WAS HE A MURDERER?

JOHN CALVIN

One of the most used arguments against the work and life of the reformer John Calvin is the spurious claim, "He was a murderer!"

As 2009 is the 500th anniversary of his birth it is worth looking at this matter.
Here is a modern explanation surrounding the execution of Michael Servetus.

The description of the circumstances in Geneva and the intrigues leading up to the execution of Servetus are not usually set forth in modern day examinations on the life of John Calvin.


A more accurate in depth account is found in chapters 21,22,23 of The History Of Protestantism by J. Wylie.

This is an excerpt from one of the chapters.
"Meanwhile Servetus was busy in his prison with his annotations on Calvin's reply. The unhappy man, believing that his friends, the Libertines, who communicated with him through the jailer, were on the eve of triumphing, and that the Reformer was as good as fallen, was no longer at pains to conceal his intense hatred of the latter.



Writing between the lines and on the margin of Calvin's document, he expressed himself in the following melancholy terms— "You howl like a blind man in desert places, because the spirit of vengeance burns in your heart. You lie, you lie, you lie, you ignorant calumniator."[17] There followed a good deal more in the same vein. The Reformer was shown the writing, but leaving to Servetus the last word, he deigned no reply."

Ps 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?