What is a heresy?

[Checkpoint]

Imagine this arrived on your desk one day.

"... it is what it is ... a well-known heresy ... those who have bought into it have bought into a heresy."

How do you think you would have responded?

I immediately asked myself an obvious question, "Just what is a heresy, anyway?"

And set about finding out. You may have too. If so, tell us about it.

For discussion and debate:

Who or what determines what is or is not a heresy?

Who is, or has been, labelled a heretic?

How has a heretic been treated in the Bible, and since it was completed?

By whom was this done to the heretic, or to heretics?

[Eloi]

Well, PinSeeker, as you learned in my previous posts, Paul, Peter, John and other Christians never told the new disciples that they could invent doctrines and teach them as they were coming from God. They warned NOT TO DO THAT for any reason.

Gal. 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from the One who called you with Christ’s undeserved kindness to another sort of good news. 7 Not that there is another good news; but there are certain ones who are causing you trouble and wanting to distort the good news about the Christ. 8 However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond the good news we declared to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, I now say again, Whoever is declaring to you as good news something beyond what you accepted, let him be accursed.

1 Cor. 4:6 (...) that through us you may learn the rule: “Do not go beyond the things that are written,” so that you may not be puffed up with pride, favoring one against the other.

[PinSeeker]

Well, PinSeeker, as you learned in my previous posts, Paul, Peter, John and other Christians never told the new disciples that they could invent doctrines and teach them as they were coming from God. They warned NOT TO DO THAT for any reason.

Gal. 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from the One who called you with Christ’s undeserved kindness to another sort of good news. 7 Not that there is another good news; but there are certain ones who are causing you trouble and wanting to distort the good news about the Christ. 8 However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond the good news we declared to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, I now say again, Whoever is declaring to you as good news something beyond what you accepted, let him be accursed.

1 Cor. 4:6 (...) that through us you may learn the rule: “Do not go beyond the things that are written,” so that you may not be puffed up with pride, favoring one against the other.

Yep, and I agreed. Words to live by. for sure. I know where you stand, and what you think regarding my supposed "inventing" of doctrines and/or me following after those who have supposedly done so. And you know where I stand (and I feel certain where Overcomer and BJS and some others here stand), looking at Jehovah's Witnesses through a very similar lens as the one you think you're looking at me through.

Grace and peace to you.

[Eloi]

We Jehovah's Witnesses do not compete with Christendom ... even if they take it that way. We do not go to the churches of Christendom to preach ... We go to people's homes, whether they are believers or not, because we do what Jesus commanded:

Rom. 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” 14 However, how will they call on him if they have not put faith in him? How, in turn, will they put faith in him about whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? 15 How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent out? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”

In this forum we are to share with others what the Word of God says ... We are not competing with you or with someone else that you imagine on your side of that contest coming from your own mind.

[PinSeeker]

We Jehovah's Witnesses do not compete with Christendom ... even if they take it that way. We do not go to the churches of Christendom to preach ... We go to people's homes, whether they are believers or not, because we do what Jesus commanded:

Rom. 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” 14 However, how will they call on him if they have not put faith in him? How, in turn, will they put faith in him about whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? 15 How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent out? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”

In this forum we are to share with others what the Word of God says ... We are not competing with you or with someone else that you imagine on your side of that contest coming from your own mind.

LOL! "Coming from (my) own mind..." Wow. I'm just going to let that little "jewel" float right on by.

Anyhoo... Well that's kind of the problem, Eloi, right? The NWT presents huge (manufactured) problems.

Nevertheless, I hope no Christian thinks they're "competing" with anybody in any way; I surely don't. What would be the point in that? Christ has already won us the victory; it is truly finished, as He said on the cross. So, in view of that victory, as I've said many times, my job is merely to proclaim.

Grace and peace to you. And you know, when I say "grace and peace" to anyone, I really mean it. I can give grace personally in many different ways, and I always strive to do just that. But I can't give anyone grace like the One True Grace-Giver, and I can't give anyone peace like the One Who gives peace beyond all understanding and the One Who is our peace, Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace. So, I'm not saying, "my grace and peace to you", I'm wishing God's grace and peace upon you, or, in the words of Aaron in Numbers 6:

• "he LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace."

So yeah, grace and peace to you.

[Eloi]

PinSeeker, I have noticed that you drift from a topic to forum exponents very easily. If your ideas about what "heresy" is from a biblical point of view are different from those I put forward, all you have to do is to prove it.

If the things that you believe are in accordance with what the Word of God says, it is something good for yourself; if they are not, then it is you who will have to answer for teaching religious falsehoods, and no one else.

This forum is not to convince anyone that you are teaching biblical truths, nor is it intended to demonstrate it with the supposed support of other forum members. In this good forum, ideas are what must be demonstrated ... with the Word of God, not to presume that you are something that you think you are, and others something different.

[PinSeeker]

PinSeeker, I have noticed that you drift from a topic to forum exponents very easily.

I have no idea what this even means... I mean, it's understandable, English-wise, I guess, but still. No idea. Nor do I care, really.

If the things that you believe are in accordance with what the Word of God says, it is something good for yourself; if they are not, then it is you who will have to answer for teaching religious falsehoods, and no one else.

Sure. Right back at you.

In this good forum, ideas are what must be demonstrated ... with the Word of God...

Agreed. And I am very sure to do that. Not to your liking, that's clear. But my aim is not to tickle folks' ears, as some would have it, in the words of Paul (2 Timothy 4:3).

...not to presume that you are something that you think you are, and others something different.

I presume nothing.

Are you quite done? You know, with your petulance and endless needling? Wow.

Grace and peace to you.

[bjs1]

For a practical application, heresy is when a person claims to be a part of an established religion but teaches something contrary to that religion. For instance if a person described himself as a Christian and said that there is not one God, then that person would be committing heresy.

I am unaware of any specific person being called heretic in the Bible. The closest I know of in Revelations 2:20, which talks about a “that woman Jezebel.” However, the context makes it unlikely that Jezebel was the person’s real name, and it may not have been a single individual at all. The only action prescribed towards “Jezebel” is that Christians should not accept her teachings.

Jezebel of the Old Testament was not a heretic, but rather a false teacher or false prophet of sorts. Along with her husband, she instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale... and violently purged the prophets of God from Israel. Her story in 2 Kings is very interesting indeed.

You're right about the mention of Jezebel in Revelation 2. It is actually a reference to Jezebel of the Old Testament, but really an extrapolation, saying that anyone who pushes worship of a false god of any kind is "a Jezebel" because their sin is intensely analogous to the Jezebel of 2 Kings. The Church in Thyatira, to whom Christ's comments were directed in this specific Revelation 2 passage (vv. 19-29) was well-known for tolerating false teaching and the pushing sinful things as acts of worship to false gods. And the relevance to us today is that there are "Jezebels" among us now and until Jesus returns. The warning for us is not about heresy, but about being misled and pursuing false gods and false worship, instead of pursuing and worshiping the one true God, the triune Jehovah.

Grace and peace to all.

Can you describe how you see “pursuing false gods and false worship” as different from heresy?

It seems to me that this would be an example of heresy.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to PinSeeker in post #34]

This post is not so much to you, Pinseeker, as it is to all who read this sub-forum.

I do so to highlight the last part of your post so it is not easily overlooked.

For its message and explanation is a timely reminder of how God sees us, and a good example of how to use His Word to encourage one another.

Grace and peace to you.

And you know, when I say "grace and peace" to anyone, I really mean it. I can give grace personally in many different ways, and I always strive to do just that.

But I can't give anyone grace like the One True Grace-Giver, and I can't give anyone peace like the One Who gives peace beyond all understanding and the One Who is our peace, Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

So, I'm not saying, "my grace and peace to you", I'm wishing God's grace and peace upon you, or, in the words of Aaron in Numbers 6:25-26

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace."

So yeah, grace and peace to you.

.

Thanks. And the same to all who visit here.