Transcript (1369-1415) Famous Victim of the Inquisition

To blessed to be
stressed
To anointed to
be disappointed
Five of the Worse
Ideas in Church
History’s
“Those who cannot learn
from history are doomed to
repeat it.”
George Santayana
Speaking of the wandering Jews in the
wilderness and the things they went through,
Paul makes this observation in I Corinthians
10:11,
Now these things happened to them as an
example, and they were written for our
instruction, upon whom the ends of the
ages have come.
Can similar lessons be learned from church
history? Answer: Yes
As a Christian, what
would you do if you
were made the king of
the world?
Bad Idea #1: The Welding of
Church and State
In 313 AD Emperor Constantine made
Christianity legal by passing the “Act of
Toleration.”
In 380 AD Eastern Roman Emperor
Theodosius declared Christianity the official
religion of the Roman Empire which lead
ultimately to the Roman Church setting up
the kingdom here and now.
As a result…
• The Papacy became dominate
• Religion became primarily outward
expression
• False teaching
• The Bible was taken out of the people’s
hands
• Religious freedom was not tolerated
• Persecuted other Christians who would not
bow in submission
Bad Idea #2: The Crusades
From 1096 to 1289, the
European church launched a
military campaign to recover
the Holy Land from the
Muslims.
Mistake : God never instructed the
church to conquer the Holy Land
Lesson: Make sure you are
following God’s goals and not
pursuing man’s or your own false
goals.
How does our church
stack up in its
purposes?
YLFC Purposes
"Go therefore and make
disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them
in the name of the
Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to
observe all that I
commanded you; and
lo, I am with you
always, even to the end
of the age. " Matthew
28:19-20
…not forsaking our
own assembling
together, as is the
habit of some, but
encouraging one
another; and all the
more, as you see the
day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:25
And the things which
you have heard from
me in the presence of
many witnesses,
these entrust to
faithful men, who
will be able to teach
others also.
II Timothy 2:2
And He gave some as
apostles, and some as
prophets, and some
as evangelists, and
some as pastors and
teachers, for the
equipping of the
saints for the work of
service, to the
building up of the
body of Christ;
Ephesians 4:11-12
And He said to him, "'You
shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and
with all your mind.'
"This is the great and
foremost commandment.
"The second is like it, 'You
shall love your neighbor as
yourself.'
"On these two
commandments depend
the whole Law and the
Prophets."
Matthew 22:37-40
Bad Idea #3: The Inquisition
For about 600 years (1227 to 1834
A.D.), the Catholic Church punished
those who they considered heretics.
The Church confiscated property,
burned heretics at the stake, and
treated those who harbored heretics
with the same punishment as the
heretic.
The Inquisition was one of the great blights in
the history of Christianity. No other
institution in the history of the Christian
Church was so horrible, so unjust, so...unChristian. When it was finally brought to a
halt in 1834, thousands of lives had been
lost, and tens of thousands of lives ruined
through imprisonment and confiscation of
property. Whole populations were driven
from their homelands, and the Roman
Church had earned a blight against its name
that still resonates to this day.
Robert Jones
http://www.sundayschoolcourses.com/inq/inqcont.htm
A. Some History…
What does Inquisition mean?
The word means the act of inquiring into a
matter, an investigation and is a synonym
of inquiry.
The Inquisition was a court or tribunal for
examination and punishment of heretics
When did it all start?
In 1184 Pope Lucius III issued a bull against
heretics which in many ways became the
blueprint of the Inquisition. The essence of it
was that any unrepentant heretic was to be
handed over to the secular authorities for
punishment. Any “relapsed” heretic would
receive harsher punishment. And those
harboring heretics were to receive like
punishment as the heretic.
Punishments…
•
•
•
•
•
Interrogations and fear
Confiscation of property
Condemned forced to wear yellow crosses
Imprisonment
Torture (Flogging, burning, the rack, roasting
feet over coals)
• Burning at the stake
• Groups of people driven from their homelands
• Destructions of whole towns to wipe out heresy
Two Major Segments of the
Inquisition…
• Medieval (Papal) Inquisition. Primarily
under the control of the Church
• Spanish Inquisition. Primarily under the
control of the secular government
Medieval Inquisition
• In July 22, 1209 the city of Beziers, France was
sacked and over 20,000 men, women and
children were killed by crusaders. When asked
about what about the Catholics in the town, It
was said, “Kill them all, for God knows His
own.”
• The heresy that was being stamped out was
Cathars movement. It was an ascetic and
Gnostic in nature and rejected the authority of
the pope and clergy.
Joan of Arc
Famous Victim of the Inquisition
John Hus (1369-1415)
Famous Victim of the Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
• In 1478 Pope Sixtus IV issued a bull authorizing
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to appoint
an inquisitorial board (which occurred in 1480).
