Different Ways To Deal With Knowledge ...

Friday, Nov 29, 2013. There are different ways to deal with knowledge. My two daughters, for example, are completely different in how they deal with instructions and guidance. And I, myself, I am different again.

The Manual Appraoch or the Discover Approach? …

One of my daughters likes to have clear instructions, which she can work through. She likes to have a practical system, which is easy and without exceptions. She likes to train it, and then she knows how it works and how things are supposed to be done. Then, she wants to forget it and do things which bring more fun, deal with people, with horses, with rabbits … With respect to knowledge, she has more the manual type approach. Give me a clear manual, and then leave me alone.

My other daughter is different. She does not like to learn the practical system alone. She wants to know the system, yes. But it is more on the basic level, she tries to understand the principles, and then do it herself. She is following more the research-type knowledge approach: discover yourself. Do not come with a manual, let me discover the truth. Give me some clues, some hints …

I have learned, that I am more the second type of approach myself. I am even quite cautious, when someone comes with a manual. Usually, it is way too easy and does not cover all the different cases and possibilities. And it is only a reflection of reality.

Biblical Teaching …

**

When it comes to biblical teaching, we also find the different approaches. Some try to write the easy manual. And then, they teach it as “the truth”. They ask everyone to follow. And there are many of us, who need exactly that: an easy manual they can follow. This is the way they operate. This is the way they run their life. They follow the manual - and focus on other people.

For those of us, who have the research type approach, it can make us run away. We hate the simplistic manual type approach. We cannot operate like that. We need to search the truth, discover the truth, love the truth. We need our own activity in the process to acquire the knowledge we want to use and formulate. We cannot just follow someone, taking it over.

I belive that many conflicts which we have in our churches are coming from the different ways, we deal with knowledge. They come from the different ways to operate, from the different ways to acquire knowledge and to use knowledge.

Jesus once told us, that it is not that he shows the way, but he IS the way. He told us that it is not that he knows the truth and says the truth, but he IS the truth. Of course, he also says the truth. But it is much more. Here, the two ways to deal with knowledge come together. He is the manual. But he is, as a person, much more than a manual. He is God, living with us and coming to us. And we can discover him. We can get to know him. We can read about him, and we can live with him. The different ways to acquire knowledge and to deal with knowledge find their peace in Christ Jesus. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts