John Calvin-Life,Legacy and Theology

JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -
PROF. M. M. NINAN
13. (page 208) 1545 - CALVIN HAD the magistrates seize Belot, an Anabaptist (against infant
baptism) for stating that the Old Testament was abolished by the New. Belot was chained and
tortured.
14. (page 180) May 16, 1545 - The last execution concerning the plague outbreak, bringing the total
dead to 7 men and 24 women. A letter from CALVIN attests to 15 of these women being burned at the
stake. CALVIN'S only concern was that the plague had not come to his house.
15. (page 189) April 1546 - Ami Perrin put on trial for refusing to testify against several friends who
were guilty of having danced. She was incarcerated for refusal to testify.
16. (page 190) July 1546 - Jacques Gruet was accused of writing a poster against Calvin. He was
arrested and tortured until he admitted to the crime. He was then executed."
The citizens of Geneva hated John Calvin as he clearly stated.
In 1554 Calvin wrote
"Dogs bark at me on all sides. Everywhere I am saluted with the name of 'heretic,' and all the
calumnies that can possibly be invented are heaped upon me; in a word, the enemies among my own
flock attack me with greater bitterness than my declared enemies among the papists."
Calvin, quoted in Schaff, History, volume 8, page 496. The history of John Calvin's reign of terror in
Geneva is undisputed. Calvin himself kept historical records that have survived to this day.
John Calvin had no love, compassion, patience or tolerance for those who did not believe his
Institutes. Criticism of Calvin's Institutes was considered heresy for which the sentence was
death by burning at the stake. To his dying day Calvin preached and taught from his works. By no
means an aged man, he was worn out
in these frequent controversies. On April 25, 1564, he made his will, leaving 225 French crowns, of
which he bequeathed ten to his college, ten to the poor, and the remainder to his nephews and nieces.
His last letter was addressed to Farel. He was buried without pomp in a spot which is not now
ascertainable. In the year 1900 a monument of expiation was erected to Servetus in the Place
Champel. Geneva has long since ceased to be the center of Calvinism.
John Calvin's
murder of people who held different doctrinal views,
his failure to acknowledge or repent from his sins,
his incomplete gospel,
his placing of his own writings above the Bible,
his distortion of God and the Scriptures,
and his dependence upon infant baptism places into question his salvation.
In all of his writings is not found a clear declaration of his salvation by faith in the birth, life, crucifixion
and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Calvin was a cruel, murderous tyrant who considered himself to be the pope of Geneva.
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