Springing a bit from the previous post and from continued reading in church history, moments ago, I was overwhelmed with a sense of the coming judgment. Specifically, the judgment by Jesus of his Body. The train of thought clacked along thusly (and given my reading of theses and articles from the Reformation period, why not format them so?):
1. "Heresy" was brutally rooted out by both Catholics and Protestants.
2. When the "heretics" were being martyred, they often underwent torture that makes Gitmo and Abu Ghraib look very, very tame. When the "Fourteen of Meaux" were being tried/tortured, six of them consented to confessing to a priest to avoid having their tongues cut out, but they were all burned anyway.
3. Sebastian Castellio astutely noted that "to burn a heretic is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man."
4. This kind of torture over doctrine, while understandable if you believe that heresy is a cancer that must be cut off to save the larger body of the church/society, completely misses the point of Jesus's humble service to one another, even to death (of self). Besides, the spectacle of cutting off the cancer often caused the cancer to spread, as was the case in the early church.
5. From my emotional point of view, I think God's judgment will be more lenient on those who were tormented because of their beliefs about him, even if they weren't totally orthodox.
6. I think God's judgment would be particularly harsh on those who tortured and killed over doctrine, including people like John Calvin.
7. I also think Calvin will be accorded mercy because his heart seems to have had a fairly pure motive.
8. Following from this (il)logic, I'm not sure doctrine is such a big concern in the big picture. Service and emptying of self is a gigantic concern. Don't get me wrong: Doctrine is important, in that we must ensure we are taking part in God's story in a faithful way.
9. This leads me down an uncomfortable path, because right now I'm feeling that it will be "stupid" people who absolutely emptied themselves in this age that will be shown most faithful in the age to come. I've tended to try to be "right" while serving a moderate amount. While comparison with other saints is invalidated, I personally want to serve Jesus in the most robust way possible. I've been wrong. I don't want to forget this feeling of absolute desire to pour out my life in service to others.
10. At the end of the day (or the age as the case may be), the ideas the church is maximizing on will be shown futile in the overflow of God's inordinate grace and mercy. However, if the church fixated on service such as adopting every baby that was about to be aborted, no questions asked; radical action to stop the killing in Iraq and Afghanistan (first, then Darfur, Burma, North Korea, and so on); giving up control of things that should be left in the hands of God; loving homosexuals rather than furrowing our brows at them; etc., God would be delighted that his people were showing his grace and mercy. At that point he could condemn whom he chose, and as I posted a couple of weeks ago, I fear that quantity may be less than I always thought. Also, the surprise will come when it's mostly ecclesiastical (Evangelical, whatever) leaders who will be condemned first if anyone is.
11. Is it possible that judgment will be based on service, not doctrine?
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Doctrine - you question the importance of doctrine!!?? How dare you - you should be burned at the stake!!! Don't you know that Jesus was a fundamentalist, pre-trib, calvinist with short hair, no beard who made not wine on the wedding day but simple grape juice!!!
The only 'doctrine' I would be willing to die for (where in the teach of Christ does the idea of killing heretics found?} Is that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. Who came to the earth as a man, was crucified on the cross, and rose again on the third day. All for the forgiveness of sin.
The rest has relevance a bearing to varying degrees but is not worth losing a life over.
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