False teachers often reinterpret God’s Word to fit their own human ideas. But this isn’t just bad theology—it’s bad logic. Proper teaching about the Bible is based on deductive reasoning, where we view God’s Word as our big picture of truth and draw our ideas FROM it. That’s exegesis. But false teachers often inductively build their own theologies, which is eisegesis. Here’s how to spot the difference.
“Evolution is supported by an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence.” At least, that’s what a first-year biology textbook said, citing natural selection in soapberry bugs as the first example of such evidence. Let’s apply the 7 Checks of Critical Thinking to see whether this claim is true.
A message can sound true just because its source looks authoritative. Some famous experiments in the 60’s showed just how psychologically powerful authority is, revealing that over two thirds of normal adults will unwillingly hurt someone just because an authority figure says to. Knowing how pers...
Is a message true because many people seem to think so? Logic says no, but psychology shows that popular opinion is incredibly persuasive. Research reveals that a third of students will give a wrong answer to an easy question, just because everyone else does. People are also less likely to think ...
