Heresy and Apostasy

Not even if he had them by the neck, I vow

Would e'er these people scent the Devil

-Goethe, Faust

I may have done this before, if so please pardon me for repeating myself.
Heresy is false doctrine, it is something that is theologically wrong.  It is defined solely in contrast to the accepted doctrine and theology of a group of people.  While it is generally applied to religious beliefs, you could also apply the label to other fields where there is a commonly accepted group of principles.  You can therefore have a heretical scientist, who eschews the scientific method for something that more closely resembles sorcery (think Frankenstein).  In fact, as I think about it, the modern character of the mad scientist, is in fact nothing more than a modern or postmodern rendering of the heretic.
Apostasy, on the other hand, is not the same thing, though they are sometimes lumped into the same soup.  Apostasy is the rejection of the values and the practices of a system, an apostate is someone who once subscribed or belonged to a group, but has chosen to no longer do so, or has been cast out (possibly due to views that could be considered heresy, but more likely over some ethical dissent).
On the other side of the balance, you have orthodoxy, which is defined as "right" belief or practice.  There are Orthodox Jews and there is he Eastern Orthodox Church, there are even Orthodox Presbyterians, but notice the capitalization, those are names, chosen for themselves, not descriptions.  True orthodoxy is a much broader stream, and history has shown us that many within the stream of orthodoxy consider others, also within the bounds of orthodoxy, to be heretical.  There are things that I believe as protestant that the Roman Catholic Church considers both heretical and apostate, and therefore un-orthodox.  There are things that I believe and support as a Presbyterian that many in other protestant traditions consider apostasy, there are things that I, as an individual believer hold in my heart that are probably heretical to my own tradition (for instance I'm sort of glib about the whole predestination thing, but that's another article).
I also admit that there are things I see other people holding to that I would certainly label heretical: dispensational eschatology, the prosperity Gospel, and I have big problems with the apostasy of many who call themselves Christians, but make no effort to live in a Christ-centered way.  I am pretty ready to question the convictions of those who disagree with me about social issues, and who call me heretical or apostate, and shoot the same words right back at them, because, "OOH I HATE THEM VARMINTS!!"
And that's where I realize that the Devil has got me by the neck.  Within the church we love to lob various verses from Paul's letters to Timothy back and forth at each other, things about itching ears and false teachers and God breathed scriptures.  But when you sort of step back and read the whole two letters, you will notice that what Paul is doing is telling Timothy to stay the heck out of all that mud slinging, don't hate them, don't fear them, just don't get involved with it, because it's futile.  Hold on to what you have been taught and what the Spirit is doing in you and through you, don't get pulled into the wrangling about heresy and apostasy and orthodoxy, because they're all going to distract you from the Good News.
It's funny, sort of, that Paul's one-liners are so often taken out of that context and made to engage "the enemy" on the very ground that he was exhorting his young protege to avoid.  Seriously, Paul's message to Timothy in both letters: "haters gonna hate, shake it off."  Yep, there's that Taylor Swift song again... hanging my head a little bit, but darn if that isn't good advice.
I believe that the Devil, or whatever you want to call the adversary of God, has really mastered using human beings as the primary weapon in the war of chaos against creativity.  So much so that perhaps our somewhat medieval notions of some sort of monstrous demon are outmoded to the point of being dangerous.  When our desire for truth can be so easily turned into a crusade against other versions of the truth, when our desire to live righteous lives can turn so quickly into persecution of those who live differently than we do... well I think  you know who wins.