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
