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Perhaps the greatest heresy of all time, Antinomianism preaches that souls are saved only by God's grace... and so there's absolutely no reason to refrain from every imaginable vice and sin.

http://www.rotten.com/library/religion/heresy/antinomianism/

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Many of Luther's students argued in favor of Antinomianism, but Luther himself vigorously refuted the notion. Still, it was a difficult row to hoe. Luther wanted to throw out the entire sin-penalty-forgiveness structure of the church, not just the indulgences but the sacrament of confession and the notion of earthly penance as well.

It was easy enough to toss the baby of sin out with the bathwater of penance. If you were dispensing with the earthly auspices of a religious-criminal justice system, why not simply call an end to the notion of sins and Hell altogether?

While Luther drew the line at Antinomianism, other Protestant sects did not. One of Luther's students was Johann Agricola, who believed that Christians were exempt from following the 10 Commandments.

Luther actually coined the word "Antinomianism" to describe Agricola's beliefs. Luther eventually pressured Agricola into recanting his heresy, but after Luther's death, he picked up right where he had left off ("lying" is in one of the 10 Commandments, after all).

Puritanism and Antinomianism went hand in hand, much like "repressed" and "pervert." As the staunchly Protestant Puritans staked out their ground in the New World, they brought their own subversive countermovement along for the ride.

The last of history's great Antinomians was Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan woman who resembled many of her Antinomian predecessors in that she talked a good game, but led a remarkably chaste and seemingly wholesome life. At least, that's the verdict of history. The fact that she had fifteen children should tell you something about her proclivities.

Hutchinson taught that God couldn't care less whether his people sinned, that there was no rule of law for Christians, and that Christians were not obligated to pray. Known as the "American Jezebel," Hutchison's major claim to fame was her trial and conviction for Antinomian heresy, which led to her banishment from the Puritan settlement near modern-day Boston in 1638.

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Originally posted by PotOnWheel

I don't know what you mean, Spen. But the grandmothers know about sin.

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