Are priests during the time of the Spanish Inquisistion who believed they?

Question

were doing Gods work evil men? If they really believed they were doing the work of God. Regardless of their techniques. Be damned to hell? The thing they were trying to save the sinners from. Were any of them found guilty of murder?

Answer 1

Unless some hacked-off villagers took care of them, they pretty much got away with it.

What's worse is that these clowns were usually genuinely devout who thought they were doing a good thing. According to the Bible, they're in heaven right now while their vistims continue to suffer in a bad place.

Nice justice, Biblegod. *eyeroll*

Answer 2

Evil? Some perhaps. But I think most were just sucked into a fanatical idea the same way German troops were taken under Hitler's wing. Were they wrong? Yes. Stupid? Probably.

Herein lies the danger of following something - ANYthing! - blindly. It says somewhere in the bible that the teachers and leaders will be punished most severely because they led so many others astray. But the followers will also suffer the consequences of following a leader that goes against what they know in their hearts to be right.

Even if the priests were crazy enough to truly believe they were doing the right thing, it would make them like the servant who buried his talents instead of investing them. Not exactly the same thing, but the same ignorance in their way of thinking. No common sense.

Answer 3

To say Mass and give the last rites to the dying, in case they had to engage in battle. They were warriors during the Middle Ages, on account of the Muslim occupation of Spain, which lasted centuries. Having a priest along in wars was a common practice. Today you still have army chaplains.

Answer 4

In 1483, three years after the reemergence of the Inquisition in Spain, Tomás de Torquemada, a Dominican friar and ironically of Jewish descent himself, was appointed inquisitor-general. His cruelty toward suspected heretics was unsurpassed. He was praised by Pope Sixtus IV for “directing [his] zeal to those matters that contribute to the praise of God.”

Later, however, Pope Alexander VI, alarmed by Torquemada’s excesses, tried to dilute his power by appointing two other inquisitors-general. It was to little avail. Torquemada continued exercising overall authority, and during his term of office, he burned at least 2,000 people at the stake—“an awful holocaust to the principle of intolerance,” according to The Encyclopædia Britannica. Thousands fled abroad, while countless others suffered imprisonment and torture and had their property confiscated. Apparently, Torquemada was convinced that his work was done in the service of Christ. Indeed, church doctrine justified his actions.

However, the Bible warns that religious zeal can be misguided. In the first century, Paul described Jews who persecuted Christians as persons who had “a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge.” (Romans 10:2) Jesus predicted that misguided zeal would even cause such ones to kill innocent people, imagining that they were ‘rendering a sacred service to God.’—John 16:2.

Torquemada’s policies well illustrate the tragic consequences of a zeal hardened by bigotry instead of tempered by love and accurate knowledge. His was not the Christian way to achieve the unity of the faith.

The Catholic Church has a lot to answer for.

Answer 5

You know, I have to think that there were many who may have "started out" good...with the best of intentions...but, dear God...I think history rightly paints the portrait of Torquemada as a sick SOB.

I don't think Torquemada and the lads got sent to hell (that's not in Catholic dogma)...but - I'll bet that their stay in Purgatory is a nice long one!!

Answer 6

Their actions were evil. Notwithstanding the fact that they thought they were doing god's work, they should have been able to figure out that they were not. Ignorance is no excuse.

Answer 7

Those men were terribly misguided.

I don't know how they were judged by God.... only God knows that.... but there is no place in the Bible that tells its followers to kill non-believers. God wants to bring people to Him, and He gives us chance after chance after chance.

Answer 8

Yes they were evil, and so was the pope who ordered it.
I have read in history where the popes had appx 50 million Christians put to death.

Answer 9

Joh 16:2 Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

Answer 10

I hope so.

This all occured during the time that Jesus prophesied would occur, as well as Paul in the book of Timothy, I believe it's 1 Timothy 4:1-4 - the falling away of true Christianity.

Scott M is extremely incorrect and needs to research what a book, such as the Bible says, before saying he knows what it says. According to the Bible, all who left true Christianity during this great apostacy would suffer for their sins by God's displeasure, no matter how much they claimed to serve him.

Matthew 7:15, 16, 21-23 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? . . . . Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"