Christians burn Witches

One thing I don't quite understand:

If Christians worship the "God of Love," why did they burn Witches alive, at the stake, as a public spectacle, for hundreds of years in the Middle Ages in Europe?   How is burning a helpless old woman alive and watching her scream in agony a manifestation of spiritual love and the grace of God?

A common "defense" of this practice is that the people had imperfect understanding of the truth and if they were really aware of the Love of God, they would never participate in this practice.  My "rebuttal" to this argument is that the burning of Witches was orchestrated by the Priests who are the very people who are most familiar with the teachings of Jesus and are responsible for the transmission of the word of God to the common people.  It is the Priests, who are reputed to know the mind and heart of Jesus the best and have taken a vow of celibacy to confirm this special bond, who organized the burning.  If the very men who are reputed to be responsible for the oral transmission of the truth of Christianity are the ones directly responsible for the burning of witches and this practice continued for hundreds of years, then this fact alone condemns the Christian Church itself as hypocritical, deceitful and dishonest.  May God save us all.


copyright (c) 2018
William Schaeffer