The express purpose of the Spanish Inquisition
was to root out false Christians in Spain –
especially Jews and Moslems who claimed to
convert to Christianity, but were still secretly
practicing their faith.
• Protestants were also a target of the Spanish
Inquisition.
B. Biblical Justification for
the Inquisition
Biblical basis for the Inquisition
One must jump back to the theocracy of Israel for justification.
Passages like…
"If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives
you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true,
concerning which he spoke to you, saying,' Let us go after
other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve
them,‘… Deuteronomy 13:1-2
"But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to
death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord
your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and
redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from
the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk.
So you shall purge the evil from among you. Deuteronomy 13:5
The New Testament knew no such concept.
Those in sin were to be dealt with by putting
them out of the Church…
• Turn away from them – Rom. 16:17
• Do not associate with them – II Thess. 3:1415
• Do not eat with them – I Cor. 5:11
• Remove them – I Cor. 5:13
• Keep aloof from them – II Thess. 3:6
• Reject them – Titus 3:10
In fairness these are not heretics but believers
in sin or those who cause strife in the church.
So how did Paul handle those who turned
from the true faith?
In I Timothy Paul hands heretics over to Satan
…keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected
and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these
are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered over to
Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme. I
Timothy 1:19-20
In II Timothy there is no mention of a punishment
…and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are
Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the
truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place,
and thus they upset the faith of some. II Timothy 2:17-18
What New Testament justification is there for the
Inquisition and burning an heretic at the stake?
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a
branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast
them into the fire, and they are burned.” John 15:6
C. Do Forced Conversions
Really Work?
(Note: This is a trick
question)
Answer: Yes and No
Forced conversions may work in religion where
outward religious expression is the visible sign
of its followers. In many ways, it is like forcing
someone to join a club.
In Christianity, however, a person must willingly
give his or her life to Christ. This results in a
spiritual rebirth (John 3:3) brought on by
trusting Christ and bowing to His right of rule
in one’s life. He or she then becomes a new
creature in Christ (II Cor. 5:17), the old things
pass away and new things come.
Freedom of choice has always
been big in the Bible…
Moses said,
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set
before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose
life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
Deuteronomy 30:19
Joshua said,
"And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for
yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which
your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of
the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15
Elijah said,
“And Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will
you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow
Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him
a word.” I Kings 18:21
In the New Testament…
• By invitation only
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavyladen, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke
upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for
your souls. "For My yoke is easy, and My load
is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
D. If Christians
cannot use
coercion to bring
about another’s
salvation, then
how do we win
others to Christ?
The tools of evangelism…
1. Share the gospel
but you shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you shall
be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
remotest part of the earth." Acts 1:8
2. Reasoning and persuasion
And he was reasoning in the synagogue every
Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and
Greeks. Acts 18:4
…but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts,
always being ready to make a defense to
everyone who asks you to give an account for
the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness
and reverence; I Peter 3:15
3. Our unique personal testimony
Acts 22. When Paul’s dream of sharing his
faith in Jerusalem came true, Paul starts
out by saying in verse 1,
“Brethren and fathers, hear my defense
which I now offer to you.”
He then goes on to give his testimony…
4. By a Christian’s changed life…
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your
own husbands so that even if any of them are
disobedient to the word, they may be won
without a word by the behavior of their wives, I
Peter 3:1
This is the flipside of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s
famous quote..
"What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what
you say."
What if a person rejects the gospel
after we have shared with them?
To reject the gospel is one’s God-given
choice and right. The cost of rejection is
unfathomable but it is their choice.
Further reading: The Great Divorce by
C.S. Lewis
E. What About Our Children?
When should Christian parents stop
forcing their children go to church?
Age 5
Age 12
Age 14
Answer: (There is no easy answer)
It takes spiritual wisdom to balance the
discipline we are to provide our
children with, while respecting the
right of choice God gives our children
in receiving the Lord or rejecting
Him.
What about that famous verse in
Proverbs 22:6?
Train up a child in the way he should go, Even
when he is old he will not depart from it.
Remember that this is a principle and not a
promise. Otherwise free-will would be negated.
There have been godly Christians who raised a
child according to the Word and the child
rejected the faith while non-Christians without
any spiritual direction ended up having a child
become a strong Christian.
In your heart have you given your children the
right to reject the gospel if they so chose?
• God allows them to reject
• The Prodigal son’s father did
There is peace when we hand over the burden of
unsaved children and family members to the
Lord.
Bad Idea #4: England making the
Episcopal Church the official state
church and religion
Bad Idea #5: Prohibition