Protestant Martyrdom a Reaction to Council of Trent

I don't think it's a myth. If I had to choose a faith between the Inquisitors or those being Inquired, I'd choose the Anabaptists. Just like Sir Thomas Moore and Joan of Arc were true martyrs, so was John Bunyan and many of the Anabaptists put to death.

Reading it, you start to understand the faith a bit more. It's not Dogmas and Heresies that damn you, but rather your actions toward your fellow man. Many of the Inquisitors had perfect Theology, but they put men to death who were living the Gospel better than anyone had since the days of the Apostles.

Many were put to death too. It wasn't only the Government putting people to death. Catholics in Germany and Spain used to mob Protestants, and Catholics in England used to be put out onto the street, and killed and martyred.

I stand on the side of the Christian who's on the receiving end of abuse. Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox, what have you.

[T]hey did persecute people for making translations. Let's not throw away our history for politics. The exact quote was they didn't want Bibles translated into "Vulgar tongues."

“Christ gave His Gospel to the clergy and the learned doctors of the Church so that they might give it to the laity and to weaker persons, according to the message of the season and personal need. But this Master John Wyclif translated the Gospel from Latin into the English—the Angle not the angel language. And Wyclif, by thus translating the Bible, made it the property of the masses and common to all and more open to the laity, and even to women who were able to read … And so the pearl of the Gospel is thrown before swine and trodden underfoot and what is meant to be the treasure both of clergy and laity is now become a joke of both. The jewel of the clergy has been turned into the sport of the laity, so that what used to be the highest gift of the clergy and the learned members of the Church has become common to the laity.” -- Henry Knighton

“That pestilent and most wretched John Wycliffe, of damnable memory, a child of the old devil, and himself a child or pupil of Antichrist, who, while he lived, walking in the vanity of his mind—with a few other adjectives, adverbs, and verbs, which I shall not give—crowned his wickedness by translating the Scriptures into the mother tongue.” -- Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Arundel.

Fox's book of martyrs says that reading the Bible to the Papacists was akin to Witchcraft and Heresy.

"The principal accusation against those who are subject to this tribunal is heresy, which comprises all that is spoken, or written, against any of the articles of the creed, or the traditions of the Roman Church. The inquisition likewise takes cognizance of such as are accused of being magicians, and of such who read the Bible in the common language, the Talmud of the Jews, or the Alcoran of the Mahometans." - Fox's Book of Martyrs Chapter 5 par. 8.

The Rule of Witness

I shall refute Buddhism, Cartesian Logic and Postmodernism.

A thing is only real, if two or more people perceive it.
A thing is not real, if only one person perceives it for themselves.
As a man with schizoaffective disorder--it cripples me--
It's insane to think that we have no ability to understand our outside world.

People confuse issues by making terms like "Gender" and saying people switch genders...
Simply put, Gender is Sex. And intersex people have one of two genders.
Why? For sociological reasons and to foster healthy reproduction and also happiness.
We witness through science the biology of the Intersex person, and give them a gender based
On science, and not Phenomenon. What we perceive and think is limited
And it is no wonder that people discover the same things over and over again
As if the thing is real, in either moral philosophy, science or religion,
It is discovered by multiple people, at multiple times throughout history.

Likewise, God deals with people three times we know if in history.
The first is the Flood, by which He destroyed the Earth.
The second is the Exodus, by which He freed the Jewish People.
The third is Christ's life, ministry and resurrection.
Through which, we have evidence still to this day these things happened.
The flood, there's an anomaly in the 24th century BC.
The Exodus, there is an entire army laid waste off the coast of Neiwebu Beach.
Christ's crucifixion, James His own Brother died believing He raised---through enthymeme we know this
As enthymeme, deriving true conclusions from missing premises,
Is a higher form of logic by which Calculus works.
And the Bible is written down by witnesses who saw these events,
And copied them down, and retranslated them into modern languages
But remnants of the original still exist in our Holy Book Today.

Therefore as the Law says, "Through two or three witnesses, my Law shall be Established."

Jesus Of Nazareth

{...}His heritage was Jewish. He was pure blood Jewish, being born from both lines of the King David. He was a full blood Jew. But, you’re right, that did create confusion when He lived in Galilee.

“Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?”

“They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.”

“Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?”

"And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see."

It’s a good thing, because it shows the Gospels aren’t forgeries. Had they been, they would have hidden this, and made Jesus a resident of Bethlehem. However, there’s good reason to believe Mary is the one who accounted where Jesus was born, just based on how memory works, and what the Gospel of Luke says.

