Heresy

In some, well most, of my seminary classes we have been discussing heresy. I'm finding that it is not as easy to recognize heresy as I once thought, especially since so many of the Early Church Fathers perscribed to it in one form or another. It wasn't even a concept until the 3rd centuary, and at that point was read back on to history. I found myself asking in one of my precept groups, why does heresy even matter? Can't we just agree to disagree like different denomiations today?

A few nights after I posed this question I had a horrific nightmare in which a very large group of people I know were gathered in a lecture hall where a woman who had just bought the school was explaining the contract we now had to sign to go there. Essentially, the sum of her stance was Jesus never lived, Jesus never died, Jesus won't come again. Out of the hundreds of people in the classroom only six of us (myself included) refused to sign the document. Everyone looked at us like we were throwing our lives away and many said that we just weren't tolerant. At the end of the dream we were persecuted for our lack of flexibility and toleration.

Upon reflecting on this dream, I realized why heresy is an important issue to the church. The web of doctorines (ie what Chrisians believe) is very fragile because so many things are linked together. If you change one doctorine, all of the others will transform as well. Yes, we should be able to enter into dialogue with other people of different beliefs about what they hold dear, but first we must know what we believe, both as individuals but also in the coporate sense of the Church. If not, we won't be able to say what truly matters or why, this making faith inconsequentual.