RonaldH;5188128:
Is it acceptable in this forum to disagree? You make statements extremely authoritatively. I believe you are wrong. Umm so, is it then a debate to try and convince someone against their will? During the Inquisition the Roman church killed millions of people under the conviction that contrary beliefs of heresay justify such inhuman action.
That statement about the Church killing millions of people during the “inquisition” is absolutely and patently absurd. Cite one…just one, non lunatic, credible historian to back that up. You have simply heard this rubbish at some point in your life and you repeat it as if it is true, probably believing it yourself. Your ignorance is showing sir…and not just historically.
Carnegie; “those persuaded against their will are of the same persuasion still” I am not here to “debate” or try and convince you
against their will. You are well aware I’m sure that their are those today that deny the Holocaust? THAT was within the last 100 years! Why would it not surprise me that you’d deny the historical facts of what began over 800 years ago and lasted 600 years? You call me ignorant, what are your personal credentials?
“Let us pray that each one of us, looking to the Lord Jesus, meek and humble of heart, will recognize that even men of the church, in the name of faith and morals, have sometimes used methods not in keeping with the Gospel in the solemn duty of defending the truth.” – Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Jubilee Request for Forgiveness, March 12, 2000 What was he confessing to? I do not desire to come here as a former Catholic to argue, I try to present my side honestly without antagonism, why is it that it seems from a non-catholic perception that their is no, “come let us reason together”? Isaiah 1:18. I trust most people want to know the truth, is that a matter of discussing history that you tell me my sources are “lunatic” or not “credible”? To quote a Seminary doctorate Jerry Kaifetz concerning the pope’s so called acknowledgment of the Inquisition, "The pope has not confessed the bloody and horrible 600-years inquisition against humble Bible-believers, which was instigated by Pope Innocent III (1198-1213). Some of the devices and inventions used to torture the “heresy” out of those rejecting the Catholic Church’s authority included “The Iron Maiden,” “Hanging Cages,” “The Judas Cradle,” “Skinning the Cat,” “The Head Crusher,” “The Heretic’s Fork,” “The Barrel Pillory,” “The Rack,” “The Knee Splitter,” “The Breast Ripper,” and other devices too numerous to mention or too heinous to describe in any detail. The inquisitor was commissioned directly by the pope and acted directly on his behalf. The trials were held in secret and the inquisitor acted as judge, jury and prosecutor. The accused was never represented. The Inquisition resulted in the torture and murder of ***millions of Christians whose only crime was a rejection of Catholic heresy ***and a commitment to follow the Bible as their sole authority for faith and practice. John Paul II has not confessed the Inquisition; he has failed to label his fellow popes the murderers they were.”
Code:
Kaifetz, writing on the cusp of the New Millenium, neatly summarizes the falsehoods, exaggerations and myths of the inquisition established in the religious wars of the 16th Century. While he approaches the inquisition from the perspective of a more traditional form of religious anti-Catholicism, the image he presents would be shared by many today, including some Catholics.
I have seen so many posts here attempting to imply that prior to the Reformation the Catholic church was the only church in existence. The truth is their have always been a church, one not in agreement with the Catholic church which basically began it’s evolution with the legalizing of the Christianity by Constantine around the fourth century. The Roman persecution would end and with a trump of an Emperor Christianity became in vogue. Encyclopedia of Catholic History, by Matthew Bunson (Our Sunday Visitor, 1995) p. 43 says, “The two heresies of the 12th and early 13th centuries that gave birth to the medieval inquisition were that of the Cathars (or Albigensians) and the Waldensians. The Cathars essentially held that the “evil god” of the Old Testament created the material world and saw the Church as the instrument of that material world. The Waldensians preached against wealth, clericalism and rejected the sacramental nature of the Church. Both these movements coalesced to a certain degree, and would become somewhat popular in Southern France, Northern Italy and parts of Germany.”
