Cronos, Just as the Pope sent out people to kill Luther..the hate of Luther and Calvin continue in the Catholic church today.
To say that Calvin had an unloving God is so far from his actual doctrinal position to be laughable..
The city of Geneva, like most cities at that time were religious city states.
Calvin brought to Geneva social programs that were absent in the Roman Catholic city states .. Calvin’s social reforms included social services for the poor, the building of Hospitals and schools (which were free), prisons, he made provisions for refugees, and what was an amazing sanitation system for its time that made Geneva one of the cleanest and healthiest cities in Europe.
It was His his principle of the work ethic that started the industrial revolution, it was also his position on the depravity of man that gave American government the checks and balances system
One may not agree with his doctrinal positions to see he was one of the most major influences on democracy and mans responsibility to man
I would just point out that Calvinists and Lutherans and the other faiths that grew from the reformation do not have infallible popes, so we know and expect that like all men they were and are fallen sinners in need of a savior.. we do not expect or claim infallibility or perfection from them..
INDEED.
We need look no further than the Vatican cohorts’ hate toward some of us Proddys on FR for examples of that mentality and spirit.
Playing loose with the facts again I see. Perhaps someone lied to you and you are just repeating it. Perhaps it is a bit more sinister. That is between you, your conscience, and God.
What you ascribe to the pope was in fact the actions of Emperor Charles V. He did not "send out people to kill Luther". He officially declared Luther an outlaw, banning his literature, and requiring his arrest. "We want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic." It also made it a crime for anyone in Germany to give Luther food or shelter and permitted anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence.
All of this was done for political not religious reasons. Luther had promoted the revolt of numerous German princes and this threatened Charles V and the Hapsburg Dynasty. Many Catholics met their fate for similar threats.
However true that is, social reform was not the “Great Commission” given by Christ to his followers. The reformers failed in the most basic precepts of Christ's teaching at Matt. 22:34-40 in the same way as the Catholic Church had: They were willing to persecute unto death those they termed “heretics”.
Burning alive, beheading, drowning, of heretics, dissenters, of anyone, which of these did Christ authorize and teach his disciples?
Which of those things did his disciples practice? The fires that burned in Geneva were no more Christian than the fires in Rome.
Calvin’s philosophy did not in any way start the industrial revolution — that started in Anglican ENGLAND, not in Geneva. A little reading of history can help you learn about secular matters, just as perhaps you can pick up a real Bible and learn instead of your group’s excerpted bible.
Negative. Nobody was sent to kill Luther. Luther lived a very ostentatious manor, with bondservants and indentured farm workers on his large estate. If you have proof, present it. Otherwise, please retract this rather idiotic statement.