Featured Dealing with Professing Believers Walking in Sin in Online Boards

I have known you a long time (in the context of an online presence....not personally.....and certainly not biblically ....). I know you would not have made this up. I believe you. I just am not aware of the incident. But I take you at your word because I have no doubt such things could happen or that by your testimony they did happen.

I have met cruel people in my lifetime. But I have never met people as cruel and spiteful than some of the professing Christians I have encountered in online forums. The example you give does not bespeak of cruel intentions but perhaps of good intentions misguided by poor theology. I know of very few here who I believe would rejoice in the death of another person. But sometimes good intentions doe not make up for bad belief ("tough love" is often misplaced hate).

 

Well, I personally believe the man I had to deal with is wicked. But not all evil people face is intentional. And sometimes it is just disagreeing.

Either way, I think the best thing to do is ignore those types of people.

 

I agree. There are heresies (a departure from orthodox Christianity) and these are stated historically. Since this is a Christian board "heresy" is a departure from orthodox (accepted) Christian doctrine (which itself encompasses a wide range of beliefs).

 

It does. There are things that I would reject as heresy which are technically within orthodox Christianity (they are unorthodox to my view, but not to Christianity itself). "Heresy" itself holds a steep requirement to prove (it has to be shown that the belief has been rejected by Christianity as a whole). So when such a charge is tossed out it needs to be quickly (immediately) proven by providing the source and context where the view was deemed heresy.

Sometimes a Christian is and should be justified in wearing the label "heretic" as a symbol of pride depending on the doctrine and organization he or she is rejecting.

 

I agree. But they also change. There is not complete heresy list. Things move back and forward. Penal Substitution was, at one time, a "heresy" (see Aquinas' arguments). Now it is orthodox. The medieval view of God paying a Ransom to God was the orthodox view. Now we would consider it heresy.

Also, developments create new heresies (like Islamic influences, strange UFO ideas, etc.).