Hi YeshuaIsmyGod,
JOHN CALVIN; WHO MURDERED MICHAEL [u]CALVITUS[/u] BY PUBLICLY BURNING HIM AT THE STAKE IN GENEVA SWITZERLAND AND WHO LATER BECAME THE FOUNDER OF PRESBYTERIANISM and THE BAPTISTS; coined the blasphemous "Replacement Theology" [u]which seeks to promote the LIE that "ISRAEL is now replaced by the christian church"[/u].
_________________Robert Wurtz II
Calvin [i]was[/i] not the author of calvinism. In fact some of his writing would not support the theology of 'calvinistic' churches.Calvinism really originated by followers of Calvin after his death.
_________________Will Schmidt
First off, WOOPS!!!I meant to delete the 'replacement theology' part, but eh. Can't take it back we both wrote about it ...
RobertW wrote:I am thoroughly familiar with the Messianic's position on replacement theology. I would encourage you to use caution with the term. Reason being is that many Christians do not have a real grasp of the issues and most I have ever spoken with do not believe that the Church 'replaced' Israel, but that they are seperate.
Servetus' was the first to believe in pulmonary circulation, but was not taken seriously in his lifetime. It was not until William Harvey's dissections that it was widely accepted by physicians."
the guy Calvin killed?Calvin's opinion was sought. He may have had influence, but he did not have authority. Servetus was considered a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church and the mainstream of the theologians of his day, which were not considered separate from 'state'. In his writings, Calvin sanctioned the death penalty for Servetus, but he did not sanction it without offers of mercy. The idea of religious freedom was not even an issue at this point in history. It was not uncommon that heretics were burned...this is why the Protestants feared for their own lives, because Roman Catholicism still ruled the day in most nations.Enforcing penalties against false teachers in New Testament times cannot be supported by Scripture (although it is supported in the Old Testament under the civil laws of Israel and Judah), however the overwhelming opinion of the sixteenth century was that the eternal torment of the soul and blasphemies against the holiness of God were greater sins than even murder, which many if not most in our day would say is a wrong that justly deserves the death penalty. I'm not saying we should burn heretics... it's not Biblical. I'm only saying that whatever judgment we make of the religious leaders of that day, we can't say their priorities were not in better order than our own. Any influential theologian that was teaching people (people who mostly could not read and were at the mercy of whatever they heard through preaching)heresies that would work against God's truth for their souls was considered dangerous and evil. Remember, the Bible teaches us not to fear those who can harm the body, but rather to fear Him who can cast both body and soul into hell.