----- Original Message -----
Sent: January 01, 2005 09:31
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] The place of
creeds in relation to truth
Amen Terry, his doctrine sucks and from all accounts
he was less than a beloved potentate in Geneva; why he has such a following
today I will never know because he was
tyrannical. Does anything below resemble "life and that more abundantly?"
Will Durant writes that in
Geneva:
To regulate lay conduct a system of
domiciliary visits was established ... and questioned the occupants on all
phases of their lives .. The allowable color and quantity of clothing, and the
number of dishes permissible at a meal, were specified by law. Jewelry and
lace were frowned upon. A woman was jailed for arranging her hair to an
immoral height. Censorship of the press was taken over from rcc and
secular precedents and enlarged: books ... of immoral tendency were banned ...
To speak disrespectfully of Calvin or the clergy was a crime. A first
violation of these ordinances was punished with a reprimand. Further violation
with fines, persistent violation with imprisonment or banishment. Fornication
was to be punished with exile or drowning; adultery, blasphemy, or idolatry,
with death .. a child was beheaded for striking its parents. In the years
1558-59 there were 414 prosecutions for moral offenses; between 1542 and 1564
there were 76 banishments and 58 executions; the total population of Geneva
was then about 20,000.
All the claims of the popes for the supremacy
of the church over the state were renewed y Calvinfor his church ... [Calvin]
was as thorough as any pope in rejecting individualism of belief; this
greatest legislator of Protestantism completely repudiated that principle of
private judgment with which the new religion had begun - In Geneva .. those
who could not accept it would have to seek other habitats. Persistent absence
from Protestant [Calvinist] services or continued refusal to take the
Eucharist was a punishable offense. Heresy again became [under Calvin as
under Augustine] ... treason to the state, and was to be punished with death
... in one year on the advice of the Consistory, 14 alleged witches were sent
to the stake on the charge that they had persuaded Satan to afflict Geneva
with plague. [Will Durant "Caesar and Christ. 474]
Augustine had enforced unity ... through common
participation in the Sacraments and Calvin was following in his footsteps.
Schaff believes that Servitus who was recognized and arrested at church had
only gone to avoid drawing attention by his absence.
Lance Muir wrote:
Your honor, learned counsel for Calvin seeks
an
answer!
===========================================
Calvin
contends that only the elect ( chosen before the world was created) are
saved. By adopting that belief, he is saying that no one but the elect can
enter Heaven, therefore God created billions of people over thousands of
years, just so He could condemn them to eternal damnation with never a
moment when they could have been saved. I know my God better than
that. Calvin sucks.
Terry
