Only God
Chapter 239 - 204: The Great Council Meeting that Decided History_2

Chapter 239: Chapter 204: The Great Council Meeting that Decided History_2

Due to its massive scale and public nature, it was widely proclaimed and hence became known as the Great Council.

The Great Council—a meeting that would profoundly influence and even determine the rise and fall of countless kingdoms in future generations—was born in Ajia’s New Rule Garden. It made its first appearance in the world amidst fiery debates and sharp exchanges.

The attendees included not only well-known believers from the land of Ajia but also Elf Priests from the distant Ancient Elf Kingdom.

After praying together, the Great Council formally commenced.

The first to raise an objection was a female believer named Marire. She began by declaring that the Prophet was not a mere Stone Slave but an Angel sent from the realm of the Subordinate Gods.

She said,

"If the Prophet is not an Angel, then how can we explain the miracles he has performed? If he is not an Angel, why would God entrust to a mere mortal the important task of spreading the Ancient Language?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a wave of cheers and praise erupted.

There was no shortage of believers who shared Marire’s views, from common slaves to nobles. They believed that Prophet Noen’s lowly origins were merely surface appearances.

To support this, Marire cited passages from three Holy Scriptures:

"An Angel descended to Earth in the form of Basel, faced persecution from men, and was redeemed by God’s mighty power.

Just as Prophet Noen, who, in his youth, suffered persecution and was a slave, ultimately rose by God’s and his own power to become a Prophet, which was undoubtedly God’s redemption.

In my view, this was both God’s choice and redemption.

An Angel once warned mankind on Earth, and the Prophet also prophesied forty solar eclipses. I ask you, who else but God’s Divine Angel could have such capability?

And if we look at Prophet Al, as recorded in the ’Book of Kings and Prophets’, even though he too was a Prophet, he never gave warnings or prophecies.

I say that Prophet Noen is indeed God’s Angel, who has come from the realm of God."

Despite being a woman, Marire’s impassioned voice echoed through the pillars of the New Rule Garden, commanding respect from all present.

Nonetheless, an Elf named Xilan was the first to stand and offer a rebuttal.

"Marire, my dear Marire, I must refute you and hope you won’t hold it against me.

I have followed the Prophet for many years and never once heard him claim to be God’s Angel.

Noen has never deceived us in our presence."

Upon hearing this, Marire appeared hesitant to speak.

But Xilan, who was well-prepared, discerned what she wanted to say,

"I know what you want to say—you wish to argue that although the Prophet doesn’t deceive us to our face, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t conceal the truth."

Seeing Marire nod slightly, Xilan continued to ask,

"So you think Prophet Noen is an Angel, but Prophet Al is not?"

Marire nodded again, confirming her beliefs.

Xilan then presented her counterargument, her voice calm,

"However, your reasoning is clearly contradictory.

Firstly, like Al, Prophet Noen climbed high mountains; his actions have been nearly identical to Prophet Al’s. If this is the case, why is it that Prophet Al has only been chosen, and not redeemed? Why does Prophet Noen receive both choice and redemption?"

Secondly, you said that Prophet Noen was persecuted in his youth, yet at that time, the Prophet had not yet converted. He clearly stated that he was led to conversion by an old Priest.

And Angle Basel had been a devout Believer since childhood.

If Prophet Noen were an Angel, then why would an Angel have once not believed in God?

Xilan’s rebuttal left Marire speechless, her white face flushed red, and after standing dumbfounded for a while, she could only sit down properly.

It was evident that Marire’s thoughts could not become a consensus.

Marire was but a microcosm of the Great Council.

On the second day of the Great Council meeting, Ankagaw, a Believer from the Three-eyed Ape People Nobles, bore a name that meant "Kagawus brings peace."

He came from a devout Noble family and had been to all the major Kagawus Temples in the Royal City since childhood. Even though he chose to convert during the war, his faith still carried a deep impression of Kagawus.

Ankagaw scoffed at certain arrogant scholars who proclaimed that Kagawus was the Lord, and at the beginning of the Council, he fiercely refuted such statements.

But at the end of his refutation, Ankagaw’s tone shifted; he felt it was necessary to demonstrate the true relationship between Kagawus and the Lord.

"The Lord created the Logos people, that is, the Elves, and Kagawus created the Three-eyed Ape People.

Back when the great King Lam reigned, the Elves and the Three-eyed Ape People intermarried, giving birth to the Stone Slave people.

I believe that in the marriage between the Elves and the Three-eyed Ape People, there must be hidden the true relationship between the Lord and Kagawus.

And according to the Elf accounts, they once declared friendship with the Three-eyed Ape People, becoming brothers to one another. I think, perhaps Kagawus is a brother to the Lord, the Lord being the elder and he the younger.

And as the Prophet of the Stone Slave people, born from the marriage of Elves and Three-eyed Ape People, Noen is the clear evidence of the relationship between the two Divine beings."

Ankagaw’s words were met with refutation from the Elf Priests who came from afar.

The Elf Priests first cited the records in the Twin Kings Book, indicating that Kagawus was merely one of the Gods and not even the King that the Gods adored.

Then, they used evidence from the Book of Kings and Prophets to show that at the beginning of creation, only the Supreme God existed.

The Elf Priests refuted Ankagaw’s statements, which, although quite stirring, were full of loopholes.

However, two days later, the Great Council would lead to the most serious dispute.

It happened like this.

A Stone Slave freeman named Daniel stood up. His scholarly knowledge and ability to recite the Holy Scriptures impressed Xilan.

Daniel initiated a debate, with the focus being on whether a Prophet is simply a common man who becomes a Prophet, or one who has been predestined by God?

Compared to the previous days’ provocative yet flawed statements, Daniel’s raised debate was particularly tricky and also full of theological thought.

The difficulty of the question lay in,

If the Prophet becomes such from a common man, does it mean he was just lucky enough to become a Prophet, and that anyone else could become a Prophet if they were lucky enough?

And if the Prophet had been predestined by God, does it mean that the Prophet would still become one, doing nothing at all, and that the Prophet’s own efforts were meaningless?

And after much thought, Xilan was astonished to realize that beneath this superficial question lay one regarding free will.

If we support the former, does free will replace the position of God, becoming the actual ruler of the whole world?

If we support the latter, then do we have no free will at all? Have our thoughts and fate never been free?