Three of the hardest words for me to say are these: “I don’t know.”
I hate saying it, and yet I know how much I don’t know… I just don’t want YOU to know how much I don’t know!
One of my professors in seminary (Dr. Garth Rossell) once said, “The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of ignorance.” I’ve always remembered that, because it’s so true. The more you learn, the more you discover you have no idea. I think that’s why I like education and reading so much, because there’s always another question to ask and another perspective to discover.
But, ultimately, we weren’t created to know everything. We were made to know it all. That’s why it’s so humbling to confess “I don’t know” – it’s a recognition that I’m not God, I’m not omniscient, and I have very limited knowledge. Ever since Eden we’ve wanted God’s place, and we’ve been tempted to think we know more than we really do.
Tomorrow is my defense for my doctoral thesis, and tonight I’m reminded that the most important thing I know is this…
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.(John 3:16-17)
November 1, 2013 at 12:26 am
Finally visiting you here at LT. Very nice.
One concept I use when thinking about ignorance is “Half of what you think you know is incorrect”. This reminds me that as my body of knowledge expands my body of ignorance expands as well. The more you know the more you know you don’t know. This also feeds my (nearly) constant desire/need to learn more and more about this life and the God who created me and put me in it.
November 1, 2013 at 1:46 am
I like the idea behind doubting half of what you know, although I wonder how that would actually work. I think there’s a definite sense where we need to doubt ourselves, but that raises the question, “How do I know what to doubt and what to be hold firm?”
FYI: You win the prize (there’s no prize) for the first comment on the new blog.