Subject: Why? |
Bible Note: Actually, it was the town council of Geneva who voted to burn Servetus at the stake for his incessant heresy. Contrary to your assumptions, John Calvin did not run the entire town, and actually opposed burning Servetus at the stake. Yes, he was in favor of hanging Servetus, but putting Calvin in the context of his times, such a punishment was not considered inappropriate. Consider the fact that in the United States during the 1800s horse thieves were hung on a regular basis. Capital punishment for repeated offenses (such as the case of Serevtus, where his heresies would do a lot more than leave a man without his horse) was par for the course. What SHOULD be appreciated, on the other hand, is that there was only one person executed for heresy during an era when many,MANY more people were killed by the Catholic clergy for their "crime" of Protestantism. In any case, whether Calvin was part of a committee which voted to execute Servetus says nothing about whether his theology was true. My post was an admonishment not to be so quick to paint Calvin as some bloodthirsty, evil overlord. That is simply an unfair characterization, and that is precisely how you were intending to characterize him in your original post. Martin Luther was pretty anti-Semitic himself. We can find all kinds of sins among the Reformers. Does this mean that the Protestant Reformation was not of God, or that their theology is flawed? Perhaps you should take a little more time to study Church history and realize what a radical turn of events it took to get us back our Bible. --Joe! |