practiced religions in the world today. Eventually, the Pope and his team caught up and ended the Sale of Indulgences in 1567. This was part of the Counter-Reformation, a movement somewhat analogous to a high school club losing ground to a popular "anti-club" and then starting an "anti-anti-club" to regain its influence.

This wasn’t the last time that the Catholic Church evolved on an issue. Evolution, for example, was seen as a challenge to the Church for generations, but the most recent popes have stated that this branch of science has no direct conflict with scripture. Likewise, topics like gay marriage have been under review for a while and Pope Francis recently expressed support for the legal recognition of civil unions for same-sex couples. Sometimes, change requires a reformation, but sometimes it just takes time.

Answers to last week's games

Monday, June 24 to Sunday, June 30.

Globle

  • Jun 24 Sierra Leone

  • Jun 25 El Salvador

  • Jun 26 Azerbaijan

  • Jun 27 Burkina Faso

  • Jun 28 Seychelles

  • Jun 29 Lesotho

  • Jun 30 Panama

  • Jul 1 Play now!

Globle: Capitals

  • Jun 24 Kathmandu

  • Jun 25 Monrovia

  • Jun 26 Andorra la Vella

  • Jun 27 Banjul

  • Jun 28 Naypyidaw

  • Jun 29 London

  • Jun 30 Maputo

  • Jul 1 Play now!

Chronogram

  • #450 Max Weber

  • #451 Jack Kerouac

  • #452 Catherine II

  • #453 Blaise Pascal

  • #454 Bing Crosby

  • #455 Edward VII

  • #456 Martin Luther

  • #457 Play now!

Fictogram

  • #218 Christopher Tietjens

  • #219 Don Draper

  • #220 Princess Jasmine

  • #221 Calvin

  • #222 Robinson Crusoe

  • #223 Lizzie McGuire

  • #224 Harry Callahan

  • #225 Play now!

Metazooa

  • #329 dove

  • #330 gerbil

  • #331 emu

  • #332 bonobo

  • #333 finch

  • #334 brown bear

  • #335 sting ray

  • #336 Play now!

Metaflora

  • #268 chickpea

  • #269 spearmint

  • #270 orange

  • #271 rice

  • #272 lotus

  • #273 kiwi

  • #274 pawpaw

  • #275 Play now!

Linxicon

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

  • #133 pattern -> patterns -> maps -> place -> nowhere

  • #134 incorporate -> corporation -> winery -> valley

  • #135 elderly -> infirm -> affirm -> assert

  • #136 near -> neighbor -> colleague -> executive

  • #137 disagree -> disagreement -> conflict -> history -> ago

  • #138 remarkable -> renowned -> recognised -> registered -> register

  • #139 matter -> money -> loan -> mortgage

  • #140 Play now!

Forgeous

Forgery of the week, from June 25
81% accurate

Play Forgeous for July 1.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!

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