Heresy is a far broader definition than the one which I am about to apply. freethoughtmom asked this question in this discussion:
Who decides which teachings are considered a heresy?
Ultimately, Scripture itself dictates what is heresy and what is not. It is, in fact, extremely specific on what doctrines are most important, those that are fundamental to becoming a Christ-follower, a Christian:
- the fact that all men are born into sin
- that no man can attain Heaven by his own merits because no man can possibly live up to a holy and righteous God
- that God sent His only, perfect Son to pay the price for men’s sins by dying on the cross
- that the Son overcame death by rising from the dead on the third day
- that the Son ascended back into Heaven to prepare it for His people.
I believe that these basic doctrines are the only ones that are vulnerable to heretical teachings, per se, since they are the only ones that are essentially foundational for a person to acquire the salvation of their soul. All other teachings found in Scripture describe what a Christian – already a believer – must do to live a righteous life and what he must do to further the Kingdom of God. These teachings, as such, are not prone to heresy, at least not in this specific definition, though they can be counterbiblical, since they are covered under the doctrine of grace. In essence, if a believer fails to live 100% righteously (an inevitability), he does not lose his salvation or earn the wrath of God (except through repeated, unrepentent violations, and then only punishment that will bring the believer back into a right relationship with God) but can, instead, repent and receive forgiveness and continue on his walk.
In short, I think that the term ‘heresy’ can only be, and should only be, applied to teachings and beliefs that are counter to the basics of the Gospel, to those basic beliefs that are absolutely mandatory for an unbeliever to come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, beliefs which are very clearly spelled out in Scripture itself.
Tags: christianity, heresy, philosophy, religion, scripture, theology
Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For, were Jesus to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. Therefore, having become His disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity. For whosoever is called by any other name beside this, is not of God. Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the sour leaven, and be ye changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. -Ignatius of Antioch, one of the early church martyrs (ca. 117 C.E.), Letter to the Magnesians 10
When men are called by any other name they cease to be Christians for they have lost Christ’s name and have clothed themselves in human and foreign titles. -Justin Martyr (ca. 150), Dialogue with Trypho 35
Never at any time did Christian people take their name from their teachers among them, but from the Lord, on whom we rest our faith. Thus, though the blessed Apostles have become our teachers, and have ministered the Savior’s Gospel, yet not from them have we our name, but from Christ we are and are named Christians. -Athanasius of Alexandria (340 AD), Against the Arians 1:2
I dislike calling people onto the carpet, yet sometimes it is a necessary thing to do. The more I think about this issue, the more analysis I hear about it, the more I read what others write on the subject, the more I have to conclude that the folks who have stopped going to church are wrong in their decision to do so. I don’t like saying this about my brothers and sisters, yet I have no option but to conclude that the church was never meant to be broken up and fractured the way it is now.
Yesterday’s sermon at my church hit the subject of unity very hard. One of the things that Pastor Kauffman hit on specifically is that no matter what the problem, no matter what the issue, you do not leave the church. If your leaders are drunk around the communion table, if someone in the church takes you to court and sues you for everything you have, if something occurs that causes strife and conflict in the church, you do not leave the church. It actually occurred to me that it is something much like a marriage. No matter what happens in the marriage, you stay together and work it out, no matter how difficult it is to do.
The fellowship of the Body is so very important for the Body functions better and more ably when it is whole. If people split off whenever there is the slightest amount of trouble (or even when there is a great deal of trouble), then the Body itself is broken into small pieces and is rendered impotent.
Titles and denominations are both terribly detrimental to the unity of the Body, as Pastor and Dr. Bebawi have pointed out. In giving ourselves titles, in following one teacher over another, we lose our focus on the One we should be following. We forget that it is all about Christ and him alone. It’s not about labels – it’s about being identified with Christ. It’s about joining with the Body, with the Church, and working from the foundation of our faith, that being the Gospel, to reach the rest of the world with the hope that we have. We may disagree on various points of theology along the way, but if we agree on the Trinity, on the depravity of man, on the personhood of Christ and His work on the Cross, on the work of the Holy Spirit, then we can be unified under God and we should work together to further the Gospel, no matter the problems and issues and conflicts that arise in our midst. We need to work through them, no matter how hard it may be to do so, so that the glory of God may shine in us.
