Skip to main content

Let's Talk Heresy: Historical Friday

Heresy is a word we don't like to hear in the present age. It brings up some unpleasant memories of what people in centuries past have done in the name of Christ. The word heresy invokes visions of the Spanish Inquisition, where so called Christians had others hunted down and tortured. It makes us think of the Crusades, where those bearing the name of Christ went to war over economics, power, and land all in the name of religion.

In this day and age heresy is a bad word. We associate it with the suppression of thoughts and ideas. Our culture today prizes individual opinion above all else, so it naturally dislikes any notion of there being someone who is wrong. This attitude has made it into churches. We don't really like talking about the different opinions we have concerning various theological concepts or passages in the Bible.

The problem with the word heresy is just that; it is simply a word. We have attached quite a bit of stigma to it that it may or may not deserve. This causes us to avoid using it, even when it is the most appropriate word for the job.

Why Talk About Heresy?

Heresy is defined as a "belief or opinion that is contrary to orthodox religious doctrine." Part of the reason we don't like using the word heresy anymore is that we don't like talking about "orthodox religious doctrine." We don't like standing up and saying a certain view is right or wrong. We prefer to let people believe what they want as long as they don't do anything really bad that shines a bad light on the rest of us.

Now doctrine is another word we need to define. Too often the word doctrine is thrown around for issues like instrumental music, women's roles, and church governance. While these are important things to talk about, they are NOT doctrine. Doctrine is the core beliefs that we hold, the very essence of our faith. 

I'll give you an example. Who is Jesus? THAT is a doctrinal question, and it is precisely that kind of question we have avoided.

So why talk about heresy? There are many types of heresy out there, many of which are in our churches. This is important. We like to think that what we believe about certain doctrinal issues doesn't really matter. I would contest that it does. It affects the way we view God, ourselves, and others. It can change the way we live.

That is why the next few Historical Fridays will be dedicated to looking at a few ancient heresies. What you may be surprised to find is that they are still very much alive today. My goal is to get you thinking about your own faith. I want you to consider what it is you believe and whether or not that belief is manifesting itself through your life.

Conclusion

I pray that the next few weeks are educational as well as beneficial. I think that learning about the issues the early Christians had to deal with helps us see the issues we have to deal with. Today's blog was meant to establish what I mean by the terms doctrine and heresy. 

I continually go back to this question; who is Jesus? I asked it here and I asked it at the very start of this blog. This is the question we must be able to answer. What I fear is that we as Christians cannot give a unified answer.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...

What is Theology?

Greetings all! For the first true post I have decided to cover what will be one of the defining aspects of this blog; theology. I know that when I was growing up theology wasn't a word that was used in the churches I attended. In fact I don't recall ever hearing the word until I was in high school, and even then it was used negatively like theology was a bad thing. Theology is inseparable from Bible study, Christian living, and being a disciple of Jesus in general. It is an indispensable part of being a Christian. The thing is we haven't always treated it that way. We have allowed our theology to fall by the wayside, believing it to be useless or not appropriate. So what is theology exactly, and why is it so important? What is Theology? The word theology simply means "the study of God." The goal of theology is to reveal who God is, and when we know God we also come to know ourselves, sin, the world, and so on. What we've done in the past (and this may ju...

The Name of God

In the book of Exodus we are introduced to many important elements that appear throughout the rest of the Bible. This is where we meet Moses, the first prophet sent to the nation of Israel. It is in Exodus that we first learn of the tabernacle and God's intention of living among his people. It is in Exodus that we witness the first Passover, which is the type of what is to come in Jesus. There are several other events that we could look to in Exodus, but there is one in particular that is very important that we have largely ignored; God revealing his name. We typically only refer to God by his titles. We call him Lord, Father, Judge, King, and God (yes, God is technically a title). I would like to emphasize now that there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. In fact I would say that it is right for us recognize the power and authority of God in what we call him. What today's post is about is the fact that we have forgotten or even ignored the fact that God reveals his n...