It’s OK to say I don’t know and live in the grey areas

A new light dawns on a new day…
(c) Helen Holmes Photography

We are often told that we need to hear both sides of an argument before we make our decision on an issue. If you listen to Radio Five Live, you may have noticed that they push this to the extreme. Almost every item involves getting two people to argue the two sides of an argument. Abortion? Let’s get a militant, American evangelical to debate it someone who believes there should be no time limits or controls. Lots of heat but rarely any light.

The problem is that most issues have many facets and nuances. Those who can only see a single extreme view are often the most blinkered and will rarely acknowledge that anyone else has a valid viewpoint. This creates a false dichotomy on many issues and creates the impression that a sizeable percentage of people only agree with one of the extreme positions.

And so it is with creation too. Atheists want you to believe that there is only one type of Christian – those who believe that the world was created in a literal 6 days and that it happened in 4000BC. They believe this makes their argument stronger that there is no God because they use it to ridicule Christians. They play fast and loose with the facts, making out this is what all Christians believe. Equally, Young Earth Creationist Christians like to engage with rabid atheists like Richard Dawkins who end up sounding irrational with some of their tantrums and outbursts. (Dawkins recently told a Twitter follower that if she discovered that she was pregnant with a baby with Down’s Syndrome she should “abort it and try again”. He added that “it would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice”.)

So polarisation sheds little light on the debate and alienates many of those in the middle who are trying figure out what it all means.
So to everyone who isn’t 100% certain of 6-day creation or 100% certain God is a character from fairy stories, here I hope is some good news – you don’t have to believe one of these extreme positions. There are lots of positions in between too.

If you believe in God (all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful) then the fact he created the world is no major leap. How he then did it is a matter for God to know and for us to speculate. I personally have no problem in believing that the universe is billions of years old and that God set in motion the creative process. He has guided that creation throughout time to bring us to the point we are at now. While the New Earth Creationists and Atheists will disagree with me with equal vehemence, most people actually believe in something in this grey zone.

I struggle with absolute certainties as few absolute certainties from history have turned out to be so. So be brave, live with ambiguity and uncertainty. Live with a spirit of discovery and be willing to take on board new ideas and new thoughts, rather than trying to bend the facts to meet your world view. It’s ok to say “I don’t know”. In fact according to this Freakonomics podcast, they are the hardest three words in the English language.