Were those who opposed the Trinity killed off

[Proclaimer]

The beginning of this video tells of a story about a man who was killed for not believing in the Trinity Doctrine.

Please note that it is a debate between a Trinitarian and a Oneness follower and am not promoting either doctrine. I just want to outline the story that this guy tells.

Also, please do not turn this into a Trinity Doctrine debate. It is about the history of the systematic killing of those who opposed the Trinity Doctrine. Feel free to comment on that and post other evidence of such behaviour.

[mikeboll64]

The burning of Michael Servetus….Had one visited the town of Geneva on the 27th of October 1553, one would have been witness of that tragic scene which William Osler describes so poignantly and dramatically: ……

“Shortly after twelve o'clock, a procession started from the town-hall of Geneva-the chief magistrates of the city, the clergy in their robes, the Lieutenant Criminel and other officers on horseback, a guard of mounted archers, the citizens, with a motley crowd of followers, and in their midst, with arms bound, in shabby, dirty clothes, walked a man of middle age, whose intellectual face bore the marks of long suffering. Passing along the rue St. Antoine through the gate of the same name, the cortege took its way towards the Golgotha of the city. Once outside the walls a superb sight broke on their view: in the distance the blue waters and enchanting shores of Lake Geneva, to the west and north the immense amphitheater of the Jura, with its snow-capped mountains, and to the south and west the lovely valley of the Rhone; but we may well think that few eyes were turned away from the central figure of that sad procession. By his side, in earnest entreaty, walked the aged pastor, Farel, who had devoted a long and useful life to the service of his fellow citizens. Mounting the hill, the field of Champel was reached, and here on sight eminence was the fateful stake, with dangling chains and heaping bundles of faggots. At this sight the poor victim prostrated himself on the ground in prayer. In reply to the exhortation of the clergyman for a specific confession of faith, there was the cry, 'Misericordia, misericordia! Jesu, thou Son of the eternal God, have compassion upon me!' Bound to the stake by the iron chains, with a chaplet of straw and green twigs covered with sulphur on his head, with long dark face, it is said that he looked like the Christ in whose name he was bound. Around his waist were tied a large bundle of manuscript and a thick octavo printed book. The torch was applied, and as the flames spread to the straw and sulphur and flashed in his eyes, there was a piercing cry that struck terror into the hearts of the bystanders. The faggots were green, the burning was slow, and it was long before in a last agony he cried again, 'Jesu, thou Son of the eternal God, have mercy on me!' Thus died in his forty-fourth year, Michael Servetus Villanovanus, physician, physiologist, and heretic. Strange, is it not, that could he have cried, 'Jesu, thou Eternal Son of God!' even at this last moment, the chains would have been unwound, the chaplet removed, and the faggots scattered; but he remained faithful unto death to what he believed was the Truth as revealed in the Bible.”

he cried again, 'Jesu, thou Son of the eternal God, have mercy on me!'

Strange, is it not, that could he have cried, 'Jesu, thou Eternal Son of God!' even at this last moment, the chains would have been unwound,

Strange indeed.

[terraricca]

SPANISH INQUISITION PICTURES
FROM MARTYRS MIRROR
From the Mennonite Library and Archives of Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas

The Spanish inquisition flamed up once again during the occupation of the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) in the 16th century. The Spanish authorities saw religious affiliation as political affiliation, and religious dissent as political dissent. In truth, Protestantism had become linked to Dutch nationalism and to the independence movement against Spain. In 1566, Dutch Protestants stormed into churches to destroy religious pictures and statues, which they saw as idolatrous. A new wave of Spanish religious persecution ensued under the Duke of Alva. But Protestantism in northern Europe, protected by powerful princes, was too strong for a new inquistion to succeed. Later, when the Netherlands became independent, the new Dutch Reformed leaders began clamping down on Catholics, just as the Spanish had clamped down on Protestants.

Anabaptist leaders and teachers were often burned at the stake, though sometimes after being strangled first. Burning of Maria and Ursula van Beckum, Deventer, 1544
Some of the chief targets of religious persecution were the Anabaptists, an underground popular revival that began sweeping western Europe, especially the German-speaking regions, in the early 1520's. Part of the “Radical Reformation”, they insisted that true baptism was only for believers who had turned from their sins and turned to Christ. Under Spanish rule, thousands were killed or driven into exile or hiding. After religious toleration became common, divisiveness and affluence seems to have withered the strength of the Dutch Anabaptists in a way that persecution had not.

Many Anabaptist women were drowned. Maria von Monjou, 1552

Simon de Kramer refused to bow to the communion wafer as it was paraded through the streets of Bergen op Zoom, 1553

Sometimes condemned prisoners were made the “guest of honor” at public banquests. Gerrit Hasepoot, Nijmegen, 1556
Unlike the Calvinists, Anabaptists believed a Christian should not serve in the government or the military at all. Thought the followers of Menno Simons were not interested in overthrowing the kingdoms of the world, both Catholic and Protestant rulers persecuted them anyway. They remembered that the heretical Muensterites, who took up swords in the name of God in 1534-35, denied the validity of infant baptism just as Menno Simons did. Failure to attend the state church was treason, and being rebaptised was punishable by death.

A few Anabaptist martyrs, such as Conrad Grebel, were well-educated. Burning of Algerius, a young nobleman and student from Padua, Rome, 1557

Secret drowning of former town leader Joris Wippe, Dordrecht, 1558

Torture of Joost Joosten, Veere, Zeeland, 1560, whom King Philip of Spain earlier had wanted as a choirboy.

it is almost an endless list

Pierre

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