Heresies in the Early Church often look a little obscure to us today. The ideas of the Arians or the Docetists are not easy to grasp, and when we do understand them we tend to wonder what all the fuss was about.

Most of us, therefore, have never heard of the Pelagian heresy, but even if we don't subscribe to it ourselves, we will almost certainly know a Christian who does. Pelagius's idea was simple. It was possible, this monk maintained, if one tried very hard, to do God's will all the time. For most of us, this is impossible; and therefore we have the benefit of Jesus' sacrifice to redeem us.

Looks harmless, doesn't it? But the moment the famous Augustine heard about it, he knew it was wrong, wrong, wrong. After a suitable struggle, Pelagius was pronounced a heretic, and his ideas condemned to the scrap-heap.

At least, so Augustine hoped. But Pelgianism has never died. Indeed, it's present in most religions, and you'll even find it in Program. There it takes the form of believing that Steps 10, 11 and 12 tell us how we should conduct our lives. If we follow the directions of these Steps, our thinking goes, then we'll find a relationship with God.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Pelagianism is a heresy because it gets everything upside down. Our "salvation" must begin with a Power greater than -- and other than -- ourselves. That is the miracle of Program -- I surrender, and a Power greater than myself does all that needs to be done. To deny that this surrender was needed was what made Pelagius a heretic. To deny that this surrender is needed renders any sort of recovery impossible. And to think that Steps 10, 11 and 12 are there to make us good is to misunderstand them at depth.