Does this mean that God cannot use those times when people go off on their own? Does this mean that God is not present when they ‘do church’ in the coffee shops and private residences of our communities? Does this mean that God does not speak to and grow His children when they are absent from the Body? By no means, but I do think that the goal should be for these people to return to the Church as quickly as possible, for the strengthening of the Body and the edification of the saints. We are made all the stronger when we gather in greater numbers.
The Church is not perfect, that is sure, for it is still composed of as-yet imperfect people. Sometimes, the Church can be downright ugly, when people forget Who it is they represent. But how we the Church grow when those who most desire to do so leave it and turn their backs on it?
I appreciate the voices of those who have left, who have voiced their concerns and have spotted some of the problems within so many of our churches. But I feel that they have made the wrong choice in leaving, in depriving us of their vision and of their hopes. I recognize and realize that they are disillusioned and burned out and hurt, but we need them all the same. If we could give up our titles of Arminian and Calvinist, of Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and Catholic, I believe we could once again function as a unified Body and turn this world on its head for Christ. This will likely never happen, but it does not mean that we cannot, and should not, work toward that end. We will never be perfect this side of Heaven, but we do have perfection as a goal, and we should be taking steps, however small, toward that end.
So, please return to us, those of you who have left. We need your energy, your vision, your hope of what could be and what should be in our churches and in our Church. We need that inspiration, that continual renewal of vigor, especially where that vision has grown stale and stagnant. More’s the power when you are with us and when we are together as one for the cause of Christ.
Tags: christianity, denominations, emergent-church, faith, george-bebawi, gospel, kimber-kauffman, marriage, religion, the-body-of-christ, the-church, unity
I could have sworn I’d written previously about the uniqueness of Christianity from all other religious faiths, yet when I searched my archives to find it, I was unable to do so. Apparently it was something I’d intended to write about and never did. Allow me to rectify that situation now.
One of the things that absolutely convinces me that my religious faith is the correct one, the only one that can be right, is its very distinctiveness. In all the world, there is not another religious faith that is as unique, and simple, as Christianity. The one that comes closest, perhaps, is Islam, but as we have seen already, even it falls away to be little different than all the others. What follows are a few of the things that set Christianity apart and spotlight it as being so very special.
Nothing We Can Do, Nothing We Have To Do
In every religious system, personal salvation is worked out by the deeds and actions of the individual. If someone desires to get to heaven or attain a higher position or status in the next life or to ascend to a nirvana-like state, that individual must first live a life that consists of more good deeds than bad. At the minimum, the scales have to be balanced, and at the maximum, they have to be tipped in favor of good deeds. It is a game of continual tension and anxiety, the individual never knowing if they have done enough to earn that special place in the next life.
Within Christianity, there is nothing that we can do that is ever good enough to earn our way into Heaven. We are prohibited from doing so by our very sinful nature. But at the same time, there is nothing that we have to do to earn Heaven, for what needs to be done has already been done. The payment has already been made.
God Himself Making the Way for Men
Christianity is also unique in that it is the only religious faith where God Himself made it possible for human beings to get to Heaven. It is the only place where you will hear about God becoming a common man simply for the sake of taking on the punishment for sin. The gods of other religions have always traditionally been petty and cruel, warring and bickering amongst themselves and forcing humankind to perform all manner of menial and degrading tasks to earn a shaky place of security in the next life. Only in Christianity is admittance into Heaven a free gift, offered to any and all who would accept it, made possible by God Himself.
