ServantofChrist #fundie

ServantofChrist #fundie unenumerated.blogspot.com

[[Hey Servantofchrist, I hereby officially (and anonymously) accuse you of the act of heresy and treason of the high church. At noon you will be judged by fire. If you are innocent, you will not suffer the flames o' righteousness. If you are indeed guilty and an agent of the devil, you will perish 'neath the flames of holy fire. Sound familiar dumbass?]]-Annonymous

Sounds fair. I am a faithful servant of God and of the church. If that actually happened I know God would spare me, because I am innocent.

What evidence do you have that trial by ordeal wouldn't work? There's not a single case where someone was judged innocent or guilty in a trial by ordeal and then the verdict was proven wrong. If there is please bring it up.

As for cortisol levels. Sounds like God is raising the cortisol levels to cause people not to heal as fast.

54 comments

old comment by David D.G.

"What evidence do you have that trial by ordeal wouldn't work? There's not a single case where someone was judged innocent or guilty in a trial by ordeal and then the verdict was proven wrong. If there is please bring it up."

Well, for an obvious start, ALL trials by ordeal to test people accused of witchcraft have since been "judged" as being tragically wrong, since witchcraft (in terms of spellcasting to bring about actual physical effects) is totally bogus. It is no more efficacious than prayer (in other words, worthless), and, in fact, though many people feared it going on all around them, it was almost never proved to be attempted in reality. It was just assumed to be happening.

Also, equally to the point, nobody ever confessed to being a witch without being forced into doing so; no evidence was ever produced that proved that the phenomenon of witchcraft was even real, let alone that the people accused of it were applying it themselves. In a couple of cases, up to a third of the population of a town wound up being accused of witchcraft as the torturers demanded the names of others from their victims (that's the real word here -- not witches, but victims). That left a lot of real estate up for grabs. You know who got it? The church and the professional witch hunters. Funny, that.

Do you REALLY think that women (and men) accused of being witches actually were casting spells that caused epidemics, blighted crops, caused livestock to go lame or have mutated offspring, and so on and so forth? You think this stuff is all real, that magical powers and spells exist and work?

If so, THAT is the problem. You choose to reside in the same dark fantasy world as those poor simpletons of a benighted age. However, they had no choice; they actually lived then. You, however, live in the 21st century -- so what is your excuse?

~David D.G.

old comment by antichrist

This test typically required that the accused walk a certain distance, usually nine feet, over red-hot ploughshares or holding a red-hot iron. Innocence was sometimes established by a complete lack of injury, but it was more common for the wound to be bandaged and reexamined three days later by a priest, who would pronounce that God had intervened to heal it, or that it was merely festering - in which case the suspect would be exiled or executed.

the ordeal of hot water requires the accused to dip his hand in a kettle of boiling water.

witches floated because they had renounced baptism when entering the Devil's service. Jacob Rickius claimed that they were supernaturally light, and recommended weighing them as an alternative to dunking them. King James I (and VI of Scotland) claimed in his Daemonologie that water was so pure an element that it repelled the guilty.

The ordeal of the cross was apparently introduced in the Early Middle Ages by the church in an attempt to discourage judicial duels among the Germanic peoples. As in the case of such duels, and unlike the case of most other ordeals, the accuser has to undergo the ordeal together with the accused. They stand on either side of a cross and stretch out their hands horizontally. The one to first lower his arms loses.

Franconian law prescribed that an accused was to be given dry bread and cheese blessed by a priest. If he choked on the food, he was considered guilty.

Sounds like fun to you does it?

old comment by Brain_In_A_Jar

Sounds fair. I am a faithful servant of God and of the church. If that actually happened I know God would spare me, because I am innocent.

Somehow, I think you'd be rather more reticent about agreeing to such a thing were it actually likely to be done to you - if we had you bound to a stake, doused in oil and the flames were just beginning to lick your toes, I sincerely doubt you'd be quite so blasé. Evolution has hardwired the survival instinct deeper into our brains than just about anything else; it would cut through any amount of self-delusion before the end as long as you weren't actually insane.

Even as it is, though, sitting safely in front of your computer in a place where such an ordeal is illegal and would be prevented, miles and miles of cable and radio links away from us, you're a fool to make such rash statements.

old comment by David D.G.

This just in: a timely observation at Memoirs of a Skepchick: "On this day [2/28] in 1692, arrest warrants were issues for three women accused of being witches. Starting with these, more than 150 people were arrested and put to trial for the felony offense of witchcraft, often citing “spectral evidence.” Yes, really. Twenty-nine were convicted and at least twenty were put to death. Although it took until 1957, all were eventually exonerated. Yes, 1957."

Considering the nature of witch hunts, I'm shocked that so many of the accused were found not guilty. And what was the basis of all this tragic hysteria? A few little girls' bid for attention, telling little lies to their parents.

It's tempting to feel smug about our modern world knowing better, but instances such as the one in Saudi Arabia show that much of the world is still in the Dark Ages (some, such as ServantofChrist here, quite willfully so).

Actually, I, too, am starting to think that ServantofChrist is most likely a poe. But as long as we're on the subject, I thought it wouldn't hurt to pass the "old news" item along.

~David D.G.

ServantofChrist #fundie unenumerated.blogspot.com

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