Saturday, October 13, 2018

Loving Truth Allows for Not Knowing

We humans love to know, and the internet has opened the world of knowledge to a whole new level. I believe one reason we want to gain knowledge is that it gives us a sense of control in our lives. Bit by bit as I have lost certainty about some of the information I've believed about God and about the Bible (subjects I thought I had a lot of certainty about in the past), I'm discovering freedom and peace in not being so sure about a lot. I'm discovering that "knowing" in God doesn't primarily mean being certain about everything related to Him. "Knowing" in God includes honest doubting and questioning and not knowing. Truth is meant to be loved, not always known. George MacDonald understood this and said the following:

"To know God is to be in the secret place of all knowledge; and to trust him changes the whole outlook surrounding mystery and seeming contradictions and unanswered questions from one of doubt or fear or bewilderment to one of hope...Not to be intellectually certain of a truth does not prevent the heart that loves and obeys that truth from getting the goodness out of it, from drawing life from it because it is loved, not because it is understood."  (from MacDonald's book, "The Lady's Confession")

"Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to rouse the honest heart. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have yet to be understood...Doubts must precede every deeper assurance. For uncertainties are what we first see when we look into a region hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed."   (from "Discovering the Character of God")

This is not to advocate for laziness in seeking truth, but it is allowing space for not knowing. It is to be at peace with mystery...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Uncontrolling Love (4) - When God is a Child, None Shall be Afraid

In the chapter, "God is a Baby", of Preaching the Uncontrolling Love of God , Ricardo Gouvea speaks about the coming of God as an ...