164: How Should We Decide What is and is Not a “Closed-Hand” Issue?

On every major issue, doctrine, or point of theology, there are a variety of views and perspectives. Even within Protestantism there are many differing opinions and conclusions. In episode 101, Kenny discussed whether or not every area of theology and doctrine were of equal importance; making the point that some genres of theology are more important than others. In that particular episode, Kenny explains that he holds to a concept of “open-hand” issues versus “closed-hand” issues; in essence, we embrace the simple idea that some Christian doctrines are essential and extremely important, while some others are not as important and there can be room for disagreement among faithful believers in those areas. In response to that episode, Kenny received an e-mail from a regular listener asking how we determine what are the closed-hand issues and what are the open-hand issues? Basically, how do we determine the importance of a topic? In this episode, Kenny tackles that topic, explaining the history of how Evangelicals have come to the consensus of what are the closed-hand issues.