Personal Relationship with God
Christianity is also the only religious faith that teaches that men can have a personal relationship with God Himself. It is the only place where God has literally reached down into history itself and spoken one-on-one with men, where He has walked with men and fellowshipped with them. It is the only place where God Himself took on the form of a child and grew up as a man, providing the bridge necessary for God and men to relate to one another in perfect harmony. The Greeks believed that the gods sometimes disguised themselves as men for a period of time, for any number of reasons, but always they returned to Olympus and never could common men maintain contact or continued communication with them. The gods were indifferent to the needs of men, caring more for their own comfort than for the welfare of men. The God of the Christians is different. He genuinely cares about His people and is fully accessible to all of them. We may go to Him personally to speak with Him and present our needs, our requests to Him. And what is more, He actually listens to and hears us. Nowhere else will you see this relationship between deity and mortal played out.
Focus on Self, Focus on God, Focus on Others
As a result of this relationship with God, the focus is not on ourselves, as it is in every other religious system. Everywhere else, the focus is on getting oneself into heaven, doing enough to insure that one has lived a good enough life to move to a better place when one dies. Within Christianity, everything that needs to be done has already been done, so there is no longer a need to do anything for oneself in order to get to Heaven. The focus, then, moves from self to God, and from God to others. We are able to focus on our relationship with God, following Him and serving Him. We are also able to focus on others with the joy that we have, urging them to also choose God, to choose Christ, over the cumbersome ways of self-righteousness and self-justification. We can tell them that it is so much easier than all that to make sure that one gets to Heaven, that the price has already been paid, that there is actually a personal, loving God who has already done everything for us that we need and that all we need to do is accept that gift He has offered us.
This is what makes Christianity so very unique in the world, what sets it apart from all others. The rest of the world religions may look unique from one another at first blush, but when you boil it down to what each demands of its supplicants, what you find is that they all demand the same thing – good deeds of the individual in order for him or her to earn his or her way into heaven. Christianity is the only religion where the individual has to do nothing, where it is already done. Christianity is the only religion where its members are truly free, where the shackles of a legalistic and rules-driven life have been cut away and discarded forever.
This is what I believe sets my faith apart from all the rest, what convinces me without doubt that I have chosen the truth. There is no God like my God, no Lord like my Lord, no freedom like that freedom which He has given to me, and I will follow Him all the days of my life. I can give Him no more and no less than all of me, for He has secured my hope and my salvation.
Tags: christianity, faith, heaven, personal-god, relationship, religion, sacrifice
Christianity has always been viewed as something of a sub-culture, as has just about every other major religious system, but Christianity more so, in my opinion, because of its nearly unique exclusivity (Islam may be the only other that I can think of right off the top of my head that is equally exclusive). There is no room for other religious thinking in Christianity, unlike so many of our New Age, Eastern, and postmodern religions and philosophies that are so very accepting of other faiths. As a result whenever we as Christians suggest that something is sinful, we are merely written off as a wacko subculture that has absolutely no relevance on ‘reality’.
Why is it so easy to push Christians aside like this? It boils down, I think, to the fact that most people are content with their lives as they are. Very few people I know like change, let alone the kind of the drastic change that results from discovering that you have been doing incorrectly some of the daily things in your life. As I stated in my previous article, no one likes to be told they are wrong. No one likes to find that their entire lives have been wasted, to some extent or another, that they have been lived in vain because of some ignorance or misunderstanding. That’s the sort of horrible reality they are faced with when they are told that some of the most fundamental elements of their lives are sinful and wrong. It means that all the time, energy, and resources that have gone into that activity have been absolutely and utterly wasted, thrown away and spent on something that, in the long run, yields absolutely no return. It’s almost like throwing money into the stock market, only to have it crash and lose the entire investment, or placing a huge wager on a casino game, only to be taken by the house and left with only the lint in your pocket.
That’s not an easy thing to swallow. It means that you made a mistake, an error in judgment, and as we all know, it hits the ol’ pride in an awfully sensitive place. Is it any wonder that the subject of sin is such a touchy one with most people? We really don’t like to be wrong, let alone find out that so many years were wasted on vain pursuits.
Fortunately, when we do get it right, when we repent and turn our lives over to God, the rewards He gives for doing so far outweigh the prior squandered opportunities. It is just that swallowing our pride is so very hard to do, and for many people, it is an impossible hurdle. That is why we as Christians must be loving and accepting from the start. It is that kind of support that makes it easier for others to push past their own pride, the only true barrier between them and God. It also enables us to support and uplift one another, since Christians are still just as vulnerable to pride.
However we are perceived and received by the rest of the world, our faith is relevant, but more importantly, it is living and it is powerful because it is based on a living and powerful Savior!
Tags: christianity, culture, faith, religion
I have trouble determining the focus of these Islamic terrorists’ rage, anger, and hatred. They really gained a permanent spot on the American radar on 9/11, but since then we have also seen them inflict violence and death on their own people. In Iraq we have seen numerous car bombings, mine fields, grenade launches, among other things, directed at the peacekeeping forces, American and Iraqi alike, established there. On top of that, though, Iraqi men, women, and children have been killed, mosques bombed, and shrines destroyed, all done with no peacekeeping presence being targetted. In short the terrorists are bombing and killing their own people.
Hence my confusion. Who are the terrorists lashing out against – unbelieving American, capitalist infidels or just anyone who does not believe exactly they way they do? From my perspective it does much more to damage whatever goals they are trying to accomplish when they seem to have no particular agenda, other than to inflict as much pain and suffering on others as they can. I simply don’t understand what they are hoping to accomplish, if anything. Nothing in their behaviors and actions makes much sense to me, since they are also alienating the very people they claim to be trying to save. It’s a very twisted and sick world in which they live, apparently.
Tags: anger, culture, hatred, islam, rage, religion
There’s been a great discussion on my forum about Islam and whether or not it is actually a peaceful religion. A thought occurred to me this morning that I wanted to share:
A lot of attention has been given to the fact that very few Muslims have been speaking up and speaking out against the terror bombings or the riot violence. Accusations have been launched that this means that the Islamic community is actually silently supportive of the violence. The problem with this is that just because someone does not speak out against something that is wrong does not mean that they are supportive of it (though inaction does accomplish essentially the same thing as outright support). How often have Christians in this country performed acts that are completely counter to the teachings and doctrine of our faith, only to have hardly anyone say anything against it? Does that then mean that we support the action?
There are always people who speak up and speak out, but those voices are typically too few. Most people just prefer to let the problem pass by without addressing it, ironically enough, because they don’t support it. Ignore it, and it eventually goes away, right? The problem with this approach, though, is that it does make it look like the entire group is supportive of the extremist fringe.
Just something to think about…
Tags: discussion-forum, islam, religion
Back from the weekend internet desert…
Jim,
OK…now here’s the dilemma I find I get myself into…but I feel you can help me clarify this in my mind. I believe in absolute truth. And yet, in situations like you’ve described here, with the Hindu, (very similar to what I deal with on my blog in some ways with some of the visitors I get) how do you declare that your truth is absolute without offending them to the point that you can’t be agreeable? I sometimes feel like I don’t speak the truth plainly enough and yet, I do…I really think I do. I don’t know. Can you give me a word of encouragment about this…#
Good question. Honestly, I think the way you would handle this is going to vary a bit, depending on your audience. To some extent, we have to do exactly as Christ instructed—declare our faith with boldness. Sure, this is going to offend some people, maybe even a lot of people, but Christianity is offensive to those who want to live life on their own terms. They don’t like to be told that the things they do and believe, that the way they have lived their lives is wrong and displeasing to an Almighty God. But the only way they are going to know is if someone tells them.
Now, this does not mean that we have to be harsh and cruel about it. Tact is a virtue. With people who are more understanding and not quick to anger, I am usually able to speak with a greater degree of frankness without having to worry about using exactly the right phrases and words to avoid stepping on their personal sensibilities. With people who are, in my opinion, more insecure, I try to speak openly and honestly about what I believe and why without using dialogue that is abrasive. Essentially, I share what I believe, that I hold that my beliefs are right and true and the only way to live and believe, without trying to force anyone to believe as I do. I try to always make it clear that I can’t make anyone think the way I do and that I am not trying to. Part of this requires me to treat the viewpoints and opinions of others with respect, even if I disagree, and if I can poke holes in their arguments, I will do so (even though this is not usually well-received). But part of discoursing about what is truth and what is not requires people to talk and share and pick apart each others’ arguments.
One of my favorite philosophers is Francis Schaeffer, and it was his ministry to tear apart the inaccurate philosophies and worldviews and demonstrate why those philosophies could not be held with any kind of consistency. He showed time and again how the philosophy of the Bible was the only one that could be adhered to consistently. Yet, he was not ‘offensive’ about it, per se, though he offended a great many people by demonstrating the untruths of their philosophies.
It is impossible to live the Christian life well without offending other people. Christ said that we would be hated by the world for our beliefs, and we see this every day. But it is possible to have agreeable discourse with those who disagree with our beliefs. Really, I think the biggest part of attaining this is maintaining respect for people who disagree. Those Christians who lose respect with the world and who find they cannot minister effectively are typically those who treat the world with condescension and snide behavior. It is impossible to share Christ when you make yourself better than Christ.
Tags: absolute-truth, christianity, communication, francis-schaeffer, philosophy, relative-truth, religion, truth, worldview
It is the extremists of any major religion that end up giving the whole a bad reputation. Bad news travels more quickly than good news does, and poor behavior is more easily remembered and available to memory than is good behavior. So what typically ends up happening is that the whole organization gets placed under the banner of those who make the most noise, even though they are not necessarily a representative sample of that population. Christians are often perceived as hateful, unforgiving bigots because there are many who are exactly that. Note, however, that I did not say ‘majority’ or ‘most’ because it has been my own experience that, in general, those who call themselves Christian do strive to live up to the compassionate, forgiving ideals of the Bible and of Christ’s teachings. The same goes, as I understand it, for those of the Muslim faith. The vast majority are a peace-loving people, and those who perform heinous acts of murder and bombing are the fringe extremists, just as are those Christians who bomb abortion clinics, twisting the ideals of their religion into a perverted distortion of the actual. In the process they give the entire faith a black eye, and the world sees the whole as being just like the extremists.
So, the question becomes then, what underlies these fringe, extreme groups? What drives them to justify horrible acts and behaviors that are counter to the basic tenets of belief that define the faith they claim to espouse? Ultimately, I can only conclude that they are flawed people, just like the rest of us, who, whether through willful disobedience or through genuine ignorance, misunderstand the teachings of their religious system in such a way as to justify hatred and murder. They are the people who lack the personal discipline to control their emotional impulses, who act on their base desires, rather than striving to live up to a higher ideal of morality. They are the people who pick and choose which parts of their canon to abide by, rather than understanding that the bits they follow are parts of a whole and cannot be separated from it without ending up, by definition, with a completely different set of beliefs. They are the people who were already angry and bitter, who found a system of belief that was attractive to them and fit at least somewhat with their own preconceived notions of how the world should operate. They are the people who then twisted the system of belief to fit their own ideals, rather then reshaping their own ideals to fit the system. In so doing they found justification and an outlet for the violence already in their hearts, and by acting upon that violence, then sullied the name and reputation of the group they claimed to be a part of. Christians who bomb abortion clinics or express hatred, bigotry, and superiority to those not like them are Christian only in name; they are not Christian in actuality because anyone who truly understands the teachings of the Bible would not perform the sorts of behaviors that these extremists tend toward. Similarly, Muslims who fly planes into buildings and strap bombs to themselves and blow up a group of children, and who decapitate innocent victims are Muslim in name only; they do not represent the Muslim faith at large or the teaching of the Qu’ran and do more harm to people of that faith than good. These extremists cannot and should not be called Christian or Muslim, even though they call themselves that. They should be called murderers and hatemongers and should be separated, both in name and in deed, from the whole of the groups that they claim to be part of. Yet, perhaps because it is convenient to do so, they continue to be categorized into the group by the population at large, thereby stereotyping the whole by the deeds of the few. Unfair? You bet. But stereotyping is easy and convenient, even if it is at times unfair and makes it harder for those with the true ideals of their beliefs to communicate them. It is a challenge, no doubt, and that is why unity of the whole is necessary in order to overcome the misdeeds of the few.
