I woke up feeling great on the 19th, and it ended up being one of my favorite days. We had focused on the Roman history of France the day before and today we focused on the persecution of the Huguenots (the Huguenots were French Protestants). The first thing we did was go to the Musee du Desert (museum of the desert, alluding to the Israelites in the desert in Exodus). The first room we walked into had a giant picture of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. (We had not officially gone into the museum yet so I was unaware of the no picture rule they had (there were no signs up either), so I have a picture of the Luther painting but nothing else at this site.)Then I looked around and saw pictures and artifacts of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and the other reformers. Needless to say I was pretty pumped! The museum was the house of a 17th century Huguenot. We went through the different rooms and saw the many instruments that they used in their secret worship services. One room, the ‘Bible room’, was particularly amazing. It was full of old French Bibles and showed the commitment to Scripture that these believers had. This museum really made me realize how easy we have it and unfortunately, how lightly we can tend to take Scripture. These believers could have easily budged on a few pieces of doctrine and been free from persecution, but instead they stayed faithful and suffered for it. After discussing the museum and it’s implications for our lives we went to lunch.
While at the museum we were told about the different forms of persecution. Children were just sent to Catholic school, men were sent to row ships until they recanted, and women were sent to the Tower of Constance (Tour de Constance). The next place we went to was a medieval city that was walled in. Inside the walls was the Tour de Constance. As we walked through the tower we were told multiple stories of martyred women and the lengths some women went to to help their fellow prisoners. It was gross to see the inside of this concrete tower and hear that 40+ women were stuffed into a little room. The conditions were terrible and at times they would do things like shave the women’s heads for humiliation. After walking through the tower we went through the city and I stumbled across another room dedicated to the reformers (bottom picture). After walking around the city a little more we drove to Marseilles and ate a typical French meal and went to the hotel. A day filled with history, theology, and persecution. It left me with much to think about and be thankful for.
I woke up feeling great on the 19th, and it ended up being one of my favorite days. We had focused on the Roman history of France the day before and today we focused on the persecution of the Huguenots (the Huguenots were French Protestants). The first thing we did was go to the Musee du Desert (museum of the desert, alluding to the Israelites in the desert in Exodus). The first room we walked into had a giant picture of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. (We had not officially gone into the museum yet so I was unaware of the no picture rule they had (there were no signs up either), so I have a picture of the Luther painting but nothing else at this site.)Then I looked around and saw pictures and artifacts of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and the other reformers. Needless to say I was pretty pumped! The museum was the house of a 17th century Huguenot. We went through the different rooms and saw the many instruments that they used in their secret worship services. One room, the ‘Bible room’, was particularly amazing. It was full of old French Bibles and showed the commitment to Scripture that these believers had. This museum really made me realize how easy we have it and unfortunately, how lightly we can tend to take Scripture. These believers could have easily budged on a few pieces of doctrine and been free from persecution, but instead they stayed faithful and suffered for it. After discussing the museum and it’s implications for our lives we went to lunch.
While at the museum we were told about the different forms of persecution. Children were just sent to Catholic school, men were sent to row ships until they recanted, and women were sent to the Tower of Constance (Tour de Constance). The next place we went to was a medieval city that was walled in. Inside the walls was the Tour de Constance. As we walked through the tower we were told multiple stories of martyred women and the lengths some women went to to help their fellow prisoners. It was gross to see the inside of this concrete tower and hear that 40+ women were stuffed into a little room. The conditions were terrible and at times they would do things like shave the women’s heads for humiliation. After walking through the tower we went through the city and I stumbled across another room dedicated to the reformers (bottom picture). After walking around the city a little more we drove to Marseilles and ate a typical French meal and went to the hotel. A day filled with history, theology, and persecution. It left me with much to think about and be thankful for.
I've been out of town for 3 days attending Devon's graduation.
ReplyDeleteNice pictures! And very interesting historical perpestive.
Looking forward to the rest.