HERETICS

I continue to watch a lot of theological debates on YouTube. Many of them on doctrines of Calvinism, but some also on hell vs. annihilation and, lately, on the nature of God's omniscience. 

Which is really a struggle over the question, "If God knows the future, is everything necessarily already predetermined and set in stone?"

(I have to limit videos concerning the omniscience debate, though. Large doses give me headaches.)

In watching these various debates, I have come to realize that the label "heretic!" is the Christian world's version of "racist!"

• Every once in a great while it is accurate.
• Nobody cares about the dictionary definition.
• It is deployed like a grenade. 
• It is intended to end the conversation.
• It is a pronouncement based not so much upon solid evidence as upon the accuser's questionable ability to look into the heart and mind of the accused.
• It is apparently difficult to make the accusation without smug superiority dripping from the accuser's tongue.

And ... it grows tiresome quickly.