On Tuesday, December 23, 2003, at 04:53 AM, Don Winterstein wrote:
> Are those Jesus Seminar scholars Christian? Some are certain to have
> unorthodox views of Jesus. I don't believe that all such unorthodox
> scholars are going to hell any more than I believe all Arians are
> going to hell. In other words, I think it's possible to have saving
> faith outside of orthodoxy. Orthodoxy affects only the mind; the
> heart is more important.
>
So why is orthodoxy so important (if it is important)?
I would answer that it's a means of guarding against drift. If a
deviating belief is permitted, no matter how innocuous, another
deviation can in principle be built on it, and after a few
"generations" you have genuine heresy. But are we trusting in Jesus
Christ when we ruthlessly suppress all suspect beliefs? I suspect that
the church -- the evangelical branch anyway -- has sacrificed
intellectual progress in the pursuit of orthodoxy.
Bill Hamilton Rochester, MI 248 652 4148
Received on Tue Dec 23 10:53:02 2003
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