What exactly *is* heresy?
I've been called a heretic. I laughed because I know I am far from being heretical. I'm far too "into" God to be a heretic. Are heretics constantly listening for God's voice? Studying the Bible or reading books about the Bible or listening to podcasts about the Bible? Maybe. Maybe I really am a heretic. But I don't think so.
I was reading about someone who has been called a heretic. Nothing I have heard or read about him jived with the "heretic" label for me. The person who started the whole "he's a heretic!" blather comes across, to me, as more than a little skewed. Not sure he's a heretic but he's not completely orthodox in his behavior.
I tend to look at the fruit I see in a person. What is their behavior? Is it consistent with what they say they believe? No one is 100% consistent, but generally.... Do they show God's love toward others, particularly those they don't like? Not just the fake-y "christian" *love* that they're supposed to show but the real, gut-level, here's-the-rent-cuz-you-need-it-don't-tell-anyone-where-you-got-it kind of love?
Some of the people who are currently being labelled as "heretics" tend to be the ones that I find the most real. Weird. As I read and pray and ponder, I begin to wonder if the heretics aren't closer to God than the "orthodox" preachers who are lambasting them.
Maybe heresy isn't all that bad, depending on who is doing the labeling.
