Who determines what is false doctrine?
Who determines what qualifies as false doctrine? Is it William Branham? Is it the Roman Catholic church? Is is some denomination? The better question is this - How do I, as a Christian, determine what constitutes false doctrine?
The question that was directed to us
In the catholic faith, this is the Pope or the teaching magisterium that determines the true meaning of scripture on matters of morals and faith. I don't necessarily agree, but that is one model.
In denominations, there is usually a statement of faith. Who developed these? Holy Ghost filled, born again believers? Who really knows in each case. Many denominations have vastly different beliefs. So someone is wrong.
Is it tradition that determines true and "false" doctrine?
My point is that people make the claim that X is a false doctrine, or so and so is "off the Word". But based on what authority do they say that? There own? Because that is the standard tradition in Christianity over the past 2000 years?
I like this post topic and exchange because it has really caused me to ponder this question once again.
So often this kind of discussion ends in something like "my scholar is smarter than your scholar" .....or so and so has studied the greek for 30 years....
I personally think this is a faulty premise. Scholarship is not a biblical proof of authority. If it were, then Jesus would have probably commended the Pharisees on their studies.
(please, please do not assume I hold this position simply to support WMB's 7th grade education. Not everything I say comes from, or is meant to simply support the message)
I look for patterns in the bible. I look at how God operated in the past for clues how he may operate in the future.
One such pattern is that God chooses to confound the wise. So we need to be careful if we find ourself leaning on the wise exclusively.
In my opinion... to much knowledge can create a blind spot on someone. They won't be able to see past their set of truths if something comes along that is outside their list of truth. I think this is why Jesus chose the disciples that he chose.
We need to be careful if we build a model or a methodology whereby we can "study ourselves into the kingdom".
What the Bible says
Footnotes