That’s probably also why Jesus had such a soft spot for Samaritans, as Galilee was their historical residence. Jesus is a nuanced Person, and seeing the Gospel of John, you see an incredible picture of Who Jesus was, and how He was perceived, it can only be from a witness.

But we know He was a full Jew, or He wouldn’t have been allowed in the temple, where we know He taught.

The Law as A Means of Finding God, not God as a Means of Finding Law

I’d honestly say the person who doesn’t believe in God knows the same morals as the one who does. God’s not there to define right from wrong—as if He were, then there’d be no such thing as right from wrong.

Inherently, a way is going to be the best way, that gives everyone a shot at life, gives everyone satisfaction, and gives everyone a pathway to a better life. What way is that? The Ten Commandments. The first five are spiritual laws, giving reverence to the Judge and our stewards, and also telling us to forgive debts and rest. The last five are telling us how to treat our neighbor, so as not to take from them or deprive from them things that make people happy.

And when you know that, you start to see the beauty of the Scripture, in all that it says. The Prophets are the Heaven and Hell you get from obeying or disobeying the Law of Christ, the New Testament is the New Law of Conscience, and the Means by which God has forgiven us. The Old Testament—the Torah and History—is man’s failure to accomplish salvation for the Earth, and also the Law that condemns the world for its iniquity.

Understanding that, you start to see God is very fair, giving you an out as the world was too hard for us to do it on our own. We needed God’s help from the beginning, so therefore, God gave us His only Begotten Son, and He died on a Roman Cross in Crucifixion, was Buried in the tomb, raised on the third day, and then ascended into heaven after bodily manifesting to thousands of people, of which those people who sometimes knew Him as intimately as a Brother or Best friend, died believing this.

So, yes… Genesis is hard to understand. Yes, we’re not going to have all the answers, but even Genesis has important laws that make sense. The first chapter, tells us all things had a beginning, and God was that beginning, and He created the world, through whatever means He did, LORD Jehovah-Jireh Jesus Christ is the God of All Creation. Adam and Eve are a parable about the age of accountability, and how we need to be tender toward the youth and their sins, and not punish them with the full weight of their sins. As they don’t become accountable for their crimes, until they have knowledge of it, and full knowledge of it. That’s also why we’re a little laxed toward people in the 14 - 23 year category, as they’re not fully developed yet, either, though they receive less scrutiny than someone who is a full grown adult. The flood teaches us that Man has a bad streak, and their thoughts are evil, and God was sorry for making us because humanity was just so wicked and cruel—and He says He’ll never destroy the Earth again, which you have to think maybe it’s man and his sin nature that will destroy it, and that’s actually the book of Revelation and what it’s about.

And that’s the whole of it… scripture has a lot of important things to say about life, and what’s required of us. Like Cain and Abel, Cain is a gardener, and tries to please God through his sweat, while Abel pleases God through the activity of Love and Shepherding His flock, and nurturing them. As Abel’s sacrifice is better, because it comes from genuine love, and not from will wishing, or self willed motives. And also we understand why Jesus says “Judge not lest you be judged,” because it’s the knowledge of Good and Evil—judgment—that man attained from eating the fruit, and why we inherited destruction. Or Sodom and Gomorrah, tells us about licentious cities where every crime exists, and their judgment. The Tower of Babel tells us about how people have different philosophies, languages and narratives, that makes them unable to understand each other, and also Pentacost teaches us, that being Christians, we can have access to all knowledge, language and truth and be able to bridge the gaps through truth. Abraham’s story is about faith, and teaching us that God does not demand Human Sacrifice, as He’ll provide a sacrifice, Jacob’s story teaches us that you don’t have to be remarkable to be loved by God, and can actually live a very passive life. Isaac too. Joseph teaches us about the victim, being badly treated for nothing he did wrong, and how women can have absolute power over a man in this way, to destroy him utterly, but God will raise him up above his enemies. It also teaches us to be wary of women who lie about rape.

There’s a ton of stuff in the story of Exodus, too… How God will deliver the oppressed and set them free, even when they don’t deserve it. As God says to Israel, “It’s not for your righteousness I give you these lands, but for the nations dwelling among it, and their sin.” Of which, you can read about their sins, that the nations practiced all lying abomination, and that’s why God delivered it into the hands of Israel. The parable of Babylon sacking Jerusalem, is about a nation favored by God, losing its favor, and being punished for its crimes as it no longer has equity, and dishonors its sabbaths by making everyone work to the bone and have no rest, as that’s the only way they have an economy. That and also rampant sexual perversion and they sin by giving their good freely to the surrounding nations, which they gave their property and money and trade to the other nations for nothing, and this made them poor and susceptiable to Babylonian Rule. Something the US is doing, too, which it shouldn’t be.
God {} only wants to love you, and be in relationship with you, and heal you. He wants you to feel good about yourself, and have love and trust for other people.

