Some years ago, there was a newspaper sold at the grocery check-out lanes that used the tagline, “Inquiring minds want to know.” The paper was filled with stories about paranormal subjects and gossip about famous people. It did a better job of raising questions than answers. I don’t think I ever bought a single copy of the rag, but I still use the tagline on occasion. I have the curiosity of a cat, I suppose. I realize not everyone does, as my wife often points out. However, I think it is good for Christians to have a healthy curiosity about some things.
I usually save my WHAMM for the end of these articles, but I
am going to explain it up front this time so I don’t lose readers in the weeds
where I am going. Being curious about things that are “unknown” will often help
to bolster our faith and give us ammunition for its defense. Unbelievers will
often throw unanswered questions at us to challenge us. Of course, it is unfair
of them to suppose we know everything, but they think pointing out something we
don’t know will diminish our trust in what we do know. This is why I think
giving some thought to things that Scripture does not give clear answers to is
worth doing.
There is nothing wrong with thinking outside the box, the
box being what we know to be true from the Bible. It is unreasonable to imagine
that God has revealed everything about Himself and the universe He created in
His Word. In fact, God said through
Isaiah that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our
thoughts. What is true, as Peter
points out, is that Scripture includes, “Everything necessary for life and
godliness.” In other words, the biblical record contains everything we need to
know to obtain salvation.
The category of “unknown things” has been rapidly shrinking
since the advent of the scientific age. Granted, some of what has come of
scientific thinking has challenged faith for a time, but eventually, what we
know from the Bible is being proven by what we learn from science. Questions
about the origin of the human race provide a perfect example. Charles Darwin famously
questioned the reality of divine creation by suggesting that human life evolved
from lower life forms through natural selection. Darwin himself admitted his
theory would be untenable if we found that the inner workings of a living cell
were more complicated than he believed. The invention of ultra high-powered
microscopes has dashed Darwin’s argument on the rocks of scientific fact. (See Think About
It)
Another scientific question as yet unanswered is whether
there is sentient life on some other planet in the universe. Science has shown
that there are indeed other planetary possibilities, perhaps numbering in the
billions. While it is true that Earth is a unique planet as regards its
suitability for human life (See The
Privileged Planet), there is no good reason, biblically speaking, to
assume God could not have created sentient beings on one of the other planets. C.S.
Lewis’ Space
Trilogy does a masterful job of imagining what unfallen beings might be
like on other planets.
There is a principle of logic here that needs to be applied
to our biblical understanding. Failure to mention something in a text, biblical
or otherwise, does not preclude the possibility of its existence unless said
existence would contradict something known to be true from the text in
question. For example, an elementary text on photosynthesis may not mention the
effect of ultraviolet rays on the process. This does not exclude the
possibility of the ray’s existence or how it might change the process. Similarly,
just because the Bible does not mention life on other planets or explain how
God might have dealt with life there does not exclude the possibility of its
existence.
Some Christians worry that if SETI
ever does discover proof of sentient life outside our galaxy, the message of
the Bible will be weakened somehow. This is nonsense. The Bible doesn’t mention
gamma radiation, black holes, dark matter, DNA, viral infections, cancer, and
countless other things that we know exist. My faith is actually strengthened
when I read about new discoveries because I allow my “inquiring mind” to consider
how the new facts fit in with the oldest body of truth I know: Scripture.
This entire train of thought was set rolling when I began to
wonder about God’s relationship with all the nations not mentioned in the
Scripture. The major prophets contain numerous words of judgment on the nations
surrounding Israel. The future revealed to Daniel covered most of the events
pertaining to the Mediterranean world, aka Israel’s neighborhood. And yet, historical
and archeological records prove there were ancient civilizations in Asia that
coexisted with the biblical nations of the Mediterranean area mentioned in the
Bible. Other than some apocryphal notes that the Apostle Thomas may have
evangelized Southeast Asia, there is no mention of these millions of people.
I find myself asking what to make of that fact. My inquiring
mind asks questions, but there is nothing in my thoughts that undermines my
faith. My best guess is that when God separated the nations at the tower of
Babel and then called Abraham aside for His chosen work, He left the other
nations in the hands of the other “gods” alluded to in Psalm
82. In that Psalm, Yahweh God, the One True God, chides His subordinates
for doing badly in their oversight of the nations under their purview. My
highest thought, though not as high as God’s thought, is that He was waiting
for the Messiah to bring His love to whosoever would believe in Him. No matter
where they lived.
If your brain is tired at this point, join the crowd. An
inquiring mind exercises the senses in a way that can be exhausting. I find it
to be a good kind of tired though, like the kind you get after a strenuous
physical workout. Just as the muscles are strengthened by hard work, the soul
is built up by chewing on the meat of God’s Word instead of lapping up only the
milk. The
writer of Hebrews says, “Solid food is for the mature, who because of
practice have trained their faculties for the distinguishing of both good and
evil.” Any questions?
Related posts: The
Hidden Things; Bible Trivia;
Understanding
the Book of Job: The Heiser Effect; What’s
the Deal With Ninevah
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