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发帖数: 3781 | 1 The new persecution was done in the name of Christ, but was the very antithe
sis of all Christ taught and lived and for which He died. Following in the f
ootsteps of Rome, which in most matters they opposed, the Protestant churche
s continued the same practice. We cannot, and dare not, ignore these facts i
n evaluating the early creeds and statements of faith, coming as they did fr
om councils and synods called by the state for the sake of unity.
Augustine had been happy to use the state in an unbiblical partnership to en
force "faith" upon heretics. Driven by the same belief, Calvin used the same
system in Geneva. Nor can one deny the obvious relationship between this in
tolerant forcing of "faith" upon the unwilling, and the two major doctrines
of both Augustine and Calvin - Total Depravity and double Predestination wit
h their concomitant denial of any genuine choice for mankind. Freedom of con
science was the natural victim, a form of oppression which even the unsaved
can tolerate only for so long. |
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