I think [most people are] confused on who the bad guy is.

Paradise Lost talks about all these things, how Satan’s rebellion was based solely around his free will, and that he could fall in the first place. But, the fact remains, that God, foreknowing the fall of man, set forth immediately to redeem us. And that’s through His Son Christ Jesus.

Maybe God knew He made the world a little too broken, and wanted to take it upon Himself?

Work on the Bible’s Historicity

I’ve looked it over, studying the entire Bible for 20 years, and looking at its historical context—it’s all sound. I actually even understand some of the contentions you’ll use—like you’re talking about “Tyre” with the geography bit—but I know if I dig deeply enough, the Bible’s always sound.

So, just to go through each of your points:

I know the background, and have written a lot about it. It comes from a man named Abraham, and a tribe called the Hebrews, who found God, and migrated out of Mesopotamia, into Egypt, and then into Canaan, and the linguistic tracings prove this in scripture.

The contradictions are not thematic, and that’s all that matters. God’s not a pedant.

There are no errors, the historical provenance of the Bible is actually very strong, and I’ve got an entire answer that proves that, with thousands of pieces of evidence corroborating scripture. Undeniable proof, too.

The legends come from the Patriarchs, and actually your Epic of Gilgamesh proves that, too, that it’s not actually Gilgamesh who tells the flood story but Unuptashem, which possibly shows that the author met one of the Ark Travelers at a tavern, and was inspired to write the epic. Not to mention, the scriptures show contact with Mesopotamia, as they should, in both law and theme, as Abraham was an Amorite, that’s well documented in the Bible.

The forgeries come from Mesopotamia, not the Bible. The Bible comes from the original manuscripts of the Patriarchs, the one coming from Abraham (El) and the other coming from Jacob in Egypt (Yahweh) and we have evidence to corroborate this fact.

I’ve studied the academic theories more than you have—trust me—and they’re so close to discovering the Bible’s true, it’s literally one discovery that’s already made, that has to break into the mainstream, and it’s all over for your High Criticism and Documentary hypothesis.

A Meditation on Objective Morality

If all humans disappeared, of course murder would be wrong. That's the sum of a story, is taking actions, and showing their consequences. Aesop and Grimm's are impossible, but the consequences are always true. That's generally why we read and write stories. Consider, a sausage cannot cook dinner, but if he goes out into the wild and dies, nobody can cook dinner for the household, and the other characters burn down the house. It's true, even for those pretend creations. The truth is we all have our work to do, either great or small, and not doing it leads to catastrophic failure. That's true, even if humans don't exist, because the consequences are still real.

I mean you can reduce it down to "Well the creations mimeses human behavior", yes, but that mimesis tells us something real, if it's done right. Morality is objective, it's just situational. It's based in consequences and healthy affect, and I think Christ shines so bright because His ethic proves objectively true if you are serious about studying it. You apply it holistically, it makes more sense than anything any of the other religions say.

I don't like this Christianity that just goes in circles and says, "Because God says so." Why does God say so? He has a reason.

On The Lineage of the Prophets

Okay, so actually, the tradition of the Bible dates back to Neolithic Times—as the Book of Job comes from that era.

There was a Patriarchal line, which kept record of the stories, such as the Garden of Eden or the Flood or Tower of Babel, which was inherited to Mesopotamia through Abraham and Shem. And Abraham codified the Law—which Moses would use in the Torah—which you can find in Hammurabi's code. And also the stories in Genesis where given through two codexes, one from Jacob’s line and the other from Abraham and Isaac’s. El from Mesopotamia and Yahweh from Egypt.

So, this Patriarchal line was preserved, and their traditions, through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and codified by Moses around 1300bc, where he merged the manuscripts, and took the Laws of Abraham and made them into the Books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, with a priesthood. And he was given the Ten Commandments directly from God. And the books of Moses were a Polemic against Sin.

Then, Christ came into the World, and abolished the Law and Testament of Moses—because it was not good—and gave us a pure law of Conscience, as God entered into the World in the Flesh of a Man, and died by crucifixion, and was buried, and raised on the third day, and ascended into heaven, where He is seated next to God, ready to come back and judge the living and the dead.