You are thick! Ive shown many times & even have testimony from a brother who sides with you on theology but studied Calvin that he had nothing to do with this (see the Calvin history forum), but you still feel the need to discredit & slander a fellow Christian. What is your problem?
If you havent read it.....
A very good friend of mine, who is also a member of the board just verified something for me about the criticisms waged at Calvin concerning the execution of Servitus.
" ... You are correct. Calvin did not want Servitus executed. The authorities did not heed Calvin's mercies. Calvin then asked if the execution could be done via beheading. Beheading was considered more respectful. It was also painless.
Calvin takes a lot of heat for the whole Servitus deal, but he shouldn't"
On this point I will agree.
John Calvin's life on earth is over.
He no longer faces any problems connected with the things he did here.
I, on the other hand, still deal with the problems associated with this life.
BTW, I was just having a little fun at the expense of you Calvinists.
Calvin's involvement in the death of Servitus is not a big deal.
After all Servitus would be dead now regardless.
It is difficult to look at the times then and apply our modern day culture to their standards and practices.
Different time and almost a different world.
I have Institutes, but there is so much to read and with work, church and everything else, it is difficult to find the time.
Maybe one day I will be able to at least read some of it.
I think Robert needs somethimg more bite-sized. The Institutes are a little on the heavy-duty side of things for a newbie. I would suggest reading a selection of his letters. Or read some of his sermons -- I particularly like his Sermons On The Book Of Micah. His commentaries are excellent. But when you read his sermons he is so down-to-earth and speaks very clearly. He brings out biblical truth as a miner brings out gold.(Yeah,I just made that up.)
For under $10.00 you could pick up the The Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life.
You would be shocked to discover that you will agree with him 90% or more of the time!
After 12/17/2010 I have only slipped and attributed the term "false" to Calvinism once.
I have attempted to refrain from such language.
I do however get upset when I am called a "free-willer" and belittled, and it is implied that I don't believe the Word of God.
I was not calling Calvinism a false belief.
I was saying that just like beliefs that are heretical, like Jehovah's Witnesses, who read things into the bible to support their false doctrine, Calvinism reads things into the scripture to strengthen their understanding that us non-cals disagree with.
It is a fine line, but I was not stating that Calvinism is a false doctrine.
Also, to view Calvinism as false, as I do Landmarkism for example doesn't mean that I view it the same as a false belief like Mormonism or any other cult.
In my opinion, the falseness I find in Calvinism isn't at all the same as the falseness found in a cult.
I consider Calvinists Christians whom I disagree with, not as I do cults who are not Christians at all.
Nothing stooping about it.
Regardless of Servetus's character, it did not warrant the death penalty over a religious argument.
If you think Mr Calvin was right, then what are you doing living in this country of religious freedom.
There are plenty of oppressive and theocratic regimes all over the world.
Live your beliefs.
Also, I notice you are using freedom of expression for your posts.
That would probably not be a good idea in the type of society you seem so fond of.
Speaking of stooping so low, I cannot believe you would defend such garbage, and unlike another poster said to you, I am not making a joke of it.
Many people have fought for freedom and died for you to exercise the freedoms in this country.
You use them, yet turn right around and defend a system that should be abhorrent to every bone in your body.
I've read plenty about the situation.
They also hung "witches" in 1692.
We do not do that in this country, but there are planes leaving every day to courntires that do.
Saturn, this is exactly Calvin's argument. In fact he wanted a separation of church & state in Geneva so that he wouldn't have religious descenters killed by the state. Had he had his way, Geneva would not have been a theocracy. Besides, it wasn't a theocracy run by the church....it was run by the magistrates who controlled all, including death penalties.