6 Comments

Thank you so much for writing this -- it really hits home. I love that quotation from Tolstoy, too.

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Oct 8·edited Oct 8

Dear Scott, I don't want you to think your words have fallen on deaf ears. I get your point. We are flawed people needing to repent, needing forgiveness and needing to be extended grace. But I must take issue with the lack of nuance in how you say John Calvin was involved in the death of Michael Servetus. Having lived in Geneva Switzerland for the last 38 years, I've constantly heard how people blame Calvin for his death. But that is simply not the case. Francis Higman, one-time director of Reformation Studies at the University of Geneva would say a lot more was going on. Servetus was a condemned man for his teaching against God being Trinity. He was persona non-grata all over the Church in Europe. And why he came to Geneva is a mystery. So when he came and attended worship, Calvin did affirm that he needed to be arrested (stopped) by the City. So he was involved. But there was a lot more intrigue going on. The Reformed Churches in Zurich, Basel and Bern (not to mention Lausanne) saw Servetus as a heretic. Not to be outdone, Servetus accused Calvin of being a heretic and called for his death. But at that moment the Geneva government leaders were not supporting Calvin and wanted to embarrass him by getting Servetus acquitted. But the pressure from the reformed Swiss Cantons made that impossible. So, the city leader's hands were tied once Servetus came to Geneva. Calvin actually wanted the execution by beheading which was more human. But the penalty of the time was burning at the stake. But to simply say the "Calvin participated" in the burning of Servetus as an example of hypocrisy or personal flaw, overstates his involvement and misunderstands the context of the time. Calvin was firmly and rigidly committed to the Bible's teaching of God being Father, Son and Spirit. To him, words mattered. A unitarian teaching was simply not honoring to who God is. And so, this sad story of the collision between these two men, which Servetus instigated, ends in tragedy: Servetus killed for his beliefs and Calvin demonized for standing by his convictions. But yes, the Bible and history has lots of example of hypocrisy in the church. Something that should tame our self-righteous views of ourselves.

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This is so good. Thanks for sharing.

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Humility +honesty paves the way for the hope found in the gospel. I long for more transparency in the church. We live in such a dark world. I long to see the Light shining through the cracks. That’s where Jesus meets the sinner, both the believer and unbeliever. What a beautiful world lies ahead for all who believe in him. I’m pretty sure I will be surprised who I find there!

Thankyou Scott for bringing perspective and reminding us that darkness has not overcome us all.

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Such good reminders!

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Thank you Scott for writing this. I also have been convicted that as believers we(I) are not to act as though we are less broken than others. I have done that. But we are all the broken. It concerns me that people make their decision about God based on Christians that display a holier than thou attitude and I am sorry for the ways that I have contributed to this hypocrisy in my life. I hope that Christian hypocrisy can be overcome more and more and that we all can have eyes opened and humbly confess our brokenness and claim Jesus as our Savior. God help us I pray.

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