Heresy and the Art of Trying
Why being a heretic is a good starting point for who you want to be, and, a few notes on Orthodoxy
I am a heretic.
No question.
So too is pretty much anyone, and everyone, you respect historically.
her·e·tic /ˈherəˌtik/
noun
a person believing in or practicing religious heresy.
a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted.
If you have another definition, like “Someone I disagree with,” or, “Someone bad,” then sure, this gets more complex.
But… by the actual definition? The one above?
If to be a heretic is to be at odds with Orthodoxy… and Orthodoxy is created by conflict and clarification then… all the originators of Orthodoxy must be heretics.
Right?
Heresy is how we get places.
I’m the first to admit, it doesn’t have that reputation, but it is the truth.
Because to be a heretic you don’t have to be wrong, weird, unhinged, or crazy… you just need to be willing to point to what is true in a world where others don’t want to see it.
Have you ever heard the story ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’?
It’s a folk tale by Hans Christian Anderson and in it a vain and ridiculous Emperor is tricked into parading naked in public until he gets called out.
Tons of fun.
The way they trick him into doing this is to tell him ‘the magic fabric is invisible to morons and idiots.’ Amazing, right?
And so the Emperor, not wanting to be thought a moron never questions it.
And so the people, not wanting to be thought morons by their peers, never question it.
And so everyone agrees to this ridiculous premise, celebrating the naked man’s clothes… because they are scared to be judged by their fellows.
Until a child blurts out, “The Emperor has no clothes!” and suddenly, everyone could see.
That child was a heretic.
We need as many like him as we can get.
Matthew 18:2-3
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
I think it is worth remembering that children can both believe where adults would fail - and - will also ask questions where adults would cower.
Good on them.
Look.
If you don’t wrestle with heresy, you’re not trying hard enough.
It’s just not possible.
I’m sorry.
We cannot find understanding without asking hard questions.
We cannot possess wisdom without answering those questions.
We cannot do either without willingness to stumble into the dark and risk winding up wrong.
Most of us are in far greater danger from not asking good questions than we are of finding wrong answers.
We follow a God become man that spoke in questions and parables, many of them phenomenally difficult and opaque.
The arrogance to assume that we understand Jesus just because we heard His words is shocking and reckless.
His disciples were constantly going back to Him with questions as to what he meant. The example we are given is of regular wrestling with His words, working hard to find and understand the deeper and clearer meanings with lots of false starts, incorrect assumptions, and repetition.
Why would we be different?
What arrogance it is that when we decide we are different… that we honor Him rather than disgracing the gift he gives us.
In doing so… are we so sure we haven’t simply found a way to avoid doing the hard work Jesus invites us into, and wrapped it all up in ‘honor’ of His name so no one questions it?
How entirely human.
Is it possible that we are - all of us - naked but certain we would look the fool were we to ask?
…I get the stress here …but the great danger we face is not questions on the edge of heresy. That is a natural byproduct of trying to understand what God means.
The great danger we face is such certainty as to what God says or means that we can no longer hear Him when he tells us the truth.
That instead of God’s voice we hear only our own.
Think about it.
Please.
And then have the guts to do what you think is right.
Extra points for disagreeing with me.
For myself, I am a Jesus follower.
Jesus looked established orthodox religion in the eye and said, “you are lacking understanding, here is the truth,” and they killed Him for it.
Make no mistake. He died that we might partake of God’s full mercy and grace.
But He was killed for being a heretic.
So I have to wonder, when He looks at us, and finds any or all of us unwilling to risk our precious certainties so that we might gain His truth… do you think He loves that?
Do you think He looks at us and says, “I see myself in this,” as we critique and ostracize thinkers challenging the status quo or do you think he sees the men who killed Him?
That’s a real question.
Here’s another one.
Which matters more, that we are right, or that we are willing to risk being wrong?
Spend a minute in the ‘Parable of the Talents,’ and then tell me, please, which of those do you think is more important to Him?
And then be honest, which is more important to you?
For myself, I would rather live a life of risk in faith and dare a few wrong answers than to be a person of religious certainty too scared to take God at his word.
He’s got me.
Here’s to mystery and grace unending, forevermore.
Amen.
All scripture referenced is NLT unless otherwise noted. I prefer NLT for postural discussion as it is both reasonably rigorous while retaining a conversational tone.
For study I strongly encourage the use of original language tools, multiple translations, and rigorous critical thought.
Please remember that when you read the Bible in English you are always reading someone else’s theological interpretation of the text.
Funny, I was thinking, " This is the issue in the parable of the talents" and then in the next paragraph...
life is just so much more cozy and less scary if I bury my talents, thanks for not burying yours.