The importance of knowledge

Christians come in every belief genre imaginable. From the extremely liberal who simply believe in Jesus and not much more to the extreme conservative who believes in every letter of the law and neglect to remember that Jesus is about faith, grace and liberty. He is the spirit and fulfillment of the law.

It’s unfortunate that far too many Christians are not aware that knowledge is just as important in their following of Christ as their trust, belief and faithfulness.

Jesus said, “know” (or have knowledge of) the truth and the truth will set you free.  He went on to say that He (Jesus) is the truth.

The word for knowledge in the Koine’ Greek (language of the Roman empire in the time of Christ and the language in which the New Testament is written) is “gnosis” which means “to know”.

Here in is the problem, too many Christians  don’t really know what they believe. Those that do  know can’t explain it and many just throw out any old “psycho-babble” in an attempt to explain some obscure or even weird doctrine they have  attached to their belief system.

Case and point: 
This writer encountered two separate situations this past week in which literal absurdities and embarrassing statements were made on behalf of the Christian church.

(In an attempt to avoid an all out battle with these people both their names and points of reference will not be revealed at present.)

In the first situation,  a so called Christian writer and self proclaimed preacher wrote a supposed original article on how he had come up with an idea on how the church can utilize technology to better proclaim the gospel. Since the article seemed interesting I began reading the article only to be  amazed at the writer’s lack of knowledge.  Everything the writer included in his article was approximately 20 years old or older and most of the information was both outdated and had failed. On top of everything else the writer had plagiarized these failed sources and had no apparent understanding of grammar. It was both an embarrassment and insult to Christianity. The writer had no knowledge about the topic of which he wrote.

The second situation is one which my FaceBook friends will be well acquainted with as it involves this writers response to a senseless, mean spirited statement by a so called fundamentalist Christian who doesn’t believe AIDS even exist.

He is an apparent member of the group that is protesting the war on terror and claim both AIDS and the death of our troops is God’s judgement on America for  condoning homosexuality in our country. He doesn't believe AIDS exist yet thinks it is God’s judgement on America.  This man is demonstrating  ignorance, stupidity and hypocrisy. His lack of knowledge has found him out.

He apparently has forgotten that this Jesus  he claims to be following loves and cares for the very people to whom he demonstrates both hate and disgust but has no compassion for their condition; either spiritual or physical.

These are but two examples of many more in which Christians often express a lack of knowledge. When we demonstrate a lack of knowledge on a topic or incorrect knowledge, we help to bring down the very Christ we love, serve and worship.

The apostle Paul told his young protege Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

Far too many Christians are neither approved nor handle correctly the word of truth and as such have no idea what the facts are or truth is.

In the world in which we live it is of extreme importance to know well of that which we speak in order that we might speak well about the Christ we claim to serve. 
Anything less is both incompetence and sin.