History of the Inquisitions

[Biblereader]

What was the biblical basis, IF there was one, the Scriptural, New Testament reason, for the churches using torture and burning at the stake, for ridding society of a so-called heretic?
In the Middle Ages, around the 11th century, Canon Law was put into effect, and canon law was based
on: a body of rules or principles generally established as valid and fundamental in a field, and this body of rules was
based on, for the majority of the rules, laws of church councils, made up of men, decrees of Popes,
and, only one-third based on the Bible.

So, WHERE did the idea of torturing and killing people come from? Since the churches were all supposedly following
the NEW TESTAMENT, which doesn't say anywhere to kill non-Christians.
Canon courts were based on Roman law, and Romans were worshippers of all kinds of gods, and goddesses, mostly imported
from Greek pagan worshipping. Roman law, and legal counsel, for the most part, was not based on Christianity.

Again, what was the biblical basis, IF there was one, the Scriptural, New Testament reason, for the churches
using torture and burning at the stake, for ridding society of a so-called heretic?

Any history authorities in here?

 

[Scott1]

What was the biblical basis, IF there was one, the Scriptural, New Testament reason, for the churches using torture and burning at the stake, for ridding society of a so-called heretic?

There was none... it was a sinful disgrace.... both Catholic and Protestant "Christians" killed without love or mercy... kinda like our Muslim friends today.... they're just a thousand years behind us in realizing you can't kill people into believing.

S

 

[Catholic Crusader]

There have actually been several different inquisitions. The first was established in 1184 in southern France as a response to the Catharist heresy. This was known as the Medieval Inquisition, and it was phased out as Catharism disappeared.

Quite separate was the Roman Inquisition, begun in 1542. It was the least active and most benign of the three variations.

Separate again was the infamous Spanish Inquisition, started in 1478, a state institution used to identify conversosâ€â€Jews and Moors (Muslims) who pretended to convert to Christianity for purposes of political or social advantage and secretly practiced their former religion. More importantly, its job was also to clear the good names of many people who were falsely accused of being heretics. It was the Spanish Inquisition that, at least in the popular imagination, had the worst record of fulfilling these duties.

The various inquisitions stretched through the better part of a millennia, and can collectively be called "the Inquisition."

Read this link:
http://www.catholic.com/library/Inquisition.asp

 

[Biblereader]

What was the biblical basis, IF there was one, the Scriptural, New Testament reason, for the churches using torture and burning at the stake, for ridding society of a so-called heretic?

There was none... it was a sinful disgrace.... both Catholic and Protestant "Christians" killed without love or mercy... kinda like our Muslim friends today.... they're just a thousand years behind us in realizing you can't kill people into believing.

S

I totally agree, it was a sinful disgrace. But, since learning about the record keeping of the church, how they liked to keep account of most things, and how the canon laws were backed by decrees and written documents, it just makes sense to me, that SOMEwhere, someone would have found a
"loophole" in their bible, to justify burning people at the stake.
I'm trying to find THAT document.

 

[Biblereader]

There have actually been several different inquisitions. The first was established in 1184 in southern France as a response to the Catharist heresy. This was known as the Medieval Inquisition, and it was phased out as Catharism disappeared.

Quite separate was the Roman Inquisition, begun in 1542. It was the least active and most benign of the three variations.

Separate again was the infamous Spanish Inquisition, started in 1478, a state institution used to identify conversosâ€â€J

I'm just now learning about the French inquistion, and the Roman and Spanish versions.
The Roman inquisitions, coming from Rome, but begun centuries after the fall of Rome, based some of their reasonings for the methods of inquisition, on the Roman law, right?
Which religion practiced the Roman Inquisitions, in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries?
Do you know?

{Thanks for the link! :D }

 

[Biblereader]

Don't you agree that history has been sadly neglected, in the public schools, and regularly distorted, in the universities?
Based on the individual preferences and beliefs of the professor?

History tells us so much about where ideas came from, and about why people behave in a particular way in a situation.

Don't you agree?

 

[Scott1]

Don't you agree that history has been sadly neglected, in the public schools, and regularly distorted, in the universities?
Based on the individual preferences and beliefs of the professor?

History tells us so much about where ideas came from, and about why people behave in a particular way in a situation.

Don't you agree?

I believe it is up to the individual to seek out as many sources as possible to come to a reasonable conclusion about a certain topic.... learning does not have to end with the last class bell.

