Calvin in the Hands of the Philistines: Did he really play Bowls on the Lord's Day?

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NaphtaliPress

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Concerning the tired and unproven assertion of Calvin bowling on the Lord's Day, see this:

http://www.naphtali.com/pdf/calvinbw.pdf
:up:

Also available here in blog article form. If Calvin did indeed bowl on the Lord's day, it doesn't inform us as to what he believed, it simply means he was a hypocrite because what he believed on such matters is clear from his sermons on Deuteronomy.:2cents:

-----Added 12/3/2008 at 06:22:15 EST-----

Since this comes up fairly regularly I have pasted this from this other thread where it has come up most recently. There is a tale that Calvin played a game, a sports, pastime if you will on the Lord's day. It is a old story. The above traces it through much of the anti Sabbatarian literature back to the time of the Westminster Assembly (interestingly enough). It makes for interesting reading I think even if the author is indeed long winded (and he is).
 
After briefly rehearsing Calvin’s view of sports and pastimes on the Lord’s day, this article will survey the relevant literature. The reasons for focusing mainly on English literature are practical ones. The author is not familiar enough with French or Latin to facilitate an easy compassing of that literature. While this may appear to be a significant oversight, as the main source for the bowling anecdote traces it to a local tradition in Geneva, this very fact also raises a strong probability that no evidence exists to be found that would substantiate the tale.

Whether the story is true or not, I could think of a couple terms less complementary than long winded. That last sentence I would term "inchoate".
 
I can think of things much worse than bowling. If that was Calvin's major hang-up, he is a 100x better man than I.
 
After briefly rehearsing Calvin’s view of sports and pastimes on the Lord’s day, this article will survey the relevant literature. The reasons for focusing mainly on English literature are practical ones. The author is not familiar enough with French or Latin to facilitate an easy compassing of that literature. While this may appear to be a significant oversight, as the main source for the bowling anecdote traces it to a local tradition in Geneva, this very fact also raises a strong probability that no evidence exists to be found that would substantiate the tale.
Whether the story is true or not, I could think of a couple terms less complementary than long winded. That last sentence I would term "inchoate".
Never used the word; maybe that's the problem.
 
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