Verification

To be able to verify the accuracy or “orthodoxy” of any particular belief, one must apply an objective approach.  The question is, “Does this belief agree or disagree with what the church has always believed and taught?”  To answer this question, one must use logic, analysis and criticism.  One cannot “feel” their way to an answer, for to even formulate an answer, the work of criticism must be performed.  In essence, to say, “I just don’t feel right about that” is irrelevant.  It does not matter how one feels.  What matters is what the church says.  And in order to identify what the church believes/teaches, one must examine and compare, i.e., critique the item in question.

Subjective or objective?

What does it mean to “love your neighbor”?  The further along I go into the Christian life, the more often this question keeps coming to mind.  And I’m afraid that I might not have the right answer.  It would be interesting to ask this question to a variety of “authorities” and see if there are differing answers.  Before jumping to conclusions, one must remember that one’s current culture, upbringing and personality all will have some effect on what we think is the answer.  For example, one response could be, “treat others as you would want to be treated.”  Does that then mean that if you prefer to be left alone for the most part, then you should leave others alone?  From the people I know, most prefer company over seclusion.

One thing that comes to mind is the relatively recent concept of “the five love types”.  I wonder if this system of categorization has any bearing on this question.  To suggest so, it seems to me, would be to make love subjective, rather than being objectively defined.  Which is, of course, a terrible slippery slope to start down.  But if “loving your neighbor” is objectively, then it can be objectively defined and therefore successfully (to some degree or another) carried out.  It would be nice to have a tangible definition in hand.