THE CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORANCE

"Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?"

Ignorance is the lack of knowledge or lack of awareness. Ignorance can be very costly in many different ways, depending on what one is unaware of. A good example of the consequences of ignorance is what might happen if you were careless about your mail. Imagine being in a difficult financial situation, and unable to make ends meet. You think a little extra money will improve your situation. Suddenly, you discover that you’ve been named as the recipient of a large sum of money in the will of a deceased loved one. Your sucking life is about to change for the better. But how beneficial would that money be if you were unaware it existed, because you misplaced or never opened the notification letter that came from the executor?

Ignorance could also hurt you if you neglect to take medications as prescribed by your doctor, because you don’t quite understand the importance of following the directions. Even though you take the medication, your health may not improve if you do not take the prescribed dose at the prescribed time.

The same thing can happen to Christians. We have been named in God’s will; after all, we are joint heirs with Christ (See Romans 8:17). Our inheritance is spelled out clearly in His Word, the Bible. However, when we neglect to read it, we miss out on our blessings and go through unnecessary defeat and frustrations. Scripture reminds us, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6 NIV84).

The Sadducees, not believing in the resurrection from the dead, tried to trap Jesus with what they thought was an ingenious scenario. According to the Jewish law at the time, if a man died childless, his brother was expected to marry the widow and have children for the deceased. The Sadducees made up a story to illustrate a dilemma in which they hoped to trap Jesus in His response. The gist of the story was that, based on the law, seven brothers were all husbands to one woman at different times in her life. The Sadducees asked which of these brothers would be her husband in the resurrection. They couldn’t wait to hear Jesus’s response. They thought they had Him where they wanted Him! Meanwhile they had just demonstrated their ignorance. Jesus’s response to them was, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Mark 12:24-25 NIV84).

In other words, had the Sadducees known the Scriptures well enough, or known the power of God, they would not have had that concern. Their ignorance produced the consequence of a huge error that Jesus pointed out to them. So let’s study the Scriptures diligently to enable us to understand life and our circumstances better.    

God’s plan is for us to be transformed into the image of His Son, Jesus our Savior. He also made provisions for the plan to materialize. The Bible tells us, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV84). Through our knowledge of Him, we acquire everything we need to live the godly lives God intended for us.

Being Christian is an indication that God has called us according to His purpose. God foreknew us, and also predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son (See Romans 8:28-30). But how will He achieve this transformation? Here is how! He will accomplish it through the experiences He permits in our lives. That is the reason the Bible says, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28 NIV84). If we know and believe this verse, we won’t fret so much about seemingly negative things that happen in our lives. Rather we will pray to discover the spiritual growth that should result from our experiences. An old adage says, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you,” but in the case of God’s guidance in the Bible, that statement is absolutely untrue. If we remain ignorant about the word of God, we will be missing out on a lot of blessings and living in frustration. There are real consequences to that kind of ignorance.