There's a question floating around in the blogosphere and it emerges on occasion, and this

is it essentially.

We know that it is heretical to deny the precious Orthodox doctrines, such as rejecting the

Virgin birth of Christ or denying the Trinity or denying the divinity of Christ.

That is false teaching period.

But is a false ethical claim like celebrating homosexual practice?

Does this also qualify as heresy?

Well, let's use your definition of heresy, at least what I hear you suggesting, and

ask the question that way.

A teaching or a conviction that contradicts something so central and precious to the Christian

faith that it disqualifies a person from belonging to the church and thus disqualifies the

person from being viewed as a person in Christ and in salvation.

That's the definition I'm going to work with.

The reason I say disqualifies him from being viewed as is because we humans don't make

the final decision on who he saves and who's not God does.

But we are called upon to protect the church and pursue the purity of the church by making

judgments about whether a person's views disqualify him from being assumed to be a Christian.

And the church always makes those judgments in the hope that the person will repent and

be restored to the church.

So here's the biblical illustration of this understanding of heresy.

Galatians 1, 8 and 9.

Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel, contrary to the one

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