Right? I think there are very few sitting up in an attic feverishly typing away trying desperately hard to pervert truth. Heresy is much more subtle and unintentional than that. We are the frog sitting in the pot of cold water not noticing the heat increasing until we're boiled alive.
How can we stay aware of our vulnerability to it? I think by constantly allowing for the fact that we could be wrong.
The most godly people I've known could still aver that they might be wrong. This despite enormous maturity in the faith and a personal relationship with Jesus.
A potter must throw the lump of clay exactly onto the middle of the wheel or the bowl will be misshapen.
Isn't that what heresy is and why we can fall for it? It's just a degree or two off the centre. Basically right and it seems compellingly to address our needs. Down the line however we'll discover that we're not forming a bowl at all but a weird sculpture holding nothing.
Anyone is susceptible to heresy. The pharisees got it wrong, the disciples got it wrong, I get it wrong and I suspect you can too. I don't think any of us mean to, and that's OK. There is grace for that. The danger is when we can't acknowledge that possibility and become embattled and "certain."
Is my lump of clay right on the centre of the wheel?
Is yours?
jsg/oct 19