 

[Biblereader]

I believe it is up to the individual to seek out as many sources as possible to come to a reasonable conclusion about a certain topic.... learning does not have to end with the last class bell.

Yup.

But, why aren't teachers teaching basic history much anymore. Rhetorical.

 

[disruptor]

scott1: it was a sinful disgrace.... both Catholic and Protestant "Christians" killed without love or mercy... kinda like our Muslim friends today.... they're just a thousand years behind us in realizing you can't kill people into believing.

That's assuming the Inquisition happened as people usually imagine.

The so-called "horrors" of the Inquisition are merely anti-Catholic propaganda, just as the "horrors" of the witch-hunts are anti-Protestant propaganda. The idea that millions of innocent heretics or witches were unjustly killed by evil Christians is a fiction invented and pushed by various anti-Christian forces (mainly feminists, Communists, Satanists and Judeo-Zionists) throughout the 20th century.

Anyone interested in the Spanish Inquisition might consider reading William T. Walsh, Isabella of Spain, N.Y. London 1930, especially Chapter XIX on the Reform of the Inquisition by Torquemada.

Walsh's book makes it quite clear that the Inquisition rescued Spain from the conversos (who masqueraded as Christians while acting for and reporting to the Sanhedrin, and who acted against Rome and Christendom by allying themselves with Spanish and North African Muslims).

Basically, if Isabella and the Inquisition had not acted, Spain (as well as Portugal and Latin America) would have ended up as non-Christian countries ruled by the Pharisaic Sanhedrin - and with majority Muslim populations into the bargain. Christianity as we know it would not exist.

As Walsh says (p.361):

"With public opinion now strongly on its side [after the assassination of Saint Peter Arbues by the conversos], the Holy Office proceeded with vigour to prosecute the powerful New Christians who had been openly insulting and ridiculing the Christian religion. In a series of inexorable trials, during which every effort at bribery and corruption failed, Torquemada little by little shattered the power of the great Jewish plutocracy of Aragon, and turned the proceeds of the numerous confiscations into the war chest of the Moorish Crusade. In this he had the whole-hearted support of King Fernando and Queen Isabel."

Rather than criticizing the Inquisition, we should be thanking it for having saved Christendom from both Pharisaic and Islamic subversion.

Mat 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

 

[Catholic Crusader]

The so-called "horrors" of the Inquisition are merely anti-Catholic propaganda, just as the "horrors" of the witch-hunts are anti-Protestant propaganda.

Well, it is true that there is lots of anti-Catholic propoganda mixed in with much of history we learn in this country. After all, this country was founded by protestants not very long after the Reformation: Anti-Catholic bigotry is part of America's fiber. But we do have to be honest and admit that bad things did happen. Of course, they are bad by our 21st century standards, just as slavery is, but slavery was legal in the US and that does not make Jefferson a bad man, and the Inquisitions happened during a time when thats just the way people were, regardless of their religion. But is was not very Christian behavior

 

[Veritas]

But we do have to be honest and admit that bad things did happen. Of course, they are bad by our 21st century standards, just as slavery is, but slavery was legal in the US and that does not make Jefferson a bad man, and the Inquisitions happened during a time when thats just the way people were, regardless of their religion. But is was not very Christian behavior

It should also be noted that there have been more deaths from atrocities in the 20th century than all the rest combined. I would say this is mostly due to the humanism movements. Our "supermen" and ego driven leaders certainly make poor gods.

 

[Biblereader]

My question remains, tho, and, that is, what document did the Inquisitors use, to foment
the inquisitions.

BTW, Torquemada was a sadistic killer, who enjoyed his profession.

 

[Scott1]

My question remains, tho, and, that is, what document did the Inquisitors use, to foment the inquisitions.

I dunno.... have a read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

http://www.catholic.com/library/Inquisition.asp

I did see a documentary about it....

 

[RadicalReformer]

The so-called "horrors" of the Inquisition are merely anti-Catholic propaganda, just as the "horrors" of the witch-hunts are anti-Protestant propaganda.

Well, it is true that there is lots of anti-Catholic propoganda mixed in with much of history we learn in this country. After all, this country was founded by protestants not very long after the Reformation: Anti-Catholic bigotry is part of America's fiber. But we do have to be honest and admit that bad things did happen. Of course, they are bad by our 21st century standards, just as slavery is, but slavery was legal in the US and that does not make Jefferson a bad man, and the Inquisitions happened during a time when thats just the way people were, regardless of their religion. But is was not very Christian behavior

Huh?

