can someone please tell me what a heretic is?

Question

i have heard this word used before about certain people and wondered if anyone could please tell me what a heretic is and is it used specifically about religious people thankyou

Answer 1

A heretic is a person who teaches false doctrine.

Answer 2

I shall answer your question with this song and you can decide for yourself...



I am a bold and a Pagan soul
A-ramblin' through this land
I judge the world by my own lights
And I come by my own hand
And if you ask me where I learned
To live so recklessly

My skin, my bones, my Heretic heart
Are my authority

My mother was a singer of tales
My father a dreaming man
And I have swung from the dragon's tongue
And danced on Holy Land
I've sung the seed up out of the ground
And the bird down from the tree

My skin, my bones, my Heretic heart
Are my authority

I once was found but now I'm gone
Away from the "Faithful Fold"
Of those who preach that holiness
Is to do as you are told
Though law and scripture, priest and prayer
Have all instructed me

My skin, my bones, my Heretic heart
Are my authority

Now they tell me Jesus loves me
But I think that he loves in vain
He must go unrequited
On me he has no claim
For the man who would command me must
(Alt: My Goddess is our Lady Moon)
Wear the horn and let me be
(Alt: Whose tides run deep in me)

My skin, my bones, my Heretic heart
Are my authority

And while I breathe this glorious air
An outlaw I'll remain
My body will not be subdued
And I will not be "saved"
And if I cannot shout it loud
I'll sing it secretly

My skin, my bones, my Heretic heart
Are my authority
------Catherine Madsen

Answer 3

A heretic by definition would be:

[n. her-i-tik; adj. her-i-tik, huh-ret-ik][n. her-i-tik; adj. her-i-tik, huh-ret-ik]

Noun.

1.a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church.
2.Roman Catholic Church. a baptized Roman Catholic who willfully and persistently rejects any article of faith.
3.anyone who does not conform to an established attitude, doctrine, or principle.

So, if I say that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ, the church will declare me a heretic. The reason is because it defies the teachings of the church, and I am basically telling everyone that the church is lying. Clearly the church does not like this, so they brand me with the name 'heretic' and might excommunicate me. They may go further and tell people that I'm fraternizing with the devil.

Generally, being a heretic means to think unorthodoxly and against the teachings of the church. Scientists were branded as 'heretics' before science was widely accepted. Many people became 'heretics' because the church did not agree with them.

I hope I made the point clear.

Answer 4

Contentious, highly confrontational, ego, worthless, likes to debate or argue over silly word plays, causes divisions. legalist.

Biblical definition:

Greek: aiJretikov
Hairetikos

fitted or able to take or choose a thing
schismatic, factious, a follower of a false doctrine.

"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;" - Titus 3:9,10.

Answer 5

Heretic - A person believing or practicing heresy.
Heresy - belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine.
Oxford dictionary
It's a nasty word xtians use to describe people who don't believe what they believe.

Answer 6

Heresy is teaching contrary to the truth. Therefore, a heretic would be a person believing a heresy.

Answer 7

A character in the film Troy.

Answer 8

It's a fancy word for "you don't agree with me, so I am going to label you with this title so I can feel better about my skewed views of God."

Answer 9

Anyone who doesn't believe the way I do!

Answer 10

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k_gLnQkq3ss

Heretic is a person who expresses or acts on opinions considered to be heresy.