Confidence and Knowing why others think the way they do

Just a brief and simple thought. It is good to know your own beliefs and why you hold them. That's one of the things shown from the Catechism... how often does Luther quote the Scriptures in his explanations -- see, this is why we believe this.

However, there is another aspect to this. Knowing why others think the way they do can give you confidence. If someone introduces an idea (let's say Macroevolution), that can be highly intimidating. But if you know the arguments, the rationale behind it, the assumptions that are made... then you can have confidence in the face of it.

Knowing accurately what other people think doesn't simply let you convince them better... it keeps you from being knocked off balance by them.