Ignorance is Not a Virtue
Suppose the God who is revealed in Scripture actually exists, and that everything the Scriptures say about Him is true. Would believing that make a difference in your life, especially since the Scriptures say that God will hold us accountable for knowing what they say?
"But wait--", you may say, "don't I get a 'pass', since I'm very ignorant of what the Scriptures say, and surely God will not hold someone like me accountable for knowing what is in His word?" The fact is, however, that this is exactly what the Scriptures say He will do. "But what about all those people in various parts of the world who do not have access to the Scriptures?", you may ask. If you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that this apparent problem is resolvable, and that it is not an excuse for those who do have access to the Scriptures for being ignorant of them.
"What about all the people involved in other religions", you may ask. After all, if you are to accept the Bible as true, it means not only that they are wasting their time, but that they're in fact increasing their own guilt. "How can that be the case, when so many deserving people are involved in other religions?", or "How can that be fair when so many people don't have the same opportunity?", you may ask. If you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that they do provide an explanation.
"Even if I were to get serious about knowing what the Scriptures say, what hope would I have of making any sense out of them if so many churches and denominations have different interpretations of what they say about important issues?", you may ask. You may then claim this is justification for you to refuse to even show any interest in what the Scriptures say. Again, if you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that this apparent problem is resolvable. To give you a hint, historically all major Christian traditions have agreed on certain major teachings of the Scriptures, and where differences exist regarding certain issues, the choices are very limited and are well documented. If you keep in mind that the Scriptures do not instruct people to belong to a particular church or denomination or tradition, and that instead we are called to believe what the Scriptures say and to learn from them how we can be reconciled to God and have fellowship with Him, I submit to you that the existence of many churches, denominations, and traditions does not pose an insurmountable problem. The question is, are you willing to do the work?
Of course, you may have in the back of your mind that if you embrace certain truth claims, you will incur the disdain of the world around you, a world which you may want to always love you and give you it's approval. It may be too unbearable for you to countenance the thought of falling out of the world's favor and to no longer be invited to it's parties. Maybe you're willing to sacrifice your eternal well-being in exchange for being in the world's favor. Maybe you've thoroughly convinced yourself that keeping yourself as ignorant as a brick about ultimate issues will allow you to experience a nice, warm, friendly relationship with the world, as well as allow you to avoid accountability for your shortcomings, and by default give you a guarantee that you will have a blissful existence in eternity if in fact some kind of afterlife exists.
This approach will not solve anything for you, of course. The only things it will accomplish is prevent you from discovering what your greatest need is, how it can be met, and what life is all about. You will have no basis for comfort in life or in death other than yourself, and you will be forced to keep yourself distracted from thinking about any kind of ultimate meaning. And if you live in an industrialized society, you may have a huge selection of entertaining pursuits that can easily take up all of your time and energy and thus enable you to succeed.
"But wait--", you may say, "don't I get a 'pass', since I'm very ignorant of what the Scriptures say, and surely God will not hold someone like me accountable for knowing what is in His word?" The fact is, however, that this is exactly what the Scriptures say He will do. "But what about all those people in various parts of the world who do not have access to the Scriptures?", you may ask. If you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that this apparent problem is resolvable, and that it is not an excuse for those who do have access to the Scriptures for being ignorant of them.
"What about all the people involved in other religions", you may ask. After all, if you are to accept the Bible as true, it means not only that they are wasting their time, but that they're in fact increasing their own guilt. "How can that be the case, when so many deserving people are involved in other religions?", or "How can that be fair when so many people don't have the same opportunity?", you may ask. If you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that they do provide an explanation.
"Even if I were to get serious about knowing what the Scriptures say, what hope would I have of making any sense out of them if so many churches and denominations have different interpretations of what they say about important issues?", you may ask. You may then claim this is justification for you to refuse to even show any interest in what the Scriptures say. Again, if you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that this apparent problem is resolvable. To give you a hint, historically all major Christian traditions have agreed on certain major teachings of the Scriptures, and where differences exist regarding certain issues, the choices are very limited and are well documented. If you keep in mind that the Scriptures do not instruct people to belong to a particular church or denomination or tradition, and that instead we are called to believe what the Scriptures say and to learn from them how we can be reconciled to God and have fellowship with Him, I submit to you that the existence of many churches, denominations, and traditions does not pose an insurmountable problem. The question is, are you willing to do the work?
Of course, you may have in the back of your mind that if you embrace certain truth claims, you will incur the disdain of the world around you, a world which you may want to always love you and give you it's approval. It may be too unbearable for you to countenance the thought of falling out of the world's favor and to no longer be invited to it's parties. Maybe you're willing to sacrifice your eternal well-being in exchange for being in the world's favor. Maybe you've thoroughly convinced yourself that keeping yourself as ignorant as a brick about ultimate issues will allow you to experience a nice, warm, friendly relationship with the world, as well as allow you to avoid accountability for your shortcomings, and by default give you a guarantee that you will have a blissful existence in eternity if in fact some kind of afterlife exists.
This approach will not solve anything for you, of course. The only things it will accomplish is prevent you from discovering what your greatest need is, how it can be met, and what life is all about. You will have no basis for comfort in life or in death other than yourself, and you will be forced to keep yourself distracted from thinking about any kind of ultimate meaning. And if you live in an industrialized society, you may have a huge selection of entertaining pursuits that can easily take up all of your time and energy and thus enable you to succeed.
posted by Dave | 5:15 PM
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