Thoughts on Knowledge

Knowledge is a wonderful thing. It enlightens the mind, driving away the darkness of ignorance. It replaces fear with hope. Even if the news is bad, knowing it allows you to make a plan and move forward. Not knowing, paralyses you. You can’t afford to do anything because you may find that you’re just making the problem worse.

In recent days, I’ve been intrigued by the release of secret government communiques on the internet. The most powerful people in the most powerful countries are very upset. This is natural because they have the most to lose. Knowledge is power. The leaking of these documents brings everyone into the loop - something officials have tried very hard to avoid.

By keeping what they know within a trusted circle, they can control what the public knows and thus control the public. More than just guarding the truth, they can manipulate it to give entirely false impressions and thus steer public sentiment in a particular direction to suit their purposes.

By feigning respect for certain national leaders, other government officials can get them to cooperate in ways they would never do if they understood the contempt in which we hold them.

By suppressing hard data about issues and releasing only computer models which support a particular vision of the situation, promoters of that view can generate enough fear to mobilize actions which will be advantageous to certain sectors.

By under-reporting casualties and collateral damage in military offensives, while over-reporting the threat the enemy poses, politicians can whip up support for particular initiatives which increase the power of the powerful and further marginalize the powerless.

I gave these illustrations on the international scene, but exactly the same things happen at the humblest levels of society. Family members sometimes feign respect to get cooperation. Parents don’t let the kids in on all of the family finances, giving them just enough information to convince them to start looking for jobs. Kids downplay the hazardous side of their friendships and activities, while reminding their parents of how helpful they are.

If everyone knew all of the truth about everything, the power that resides in the hands of the few would be diluted. We know this intuitively so we tend to guard what bits of knowledge we have because it gives us the power most of us crave.

One of the things that intrigues me about God is His openness. He gives us all kinds of information that people can, and do, use against Him. For example: God is patient. We sometimes use the word "longsuffering." This lets people live as dangerously as they feel comfortable doing, with the hope that they can scurry back to safety just before judgment falls.

He tells us about His eternal purposes and people try to figure out the minimum required to get a good outcome, completely missing the point of his grace.

He tells us about His qualities, His character, His attributes, His personality and people rise up and stand in judgment against the very One who gives them life.

Besides making information available, He gives people brilliant intellects and they use them to argue that He doesn’t exist. He gives people amazing creative gifts with which to glorify Him and they use them to make money and fame for themselves.

It interests me that the One who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom is so free with information. He clearly has no real fear of anyone being very effective in using it against Him. Early in human history, God publicly announced that He would defeat Satan through a man born of a woman. He told Satan that he would wound the Deliverer’s heel, but that the Deliverer would wound his head. (See Genesis 3:15)

Even with that inside information, Satan was unable to do more than God said. He certainly wounded the Lord Jesus on the cross. Now he waits in the knowledge that the other half of the prophecy still lies ahead. The Deliver will return and crush him.

Substantial though it appears to be, Satan has always depended on misinformation for the underpinnings of his power. God defeats him with truth. God knows, but he doesn’t need to hide what He knows to gain power. The power is already His. Because of this, He can afford to be open about what He is like, what He plans to do, and how things will come to an end.

As followers of Christ, the Truth, we can afford to be open where others are closed, vulnerable where others protect themselves, and clear where others are confusing. It’s good to remind ourselves that the weapons of our warfare are not the tactics of either the world or the devil, but of our Father whose Truth makes all of us free.