Using Religious Knowledge As A Weapon

"The wise is hungry for knowledge, while a fool feeds on trash" (cf. Prov. 15:14).
"Brothers and sisters, I urge you to watch out for people who create divisions and problems against the teaching that you learned.  Keep away from them.  People like that aren't serving the Lord.  They are serving their own feelings.  They deceive the hearts of innocent people with smooth talk and flattery"  (Romans 16:17-18, CEB).
"Don't be misled by the many strange teaching out there..." (Heb. 13:9, CEB).
BY DEFINITION, KNOWLEDGE IS JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF.

A love for the Word is a blessing and a sign of salvation, but an unbalanced, dissentious, and contentious appetite and spirit can be deleterious to personal spiritual hygiene and even to the body of Christ.  The Bible was written to give us eternal life and to know God in salvation, not to merely increase our knowledge.  The purpose of Scripture, then, is to change our lives, and enlighten the soul, not merely make us wise in our own eyes, or to have information to pick fights--the purpose of books about the Bible must strive to do likewise.

Books help us understand ourselves, others, the world, and God, but shouldn't be looked upon as just giving us information or facts--all knowledge must be compared to the biblical truth though.  If one merely reads books about the Bible to sow discord among brothers or to find ways to play one-upmanship in knowledge, one is on the wrong track. There are gray areas and we are to respect the weaker brother and what he believes as Augustine said, "In nonnegotiables, unity; in negotiables, liberty; in all things, charity."

The stronger believer needs to grow in love, while the weaker in knowledge.  There are many areas of disagreement in the church and we are not to use our knowledge to upset some one's faith.  Knowledge is not an end in itself, but a means to an end.  Knowledge can puff up and give one pride, so we must always bear in mind that we don't know as we ought to know when we think we know it all--for instance, we don't study just to know all the answers--God is the Great Answerer and we must know Him.  Some brethren read controversy books just to do power games with each other and try to match wits with one another.  The Word is meant to be a seed to sow unto life in Christ, not to sow discord, which is one of the sins God most despises.

We simply have the wrong attitude if we think we are so smart that we can outwit our brother and that makes us superior in some way, God can speak through children, much more can He humble scholars and philosophers by their wisdom.  The Bible makes it clear that we are a fool if we think we are wise in our own eyes, that means God shuns wise guys!  They are not a cut above others, who are poor specimens.  God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble (cf. 1 Pet. 5:5; James 4:6).  We are to respect one another and that means we must have the attitude we can learn from them.

Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding come from God and are the byproduct of knowing Him and walking with Him, not of graduating from a school and thinking it's an automatic fruit--many fools graduate from college who are later humbled by the street smarts of the average Joe.  There is a spiritual gift of knowledge and even of wisdom though.  I have been challenged to answer debatable topics in the Bible that sincere believers can disagree about and have refused to go there and play along just to keep the peace.  There comes a time when we agree to disagree and press on in friendship without thinking that winning an argument enhances our spirituality.  Our knowledge is not meant to build walls and find disharmony, but to build bridges with the brethren and to unite us in the Spirit--"for we are one in the Spirit."

Caveat:  Shun the argumentative, dissentious brother who is playing mind games or is on a power trip and has no interest in learning the truth. The Christian walk is not about winning arguments or becoming contentious, argumentative, judgmental, or divisive, for you can win a dispute and lose a friend and we are to be fishers of men and win them over, not scatterers of the sheep! One must beware when he's generating more heat than light and when belaboring the point isn't worth the adrenaline.  Hopefully, you won't be accused of sophism or specious reasoning because a person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still, the maxim goes.

In any confrontation, remember this key principle from John Stott:  "We cannot pander to a man's intellectual arrogance, but we must cater to his intellectual integrity."  And in the final analysis, the brother interested in knowledge for its own sake or to impress someone should examine his motives and find out whether they are pure and he desires to serve God with his knowledge or to merely use it as a weapon for personal gain and to boost his ego. Knowledge cannot be its own aim or an end in itself.   Soli Deo Gloria!