Monday, January 30, 2012

Notice anything about the word "heresy"?

A so-called heresy is just something that contradicts a religious dogma. But there's another twist. The word heresy is derived from the Greek word "hairetikos", meaning "able to choose", or haireisthai", meaning "to choose". What does say about heresy? Why choose a word that comes a word relating to choice? Does that mean that the Church really wanted to prevent people from choosing what they believe?Notice anything about the word "heresy"?
Yes.



After Christianity became the official state religion and all other religions were banned by Emperor Theodosius I in 380 CE, heresy became a crime, as part of the Edict of Thessalonica.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_h鈥?/a>



The first execution for heresy was in 385, of a Bishop accused of 'magic'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscillian



It was part of a major effort to wipe out the non-Christian beliefs which were still in a large majority in the Empire at that time and replace it with Nicene (later Catholic) Christianity, as well as replace all accountable local civic governments with unaccountable ecclesiastical ones. The most famous case is of the murder of the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria.



So yes, it was very much a suppression of free choice of belief.



Edit:

@Noor: Instead of copy/pasting the contents of the Wikipedia page it's a lot easier just to provide a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy
Heresy is a strange word in its religious use, pretty meaningless from the way they use it to denote something that has strayed from the perceived original truth, when the church itself is based around a lie. How many people have died because of this heresy concept of the church is the more important question here.



And yes of course the church wanted to prevent people choosing what to believe - one early famous religious leader is quoted as complaining "why do people ask so many questions? Why can they not just believe?". An idiotic statement of course showing their true colours as deceivers. Another pointer that confirms the truth of your question is the early printings of the bible and the trouble that happened around that time. It was against the interests of the church to allow people access to their own bibles and being able to read it for themselves, it put the scipture out of their hands and allowed people to ponder things more for themselves instead of just listening to the preachers. This is typical of cult behavoir, not that I would admit any difference between a cult and a religion, it does show them for the brainwashing control freaks they are.Notice anything about the word "heresy"?
Paul certainly proved this beyond any shadow of a doubt. He picked and chose among the beliefs of his time and crafted a heresy that was eventually to become the faith of the roman empire. He would stop at nothing to get converts. His heresy was so clever that it eventually trumped the actual teachings of Jesus being taught by James the brother of Jesus and the remaining apostles. Causing the true teachings of jesus to be declared Heresy.



Here it is in Paul's own words.



Paul all things to all men. 1 Corinthians 9:19-22





19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.



A very dedicated man.



Love and blessings Don
I think heresy means "deliberately stupid."



I have the right to choose that definition for the word heresy, and you can't tell me what's what!Notice anything about the word "heresy"?
The Catholic Church is what it is.It is how Jesus Christ established it there are no changes no choose.
well when ya look at what abrahamic faiths say about other religions... the ya they believe that choosing something other than them is wrong XD they call it heresy..
i noticed that the word has no practical use these modern times.
Notice your rant?



You ask and then answer.



Why ask?
tl;dr
Heresy



Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma.[1] It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause,[2] and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion.[3] The founder or leader of a heretical movement is called a heresiarch, while individuals who espouse heresy are known as heretics. Heresiology is the study of heresy.

Contents



The word "heresy" comes from the Greek hairetikos "able to choose" (haireisthai "to choose"). The term heresy is often perceived as a value judgment and the expression of a view from within an established belief system.



Heretics usually do not perceive their own beliefs as heretical. For instance, some Roman Catholics hold Protestantism as a heresy while some non-Catholics considered Catholicism the "Great Apostasy." For a heresy to exist there must be an authoritative system of dogma designated as orthodox, such as those proposed by Catholicism.



The first known usage of the term in a civil legal context was in 380 AD by the "Edict of Thessalonica" of Theodosius I. Prior to the issuance of this edict, the Church had no state sponsored support for any particular legal mechanism to counter what it perceived as 'heresy'. By this edict, in some senses, the line between the Christian Church and the Roman State was blurred. One of the outcomes of this blurring of Church and State was a sharing of State powers of legal enforcement between Church and State authorities. At its most extreme reach, this new Church authority of legal enforcement gave Church leaders the power to pronounce the death sentence upon those whom they might perceive to be 'heretics'.





Perhaps due to the many modern negative connotations associated the term 'heretic', such as the Spanish inquisition, the term is used less often today. There are however, some notable exceptions: see for example Rudolf Bultmann and the "character" of debates over ordination of women and gay priests. The subject of Christian heresy opens up broader questions as to who has a monopoly on spiritual truth, as explored by Jorge Luis Borges in the short story The_Theologians within the compilation Labyrinths.[4]

[edit] Orthodox Judaism

Main article: Heresy in Orthodox Judaism



Orthodox Judaism considers views on the part of Jews which depart from the traditional Jewish principles of faith to be heretical. In addition, the more right-wing groups within Orthodox Judaism hold that all Jews who reject the simple meaning of Maimonides's 13 principles of Jewish faith are heretics.[5] As such, most of Orthodox Judaism considers Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism to be heretical movements, and regards most of Conservative Judaism as heretical. The liberal wing of Modern Orthodoxy is more tolerant of Conservative Judaism, particularly its right wing, as there is some theological and practical overlap between these groups.



Main article: Heresy in Islam

Many in the two main bodies of Islam鈥擲unnis and the Shi'as鈥攈ave regarded the other as heretical. Groups like the Ismailis, the Hurufiya, the Alawis, the Bektashi and even the Sufis have also been regarded as heretical by some[who?]. Although Sufism is often accepted as valid by Shi'a and many Sunnis, the relatively recent movement of Wahhabism view it as heretical.

[edit] Contemporary heresy



Today, heresy can be without a religious context as the holding of ideas that are in fundamental disagreement with the status quo in any practice and branch of knowledge. Religion is not a necessary component of the term's definition. The revisionist paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, who published his findings as The Dinosaur Heresies, jokingly treated the mainstream view of dinosaurs as dogma.



The term heresy is also used as an ideological pigeonhole for contemporary writers because by definition heresy depends on contrasts with an established orthodoxy. For example, the tongue-in-cheek contemporary usage of heresy, such as to categorize a "Wall Street heresy" a "Democratic heresy" or a "Republican heresy", are metaphors which invariably retain a subtext that links orthodoxies in geology or biology or any other field to religion. These expanded metaphoric senses allude to both the difference between the person's views and the mainstream, and the boldness of such a person in propounding these views.

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