Would you let this man preach in your church?

[GordonSlocum]

"In 1541 the reforming forces again gained control in Geneva and Calvin was invited back there. That same year he had the Ecclesiastical Ordinances promulgated. This outlined the activities of the four classes of office bearers in the Church. It provided for an association of pastors to administer discipline, a group of teachers to teach doctrine, a group of deacons to administer the work of charity and, most important of all, the consistory, composed of six ministers and twelve elders, to supervise the theology and morals of the community and to punish when necessary the wayward members of the Church by excommunication. In order to set up an effective system Calvin used the state to inflect more severe penalties. (bold red emphasis mine)


Such penalties proved to be much too sever ,fifty-eight being executed and seventy six exiled by 1546."

Source

"Christianity Through The Centuries" by Cairns and Published by Zondervan, Copy right 54, and 57
page 342

If He lived today would he be tried for Murder?

[hindsey]

"In 1541 the reforming forces again gained control in Geneva and Calvin was invited back there. That same year he had the Ecclesiastical Ordinances promulgated. This outlined the activities of the four classes of office bearers in the Church. It provided for an association of pastors to administer discipline, a group of teachers to teach doctrine, a group of deacons to administer the work of charity and, most important of all, the consistory, composed of six ministers and twelve elders, to supervise the theology and morals of the community and to punish when necessary the wayward members of the Church by excommunication. In order to set up an effective system Calvin used the state to inflect more severe penalties. (bold red emphasis mine)



Such penalties proved to be much too sever ,fifty-eight being executed and seventy six exiled by 1546."

Source

"Christianity Through The Centuries" by Cairns and Published by Zondervan, Copy right 54, and 57
page 342

If He lived today would he be tried for Murder?
Gordon, let me reply first with: I am not a Calvinist. I do believe that God is completely sovereign and powerful, yet man has the ability to resist the Spirit's work in salvation, and God is not responsible if they do... that being said:

I do not know the details of any of the 58 people that were executed, but from what I do understand, Geneva at the time was a State that was church run. Basically the church was the "powers that be" of Romans 13. Therefore it would be their responsiblity to punish evildoers, bearing the sword.

Hypothetically speaking (because I don't know the deatils about the governemnt at the time) if the government of Geneva, church run, Calvin influenced, had decided to institute the civil laws of the Old Testament, would that be wrong/sinful?

Perhaps I'm losing the purpose of your original thread (which of course we all know is to 'bash' Calvin and his teaching), but I wonder what people think of my question on the issue you raised.

[No Swansong]

To the forum;

This post has been posted elsewhere including STR which I also moderate. Since some of us here are Calvinist (I am not) I see no reason to not allow this thread to remain. I would however caution all that sometimes these types of threads can result in a flame war. We cannot allow that on CF and if it does occur I will not hesitate to close the thread. With that said however I think it is incredible how for the most part we gat along wonderfully here, I truly appreciate the charity and respect that we have for one another.

[jlujan69]

Michael Servetus was among those killed for "heresy" under Calvin's auspices. Some Arminians may claim this as a reason why Calvinism is wrong, but of course, they'd be mistaken. Did Calvin abuse his power? You'd better believe it. Does this tie in to his theology? It could if his only reason for doing it was the belief that he was eternally secure.