Morning At Last

When I was growing up in the church, one of the most condemning things my Pastor could say about what someone else believed was that it was heresy.  To label something heresy meant that it was wrong, probably from the pit of Hell, anti-christian and should be shunned at all costs.  Along with that, anyone who promoted such thought was a Heretic.  Who would want to carry that label?

Over time, I have learned that many of the things that seemed so simple as a new Christian, had other interpretations as I matured.  Suddenly, what seemed to be a terrible heresy by one person, was perfectly scriptural to another.  Perhaps that is why the Scriptures admonish us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12).  God will deal with us as to the content of our own hearts regardless of what someone told us.  Each of us is to develop a walk where we know the voice of our Shephard and follow Him.  Along the way, we will often disagree with our brothers as to the interpretation of Scripture but we are admonished to walk in love none the less.  (I recently read a good article about this by Gerry Beauchemin called Heresy And A Call To Unity.)

Now for the eye opener:

Heresy:  the rejection of one or more established beliefs of a religious body, or adherence to “other beliefs.”  (Wikipedia)  Did you see that?  Heresy is believing something differently than is promoted by your denomination.  As such, it could be what some other denomination believes or it could be interpreting scripture differently than is promoted by your particular church.  It isn’t necessarily evil or hellish, just different and since none of us have all truth, we all have some heresy when what we believe is compared to our brother’s.

Heretic: One who promotes or commits heresy

We should also consider these terms.

Apostacy: formal denunciation of one’s religion, principles or cause

Blasphemy: irreverence toward religion.

Now, after reading all of this, I have come to the conclusion that I am a heretic when compared to the beliefs of some of the people I grew up with in the church.  I have different beliefs but I have not turned my back on my faith (apostacy) nor am I irreverent concerning religion (blasphemy).

I believe God is Sovereign and All Powerful.  I believe that when He created the Heavens and the Earth, He knew their end from the very beginning and that nothing takes Him by surprise.  He only has plan A.  In addition, I believe that when He says Jesus died for the sins of the world, He meant it and that by the time everything is said and done, we will see everyone willingly bow their knee to Him.  Yes, I do believe that God Wins.

Obviously, there are many who disagree with me.  It’s not my job to convince them of anything.  Either the Holy Spirit will open their eyes to see what I see or He won’t but I am no longer going to  remain silent regarding my beliefs in order to keep you comfortable.  As my husband used to say, “What do you believe and why do you believe it?”  It’s fine to disagree as long as we can agree on the main thing that is, Jesus died for our sins to restore our fellowship with our Heavenly Father.  We can stand in unity over that and still give ourselves room to believe differently about the details.  God will reveal the truth of them eventually.