Christianity’s Inevitable Catacomb is Blockchain

As societies gradually become cashless, Christianity is facing the challenge of secular control of finances the way it has never faced before. Blockchain (Decentralised Ledger Technologies) could offer solutions to the Church but few congregations realised the inevitability of this new technology so far. 

There are at least two problems with the current digital finances for Christianity:

1) How to give donations anonymously

2) How to maintain financial functionality in the probable case of illegality

1. Giving in secret

According to our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:3–4) when we give we should do it in secret. But the usual digital ways of payments do not offer the type of secrecy Jesus asks. Those who pay the tithe in a western country usually wire the money from their bank account to the church’s. That does not happen in secret at all. The involved banks keep the records of it, all authorities (tax, law enforcement, judicial etc.) register it and finally all financial administrators at the church know about it. (Not to mention our left hand…)

In Matthew chapter 6. Jesus talks about the secrecy of giving before he gives us The Lord’s Prayer. That prayer is told exactly the same way for two thousand years. Why wouldn’t we take his words about ‘giving-in-secret’ just as seriously?

To sense the gravity and actuality of the cashless challenge to churches let’s have a look at the situation in Sweden. In a report Swedish pastors talk about the logistical infeasibility of handling cash the old way. Many bank branches in the Swedish countryside stopped taking cash deposits. So the congregation had to go cashless and start using a mobile app to be able to give money during the service.

Using a credit card or a payment app is just as far away from secrecy as a wire transfer and it is far away from our Lord’s command. Third-parties see and know all details of our transactions. They keep the records and only the ever changing legislation regulates what they can or cannot do with that particular data.

In certain historical situations the data of our religious activities and financial commitments can mean imprisonment or worse.

2. Going underground

Throughout history Christianity has always been persecuted. Unfortunately this has not changed over time and based on the current trends the near future also looks dark for Christians. Harassment of Christians is growing globally. According to Pew Research Christianity is the most harassed religion in the world. But from the point of view of financial controls the scariest fact is that Christians face harassment from governments more often than from social groups.

From theological point of view we can argue about the measures of strength of a church but from political point of view a congregation is as strong as its financials. When governments are turning into persecutors of Christianity the first thing they analyse and hit is the financials of Christian organisations and believers. Analysing our transaction history will tell any persecutor which churches are stronger financially and which believers support the churches the most. So our transaction history will tell our persecutors where to hit first. Whom to persecute or harass first. They can confiscate and seize bank accounts and ban the openings of new ones.

Practically it is hard to regard a church alive without finances. Theologically there is no believer without sacrifices. And in our modern society our thanksgiving sacrifice is predominantly money. So in a cashless society by banning Christians from banking most religious functions would suffer or seize to exist completely.

Where are the digital catacombs?

According to Wikipedia: “…Catacombs are human-made subterranean passageways for religious practice…” Catacombs were the safe places from harassments of our past. The catacomb of our digital age is called blockchain (distributed ledger technology — DLT). A place where we can hide our finances and protect our earthly values. Where Christians can give and accept money in secret without the surveillance and interference of authorities. Where we can sacrifice the way Jesus Christ told us to do so.

Don’t get me wrong I am not advocating for breaking the law or tax evasion. As of today crypto assets are a legal way of giving and accepting donations in most jurisdictions. Also using cryptocurrencies is not a convenient way to manage finances. Just like catacombs were not places to live rather those subterranean chambers were places to survive. And also most blockchain applications are not as simple and user-friendly as online banking. Buying, storing and exchanging cryptocurrencies require learning and practicing a new and complex technology.

But I do say that knowing how to use blockchains and cryptocurrencies is an inevitable step all Christian congregations should take.

If the Holy Spirit inspires you please, start helping your church adopting cryptocurrencies today!

Miklos Kadar

2019.02.26. - Medium post

Express your opinion about any religious content by your money 'without letting your left hand know about it'

Religious NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and Christian-NFTs in particular can result a braver and truer form of communication between content creators and believers. Selling and purchasing content in the form of NFTs (be it any art forms, written, audio or video teachings) can bring back meaningful relationship between the deliverers and the receivers of Christ's Message. Christian NFTs open the opportunity for Christians to support, offer or donate in secret anonymously.

As Believers of Christ 

We need to be able to receive the cleanest possible Word of our Lord from our leaders, preachers, teachers, elders, prophets, etc. And we need to be able to express our reactions to their content just as in the times of our church-fathers. Expressing our reactions not in the form of handshakes, congratulations, likes or comments but in the form of our donations and givings. Our true, transparent, public but anonymous feedback to specific contents by the size of our offerings (or by the lack of it).

As Christian Content Creators

We need to follow the Apostles of our Bible who were financially independent by monetizing their verbal content in the form of spot offerings and donations. But more often receiving money from unknown and many times anonymous, donors city by city. The current form of content monetization (mostly church pastoring) is not anonymous hence not as free and independent as it should be. Such lack of independence from the audiences' opinion changes the clear message of our Lord.