Why then for the first three hundred years was the Christian church pacifistic? Why then during the 16th century did a group of believers understand the importance of living a peaceful lifestyle?

One cannot excuse away behavior "because that just the way people were".

 

[Catholic Crusader]

My question remains, tho, and, that is, what document did the Inquisitors use, to foment
the inquisitions.

BTW, Torquemada was a sadistic killer, who enjoyed his profession.

I dont understand. Document?

 

[revd]

[quote="RadicalReformer[/quote]]

Huh?

Why then for the first three hundred years was the Christian church pacifistic? Why then during the 16th century did a group of believers understand the importance of living a peaceful lifestyle?

One cannot excuse away behavior "because that just the way people were".

This is a sweeping broad statement with no support followed by a snippet about a little group allegedly living peaceful lifestyles. Disregarding the unsupported generalization about the first three hundred years of Christianity, is this little group of believers in the 16th century the only ones that have gotten it right? I don't think so.

 

[Catholic Crusader]

Why then for the first three hundred years was the Christian church pacifistic? Why then during the 16th century did a group of believers understand the importance of living a peaceful lifestyle

Pacifism did not appear in the 16th century. Catholic monastcism sweeps over the centuries, beginning with St Benedict. And have you ever heard of the peacemakers like St Francis of Assisi, and many others like him? Ever heard of St Therese, or St Bernadette?

For that matter, what documantation do you have to support that every early Christian was a pacifist? This is just more "made up" history, worthy of a Chick Tract perhaps, but no more.

 

[disruptor]

Catholic Crusader: For that matter, what documantation do you have to support that every early Christian was a pacifist?

Agreed. Jesus Himself was not exactly a pacifist:

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

biblereader: Torquemada was a sadistic killer, who enjoyed his profession

Rather quick to leap to conclusions and pronounce judgment on the savior of Spanish Christianity, aren't you?

Jhn 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Walsh p.347:

"A similar reasoning.... could brand as bloodthirsty scoundrels and hypocrites all the judges who have pronounced sentence of death during our age. Thus our historians have dealt with Torquemada. But when one follows the legend back to the fifteenth century, it gradually dissolves, leaving a picture of a pleasant, kindly, industrious, able and modest man whose chief ambition in life was to imitate Jesus Christ."

Walsh p.350-1:

"The selection of Torquemada, as Lea admits, "justified the wisdom of the sovereigns." He commenced with calm energy to reform and reorganize the Holy Office. He discharged Inquisitors who were unjust or temperamentally unfit, and named others in whom he had confidence. In general he made the procedure of the tribunal more lenient, and he seems to have striven in every way possible to avoid the mistakes and abuses of the earlier French Inquisitors. He forbade the Inquisitors and other persons attached to the Holy Office to receive presents, under pain of excommunication, dismissal, restitution and a fine of double the gift -- and he was a man to enforce his regulations. He insisted upon clean and well-ventilated prisons which were far better than those maintained by the civil authorities all over Europe. Every effort was made to safeguard the legal rights of the accused person; he was allowed counsel, and he could name his enemies, whose testimony, if they were among the witnesses, was then discarded. Torture was used, but sparingly, and only when other means failed to elicit a confession from one against whom there was strong evidence. Secret absolution was allowed where the crime had been secret"

Sounds like a prisoner would stand a better chance under Torquemada than in the "torture-perversion-and-pornography" concentration camps at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, for example. Among other things, Torquemada prevented any sexual abuse of prisoners - and his prisoners were actually put on trial, unlike the supposed "terrorists" held for years without trial by the US and UK.

 

[Biblereader]

Let's be fair, and present the truth here:
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/noto ... index.html

http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~gbrandal/Illu ... emada.html


Here's a good website:

http://www.gotquestions.org/inquisitions.html

It's pretty obvious, even in the sugar coated torquemada versions, that he had problems, mental problems, and, that he hated Jews, and enjoyed torturing his victims.
Torquemada was a sadistic killer.

 

[Catholic Crusader]

Here's a good website:

http://www.gotquestions.org/inquisitions.html

I went there. If you think that is good, I'd hate to see what you consider to be a "bad" Website.