Illusions of Knowledge
Acts 16:25-31 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Colossians 3:15-17 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
How long have you been going to church? How often do you go? Do you go to Bible class, Sunday school, or small group studies? So then, are you knowledgeable about your faith? Do you know why you believe what you believe? Could you explain your beliefs, and your faith, while it is under scrutiny? Could you do so in a compelling manner? Could you tell me some Bible passages that back up what you want to say to me? Do you know where those Bible passages are? Or would you have to go to your phone to pull them up? Let’s put your knowledge to the test. Without using your phone, (or other reference device) consider and respond to the following questions from a Biblical perspective:
Why should I believe in Jesus? Because He loves me? If He loves me now, why do I need to be a Christian? If He loves me now, what has He ever done for me? Why would I need someone to save me? Why would God love me or save me after what I’ve done? Why should I get baptized? Why should I not have sex before marriage? Does God care about the movies and TV shows that I watch? What about the video games I play? How do I identify a person I should or shouldn’t marry? What are some criteria for the person that I should vote for? Does it matter if I vote?
Were those questions obscure, not relevant to your life or faith today, or not relevant to sharing your faith with others? If they were relevant and straightforward, were they easy for you to answer? Did you have some places in the Bible for me to turn to off the top of your head? If you look back at your answers, would you classify them as, “compelling?” If you were able to compellingly answer them, great! Please consider sharing how you got that way in the comments. That way we can all learn how to expand our ability to answer (1 Peter 3:15-16).
But if those questions were relevant, and you had a hard time answering them, what does that say about the knowledge you have? Is it as expansive as you believed? If you had a hard time answering those questions, what does that say about your ability to live and behave as a God-fearing, righteous individual? What does it say about your ability to share the faith with others? To be sure though, this isn’t an attack or referendum on you or anyone else who struggled. Rather it is meant to illustrate the need for us to be more knowledgeable than we currently are so that we can better share and live out our faith. Or, for those of us who recognize our ignorance, it shows us why we feel inadequate.
But we have our cellphones, mentors, resources, etc., so why do we need to have a working knowledge? Why do we need to have things memorized, understood, and in a form that is accessible and applicable? Well, consider your job. Would your job be OK with you constantly needing to reference materials for each step that you do? Or would that be terribly inefficient and they would fire you and hire someone else? What about a video game? If you had to look up the controls every time you wanted to move or perform this action or that in the video game how good at the game would you be? How fun would the game be? You’d be terrible and you’d hate it because it was too complicated. Or if you were playing with other people, you’d drive them nuts and they wouldn’t want to play with you anymore. So why then is it acceptable not to learn and have a working knowledge base of God’s rules, wisdom, and way to live a righteous life? And, to be fair, which is more important? The job, the video game, or your life and the way you live each and every day? (Plus, if you were in prison like Paul, would you have access to your phone or the Bible?)
If we want to be successful in this life, then knowing God’s ways and His rules are not just essential, they are required. As it says in Psalm 127:1-2 “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep.” In other words, sure we can grope around and try to do things our way, (because we don’t have a working knowledge of God’s way that we use in every action and decision in life), but it will not lead to success except by God’s mercy despite ourselves (Romans 8:28). And success defined in this instance is not what the world calls success. It is not lots of money, a nice house, comfortable living, etc. Success in this instance is going to heaven and training our children so that they go to heaven, too (Proverbs 30:7-9, Romans 11:13-23, and Proverbs 22:6). And if knowing God’s rules and ways are a requirement for our own success, then knowing them must be a requirement for us helping others to be successful (i.e., get to heaven) as well.
Consider John 14:25-26. There, in talking to the Apostles at the Last Supper, Jesus had this to say, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” Many use that passage to tell us not to worry about knowing what to say because the Holy Spirit will help us in our hour of need. However, consider the very last portion of Jesus’ statement, “and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” How can the Holy Spirit help us remember something we’ve never heard? Therefore, telling others about Jesus, living our lives, and giving a defense of our faith isn’t something that we should go about haphazardly. We must put in the time, dedication, and work of listening to the Word of God (i.e., the Bible) as Mary did (See 2 Timothy 3:16, John 1:1-4, 14-15, 29-31 and Luke 10:38-42).
For better or for worse, a working knowledge of something is required for us to be able to use the information we have. It is only then that we become efficient and effective in our work. Moreover, like knowing how to play a video game makes it fun, so too does joy come when we do things according to God’s way. But how do we obtain a working knowledge of God’s Word that cannot be taken from us (i.e., a knowledge that is within our hearts and minds)?
Perhaps the hardest and most tedious method of obtaining a working knowledge of God’s Word is through brute-force memorization. In this method, a person simply repeats Bible passages and Biblical knowledge over and over again until it becomes ingrained into their mind. This can be done through writing, speaking, reading, or rehearsing in one’s mind. Or for a faster approach, do all of those things because in doing so we engage more avenues of remembering. In that way we hear, we see, we touch, we speak, and we think of the information instead of just one or a few of those ways of engaging with the information. Another way we make this method easier, more tolerable, and more memorable includes using symbols and pictures around our homes and lives. For example, we want to remember to pray without ceasing no matter whether or not times are good or bad (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). To do so, perhaps put a picture of someone praying on a clock or as the background of your phone’s lock screen. Then every time you see it recite the Bible passage and pray a prayer.
