All I know is just what I read in the papers,
and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.
Will Rogers
Ignorance is never is short supply. In fact, it appears to be the quintessential quality of the human race. For every example of human insight, there are a thousand that demonstrate our astonishing lack of understanding. What we discover we desecrate; what we enhance becomes a tool to enslave; what we raise, we raze. In spite of our achievements, Homo sapiens have proven over and over that we are not so sapient as we suppose. As Albert Einstein remarked, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
Discerning readers might wish to point out that, technically, ignorance and stupidity are different things. Ignorance is a lack of information, whereas stupidity is a lack of intelligence. An intelligent person may be ignorant about certain things—and often is aware that he is. The stupid person has no such self-awareness. The intelligent person can recognize his ignorance. The stupid person cannot recognize his stupidity. An intelligent person is certainly not above being stupid, but the stupid person can be nothing but.
More often than not, however, ignorance and stupidity go hand in hand. Ignorance frequently produces stupidity, and stupidity always reinforces ignorance. I will let the reader provide his own examples from the abundance of options. (Note: If most of the examples which come to mind serve to illuminate the abject stupidity of others, the reader may want to revisit his assumptions.) Suffice it to say that ignorance and stupidity go together like Laurel and Hardy, nuts and bolts, or diaper and rash.
The scriptures identify ignorance as a fundamental condition of humanity. It is now the default setting in our relationship with God and the world. According to Paul, this ignorance was born when humankind exchanged the truth of God for a lie, thus forfeiting true knowledge. Importantly, this decisive lack of information is the result of humankind’s rejection of the truth. Ignorance did not prompt the first rebellion against God, although the serpent successfully leveraged the idea. On the contrary, it is rebellion that led to human ignorance, and this ignorance is nothing less than of truth itself.
Even so, the oracles of the Enlightenment and their progeny argue that human reason escaped the full impact of the Fall, that we are still able to discover truth if we only apply ourselves. Thus, the veneration for intellectual, scientific, and rational spiritual pursuits. But this not the biblical perspective. One of the consequences of abandoning the truth is a profound corruption of the mind. Human thinking became futile and our foolish hearts were darkened. We are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Humans not only lack vital information, we also lack intelligence. Paul sums it up this way:
They did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God [ignorance] so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done [stupidity].
In other words, humankind is by default both ignorant and stupid.
This pitiable condition is inescapable, even for the passionately moral or religious. Paul, that ardent Hebrew of Hebrews, insists that even the Jews, who possess the articulated covenant of God, are still captive to ignorance. For I can testify about them, he writes, that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. (The Christian, too, is susceptible; resistance to the Holy Spirit is an act of blatant ignorance.) But uninformed faith is not simply a matter of benign misdirection. The proverb bluntly warns that zeal without knowledge is not good. The prophet Hosea laments, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Ignorance is lethal. And not just for the unfortunate practitioner. When an ignorant humanity embraces a moral or religious creed, it’s time to head for the hills. As Martin Luther King, Jr. observed, “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” (Again, the reader is free to offer his own evidence.) No matter the form of implementation, whether secular or sacred, ignorance and stupidity always bear fruit according to their kinds.
The Gospel of the New Testament proclaims the one antidote to humankind’s systemic ignorance. It is to know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The greatest offense to a fallen humanity happens to be its salvation. The one true knowledge, which our first parents deemed not worth retaining, is now returned to us in the Son of God. In him the ignorance born of rebellion is vanquished. As Paul declared to the citizens of Athens,
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
If ignorance is the fruit of rebellion, then only obedience can restore true knowledge. Christ submitted to his Father’s will and gained access for us, and through him the knowledge leading to life is now available to all. “Repent and believe,” Jesus preached. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Wisdom, indeed.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9