Nothing more strangely indicates an enormous and silent evil of modern society than the extraordinary use which is made nowadays of the word “orthodox.” 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. But a few modern phrases have made him boast of it. He says, with a conscious laugh, “I suppose I am very heretical,” and looks round for applause. The word “heresy” not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word “orthodoxy” not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong. All this can mean one thing, and one thing only. It means that people care less for whether they are philosophically right. For obviously a man ought to confess himself crazy before he confesses himself heretical. The Bohemian, with a red tie, ought to pique himself on his orthodoxy. The dynamiter, laying a bomb, ought to feel that, whatever else he is, at least he is orthodox.

You can read the rest of this chapter on-line at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/chesterton/heretics.iv.html

Peace & Blessings,
Simple Mann

I hope you don’t become a talk show host.. hehe..

We gotta let all our grandmas know them listening to radio show just as a hobby is creating monsters who will use the influence to their own agenda.

And yet it needs to not become a god unto itself. Bottom line is love the Lord your God with all you’ve got and do the same for your neighbour, no matter what he/she believes. Do the best with what you have and when you know better, do better. Not a terribly intellectual interpretation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I know :), but I’m sure someone out there has a much longer, complicated way of saying it! lol

it cracks me up. in some circles to be labeled the H word would inspire fear and trembling. but in other circles, people practically erupt with applause and whoo-hoo’s. It’s like a badge of merit. “Oh, someone’s calling me a heretic? Yes! This means I’m finally making waves!”

I saw someone at my local library wearing a t-shirt that said “Embrace your inner heretic.” The shirt was covered with names of people who’ve been accused of heresy over the centuries, like Joan of Arc, Jesus, Galileo, Martin Luther, etc… guess we can add Mike to that!

Ken Silva gave me a shout-out last year due to an article I wrote for Off the Map about Christians being friends with witches. I was so dang proud for being “hereticized” that I emailed the link to a bunch of my friends.

Sigh.

I guess reverse psychology might be needed to really unnerve some of us. Maybe calling us irrelevant would be more effective at stopping us in our tracks. Then again, probably not.

I seriously cannot wait for all of us to see God face-to-face and realize we were—-to some degree—-ALL wrong. Perhaps then we’ll just look at each other, offer a sheepish grin while shrugging our shoulders, and join God in his newly created “heavens and earth”.

Until then, I’ll hold lightly to my 5% of absolute truth and try not to judge to harshly everyone else’s 5%.

My wife (who was NOT a flower child or a Jesus People) put her name on the return address in my system, so it looks like this last comment is from her.

It’s not.

It’s from me, Peter.

Now I have changed it in the system and cleared this up.

Blessings and love to all!
Peter