Another way we learn well is by focusing on the things that impact our lives right now. In other words, associate something we learn with something that is currently happening in our lives. That emotional and physical experience is useful in drawing out memories and lessons. For example, are you struggling to get along with your spouse? Choose to focus on and memorize a passage about love such as 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Are you struggling with the loss of a spouse, child, friend, or parent? Consider focusing on the sadness Jesus felt at the death of Lazarus because it reminds you that God is not cold and far away when those whom we love die (John 11:1-44). Or, when it is helpful, consider memorizing Job 19:23-27. There the Bible talks about seeing God with our own eyes as a way to remember where your loved one (if they are a Christian) is. Or perhaps if they died during a time of trouble consider memorizing Isaiah 57:1. There Isaiah talks about God’s mercy by taking the righteous away from the suffering and evil of the world through bodily death.
Moreover, what is one thing that we do when we are happy or sad? We tend to listen to music that helps elevate or match our mood. (For example, see how music helped King Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14-16, 22-23.) Consider how Paul when he was in prison wasn’t preaching. Instead, he and Silas were singing hymns. In other words, he put into practice what he said in Colossians 3:15-17. Do not underestimate the power of the hymns and songs you sing. Yes the main person who we learn came to faith in the story of Paul and Silas was the jailer. But remember, who was listening – the other prisoners. Their songs had such an effect that those people didn’t just dart out of the cells when they opened. Instead, they stayed. Therefore, consider carefully which songs you are learning. Are they helping you memorize what God has done for you? Do they help you know how to live your life? Do they help you tell others about Jesus? What if the songs you listen to as you go about your day at work don’t just lift you up, but help you get others to heaven by sharing the Gospel with them? What if when you are in a dark place you don’t have to find the song that helps and lifts you up because you can sing it without the music? Moreover, those same songs can be used to teach us otherwise hard-to-memorize information. Think about the ABCs. I imagine you can still sing the ABCs today. That is why when it comes to raising children, consider singing them hymns and Biblical songs as lullabies. Those songs will stay with people just like they stay with you.
Another way to learn and memorize things is by associating them with a story. Or, as Jesus put it, a parable. Our minds when they can relate something to stories that are meaningful and emotional are better able to remember the associated information. But more than that, we are more apt to put that information into practice because we can see the effects of the information. For example, if you get bitten by a dog, that experience makes you more likely to be wary of dogs. But we are also generally wary of wolves and sharks. Have any one of us been bitten by a wolf or a shark? Probably not. But the stories we hear and the images we see about them teach us lessons to be wary of them. And so we generally are, even though we never had that personal experience.
That is one reason why the Bible isn’t a book of rules. Instead, it is generally a book of stories. We hear about the pain and suffering of the Israelites when they abandoned God to teach us through images and stories to be faithful. We have the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection because it has a greater impact than just saying Jesus was God, He lived, died, and rose again.
Consider too how images and stories help us not only learn but explain and tell others. What is more impactful to a person suffering from sin and terrified of God’s wrath? To tell them Jesus loves them? Or to tell them the story of Saul who murdered God’s people and yet God forgave him, and raised him up to be one of the most effective apostles? How about the story of Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross and He turns, while in pain, to forgive the man also dying next to Him of his sins? Stories demonstrate truths, help people relate and understand, and help people draw their own conclusions that otherwise would be difficult for them to accept. That is why and what makes a personal testimony effective in getting more people to heaven. It isn’t the story of you, it is the story of God that can relate to the person you are talking to. Keep in mind, however, that sometimes our testimony doesn’t relate to the person we are talking to, so having other stories, in particular Biblical stories, memorized is very important.
Therefore, are you a leader or pastor in the church? How then do you think you should go about teaching within the church? Which, in general, is going to be more impactful: telling people simple truths, or showing them through the stories and images you share? In other words, the story should not be the attention-grabbing anecdote followed by you telling them all sorts of unrelated information now that you have their attention. After all, they need something to relate the information to in order to better retain and use the information.
Moreover, that is why leaders and teachers need to focus on information that is presently relevant and practically useful. Meaningless information may be remembered for a day, and interesting information for a week, but useful information can last a lifetime. Think about it. How much advanced algebra or calculus do you remember from High School? How about the classic books you read such as MacBeth? How about geography? Do you remember anything from geography? Did that information even last you over one summer? But addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division you probably remember how to do. One because it was repeated a ton, but two because you still have to use it today.
And that brings me to my final point on remembering information, we must use that information regularly. Again go back to a video game you were really good at. Could you pick up that game after a year or two and be just as good as you were back then? Probably not. After all, time without using dulls our abilities. Hence why we should focus on the information that is actually useful to us right now and for the rest of our lives. That way we are regularly using it and therefore we are less likely or able to forget it.
So how do we tell if we’ve actually learned something? How do we tell what we have a working knowledge of? We know we have a working knowledge of something in our hearts and minds when we use it. When it directs our lives in an almost automatic way (Deuteronomy 11:18-21). Or another way we know God’s Word and principles are bound to us is, as the Bible says, when we speak about them:
Luke 6:43-45 For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
What are you talking about these days? What are the important issues and circumstances in your life that you can associate with God’s Word? What is your favorite story in the Bible and what does it teach you? What are some examples of things you have memorized and how did you learn them (e.g., a pneumonic, song, life experience, story, etc.)?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
Find more stuff, including The Body of Christ: Join or Die. merchandise, and free Bible studies at ChristianBibleScholars.com.
© Copyright 2024 Peter Kucenski