The Protestant Reformer's dying request was unexpected, given his prolific contribution. He did not want a legacy with his name on it. Instead, he wanted help being forgotten.
Scott I would have to agree with Lahni Blair's response to your post:
"To compare Paul and Calvin is baffling and I would go as far to say blasphemous. Paul was transformed from a life of murdering and torturing the church of God to a life of MARTYRDOM, a life of constantly being brought low for the glory of God. Calvin, on the other hand, professed the knowledge and wisdom of God while continuing in the darkness and constantly bringing himself higher in a culture that warped the authority of God for heinous purposes. There is no comparison here."
Calvin was more like Saul (Paul before his conversion) a blasphemer and murderer who persecuted the true church and did not repent of it, yet he had the wisdom and knowledge of God that he could draw upon but did not do so.
Like the Jewish leaders of the time of Christ:
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
I am so glad to see this as the first comment on a post that I can’t seem to make sense of either and really left me scratching my head. You’re spot on—“good theology does not cover a multitude of sins” And neither does a nameless grave erase the torture and martyrdom of the truly forgotten ones who were murdered in the name of God.
1 John 4:20–“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” There is a reason the apostle John does not chalk up hatred and cruelty in the name of God as a “mixed bag”. He draws the boundary lines pretty clear.
To compare Paul and Calvin is baffling and I would go as far to say blasphemous. Paul was transformed from a life of murdering and torturing the church of God to a life of MARTYRDOM, a life of constantly being brought low for the glory of God. Calvin, on the other hand, professed the knowledge and wisdom of God while continuing in the darkness and constantly bringing himself higher in a culture that warped the authority of God for heinous purposes. There is no comparison here.
The true heroes of the reformation are the ones whose names and lives have been largely forgotten—the ones who didn’t have the luxury of deciding whether or not their name was to be on their grave because they were murdered, drowned, burned at the stake under the authority of men like Calvin. Their lives and legacy completely overshadowed by the pedestal in which Protestants have placed Calvin and Zwingli. This is what is actually ironic.
Balthasar Hubmaier was one of the reformers who wrote several articles on peace while being TORTURED in prison (sounds like the apostle Paul!).
Just a few years before being tortured, He wrote “On Heretics and Those who Burn Them” as a treatise of peace and love and non-violence directly addressing the heinous and ungodly church culture and men of his day. In prison, he said, “ "I may err – I am a man, but a heretic I cannot be, because I ask constantly for instruction in the word of God." This is a man who knew the threshold of “mixed bag” and “blasphemy”. This is a man that can accurately be compared to the apostle Paul. And this is a man who has been forgotten—all for the glory of God.
Excellent response to a very "mixed bag" of a post.
God will judge those who are leaders of the church for their hypocrisy and hatred, as he judged the Jewish leaders of his day:
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
Scott I would have to agree with Lahni Blair's response to your post:
"To compare Paul and Calvin is baffling and I would go as far to say blasphemous. Paul was transformed from a life of murdering and torturing the church of God to a life of MARTYRDOM, a life of constantly being brought low for the glory of God. Calvin, on the other hand, professed the knowledge and wisdom of God while continuing in the darkness and constantly bringing himself higher in a culture that warped the authority of God for heinous purposes. There is no comparison here."
Calvin was more like Saul (Paul before his conversion) a blasphemer and murderer who persecuted the true church and did not repent of it, yet he had the wisdom and knowledge of God that he could draw upon but did not do so.
Like the Jewish leaders of the time of Christ:
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
(Mat 23:33-35)
YES!!!! To GOD be ALL the glory!!!❤️
I am so glad to see this as the first comment on a post that I can’t seem to make sense of either and really left me scratching my head. You’re spot on—“good theology does not cover a multitude of sins” And neither does a nameless grave erase the torture and martyrdom of the truly forgotten ones who were murdered in the name of God.
1 John 4:20–“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” There is a reason the apostle John does not chalk up hatred and cruelty in the name of God as a “mixed bag”. He draws the boundary lines pretty clear.
To compare Paul and Calvin is baffling and I would go as far to say blasphemous. Paul was transformed from a life of murdering and torturing the church of God to a life of MARTYRDOM, a life of constantly being brought low for the glory of God. Calvin, on the other hand, professed the knowledge and wisdom of God while continuing in the darkness and constantly bringing himself higher in a culture that warped the authority of God for heinous purposes. There is no comparison here.
The true heroes of the reformation are the ones whose names and lives have been largely forgotten—the ones who didn’t have the luxury of deciding whether or not their name was to be on their grave because they were murdered, drowned, burned at the stake under the authority of men like Calvin. Their lives and legacy completely overshadowed by the pedestal in which Protestants have placed Calvin and Zwingli. This is what is actually ironic.
Balthasar Hubmaier was one of the reformers who wrote several articles on peace while being TORTURED in prison (sounds like the apostle Paul!).
Just a few years before being tortured, He wrote “On Heretics and Those who Burn Them” as a treatise of peace and love and non-violence directly addressing the heinous and ungodly church culture and men of his day. In prison, he said, “ "I may err – I am a man, but a heretic I cannot be, because I ask constantly for instruction in the word of God." This is a man who knew the threshold of “mixed bag” and “blasphemy”. This is a man that can accurately be compared to the apostle Paul. And this is a man who has been forgotten—all for the glory of God.
Excellent response to a very "mixed bag" of a post.
God will judge those who are leaders of the church for their hypocrisy and hatred, as he judged the Jewish leaders of his day:
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
(Mat 23:33-35)