— A Truthscape Assessment —

Testing All Things

Do you test what you are taught by Scripture — or by feeling, results, or reputation?

Purpose

Scripture does not ask believers to be gullible. It commands the opposite: “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and “test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). The question is not whether you should test — it is what you test by.

Everyone measures teaching against something. For some it is the written word of God; for others a feeling, the size or success of a ministry, or the reputation of a favorite teacher. This assessment asks four things: what you test by, whether you examine before accepting, what you do when teaching fails the test, and whether you test everyone — or only the people you already doubt.

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”— 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (KJV)

A quick diagnostic. About five minutes. It is not a test of how much you know, but of how you decide what to believe. Answer honestly, not aspirationally: the goal is to see how you actually test, not how you think you should.

1 Strongly disagree  ·  2 Disagree  ·  3 Unsure / mixed / never considered  ·  4 Agree  ·  5 Strongly agree
0 of 0 answered
Your Diagnostic Outcome

This is a diagnostic tool, not a spiritual verdict — a starting point for testing how you receive the apostolic word.

Recommended Truthscape Reading Path

Begin with one question or tension the assessment exposed. Do not try to resolve everything at once.

    How this outcome was determined

    This is a guide, not a verdict. Your outcome reflects the patterns in your answers — a starting point for testing, not a label.

    What Is the Apostolic Deposit? Start Here The Truthscape Map Test the Argument

    Optional next step: the checkbox above the assessment shares your pattern anonymously for research. The form below is separate and only needed if you want a personal reply; if you submit it, your name, email, and results are sent to Truthscape.

    How to Test a Teaching

    Testing Is Obedience, Not Suspicion

    Testing what we are taught is not cynicism or a lack of love; Scripture treats it as faithfulness. The Bereans were called fair-minded for it (Acts 17:11), and the Ephesian church was commended for testing those who claimed to be apostles (Revelation 2:2). The steps below are how Truthscape tests any claim.

    1. Name the claim. What exactly is being taught?
    2. Find its texts. Which passages are offered to support it?
    3. Read them in context. Do they actually say what is claimed?
    4. Compare Scripture with Scripture. How do clearer passages bear on it?
    5. Check the apostolic pattern. Is this how the apostles taught and practiced?
    6. Weigh the source honestly. Am I giving this teacher a pass because I like him?
    7. Set feelings and results aside. Am I persuaded by the text, or by how it feels or what it produces?
    8. Render a verdict. Affirm, reject, revise, or keep studying — and act on it.
    Final Self-Examination
    • When I decide something is true, what actually persuaded me — the text, or something else?
    • Do I examine teaching before I accept it, or only afterward, if ever?
    • When I find teaching to be false, do I reject it, or tolerate it to keep the peace?
    • Do I test the teachers I love by the same standard as the ones I distrust?
    • Am I willing to test my own long-held beliefs, not only other people’s?
    • Do I test in love, to guard the truth — or in pride, to win an argument?

    Discernment is not the same as suspicion, and it is not the same as knowledge. A person can know a great deal and still believe whatever a trusted voice tells him. The point of this assessment is not to make you distrust everyone, but to move your confidence off of feelings, results, and reputations and onto the word that does not fail.

    “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”— 1 John 4:1 (NKJV)