And Never Cease to Search…

Dangerous though truth may be at times, it is not nearly so dangerous as ignorance is. Of course, ignorance, like all the other words we use, has various definitions and degrees. There is a great infinite of things of which all of us are ignorant. And despite all our pressing forward into new frontiers, despite continuing revelations of truth, the absolutely ultimate answers seem not as yet in evidence.

But we have an obligation to search, to seek, to know more and ever more of all the world around us, and of all the universe beyond; to know more and ever more concerning ourselves and our eternal intelligence; to know more and ever more both of the tangibles that we can touch, and of the intangibles that are beyond our physical touch. We have an obligation to seek knowledge of “things both in heaven and in earth:…(to) seek …diligently… out of the best books.” We have an obligation to reach out for an awareness of all that happens around us, to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

Always there are unanswered questions. There are endless and infinite things we do not know, and much we must wait, and much we must accept on faith⎯until we find the ultimate answers. But we should never cease the search and never rule out of our lives the right to inquire after truth or the disposition to do so.

In short, we have a continuing obligation to overcome our ignorance, for, in the highest sense, “it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.” And of all varieties of ignorance, one least excusable would be willful, indifferent ignorance⎯ignorance that is too lazy to exert itself to read, to ask, to search, to seek.

In addition to all that God has and does reveal, in addition to all that He has permitted men to discover, He expects us to search for ourselves, with faith and prayer, and intelligent purpose. “…seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” And as we do so seek, and use well what we find, He will lead us from knowledge to knowledge, from truth to truth, from grace to grace, to greater intelligence, to limitless progress in a glorious, everlasting life.