[PetroniusMaximus]

"33. That heretics be burned is against the will of the Spirit."

You guys really believe the Holy Spirit would have you burn folks at the stake???

[jcb8199]

Prots burned people same as Catholics...

[Campion]

The Holy Spirit expressly commanded the death penalty for some offenses, including leading people into idolatry, in the Mosaic Law. There an obvious Scriptural problem with a blanket assertion that the death penalty for heresy is contrary to the will of God.

"Nobody expects the Mosaic Inquisition."

[jcb8199]

Not to mention that, without the Authority of the Church, who's to say what the will of the Spirit is? I certainly don't condone burning, nor did Leo in item 33 (he merely said that it was an error to say so, as who, at the time, spoke with the Authoirty on the will of the Spirit? Luther or the Church?). Point is, he didn't say the opposite is true, that burning heretics is of the will of the Spirit, he just said it was an error to say that burning is against the will. Luther rejected the authority of the Church, and then made pronouncements himself about the Spirit (using what authority?).....

Scriptures warn that those who counter God's will endure "eternal fire" or will suffer in some form. Given the fact that such punishments were commonplace in the secular arena as much as the religious, it is not abnormal that people were burned. "Trial by ordeal" was common--you steal, you stick your hand in burning water or you are tossed off a cliff, or whatever, in accordance with the laws; you commit a crime against God (heresy, say, or blasphemy), you pay the penalty.