Challange the prevailing dogma, worry your pastor, upset the stuff, make a change in this world.
It turns out Jesus doesn’t forgive people’s sins; his followers do (or are supposed to).
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.” And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.”
John 20:21-23 NET
Some people will come to us – the wonderful heretics – with words that feel right. They may tell us things are not as they are. Then they will offer to sell you something better. If they are selling something, it may be snake oil, so apply some of that doubt you have been saving up before you and your money are parted.
The “What are they selling?” test is a good one for spotting deception and misleading articles (aka fake news).
Often, deceivers come to you in a white hat, claiming to help, and promoting the truth “they don’t want you to know”. They will claim that established organisations – big pharma, for example – are suppressing the truth. That is when you notice that this narrative supports whatever it is that they are selling.
What they are selling might be literal snake oil, but can as easily be a political party, an agenda, extremism, fear, their special blend of essential oils, or anything else that is not in your interests at all.
To discern the fibbers, look for what it is they are selling.
Richard Fosbury was an American high jumping heretic. He won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics, revolutionising the high jump event with a “back-first” technique now known as the Fosbury flop. By the wisdom of the day, this was the “wrong way” to high jump. Fosbury did it his way and smashed the world record.
Be a bit more like Richard Fosbury.
The wise heretic should be able to spot the fakery of the snake oil salesman. I bring this up now as understanding snake oil is key to becoming an advanced and remarkable heretic.
Snake oil is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, snake oil salesman is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution.The term comes from the “snake oil” that used to be sold as a cure-all elixir for many kinds of physiological problems. Many 18th-century European and 19th-century United States entrepreneurs advertised and sold mineral oil (often mixed with various active and inactive household herbs, spices, drugs, and compounds, but containing no snake-derived substances whatsoever) as “snake oil liniment”, making claims about its efficacy as a panacea. Patent medicines that claimed to be panaceas were extremely common from the 18th century until the 20th century, particularly among vendors masking addictive drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine, alcohol, and opium-based concoctions or elixirs, to be sold at medicine shows as medication or products promoting health.
Snake oil, Wikipedia
Maybe it happens because of you
It is only worth something for as long as we agree it is.
It was Joshua. No, seriously, Yeshua is the short form of Yehoshua, which goes into Greek as Iēsous and that into Latin as Iesus and into English as Jesus. If you translate from the source, you get Joshua.
But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Matthew 18:5-6, NLT
So, uh, pinch of salt please.
Sorry, capitalists, JC and his friends were all about sharing, feeding the poor, and caring for immigrants.
Check out Mark 10:25 if you don’t believe me.
Now for some political heresy. Austerity was a mistake; maintaining it is murder.
Where do I get off saying such things? I’m just quoting facts.
In 2022, over 1 million people in the EU died from preventable causes.
Trade unions are urging increased public investment and wealth taxes to reverse the trend.
More than 1 million people in the European Union died from avoidable causes in 2022, according to new data from a Eurostats report. Of these, over 386,000 deaths were attributed to diseases treatable with quality healthcare, while at least 725,000 could have been prevented through effective public health interventions.
Austerity Linked To Over One Million Preventable Deaths In Eu
One rule that should be broken regularly is “stay in your lane”. Don’t do that. It’s boring, and nothing changes. Get out of your lane once in a while and try something different.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Jesus was all about equality; He held women to be equal to men.
Jesus treated outcasts as his equals and was critical of elitists.
Sorry righties, Jesus was woke!