In 1 Corinthians 8: 1 we read this enigmatic bit of advice. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Go figure?
What I do know is this – helping yourself or others to change is not a simple task. In our American Christian culture we think it is simply an issue of information. Tell them what they should do, tell them what the Bible teaches, and folks will immediately change.
OK, we should have learned by now, that does not actually work. Better advice comes from Switch a book by the Heath brothers. They say first you must convince the rational mind, then you have to engage the emotions and finally you must give baby steps for change.
When it comes to transforming a passive, disengaged fan of Jesus into a witness, we have found that yes, it begins with solid Biblical teaching. But then we engage the emotions and try to make the issue personal. Finally, the course offers a lot of small practical steps to learn the skills of a witness. Just dumping knowledge on people rarely results in life change or spiritual fruit.