Tags: anger, beliefs, bible, bitterness, christ-jesus, christianity, emotions, extremism, human-behavior, islam, misunderstandings, morality, muslims, religion, stereotypes
One of the things that I think I find most irritating is when people make the assumption that, just because you hold a different viewpoint than them, you 1) must be mis- or underinformed; 2) must be spouting the standard ‘party’ line; and 3) must be unable to think for yourself, able only to blindly accept and regurgitate the viewpoint you’ve been taught all your life, since anyone who can and does think for themself would just have to come to the same conclusion they hold. There is no room in these people’s minds that someone could look at the same evidence they have seen, experience the same events, or look at the same issues and still come to a different conclusion about all those things. The same people who tell you to use your head and think for a change are the same people who seem incapable of doing so themselves, because surely if they were to actually think about this topic long enough, they would realize that people who think do often come up with different conclusions.
I see this phenomenon all the time in the world of politics and in the world of religion. One party touts their viewpoint and accuses the other party of being blind and of not thinking, so sure are they that if the other party were to think, they would have no choice but to embrace their own viewpoint. (How’s that for a contradiction in terms, since so many of these people also do not believe in absolute truth?) Christians are continually accused of this by their antagonists. Part of this is because a lot of Christians don’t think, don’t exercise critical analysis, do blindly accept answers they have never personally investigated. But part of this is simply unbelievers being unable to entertain the idea that anyone intelligent could possibly ever disagree with them. The latter we can do nothing about, but the former is something that anyone and everyone can continually work on. This is part of why I, personally, write, since the feedback I receive continually exposes me to new ideas and new questions. I, for one, believe that both faith and critical thinking can co-exist, a notion at which many unbelievers scoff. Faith, by itself, can be just as blinding as rationality left to its own ends. I have seen people argue with incontrovertible scientific evidence, simply on the basis of their ‘faith’ (e.g. the Earth is flat, not round). Likewise, there are supernatural occurences that happen on a daily basis all around the world that science and rationality are wont to explain (e.g. keys that float through midair in someone’s home). This is why I believe that God asks us to first believe on Him, in faith, then provides us with further information, both about Himself and about this world around us and tells us that we should explore His creation.
Faith, without rationality, is dead; likewise, rationality, without faith, provides only half the answer. Only when the two meet and supplement one another can balance be found.
Tags: assumptions, christianity, critical-thinking, faith, politics, rationality, religion, Science, supernatural, viewpoint
Frank’s Atheistic Ramblings: Jon Stewart
A quote from franky’s blog:
Yes, the long war on Christianity. I pray that one day we may live in an America where Christians can worship freely! In broad daylight! Openly wearing the symbols of their religion…. perhaps around their necks? And maybe – dare I dream it? – maybe one day there can be an openly Christian President. Or, perhaps, 43 of them. Consecutively.
The ‘war’ that most Christians are fighting is not so much to attain the freedom to worship as it is maintaining that right. There are those who are blatantly antagonistic toward Christianity and its followers and who would love nothing more than to outlaw the practice of religion (all religions) as an outdated, outmoded, and archaic system. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians don’t do themselves any favors in their approach to preserve their rights and react against these voices. I personally think that Christians should only take the religious battle to the government and the courtrooms when actual rights are being lost, rather than over what I consider to be petty arguments about the pledge, the verbiage of American currency, or what to name what have been traditionally Christian holidays. I do think Christians should be involved in politics, but I think Christians have a bad habit of choosing their battles unwisely.
Tags: atheism, christianity, culture, politics, religion
