by Joseph Love

Created on: February 26, 2008

All I know is that I do not know. This little sentence written by Socrates hundreds of years ago, once attributed as the beginning of knowledge, is now largely ignored by leaders in the scientific and religious communities. In today's world, "I don't know" is a phrase few are comfortable making.

You don't need to read more than the first sentence into the Bible to learn that God created the heaven and the earth. Likewise, if you'll flip your TV to the Science Channel, you will soon find that the universe was formed during the Big Bang, and the earth was formed from cooling gasses. Both Science and Religion seemingly have answers to all of life's questions..Why is the weather changing so much? Because of global warming caused by the pollution of all of the cars and factories producing green house gases. Why are murder rates up? Because people have lost their consciences and are becoming more and more Godless and evil.

A key truth to remember is that our world and our faith needs to be discovered. Science was created as a means to discover the truth-it is not the truth. The Bible is meant to be studied and reflected on-very little can be gained by reading a single verse out of context. Both Science and Faith are iterative processes, much is gained by learning, reflecting, researching and beginning again. Without discovery, our faith is simply vain repetitions of cold wisdom we have memorized, but never applied. Without discovery, science is nothing more than a history of things discovered by others. Personal discovery keeps our souls and our society alive.

In order for discovery to take place, we must all admit that we do not know. Everything we think we know is probably wrong in some way. With "I Don't Know", we choose to try the unthinkable. With "I Don't Know", we draw close to our God.

I do not have the answers. I do not know how, when or why the universe began. In truth, it could all be a dream and we would have no way of proving otherwise. The universe is truly a marvel, God or not, it is simply amazing the sheer volume of things there are awaiting to be uncovered. Without discovering and experiencing things for ourselves, all the wisdom and insight in these discoveries are lost: the beauty of the world simply escapes us. It reminds me of a quote by Albert Einstein: "It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure."

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