Sunday Musings

I call myself a heretic mainly as a joke. But sometimes I wonder: am I one?

I'm sure there's people who'd think so... some people (and, I must admit, sometimes myself included) who might think my beliefs ignore some of accepted Christian teaching to a point that makes me Not a Christian, despite the fact that I think that's what I am. I think...

Luckily, it's not up to them. It's up to God, who, being that He loves me along with all the rest of you sinners, hopefully will tolerate where I get it wrong, as long as I keep trying to get it right.

But... am I a heretic? It's hard to say. I do have some atypical beliefs, though. For one thing, I don't see any reason why Christianity has to be the One True Religion.

Now, to some extent, other Christians might agree with me. There's any number of Christians who are extremely interested in interfaith discussions, which sort of inherently carries the idea along with it that other religions might be right as well. Certainly when it comes to the other Abrahamic religions, you'd find some Christians who are pretty accepting. For all the hostility that happens between Jews and Christians and Muslims, there are still those who say "We started from the same place, and maybe God just had slightly different messages for different groups... maybe we're all right."

I extend this to other religions, though. Including pantheistic ones.

Now, as a Christian, the rules say that I only get the one God and shouldn't be worshipping other ones. But they don't say I don't get to believe that God would be willing to—happy to—appear to people in the way they're going to understand and set down rules they'll be able to follow. I mean... He's God. If He can be a burning bush in the desert to get someone's attention, I don't see any reason He can't be a multi-armed woman or a guy with the head of a jackal or speak through the familiar face of a passed loved one. Likely all at once.

And even just looking at the Bible, He obviously was willing to keep giving humans a chance to come to Him. I mean, isn't the core of Christianity pretty much all about this? "Y'all aren't able to follow the rules? Fine, I'm going to have a son, and send him down to talk some sense into you, and then let him die in a painful, horrible way to pay for all those sins you just can't seem to help but commit, just so y'all have a chance." So, if you can imagine that (and if you're a Christian I sure hope you can!), why is it so hard to imagine Him looking down on some other group of people and say, "Okay, so, you can't envision me this way... what about this way?"

So... does that make me a heretic?

Y'know... I don't think I care.