Strallendorff helps Christian content creators to tokenize and hence monetize their content (visual, audio or video) by minting NFTs.  Selling Christian NFTs can help gaining financial independence for the creators. Financial independence gained through anonymous donors can turn the content braver and closer to our Lord's Word.

Tokenisation helps Christians to give honest feedback to their leaders about specific content by their buyer-behaviour.

• Crypto projects usually do not age well but we intend to work on Strallendorff for as long as we live

• Apostle Paul had a bi-vocational ministry /1Cor 9:1-18/, (he sometimes needed to work with his own hands to support his ministry/his project)

• So Strallendorff is also a bi-vocational ministry that is financed by the founders' full-time daily jobs 

• (and only our Lord knows, maybe one day the NFT sales and commissions will contribute to the ministry)

Authenticity Check

Please always check and verify our official online identities!

Strallendorff Minting Ethereum Address:
0x0a3726add15946fadbbeada16ebe685ef801b9c7
Strallendorff Minting Polygon Address:
0x0a3726add15946fadbbeada16ebe685ef801b9c7

Strallendorff NFT Storefront:
https://opensea.io/Strallendorff 

Strallendorff official websites:
https://www.strallendorff.com
https://strallendorff.nft (unstoppable nft domain)

Strallendorff's Tokenomics Manifesto

1.) Strallendorff's mission is to help Christian content creators to achieve financial independence by tokenising their content that believers can value and support. 

2.) Strallendorff is an open group of Christian creators and investors (NFT buyers) who finances, co-creates, releases and curates unique Christian NFTs for which they own all appropriate rights to minting.

3.) Strallendorff NFTs are original and come with the guarantee that the value of Strallendorff NFTs won’t get diluted or inflated by unlimited constant minting of ever newer NFTs as Strallendorff never releases more than weekly 1 (one) NFT per creator with the maximum related supply of 12 (twelve) copies.

4.) Strallendorff Creators

a.) Strallendorff reserves the rights of either publishing or non-disclosing credits of contributing creators.
b.) Strallendorff takes careful precautionary measures by vetting and screening contributing creators of a Strallendorff NFT.
c.) However Strallendorff cannot take full responsibility of the future behavior of any creator who ever contributed to creating a Strallendorff NFT.

5.) Any specific Strallendorff NFT is on one selected, dedicated blockchain. The same Strallendorff NFT is never minted on more than one blockchain to avoid non-authentic copies.

6.) Strallendorff project is blockchain agnostic. Blockchain agnosticism means that Strallendorff reserves the right to mint future NFTs on any chosen blockchains (eg.: Cardano, Solana etc.)

7.) In case of any unforeseeable blockchain event Strallendorff will take all measures necessary to protect and restore the ownership rights of the lawful owners of each and every Strallendorff NFT. (Ex.: if any blockchain or side chain or 2nd layer blockchain or any related smart contracts become corrupt or unusable, Strallendorff will convert the NFTs to the appropriate smart contract or blockchain of that time and will make sure that the rightful owners will continue enjoying their ownership rights.)

 Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

"...What if I am not a believer?..."
Most people in the Bible had not started their lives as believers and many of them were quite old when they repented so it could happen to you similarly. And till that day comes you can stay informed about Religious NFTs as possible investment opportunities on your radar. So please consider to subscribe to all or any of our socials to stay in the loop.

"...What if I don't think crypto and blockchain will benefit humanity (or the Church)?..."
Just like with the invention of the printing press or dynamite, blockchain is a technology that can be used in many ways. Technologies in themselves are usually not good or bad but most certainly can be used for evil purposes. It is our responsibility to invest our time and effort to understand them after which we can make better judgement calls. When new technologies appear they start trending to certain directions. We believe that blockchain and religious NFTs will make an impact in all religions but we can be wrong and such change might never happen. If you agree to pay some attention to this possible change please consider to follow our socials.

"...What if I don't think Strallendorff is reliable enough to buy a Strallendorff NFT?..."
You should not buy Strallendorff NFTs unless you are led by the Holy Spirit to do so!
Strallendorff NFTs' purpose is to support content creators. To start with, the Strallendorff project itself needs support to continue creating content and help other content creators to monetise by minting NFTs. Strallendorff's mission is financed by selling NFTs. We do not promise any financial return on Strallendorff NFTs. They might or might not have any financial value in the future. Rather a Strallendorff NFT could represent spiritual value to believers for many reasons. A Strallendorff NFT can be a token (in the original meaning of the word: token) of many things:
- a token of helping our mission,
- a token of supporting an artist or a religious teacher,
- a token of a spiritual event of learning something valuable,
- etc.
And yes, Strallendorff project is in Jesus Christ's hands so according to His will this project could develop and flourish or could wither and disappear. But whatever happens to Strallendorff as a project, we believe its NFTs and all related content will leave thoughts and value behind. All we, current release managers, can promise that our team does its best to accomplish Strallendorff's Mission with the funds NFTs raise.