Charis

From Jesus lips to your screen, the key to understanding if a doctrine is from GOD is doing HIS will:

John 7:12 And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people…
16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
17 If any man (444-anthropos-human) will 8) do his will 8), he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

And I thought this- from my little collection of quotes- was apropos.

The Lord said that He was going to send His Spirit to lead us into all truth. All truth is in Jesus, of whom the Spirit was sent to testify (Eph 4:21). The Bible is a most precious and wonderful gift from the Lord to His people. But the Bible was not meant to take the place of the Lord Himself, nor the Spirit whom He sent. The Bible is a means, not an end. Knowing the book of the Lord is not our goal; our goal is to know the Lord of the book. The many errors and divisions within the body of Christ are not due to fault in the Bible, but our misuse of it. Some of the laws and principles we have wrested from the NT rival anything that the Pharisees did to the OT! This has caused us to measure our spirituality by how well we conform to the letter. Ours spirituality is not found in adapting to a form, but by the forming of Jesus within us….

It is possible to understand all Christian doctrine accurately and yet not be a Christian. Being a Christian is not just understanding certain doctrines and spiritual principles- it is having our life in Jesus. If the truth leads us to life in Jesus, it has accomplished its purpose. But if the truth becomes the focal point, it kills- it is the knowledge of good and evil.

Christians, disciples of Jesus who He said would be recognized by their love, have demonstrated the uncanny ability to agree on 98% of their doctrines and separate from one another over the 2% on which they disagree. Required agreement on nonessentials is almost always rooted in insecurity, a symptom that the authority is not rooted in Christ. If we are rooted and abiding in Christ, we will not be intimidated by even the most severe challenges. The one who derives his authority from above understands the Lord’s supreme authority and power and will not be overly concerned with even the greatest opposition from men…

from There Were Two Trees in the Garden