Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. A heresy is false doctrine held by a person who intendsto assent to Christ's teaching, but who actually assents to hisown choice and opinion. The word heresy means picking andchoosing. A heretic is one who picks and chooses what he wishes tobelieve.
2. Heresy is a corruption of Christian faith. It has noreference tosecular doctrines and opinions, but only to thosethat have a bearing on the faith itself.
3. Heresy is error, and hence cannot be tolerated by themind. It is against God, and hence cannot be tolerated by faith.Heresy is therefore not to be tolerated, but heretics are to betolerated, except in so far as they are a menace to the faith ofbelievers.
4. The Church receives to penance and reconciliation thosewho return after a lapse into heresy.
"A person who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars."
Thomas á Kempis
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"When the devil has failed in making a man fall, he puts forward all his energies to create distrust between the penitent and the confessor, and so by little and little he gains his end at last."
St Philip Neri
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