Thanks Robin, that's good info still fairly on point....if we feel we have views at odds with the church and they matter to us, then there's good precedence that we should raise those publicly as an invitation to debate if we're convicted that it's true and it matters.

I think one of the important things this does is ensure that we don't leave our brethren in a difficult position of being exposed to heresy, as they may see it, and thire desire to avoid causing unnecessary shameful pain to us by exposing us. Bringing our ideas in the open, vs. cowering behind the back of orthodoxy (or any commonly held view of things) is a good thing. We all need time and space to develop ideas sometimes, especially when we simply need iron to sharpen our iron, but once Luther felt like he was ready he made things very public. Perhaps even if that had not been the common manner of the day, he would have done the same thing.

-Barry