No matter what your belief system the essentials of that system must be followed, but how can you know for sure it is the truth?

The solution: Do your homework. If you follow anything blindly you are at the whim of whomever you follow, even if they don't have the intent to mislead. Your responsibility is to check out the leader's actions as it relates to the rulebook. In spiritual practice the same would hold for someone who misinterprets or deliberately changes the meaning of doctrine. Even if they have adherents, that doesn’t make it law. The reason we have rulebooks, the Torah, The Bible, The Qur’an, etc. is so we can hold others and be held ourselves accountable. All teaching, actions and beliefs must be tested in light of the rule book.

The idea is that no matter what your belief system, you are ultimately responsible for researching the facts. First and foremost does the rulebook you adhere to have the historical and logical truth to back it as a viable plan? Secondly, does the person leading you with that book follow the proper, unadulterated intent of those rules?

From "The Quest for Spiritual Truth" by Randal S. Kinkade, copyright 2007