Below are ten theological statements, each with a hypothesis…and a conclusion.

1. “God does not share his glory…so Jesus must not be divine.”

2. “God is love…so nobody will be sent to hell for eternity.”

3. “God will not be mocked…so he’ll remove your salvation if you keep sinning.”

4. “God is sovereign…so he is the one directly causing every event.”

5. “God is generous…so it’s never his will that you be poor.”

6. “God doesn’t make mistakes…so there are people created only for destruction, to whom salvation is never made available.”

7. “God is just…so he would never do #6.”

8. “God is welcoming…so nobody should be excluded from church.”

9. “It’s all about God…so he does not attend to matters like our personal identites.”

10. “God does not show favoritism…so Christians will not be raptured out of the Tribulation.”

No doubt, like me, you agree vigorously with all ten hypotheses but disagree with some of the conclusions (I’ve deliberately set it up that way).

My point today is not to debate each one, despite the passion they’ve already raised in you just in reading them (and in me in writing them). My point is instead to highlight our common use of weak supporting arguments.

All ten of those statements have one thing in common: Each shows a broad principle of God’s character being applied to a specific doctrine. 

And that is a problem.

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