Who is a Heretic?
 


    The word "heretic" means "rebel". A heretic is a rebel against an orthodox establishment he belongs to.

    Christian heresy can be defined as any departure from Christian orthodoxy which is a teaching, doctrine or practice that goes beyond the apostles teachings -- the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3)... it is rebellion of a Christian against the teachings of the Church of Christ. Christianity

    Another important point: To commit heresy, one must refuse to be corrected. A person who is ready to be corrected or who is unaware that what he has been saying is against Church teaching is not a heretic.

    A person must be baptized to commit heresy. This means that movements that have split off from or been influenced by Christianity, but that do not practice baptism (or do not practice valid baptism), are not heresies, but separate religions. Examples include Muslims, who do not practice baptism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not practice valid baptism.

    A Christian heretic excommunicated is still a Christian. He can't receive Communion because he is in mortal sin of heresy and does not belong to the Church, but the character of Baptism is forever... even in Hell he still will be a Christian, and one of his most shameful things to have in Hell!... you?... a Christian?... you had it all and are here?...

    Christians are saved by faith in the work of Jesus on the cross.  But faith in itself is not enough.  Faith is not a substance you can put in a jar. It is belief in something.  Faith is only as good as who it is placed in. If you put your faith in a false God, you are lost because a false god cannot save anyone. If you put faith in a false teaching of the true God, you are lost. This is why God says in Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before Me."  Faith is not what saves, but faith in the true God is what saves.    

    Unfortunately, heresy is found these days more often than not. You don’t need to look far, it’s usually staring you right in the face. One does not have to nit-pic since there are enormous portions of it pouring in from TV, books and pulpits. Identifying misleading teaching is what a shepherd is called to do. We have need of discernment which operates on the basis of truth and facts. We are not to pass judgment on the unknown (such as one’s motivation) unless they have clearly shown by their words and actions that that too is twisted. When we discover rotten fruit it is to be removed from among the people for their safety.
   
Heresy, in the form of doctrinal error, is rampant in the church. The first heresies appear even in the first century... the Circumcisers wanted to make Christianity a branch of Judaism and had to be corrected in the first Council of the Church in Jerusalem in Acts 15-26

    The doubt or denial involved in heresy must concern a matter that has been revealed by God and solemnly defined by the Church (for example, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, the pope’s infallibility, or the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary).

    Heresy is an emotionally loaded term that is often misused. It is not the same thing as incredulity, schism, apostasy, or other sins against faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him" (CCC 2089).    

    Heresy in Judaism:
   
Orthodox Judaism considers views departing from the traditional Jewish principles of faith to be heretical. Haredi Judaism holds that all Jews who reject their specific understanding of Maimonides's 13 principles of Jewish faith are heretics. Haredi Jews and most Modern Orthodox Jews consider Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism to be heretical movements, and regard most of Conservative Judaism as heretical. The liberal wing of Modern Orthodoxy is more tolerant of Conservative Judaism, particularly its right wing, as there is some theological and practical overlap between these groups. http://religion-cults.com/Judaism/brans-j2.htm

    Catholic and Protestant Reformed Heretics:
    Heresy is defined by Thomas Aquinas as "a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas." Heresy is both the non-orthodox belief itself, and the act of holding to that belief.
    According to Aquinas, then, a Protestant who never held or new a special dogma is not heretic against it.
    The Catholic Church, in the spirit of ecumenism, tends not to refer to Protestantism as a heresy nowadays, even if the teachings of Protestantism are indeed heretical from a Catholic perspective. Modern usage favors referring to Protestants as "separated brethren" rather than "heretics", although the latter is still on occasion used.
    Fundamentalists sometimes refer to Catholicism or indeed other Protestant groups as heretical.

    Catholics and Orthodox:
   
The Great Schism was a long time in developing; key issues were the primacy of the Pope in Rome, and the filioque clause. The "official" schism in 1054 was the excommunication of Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople, followed by his excommunication of the pope's representative. The personal excommunications were mutually rescinded by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople in the 1960s, although the schism is not at all healed.
    Each contends that it more correctly maintains the tradition of the early church and that the other has deviated. Roman Catholic Christians often prefer to refer to themselves simply as "catholic" which means "universal", and maintain that they are also orthodox. Eastern Orthodox Christians often prefer to refer to themselves simply as "orthodox", which means "right worship", and also call themselves catholic. They are still often referred to in those terms for historical reasons.
   
The Orthodox Church traces its origin all the way back to the Apostles themselves. The Roman Church, recognizes the validity of the Orthodox Church's sacraments and the venerable antiquity of its institutions, and vice-verse.

    Heresy in Islam:
   
The two main bodies of Islam are the Sunnis and the Shi'as. These main denominations view each other as heretical. Groups like the Sufis, the Harufi and the Bektashi are sometimes regarded as heretical. Although Sufism is often accepted as valid by Sunnis, fundamentalist Sunni movements like Wahhabism view it as heretical.

    A heretic is in serious danger to go to Hell.

    To be in error in Religion, is to have a "cancer in the soul"... it can ruin the only life on Earth, and the eternal one after Death.

    I am a Doctor in Medicine and Surgery. When I have a patient with cancer, I love the patient, but I hate his cancer, and I try my best to eradicate it from him... and even if it hurts, the patient is grateful to me!...

    The "Greatest Love", is to eradicate an "error" from a person, even if it hurts!... and in fact, the "Greatest Love" is to lay down your life to clean the sins, the bad karma, of your friends and foes, and to eradicate their errors once and for all.... that's Jesus on the Cross! (Jn.15:13).

    A huge barrier in this "Medicine of the Soul", is everybody's thinking, "I am right"... it is the old trick of Satan! of Gen.3:5.. But the fact is that none of us is "infallible" in our beliefs... You and I can be wrong!

    All religions and cults have something very good, that's why people is attracted to them!... but the Great Problem is that many have also errors or heresies with the good thing... they are a delicious candy with poison inside!.

    In my exposition of every heresy I try to be objective, to present the believe and practice of it as it is, but I also include my personal subjective commentary and opinion of what I think about that heresy, what I believe it has of right and wrong... we are all entitled of our personal opinion, and it is probably the best we have in us, I just give you my soul.

    If you feel I am in error, please try to help me.
    If I hurt you in these writings, it is not with any bad intention... it is an expression of my "Greatest Love"... not just to try to heal the Body, but to heal the Soul.

    Honestly, I pray everybody to become a Christian, and every Christian to become a Catholic, and every Catholic to be a Saint... Mother Teresa of Calcutta told me in my Medical Office, if each Catholic would be a good Christian, everybody would become a Catholic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy
http://www.catholic.com/library/great_heresies.asp
http://www.letusreason.org/Pent38.htm
http://latter-rain.com/theology/heresy.htm

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