Do Protestants believe others are heretics?

[JonNC]

Heretic, one who professes a heresy; esp., a church menber who holds beliefs
opposed to church dogma. (Webster’s Dictionary, 1990)

Let’s say that Sally Sue was raised from early childhood in the Vomly protestant faith
and believes in eating grass as necessary work to gain salvation. She has a cousin,
Peggy Lou, who believes that the one true church is the Zing protestant faith and they
believe that eating grass is a sin. Would the Zing minister consider Sally Sue a heretic?
Would the Vomly minister consider Peggy Lou a heretic? Or would they both consider
each other only different churches, and not heretics? Just what does their decision of
others being heretics depend on? Church policy? Ministerial policy? Or mayby conference?

Do any out there have any expierence with this in your church toward other faiths?

The Catholic church would say that someone who grew up in another church faith,
is not a formal heretic, even tho at one time there were those in history who were
catholic and were formally heretics. Because we are not guillty of those things that
people did before us. So Sally Sue and Peggy Lou would be innocent of committing
heresy in the eyes of the catholic church.

Just a simple question.

I think there are cases where we might say someone is heretical. More likely, however, we will speak of doctrines as heretical. For example, we would say that a belief in a symbolic presence in the Eucharist, as opposed to the real presence, is a heretical belief.

Jon

 

[JonNC]

Sally and Peggy would be material heretics to Catholics.

The heresy test for probably most Protestants whose doctrines are not in agreement with one another is that they agree on all the “big” things, the ones that really matter. If we agree on the essentials that is what counts.

Defining big is a problem. They would probably say they agree with Catholics on the big things, the Trinity, resurrection, virgin birth, atoning sacrifice of Christ, etc.

Catholics on the other hand thing things like transubstatiation, the seven sacraments are essential ancient dogma that really matter.

The irony is that when you look at all the divisions in Protestantism, all the almost countless denominations and non-denominations that agree on all the big things, it is implicit that they allowed all this division which Jesus forbade over small things.

I can’t speak for Protestants, but I can say that this “big things” or “essential things” isn’t something one would often hear from Lutherans, at least not in my experience. What we wouldn’t say is that a Catholic, or Calvinist, or Baptist, as examples, isn’t saved simply because of doctrinal differences, as that is God’s call, not ours. What we would say is that there are dangers in holding beliefs that are in error.

Jon