Seven questions to carry with you

Before you accept it, examine it.

Use the same questions for an argument you welcome and an argument you dislike.

Updated 20 October 2026Editorial review edition

1. Name the claimWhat exactly would have to be true? Separate existence, reliability, interpretation and divine authority.2. Identify the sourceFind the text, object or report. A screenshot of a quotation is not its provenance.3. Check date and contextDistinguish event date, composition date and the surviving manuscript. Read the surrounding passage.4. Ask about independenceDo the sources support each other independently, or are they repeating a shared report?5. Read for genre and purposeIs this law, prayer, rhetoric, narrative, commentary, memory or polemic? Who is the audience?6. Compare the alternativesState the strongest competing explanation and the evidence that would distinguish it.7. State the limitsWhat does the evidence establish? What remains an inference, a dispute or a personal conviction?

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What question are you carrying?

A doubt. A passage. Something you have heard but never checked. Give it a place to begin.

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