A Warning about Departing from the Truth

"The beginning of departure from the pure truth is like the letting out of waters - first a drop, and at last a torrent."

--J.C. Ryle

Reactions to "Heresy" Comment

By now, you have probably heard about the comment made by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Dr. Katherine Jefferts Schori, at their General Convention last week. If not, here is what she said in her Opening Address:

The overarching connection in all of these crises has to do with the great Western heresy – that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God. It’s caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus. That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy, at the center of existence, as the ground of being. That heresy is one reason for the theme of this Convention.

Not surprisingly, there have been a few responses from evangelicals to what Schori called "the great Western heresy."

Here is one from Al Mohler.

Here is one from Richard Mouw.

And here is another from Scott Clark.

Identifying and Confronting Heresy

In the May issue of Touchstone, S. M. Hutchens has a great editorial on a difficult subject - identifying and confronting heresy. He handles the subject with humility but also with courage. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he gives it an excellent title: "The War on Error." Here are a few brief excerpts:

Reading the last few weeks in the church fathers and reformers, I was struck by what we would call their rudeness. It is hard to go far in their writings without finding them bluntly identifying their opponents as heretics, perverts, madmen, liars, and tools of the devil.

Identifying heresy and falsehood and those who teach it is a duty which, if shirked, will subject the souls under one's influence to the tender mercy of the wolves and one's own soul to the judgment reserved for the shepherd who did not protect his flock. How many pastors and teachers I have known who have been called upon to decide whether to break with their peers by speaking the truth about doctrine or conduct, or with God, and how many appear to break with God.

One must be very sure the accusation is right. This means work: education to competence on what one is talking about.

--S. M. Hutchens

You can read the entire editorial here.

And by the way, if you don't currently subscribe to or read Touchstone, you are depriving yourself of one of the best publications in print.