“Curiosity killed the cat” is the saying that rebuked many of us, when, as children we explored something dangerous or asked ‘why?’ too many times. But is it a true saying?
Curiosity aids learning
One of he key motivations to learn is curiosity. There is an excitement in exploring something that you do not know the answer to and a fulfillment in finding the answer. It pushes you to understand yourself and your world better. Seeking answers to questions like, Why? How? What else is affected? How do I apply this? push us to greater understanding.
Curiosity & the Word of God
But Christian faith is not about curiously seeking wisdom in the darkness of ignorance. God has spoken, and spoken clearly through His Word. Christians have been told about reality, we have the content that makes sense of life. Because of God’s revelation we don’t have to grope around finding meaning, nor trust our flawed human reason to make sense of the world. The task of the Christian is to hear, heed and implant God’s revelation.
In fact as we listen to the voice of God, God, by His Spirit renews our minds to enable us to think properly about things.
But applying the Word is what we are called to do
God, in His Word has given us all we need to live the life of faith and obedience. But we must apply this revelation to our everyday situation through using the renewed mind He has given. This involves curiosity and exploration.
We need to curiously investigate the Word of God to understand it better. We need to investigate our world to understand how the Word of God comes to bear upon our situation. We need to explore what makes us tick and how we must change. We need to be curious about how to apply this illuminating Word to our setting.
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion John Calvin called us to be curious, to explore. He said “without the knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God” and “the knowledge of ourselves not only arouses us to seek God, but also leads us by the hand to find him”
Two tasks
So there are two tasks that all believers share in. The first is to declare and disclose and expose the Word of God. The second is to encourage each other to be curious and see how this eternal revealing Word is to be applied in our lives.
I often meet people who have dismissed the Word of God on a topic because they think it dos not address their situation. I am convinced the Word is always relevant, so I maintain we haven’t curiously explored and plumbed the issue sufficiently.
Given that I am calling for us to help each other be more curious I want to add that the best way to explore and discuss is in the fellowship of believers, so we should all be involved in promoting and engaging in the process.
A word of warning though. The slippery slope to theological liberalism usually begins by standing over the word of God. The attitude that says I will decide how it applies, is dangerous. We need to always ask our generous Lord to give us a renewed mind that is curious to explore ‘why have I come to this conclusion’? ‘Is there anything in my makeup that makes me favour the outcome I arrived at?’
Curiosity did not kill the cat. Curiosity that does not also ask for a renewed mind in the task is what leads to darkness.
