LHIM Everything

15. A Method to Evaluate Doctrines

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Download: Restoration Theology Student Notes

Introduction

  • Pull together components; rate doctrines 0-100.

  • 4 categories: Biblical (8 pts), logical (6), historical (3), practical (3).

    Twenty-question diagnostic tool to evaluate doctrine

    1. Does the presenter show how the doctrine directly follows from relevant biblical prooftexts?
    2. Does the presenter show evidence for the doctrine across multiple authors of scripture?
    3. If including prooftext with manuscript uncertainties, does the presenter make a case for why his/her preferred reading is likely to be original?
    4. If including prooftexts with translation ambiguities, does the presenter make a case for why his/her preferred translation is likely to be correct?
    5. Does the presenter interpret each prooftext in its literary context, refusing to make the text mean something other than its authorial intent?
    6. Does the presenter interpret each text in its historical context, refusing to make the text mean something it couldn’t have meant in its original setting?
    7. Does the presenter account for the progressive revelation within scripture when assessing the applicability of texts to the doctrine under consideration?
    8. Does the presenter offer explanations for the relevant difficult texts that seem to contradict the doctrine under consideration?
    9. Does the presenter identify his/her assumptions as they relate to the doctrine under consideration?
    10. Does the presenter define any terms or theological words that have multiple meanings?
    11. Does the presenter express the doctrine simply and clearly?
    12. Does the presenter show how the doctrine is logically valid?
    13. Does the presenter refute any logical defeaters?
    14. Does the presenter consider alternative positions on the doctrine and show why his/hers is preferrable?
    15. Does the presenter identify individuals in church history who held the same doctrine?
    16. If no explicit evidence of the doctrine is extant prior to Nicea, does the presenter offer an explanation why this doctrine wasn’t articulated in the first three centuries of Christianity?
    17. If most Christians today do not hold the doctrine, does the presenter explain why the church got off track on this doctrine?
    18. Does the presenter explain how this doctrine does or does not affect practical living today?
    19. Does the application effectively bridge the gap between what they did then and what we do now? (comparable particulars and culturally relative customs)
    20. Does the application account for the messiness and complexity of life in our world today? (e.g. an excommunicated person can go to another church in the same town, drug addiction, technology)

      21. Examples

      • Strobel’s Case for Heaven: 30/100 (weak biblical/logical).

      • McCall’s Against God and Nature: 80/100 (strong, neutral survey).

        The post 15. A Method to Evaluate Doctrines first appeared on Living Hope.
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        LHIM EverythingBy Living Hope International Ministries