Kirk Cameron came out recently saying that he leaned toward a view of conditionalism which is a flavor of annihilationism. Many people started to ask, “Is Kirk Cameron a heretic?” Todd Friel described why he thinks annihilationism is not a heresy and why therefore Cameron is not a heretic. To do this, he utilized a common method that categorizes each theology as either “Essential” or “Non-Essential”. In his view, to be classified as a heresy, the wrong idea must be about an essential doctrine (he also seemed to say if you hold to a heresy, then you are a heretic, but that may have just been in the context of Cameron’s position as a teacher) The problem is that this method of categorization regarding heresy does not come from Scripture. So we feel that it is worth discussing what the bible actually says about heresy and what makes a man a heretic. While Friel and many others say that heresy is different than error or being wrong, the Greek word that is translated heresy means “to choose”. The word also contains the idea of creating divisions. So heresy fundamentally means to choose to believe something that is not true. But does this mean that everyone who chooses to believe something that is not true is a heretic. NO. Absolutely not. According to scripture, a heretic is one who refuses to repent when corrected and who teaches their false view to others, causing division in the body of Christ.
So, why is it dangerous to make heresy to hold to something essential? Because what scripture teaches us is that God loves those things that we do out of faith and he hates those who love lawlessness. And lawlessness is not limited to “essential” doctrines, but springs up in many places and defiles many. It’s also dangerous to define heresy as something other than error, as it makes distinctions and categories that God does not make. It lets us give ourselves a pass on willful disobedience to the word, and it ignores the fact that all doctrine is connected. As we will discuss in this episode, annihilationism attacks the nature of the atonement and the depth of God’s justice and mercy. This is true of many other doctrines that would not be considered “essential”. So we disagree strongly with Todd Friel about whether annihilationism is a heresy. But is Kirk Cameron a heretic? Watch the episode, and let us know what you think in the comments (more importantly, let us know what you believe the scriptures say, and help us correct our thinking if we are wrong).
Timecodes
00:00:00 Todd Friel on Heresy
00:03:51 What is Heresy?
00:10:32 Gradations of Heresy
00:34:37 Confessions
00:36:59 Essential Doctrines?
00:43:35 Advancement of Doctrine
01:00:09 Lofty Goal
01:05:00 All Doctrine is Serious
01:09:58 Reject a Heretic
01:32:47 Pulled from the Fire

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson