As Philo pointed out, there are rigorous criteria that Christians use to determine doctrine (and the criteria vary from denomination to denomination, but they often relate to Scripture). The problem is that what you and others are offering are essentially non-rigorous appeals to emotion. It is something like, "ECT seems mean, therefore Christians shouldn't hold it." But such appeals to emotion are not rationally or religiously grounded. In fact, we used to recognize that such approaches are logically fallacious.
Now, obviously those who oppose
ECT present the
garb of rationality, so why think that it is nothing more than a garb? The test for whether someone is ultimately relying on an emotional appeal is simple. Let “
AG” represent an argument against
ECT (or secondarily, a set of arguments against
ECT). This is represented as follows:
1. If AG, then ~ECT
When it comes to the question of an appeal to emotion, the relevant question is whether the opponent of
ECT sees
AG as meaningful, or merely as a useful tool to rationalize their predetermined emotional conclusion. If they are being rationally honest and are not appealing to emotion, then the following must be true:
2. If ~AG, then [ECT becomes more plausible]
This is because, if I think that
ECT is false (in part) because
AG is true, then when I learn that
AG is false I will become less certain that
ECT is false. If
AG’s presence increases epistemic certitude, then
AG’s absence must decrease epistemic certitude. Therefore:
3. (1) -> (2)
Now, do those who oppose
ECT hold to (2)? Generally not, and I have not ever encountered such a person. When their argument against
ECT fails, they don’t bat an eye. They just move on as if nothing at all has changed. When
every argument they possess fails against
ECT, they remain just as certain as ever that
ECT must be false. All along, their certitude came from emotional conviction rather than from rational considerations, and this certitude does not diminish in the least when all of their former arguments are lying broken at their feet.