Comment by Dan Trabue on August 23, 2012 at 9:24 pm
How is the author defining “heretic…”? Merely someone who disagrees with some point of “my” religion?
Comment by Donnie on August 23, 2012 at 11:31 pm
I can’t speak for the author, but to me a heretic is somebody who denies the virgin birth, bodily resurrection of Christ, and believes in universalism (or, more extreme doesn’t believe in Heaven or Hell at all). Of course there are other issues as well, but those are the major ones off the top of my head.
Comment by Dan Trabue on August 24, 2012 at 6:22 am
Thanks, Donnie. So, traditional orthodox Christian essentials, is that where you draw the line, roughly? Salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, humanity’s need for salvation, repentance, God and Jesus, the risen son of God, like that?
I wonder where you get, biblically, that one must affirm a virgin birth as a Christian essential? Is there any where in the bible that affirms that as an essential teaching of Christ, one that a believer must affirm in order not to be a heretic?
Do you see why I’m asking?
It sounds like for some people (perhaps the author included), the list of “heresy” goes way beyond a few Christian essentials and moves over into general ideas/ideals that have little biblical or rational backing as to what is “heresy…” For some, it sounds like heresy = mere disagreement on various behaviors/opinions/tenets regardless of their biblical or rational connection to “essentials.” For some, it sounds like everyone would be a heretic to someone else by some measure or the other and, if everyone is a heretic, then the term really has little meaning, because “heretic” becomes synonymous with “human.”
What “few other issues” are you suggesting and on what basis?
Comment by Dan Trabue on August 23, 2012 at 9:24 pm
How is the author defining “heretic…”? Merely someone who disagrees with some point of “my” religion?
Comment by Donnie on August 23, 2012 at 11:31 pm
I can’t speak for the author, but to me a heretic is somebody who denies the virgin birth, bodily resurrection of Christ, and believes in universalism (or, more extreme doesn’t believe in Heaven or Hell at all). Of course there are other issues as well, but those are the major ones off the top of my head.
Comment by Dan Trabue on August 24, 2012 at 6:22 am
Thanks, Donnie. So, traditional orthodox Christian essentials, is that where you draw the line, roughly? Salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, humanity’s need for salvation, repentance, God and Jesus, the risen son of God, like that?
I wonder where you get, biblically, that one must affirm a virgin birth as a Christian essential? Is there any where in the bible that affirms that as an essential teaching of Christ, one that a believer must affirm in order not to be a heretic?
Do you see why I’m asking?
It sounds like for some people (perhaps the author included), the list of “heresy” goes way beyond a few Christian essentials and moves over into general ideas/ideals that have little biblical or rational backing as to what is “heresy…” For some, it sounds like heresy = mere disagreement on various behaviors/opinions/tenets regardless of their biblical or rational connection to “essentials.” For some, it sounds like everyone would be a heretic to someone else by some measure or the other and, if everyone is a heretic, then the term really has little meaning, because “heretic” becomes synonymous with “human.”
What “few other issues” are you suggesting and on what basis?
Thanks for the thoughts.