Is it unloving to call someone a heretic? Not in and of itself; heretic is simply a word that describes people, like this dude, who do not hold to essential Christian doctrine. Surely you can call someone a heretic in an unloving way, but I don’t think that’s really the question.

The problem is, for Doug, the Scriptures don’t mean anything concrete, so he can just quote them how he sees fit, but when someone else tries to use them to refute him, he calls it unloving.

Paul says, “beware of the dogs, those who do evil, the mutilators of the flesh” in Phil 3:2. He is speaking of Jewish believers (or not?) who are trying to force the status of a Jew upon Gentile believers through circumcision. I am sure these people had good intentions, and thought they were right in their judgment, yet Paul comes down on them pretty hard, as he does in Galatians and most of his other letters.

The truth, though I’m not sure this word means much to Doug, is that their IS truth; and believers are to “contend earnestly” for that truth (Jude) and we are to “fight the good fight” of the faith. Our boy can ignore these “war” passages all he wants, but we ARE in a war, thought not against flesh and blood (Eph 6), and it seems to me that this guy is leading the front lines of the wrong side.

Grace and Peace to the 1-1-6 (meaning those who are UN-ashamed of the gospel)