Though still young by most assessments (and old by absolutely none, as far as I know!), I think I have somewhat "mellowed out" in my views - this tends to be the trend with age and even the scantiest amount of life experience; sharp edges are worn off, and that little thing called "reality" has a way of sanding off blemishes in the finish.
For example, my politics have changed a great deal; when I was young, my over-active sense of justice (and egotistical over-emphasis upon even the slightest sense of my being slighted or otherwise "ripped off") caused me to hold to very "rightist" or "conservative" political views (as understood in the American/Canadian political milieu; I'm sure my politics by many standards would still be viewed as "conservative" in many other countries). However with time, and in particular working/life experience, I began to see that such "replubican-esque" (or in Canada, "Reformer/Canadian-Alliacne"-esque) views to be the retreat of those who've never had to do hard, manual work in their life or worry if they have money to feed themselves, their wife, or their children (in other words, the politics of the comfortable and priveleged.) Now, I'm a died in the wool socialist, though certainly not a communist (gasp), and socially/morally I believe public policy should follow a "Christian" line (which I refuse to define as being either "conservative" or "liberal" - another thing which has changed in my manner of thinking...the realization that Christianity, at least Orthodoxy, does not fit properly into either of those narrow, secular categories.)
One big area of change, is in my view of heterodox confessions - or put more plainly "heretical Christianities". In a past age, my extremism (common to youth I suppose, and the fruit of inexperience and a bratty sense of entitlement) would have caused me to say "if they're wrong, then they're wrong, that's all that needs to be said, they're basically lepers we feel sorry for, but not really". Oddly enough, though I don't view the matter this way, in another sense my view of heresy itself has become much harsher - softer on heretics as individuals, but more unrelenting as far as the poisonous nature of heresy itself goes.
For example in the past, deep down I would have to say that my view was "if someone was not in the 'correct way', they really don't even deserve the title 'Christian', since isn't a 'Christian' a particular thing... not just a few things, but the whole thing...thus if they've perverted that, they're not real Christians, properly speaking'.
However, I don't hold to this view anymore. A "Christian" is someone who follows Christ. While the rigorist can come up with the legalistic argument that no heretic follows the "real Christ", let us leave the realm of such doctrinaire discourse and thinking realistically for a moment. Christ is a Person, not an abstraction, an idea on paper. While there are proper, correct things that are true of Him, and certainly a proper codification of the sum of what He truly taught (or how His words are properly understood), to say that the simple Protestant woman or the little old Catholic man kneeling before his Spanish crucifix is not adoring and addressing their suplications to the "carpenter from Nazareth" is absurd. Such a thought would only be true, if Christ were nothing but an idea, or an abstraction of philosophers and mythologists.
It is true, that St.Paul did speak of "other Christs" being preached by heretics in his age; but these speak to very profound, disturbing types of heresy, which save for a few unfortunate examples in our day, doesn't apply to Protestants or Roman Catholics (or to the Oriental Orthodox peoples.) While to varying degrees these groups have "lost their way" (and by no means in unimportant matters), it is quite obvious they are not considerate of another Lord. St.Paul was in his case, speaking of the docetic/proto-gnostic groups in his day, who really were teaching another Christ - an entity which in almost every detail, was different (save in name) from the Lord and Saviour we seek after and try our best (hopefully) to serve.
Rather the nature of most of the heterodoxy we now face (as it comes from the Oriental Orthodox/Protestant/Roman Catholic milieu) comes from erroneous and dangerously incomplete symbols of faith regarding what one may truthfully say of this "real, objective Christ" or what He taught and what His ultimate significance is to the world (and to you and I as individuals).
Heresy is a poison, not because it is a failure to grasp all of the tidbits of gnostic-like knowledge we need to know, a kind of secret handshake without which the guardians of paradise will not admit us. Rather it perverts and hampers the straight path, which a man must follow if he will save his soul. Thus the truthfulness of the saying "no salvation outside of the Church", for there is no way but the way the Church teaches for someone to save their soul. Whether someone not properly a member of Her saves their soul or can save their soul, is something I do not know (nor does anyone that I am aware of). It does not strike me as impossible, but it is ultimatly something in the hands of our eminantly fair and merciful Lord.
Indeed, it is precisely because heresy perverts the way of the seeker, that we have to make the sad conclusion that just because someone is formally "Orthodox" does not mean they will save their soul either. Indeed, what good is having all of the proper nutrition, all of the proper information for one's health, if one does not take advantage of it? They may be in the hospital, strictly speaking, but they will die just as easily as the wretch laying out in the gutter if this is who they are going to behave (perhaps even easier, because they will be deluded by the sights and smells of being in the hospital, confusing this for automatic healthiness.)
Thus, as far as I'm concerned, most of the heterodox that the users of this forum will encounter are Christians, and indeed to varying degrees their beliefs and practices are "of the Church", even if not strictly speaking practied within Her embrace. These poor folks (whose sincerity often outstrips our own, often self satisified lethargy) deserve our prayers, and charitable correction and outreach, not simple vitriole - yet of course, without commiting the excess of the ecumenists, who pretend that these meaningful disagreements and heresies do not really matter, and can be overcome by obfuscation and ignorance.
Seraphim
)