I want to talk about the nature of heresy in relation to this board.
One of the things I like about this board is that the moderation is strong against heresy and apostasy. And I think that's a good thing and it's following the example of early Christianity and follows the guidance of scripture that says that heretics and professors of false should be kicked out.
Where my worry comes is how this relates to different denominations. Now there are many denominations out there are heretical, The Episcopal Church of America and oneness Pentecostals are good examples of popular heretical denominations. I definitely believe people promoting their doctrines should be removed from the congregation and Christian fellowships until they repent.
That said there are legitimate differences between denominations that may not justify exclusion from Christian fellowship. Catholics and Protestants are strongly at odds over the role of Mary and the saints. There are denominational differences regarding how services should be conducted, the role of the Eucharist. Unfortunately these aren't things that allows for compromise, some of us are wrong, some of us are right and being wrong here has serious spiritual consequences.
When this board first started, there was discussion about these two topics.
First there was a discussion about heresy and I thought heretics should be removed and given very little leeway. There was also discussion about interdenominational flaming. I thought it should be allowed because I believed that the differences between denominations are important and it's important that people of different denominations be able to talk freely and passionately argue with each other to persuade one another.
And lately I can't help but feel that maybe I was wrong, because while we've done a good job of getting rid of heretics, the interdenominational flaming seems to have reached a point where we outright troll and advocate banning people of different denominations.
So maybe it's wroth having a conversation about how to deal with different denominations? How do we distinguish our fellow Christians who are worth discussing with, and heretics who should be excluded until they repent?
I can suggest a starting point:
1. All Christians must accept the Nicene creed as stated in the counsel of Nicene and revised by the counsel of Constantinople
2. All Christians must accept the Trinitarian notion of God (three persons who are yet one person through divine mystery)
3. All Christians must accept the nature of Jesus as both fully human and fully god.
4. While Christians can differ as to the role of tradition, all Christians must accept the divinely revealed nature of Scripture and not confess positions contrary to the clear wording of scripture
I don't really see any need for anything beyond these 4 requirements, because once we have these, we have a common point of discussion where we can figure out our other differences.
What do you think? Is it really hard to distinguish heresy from differences of opinion? Does feeling strongly about a particular doctrine mean that we should exclude others who confess and adhere to the 4 points but don't adhere to that particular doctrine?