It is more dangerous than ignorance ... (unpublished post from 2019 ... until now)

What is more dangerous than ignorance?

False knowledge!

False knowledge is simply a lie. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge or information and careless attitude about it.

They are both dangerous, but according to Bernard Shaw false knowledge supersedes.

Where does all this come from?

Some time ago my youngest daughter prepared a speech for their English orators. The subject came from quotes made by well know public figures and hers was George Bernard Shaw and his famous quote "Beware of false knowledge ... it is more dangerous than ignorance."

Since I greatly assisted in the writing of her speech, I am taking liberty in using some of the elements thereof.

Why?

Because I am the parent and I can, and because there are some great lessons to be learned from this famous quote.

Why is this relevant?

Because Jesus is the Truth the Way and Life. And God be true and every man a liar.

Today?

And with the prince of lies stalking about to see who he can devour ... in this day and age ... it seems very relevant!

Dominik Stecula from the University of British Columbia says that the public is not able to distinguish quality information from false information.

Where do we get this fake news from?

We live in the information era and false knowledge is all around us all the time. The fake news is all around us. We get it from television, internet, radio, news papers, ... even the institutional church ...

We are bombarded with fake advertisements on television and radio that tell us why we should spend our money on products that we don’t need.

Social media, the internet, documentaries, marketing and even institutions of higher learning have become experts in how to sell the lie.

Even schools and churches propagate theories like evolution, doctrines and false human identity …

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance

Who?

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and polemicist who had a huge influence on politics and culture during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

He was a polemicist.

A polemicist is someone who debates controversial topics to promote the understanding of a different viewpoint. It is someone who debates knowledge and truth.

It is who you sleep with

Jesus once (John 8:32) said to the Jews in the temple ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The context of this whole conversation was Jesus conversing with the Scribes and Pharisees explaining that He (Jesus) is the Light of the world and how that He had proceeded from the Father and speaks the truth only and how that they (Scribes and Pharisees) are of the devil and not able to have intimacy with the Truth.

Wow!

Remember who Jesus is ... He also once explained what (Who) the Truth is when He said I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

To know is to be intimate with. The Greek word used here for know is ginōskō, meaning to allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) known (-ledge), perceive, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand ... derived form the Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, to become so thoroughly acquainted with each other that all is shared and known by the other.

The Truth that you intimately acquaint yourself with ... the Truth Who already acquaints Himself intimately with you.

It is Who you know ...

You shall know the Truth and it (He) shall set you free

Samuel Rodenhizer identifies 4 essential states of knowledge. 

1. The known-knowns — These are the deep intimate things that we have intimacy with, things that are evidently clear, facts that are not disputed. In the natural world these are the things we know and we know we know, for instance , I know that this month is a particular month. I even have a calendar to prove it. In God's economy, this is who He is, what He declares about himself, the way that He is -   The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth Exo 34:6. It is who Jesus is as the full manifestation of the invisible God. (See my posts here and here)
2. The known-unknowns — These are the things we know might exist. We are aware that whatever it is, could possibly exist or be true or we anticipate some things that we know might be true or might not. The spiritual world is one such example. In the natural world, for example, I don’t know the population of town X, but somebody knows. I know there is knowledge about the population of this town, but it’s not knowledge that I possess. In the spiritual world it boils down to someone knowing that it exist
3. The unknown-unknowns — some things we don’t know and we don’t know that we don’t know. This is like an accident. The person who will be involved in the accident, doesn’t known that there will be an accident. Even the details are unknown. So, those who are involved do not know they don’t know.
4. The unknown-knowns — some things we don’t actually know — but we think we know. This is what Shaw was referring to in his quotation. It is what he calls false knowledge.

Some would argue that ‘false knowledge’ is a contradiction. After all, something that is ‘false,’ cannot be true ‘knowledge.’  (think programming terms here)

Shaw is simply referring to what we think we know is true — when it’s not true at all.

For instance, until recently people believed that the sun revolved around the earth and that ulcers were caused by stress instead of bacteria.

But why would Shaw claim that ‘false knowledge’ is more dangerous than just plain old ignorance? 

When we are ignorant and we know it, there is usually an opportunity to improve knowledge.

I can look up the population of a certain town. So, admitting I’m ignorant is a kind of invitation to find out more and improve my knowledge. 

But …

False knowledge, on the other hand, causes us to ACT AS IF what is NOT TRUE actually IS TRUE. The lie is taken for the truth.

So, if I think God is the author of punishment and destruction, of chance and fate, temptation, loss, death, sickness and adversity, I embrace the lie that others present as the truth. Believing what is not true as if it is the truth, is more dangerous than ignorance (a lack of knowledge or information and careless attitude).

Why? Why? Why?

Because I end up worshipping the wrong god! I end up worshipping the one who comes to kill, steal and destroy, the lie itself.

The aim of false knowledge

To Summarize: What do we learn from Shaw’s quote?

We should not believe everything we hear or see.

Even this morning I heard a prominent political leader making a keynote speech during an educational summit on how the education system should take care to mold our children into a certain knowledge framework.

What?

There is a term for this. It is called brainwashing!

False knowledge causes us to not act on potentially harmful information, or to become complacent with the lie and not act at all. 

Denial of the blatant, obvious truth, is what makes an agent of false knowledge a deadly advocate in what Bernard Shaw says is more dangerous than ignorance.

It just depends on who you are having intimacy with

When we have intimacy with the Truth, the lie is exposed and becomes something of the distant past. Something of no value and consequence because the knowledge (intimacy) with the Truth sets us free! (John 8:32)

... and Truth has a name ...

HalleluYah!