Emphasis mine.Dr. Watson wrote:Ayn, this is not a "bad witness" as you put it--it is being a witness to the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, His perfect life, His death, atonement and resurrection. This is the gospel, and I am appalled that no one here is addressing the heretical teaching that Jesus is not God incarnate. Shame! Jesus is everything to me, He is my Lord and my God. He has saved me from hell and the wrath of God. How can I not speak to defend the honor of Christ and the orthodox teachings of the prophets, apostles, and the church? In fact, I was pretty mild in comparison with the likes of Apostle Peter and Jude when they lambast false teachers! Are they a "bad witness" as well?
Ah heresy. It's an interesting concept for sure and one of the main reasons religion is so interesting to me. Along with the concept of "sacred." Both are highly subjective. One person's heresy is another's established beliefs. And that's exactly what heresy is: when someone says something out of line with established beliefs in a group of people. It's extremely subjective. Much like the concept of sacred. One person's sacred is another's profane. If I believed that my coffee cup was sacred and someone were to trample on it, I would be highly offended. Sure you may try to convince me that that coffee cup isn't really sacred, but it's my belief. And religious beliefs are stubborn enough that I'm not going to change my mind. Another interesting phenomenon for sure. But that's another discussion.
However, I find it interesting that you use the word "heretical." There are other words you could have used like "wrong" or "evil" or the words that the verse itself uses like "deceitful" or "wicked," but you use the word "heretical." It's interesting to look at the history of the word and see how you came to use it now. It was a very powerful word, beliefs labeled heresy could have been punished by torture or death. We happen to be living in an age where we're fortunate enough to not be ruled by religious beliefs. At least not officially. We're fortunate enough that American founding fathers made sure to keep things like this from happening, trying to keep it a secular government. I'm grateful for that. That we can freely express our ideas without fear of being executed for saying something different from the established religious beliefs.
