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From: "Timmons, Ray" <>
Subject: Re: Michael Servetus
Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 13:59:41 -0400


Hi Peter,

Please do not let this start a religious war! I am just addressing some
judgements about Calvin that are not representative of Huguenot beliefs.

Protestants do NOT say that any sin is worse than another sin. They do
NOT say that there is ANY sin that will send a true Christian to hell.
They do say that even one "small" sin will send a person that has not
accepted God's forgiveness to hell.

They also say that there are only two kinds of people, the Saints and
the Ain'ts. To Protestants, all Christians are Saints. They also say
that all Christians sin. Murder is a sin, but there are many others.

Calvin believed in freedom of religion for himself but not for Servetus.
Yes, that is a double standard. Whether he actually plotted Servetus
death or not does not matter. If he wanted him dead, he was a murderer.

However, remember that Calvin was sorrounded by those who thought they
were doing God's work by putting Protestants to death. Calvin also
thought getting rid of Servetus' "heresy" was God's work. You can't
superimpose today's standards back to that time.

Ray

> Hello Folks,
>
> Now perhaps I am about to have the wrath of his followers come down upon me. Sometimes we need to know all sides before we take up the belief that one Jean Calvin was such a wonderful person.
>
> Reading the story of the Spanish physician, Michael Servetus may have the more thinking persons with Huguenot / Walloon interests just sit up and ponder.
>
> October 27, 1553 was a very bad day in the life of Michael Servetus as it happened to be his very last day on this earth of ours. Had a passerby been wandering around the grand city of Geneva that afternoon they would have seen smoke. The smoke of the burning stake with Servetus attached.
>
> Now what has this to do with the supposed guru of all things Huguenot , religious reform and other good doings ?
>
> Well it seems that Calvin didn't like Servetus all that much. Called him a heritic and had him tried , sentenced and condemned to death. All because Servetus had the nerve to have a differing view of the so called Trinity (Eternal Son of God instead of Son of Eternal God and all that).
>
> In Walter Nigg, The Heretics (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1962), p. 328. you will find just really what Calvin thought. To save you running off to the library, it says "I hope that the verdict will call for the death penalty." (Jean Calvin)
>
> And just a little for those of you who tend to be on the devout side and so support Calvin. I ask the answer to the following ..if murderers are supposedly "unsaved" and Calvin was the cause of Servetus' death, ie. he was party to his murder, then surely Calvin was "unsaved"?
>
> Now there is a real problem for me. Many preach that Calvin was almost saintly and yet by his own hand he was not.
>
> Double standards even way back in those days, I summise ?
>
> And so Calvin appears to have been insturmental in the death of Michael SERVETUS (September 29, 1511 - October 27, 1553)
>
> Kind Regards,
> Peter Leroy

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