Burning Heretics At The Stake In 2008

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Graciela' post='1733909' date='Dec 22 2008, 03:14 PM']OTOH, I think that the Council of Trent would never have happened had it not been for the abuses pointed out by Martin Luther and others, whom the RC church officially excommunicated. So, one could argue that positive change in the earthly institution of the church can at time benefit from "heretics" and so burning them is a bad idea.[/quote]

There is some truth to this... the truth is usually made explicit when it is challenged, usually by a rampant heresy. In an indirect sort of way, we can think the Arian heresy for the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, though obviously the Church and the Holy Spirit working through her are directly responsible.

Though, having learned more about the condition of the Church at earlier points of history, such as the 11th century Italy that St. Francis of Assisi knew, or for that matter, the Church of Corinth that St. Paul knew, spiritual apathy and widespread sin among Christians are nothing new to our post-Sixties world. There have always been heretics and reformers who either attempted changing the Church from within or split off from the Church entirely. People thought St. Francis was one such person, but he humbly offered his new order up to Pope Innocent III's approval, freely willing to disband if the pope thought it better.

As for Martin Luther and the Reformation, I believe they just happened to be "successful" because they finally had a key technology at their disposal that enabled them to detach Scripture from Tradition: the printing press. Their cause was also greatly helped by rulers who had grown fed up with the pope and wanted to challenge his authority. King Henry VIII did so most directly, but others chose to become followers of Luther, for example, and burn the "heretics," who would be all non-Lutherans. Obviously, who you burn centers around the king's opinion, not the bishop's.

They even decide what is beer. The German Purity Law wasn't created to keep German beer pure, but to keep Germany pure of those defiled Trappist ales. Sure doesn't make sense celebrating a Reformation while drinking beer purchased from Catholic monks, does it?