Is Ignorance Bliss?

If we are to believe those who profess to be the wise of this world, it would have been better if we had all died when we were infants, or lived in heathen darkness. If their ideas are true, it would not be necessary for us to “strive to enter in at the strait gate;” we would not then have to pass “through much tribulation” to “enter into the Kingdom of God.”

These same worldly wise ones try to maintain that innocence, or ignorance, is enough to ensure one everlasting life, and yet when confronted with the fact that no one can believe the gospel without having heard it – Rom. x:14, and that it is absolutely necessary to have faith in God before they can be saved (Heb. xi:6) cannot help but admit that it is so. When they are shown the consequences of such a belief, they turn from you with disgust, and yet the Scriptures abound in utterances to prove that an intelligent belief of God’s promises, and obedience to His commands, are essential to gain that everlasting life which He has promised.

If “the Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation” – 2 Tim. iii:15, can we gain salvation without a knowledge of them? If “the entrance of God’s Word giveth light: - Psa. cxix:130, does it not prove there is naturally no “light within?” “His word is a light to our feet and a lamp to our path” – Psa. cxix:105. Therefore our way is darkness without it.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;” but how can we become converted if we know not that law? It is commanded us, to “Get wisdom, and with all our getting, get understanding” – Prov. iv:7. But that “shame shall be the promotion of fools” – Prov. iii:35.

Paul told the Ephesians that before they believed, they were “without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” – Eph. ii:12. Those who have heard the gospel, “are alienated from God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” – Eph. iv:18. Only “the wise shall inherit glory,” “there are few that will be saved.” “For many shall strive to enter in and shall not be able.” “The righteous shall scarcely be saved.”

“If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch.” Many think that God considers them as important as they are in their own eyes, but unless we love God and keep His commandments, we are very insignificant in His sight. “For all nations are as nothing in His sight, and less than nothing and vanity” – Isa. xi:15.

“The man that wandereth out of the way understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead: - Prov. xxi: 16. This does not mean, as some say, that a man must be in the way of understanding before he can wonder out of it, for the Bible plainly teaches that all those who have known the way of life will be resurrected and punished, if they do not walk in it. For example, “As many as have sinned without law, shall perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law – Rom. ii:12.

God is taking out from among the nations, “a people for His name,” to be the future rulers of the earth, with Christ. To fit them for the position it is necessary for them to be tried, and establish righteous characters by obedience to God’s commands, overcoming the temptations that assail them. He does not intend to perpetuate the existence of every human being that ever lived, as most religious people believe; for if He did why does He give us so many examples of their utter worthlessness in His sight. He destroyed the whole world of the ungodly, in the time of Noah; He ordered the extermination of the nations of Canaan by the Israelites under Joshua; He burnt up the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; He commanded Saul to exterminate the Amalekites, and Saul was condemned by Him because he did not execute the command to the letter; He commended Jehu for getting the worshipers of Baal into a trap and then destroying them. The truth of the matter, summed up in few words, is that if a person is ignorant of God’s law he is “like the beast that perish” – Psa. xlix:20. It is because of the unpopularity of this doctrine that the truth is so slow getting hold upon the people. They are generally too high minded to admit they are of so little importance. Another reason is because their fleshly ties are stronger than those which bind them to their Redeemer, but we should remember that he has said, “He that loveth father or mother, son or daughter more than me I not worthy of me: - Matt. x:37.

Job tells us that if he had died when an infant “he would have been as though he had not been” – x:19. The prophet Obadiah uses the same language concerning the heathen in verse 16. We can come to no other conclusion than that the vast majority of those that any more than those who are yet to be born; they had no hope; therefore they lost nothing, for hope implies something anticipated, and desired. It may be objected, many who have never heard the gospel and live in heathen lands have a hope, but the Bible tells us there is one hope and that those who are ignorant of that have no hope – Eph. ii:12.

There is a good reason for this. Those who gain the inheritance of the saints in light must be tried, they must overcome the temptations of this life, patiently endure the scoffs and sneers of the ungodly, their hearts must become purified by that faith which works by love. These things are necessary to the enjoyment of that rest which God has prepared for His people. We could not realize that everlasting joy, prepared for God’s ransomed ones, if we had not gone through a time of trial. We cannot enjoy good in its full sense without having experienced evil. We could not render obedience to God’s commands without having an opportunity to disobey. We could not establish righteous characters and bring forth those fruits of the spirit, such are love, joy peace, gentleness, meekness, and patience, if we were not surrounded with evil as well as good. The song that John heard in vision (Rev. vii:14), will be sung only by those who have “come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.”

God says, “They that honor me I will honor,” but if we believe as most religious teachers would have us, nearly all those who are saved have never had an opportunity to honor Him, but this is not the truth. “By works is faith made perfect, and without faith it is impossible to please God,” “and how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard.” Then a knowledge of God’s revealed will is of the first importance for “Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding.”

M. L. Brooks

The Christadelphian Advocate, September 1887, pgs 186-189