Why do these heretics do it?

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

Nelka

New member
You would think that if people like Arius, Luther and Calvin wanted to veer off with their own beliefs why don’t they just stop there, why do they always have to vehemently spread their heresies and drag people down with them?
 
Coz they believe they are correct. Like me, I almost became a herectic too and start a new religion.
 
Last edited:
They believed the Catholic Church was gravely evil, perverted, and unjust.
 
DisorientingSneeze said:
I’m super interested in that story. Would it be appropriote to ask you to elaborate?
40.png
anon64704623:
Coz they believe they are correct. Like me, I almost became a herectic too and start a new religion.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
In a different thread, but preferably via PM. Let’s stay on topic.
 
They thought that the Church was leading people astray. In their estimation, there needed to be a public reckoning and a return to orthodoxy (as they saw it). Turns out a lot of people agree with them whether or not they were correct in their criticism.

I don’t know as much about the other two as I do about Luther. Luther did not start out seeking a split with the Church. He wanted to start a public conversation about making major reforms to Catholicism.
 
(sigh) Regardless how right or wrong the church is (doctrine) there is a lot wrong with it (corruption). These wrongs are often swept under the rug or dealt with behind closed doors eroding the faith in the system. So when someone with issues is thrown to the curb they tend to start their own thing up rather then be isolated.

Lest that was the case of Martin Luther. Granted Nailing 99 issues with the church instead of constructively picking apart each one is counter productive but he was in his early days right.
 
None of these people woke up one day and thought “Hmm, nice day out, I shall be a heretic today.”
They thought they were being the very most orthodox believers ever, ever, ever. And in that spirit, they carried others along with them.
Where they wrong? Absotively! But what a salutary lesson for us to cling closely to revealed truth, because it is clearly all too easy to become consumed by ideas that lead us on a trajectory away from it, and to lead others into darkness too.
 
It’s a very heady thing to bring new concepts and ideas that no one has ever thought before. It is a real test of faith. It takes humility to accept that an idea never before thought of isn’t part of the deposit of faith. Many who experience this don’t pass the test. They lack the humility to consider that their discovery didn’t uncover Truth but uncovered what it is not. They are called to give Glory to God by proclaiming what is not the Faith handed down from the Apostles. A great honor was given them but it tested their Faith and they didn’t love Truth as they should have.
 
Nelka said:
Arius, Luther and Calvin
Click to expand...
All heretics and all heretical ideas have one thing in common: extremism.

They take something which is true, but then they stretch it to the point where they deny other things which are true and put their certain truth on a pedestal which turns it into heresy.

Take Arius and Arianism for example. Jesus was created by God and is a lesser being than God. That’s a true a statement - so long as you balance it with other truths that Jesus was created and is lesser than God in his humanity, but is uncreated and equal to God in his divinity.

But Arius stretched one aspect of the truth to the point where other facets of truth were denied, thus becoming heretical.

The same could be said about Luther, Calvin, and basically any other heretic.

This is why a holistic approach to the Faith, moderation and temperance are all so important. A lack of either of these things can lead to heresy very quickly.
 
Last edited:
Once again, Mr. Chesterton has something useful to say:
In former days the heretic was proud of not being a heretic. It was the kingdoms of the world and the police and the judges who were heretics. He was orthodox. He had no pride in having rebelled against them; they had rebelled against him. The armies with their cruel security, the kings with their cold faces, the decorous processes of State, the reasonable processes of law—all these like sheep had gone astray. The man was proud of being orthodox, was proud of being right. If he stood alone in a howling wilderness he was more than a man; he was a church. He was the centre of the universe; it was round him that the stars swung. All the tortures torn out of forgotten hells could not make him admit that he was heretical.
Click to expand...
If a man thinks that he’s happened upon the truth, however mistakenly, it’d seem downright wicked to withhold it from others (even though, unbeknownst to him, what he’s actually doing is spreading a heresy).
 
I’d need my own thread cause its a long long list covering many issues both personal and churchwide.

But don’t worry, I wont start my own cult over it.
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
They thought they were being the very most orthodox believers ever, ever, ever. And in that spirit, they carried others along with them.
Click to expand...
‘But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith in me would be better drowned in the depths of the sea with a great millstone round his neck.’

Matthew 18:6
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top