Ignorance is [not] bliss

There is a time and a place for all things. Well, for most things. 
Much of life calls for us to take a stand and further ourselves, and in these times we cannot simply remain unmoving and willfully ignore what is going on. Knowledge is necessary, it allows us to move forward.


Perhaps I am simply stating something that is already fairly popular opinion, but I cannot believe that God made us to live in a blind faith, in a purposeful ignorance of how the world itself relates to Him. By saying the world, I mean all aspects of the human search for truth; philosophy, science, theology, et al. It is our responsibility to use the intelligence given to us to discover for ourselves how we may both justify and defend our faith, so that we may be more stable in our own reasons for belief in a world that is becoming more antagonistic towards us every day. 
Solomon said in proverbs: let the wise listen and add to their learning, 
   and let the discerning get guidance. 

Not only is it imperative that we understand why we, each of us personally, have come to believe the way that we do, but we must also use our minds to understand others, to understand how they believe and why they have come to believe it. 

To hold a conversation, or to try and debate someone, on the basis of a less than complete understanding of either our own belief, or of theirs, will simply be babbling; incoherent and pointless. 

It is when you know what you are saying that you truly have something to say.

There is a quote by John Paul II on the relation between Faith and Reason that I will close with, I think it ties much of what I am trying to say together well.

"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves."