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BY FEATURE:  BY ISSUE: (Outside the Camp was originally a quarterly
newsletter. Please note that not all articles from the original newsletters
appear on the web site.).) |
HETERODOXY
HALL OF SHAME  A common reaction to our Heterodoxy Hall of Shame goes something like this: "Look at all the stalwarts of the faith they are condemning! This should be enough to show you that they are not to be taken seriously." Did you notice something missing in that statement?
There is hardly ever a comment on why these people are in the
Heterodoxy Hall of Shame. They just look at the name and say, "How dare
you!" This shows that they are respecters of persons; their worship of a
person is more important than the fact that this person promoted heresy. I
have much more respect for a person who actually engages in conversation
about the heresy that these people promoted, no matter who they are or what
status they have in the "Reformed" and/or "Christian"
community. It
matters not whether the heretic is John Calvin or John Doe. If that person
promotes damnable heresy, then that person is unregenerate. Do
you bow at the feet of these people and maintain that they are Christians no
matter what they have said? Or do you judge by God's standard alone, no matter how famous or how
respected these people are by religionists? How you respond tells a lot about
you. Another
common reaction is this: "You're
saying that people need to write perfect truth and need to be in perfect
agreement with you in order to stay out of the Heterodoxy Hall of Shame. You're not allowing for any little error or slip of
the tongue." This could not be further from the truth. Christians can
disagree in certain areas, and Christians can be in error in certain areas.
But when it comes to essential gospel doctrines, all Christians believe the
same thing, and any deviation from this is damnable heresy. If someone said
something that shows he does not believe the true gospel, then it is not
merely a "little error" or a "slip of the tongue"; it is
a window into their hearts: "For each tree is known from [its] own fruit. For they do not
gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. The
good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart. And the
evil man brings forth evil out of the evil treasure of his heart, for his
mouth speaks out of the abundance of his heart" (Luke 6:44-45). "Well,
they said so many other good things!" is also a common response. There
are many unregenerate people who have said "good things." The
truth is that an unorthodox proposition about the gospel negates the
orthodox proposition. You judge the person's spiritual state by the heresy
the person confesses. A person can say the most solid, orthodox things about
the gospel, but when he comes in with one unorthodox confession about
the gospel, it shows where his heart is. For example, a person can say that
he is saved only by the atoning blood and imputed righteousness of Christ,
that he bases his salvation only on Christ's work, and that Christ's
atonement makes the only difference between heaven and hell. But then he says
that Christ's blood atoned for all without exception and that people are in
hell because they did not accept the atonement that Christ made for them. The
latter statement shows that he does not truly believe the former statement.
The latter statement annihilates the former statement. If one confesses
salvation by grace in one breath and salvation by works in the next breath,
we know that he believes in salvation by works. John
Kennedy put it well in his treatise entitled Hyper-Evangelism: 'Another Gospel,' Though A Mighty Power: "I am
quite ready to allow that, in the addresses of those who hold the views to
which I refer, there will be found statements that seem to contradict those
which are objectionable. This, however, does not prove that the bearing of
the teaching, as a whole, is not what I indicated. The telling part of the doctrine may be that which is unscriptural, and
all the more is it helped to be so by the mixture of what tends to recommend
it to acceptance. The measure of truth it contains merely serves, in many cases,
to throw the conscience off guard. It seems to some, as if the utterance of
an occasional statement, that is both indefensible and dangerous, can be
quite counteracted by other statements, from the same source, that are
confessedly scriptural. But in such a case, the character and tendency of the
teaching are not determined by the counterpoise of truth. The sound doctrine cannot be intelligibly apprehended and honestly
believed, if what is utterly inconsistent with it is both held and
proclaimed. A breach in the wrapping exposes the contents of a
parcel. To that opening the eye must be directed that would discover what the
envelope enclosed. An occasional erroneous statement,
breaking wildly through the bounds of possible orthodoxy, exposes the spirit
of one's teaching, and is the index of its practical tendency." Finally,
people say that when we put people in the Heterodoxy Hall of Shame, we are
condemning them to hell. This is a false accusation. We are condemning no one
to hell. We are not saying that anyone in the Heterodoxy Hall of Shame is in
hell or will go to hell. We do not judge who is or is not reprobate
(non-elect) among those who are unregenerate. That is not for us to know. We
do not know if God saved some of these people after they made these quotes or
will yet save some of these people who are still alive. What we do
judge is that a person who confesses a false gospel, a damnable heresy that
denies an essential gospel doctrine, is unregenerate at the time he makes the
confession. And we know that if God chooses to save such a person, that
person will no longer confess a false gospel. When God saves an Keep
these things in mind as you read through the quotes. To enter the Heterodoxy Hall of Shame, click HERE. |
