Oh wow. Here’s a a small snippet from the online discussion going on at Pantano right now: “The Webster’s definition of heresy: ‘1. a religious belief opposed to the orthodox doctrines of a church. 2. any opinion opposed to established views.'”
With that definition, there’s no question that I’m a heretic… in fact I embrace my “heresy.”
Guess it depends on whether “church” refers to Pantano, the church down the street, the global Church, or the New Testament church as established by the Apostles.
Don’t panic, Pantano isn’t falling apart, we just had a pastor give a controversial sermon on Biblical inerrancy and literalism. He didn’t actually address the issues or provide answers, he instead shared his struggle in the past with accepting that everything in the Bible was historically “true.” What upset some people was that he said it was “okay” for a person to believe everything was 100% true, and it was also “okay” for a person to not believe that everything was 100% true. Fun stuff. Our Lead Pastor and Lead Elder are giving a sermon this weekend to address the discussion. They are defending the position of the sermon, but also addressing the very real issue that some people were hurt or wounded.
So, if you’d like, join me in my heresy. Challenge established views when the established views are wrong.
I am curious about this. I am a person who, in general, is pretty liberal in my beliefs. But this liberalism usually has more to do with church culture and the way Christians to tend to view things, and not how the Word views things.
I have to say when it comes to the scripture it self, I am pretty literal in how I view it. Lately though I have noticed changes in how I view things in general, and the Bible is no exception.
Still I am pretty bound to it. I don’t feel that any church or group or sect is a very good foundation for my beliefs. The Word is really all I have as it is constant. I agree that how we interpret the Word does change as we grow more mature and experienced in our walk, but the changes are minor for the most part. Though I the concept does not offend me, I have a hard time with the idea that parts of the Bible are false or not accurate. If we leave room for error in the Bible, then anything can come up for debate.
I do believe that the God intentionally left aspects vague and up for interpretation, but to me this has more to do with our individual walks and relationships. We all approach and view God differently, just as we do with each other. This is just an aspect of Love.
When will this sermon take place? I did not catch the first one, but I would be very interested in hearing the next one to see what points are raised.
Sermon and follow up already took place, but you can listen to them both at pccwired.org/weekend
I need to clarify one point – my post is really looking at the irony in the definition of heresy, not at the truthfulness or nontruthfulness of scripture. I’m a “heretic” because I will never “just agree” with established religious doctrines, orthodox or otherwise.
Ah I see. You are not an accepter of the commonly accepted, but rather a challenger to the standard orthodox and way of thinking. I guess I fall into this category as well.