2 of 3

In the first scene of this drama, our parents were created in both a state of innocence (lack of guilt) and comparative, though not total, naïveté. They had not tasted the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, yet God had warned them of the threat of death and corruptibility.

I think it a mistake to assume that humankind was designed by God to remain naïve. God calls Adam to name the animals, introduces Adam to his helpmate, Eve, whom he is to "know," gives them tasks that will better acquaint them with the natural world, and walks with them in the Garden.

A whole stream of Christian theology considers that the Incarnation was always part of God's intent (rather than an unthinkable response to human sin), and that the maturity of the human race, its growing in wisdom and into "the divine nature," was always in God's mind. (Consider the child Jesus, who as perfect man "grew in wisdom and stature" [Luke 2:52].) So, then, the "original naïveté" was a natural state, the plowed ground ready to receive God's energizing work, and it was morally neutral. The first couple sinned because they wanted to know in a time and manner that God had forbidden; C. S. Lewis, in his novel Perelandra, also illustrates how humanity sins because we reject what we have been taught, in a perverse naïveté.

So much for origins. Now we inhabit a complex world, beholding it with eyes that do not always see. Jesus, who "knew what was in a man" (John 2:25), warns: "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves" (Matt. 10:16).

God, who in the past overlooked sins of ignorance (Acts 17:30), has now shone the divine flashlight of Truth into the world, and given to his church the "mind of Christ" through the Holy Spirit.

So the Epistles are full of admonitions like, "I do not want you to be ignorant," and, "Put away childish things." Still, there is a balance to which we are called, for the Holy Spirit is given so that we may discern the difference between so-called wisdom and the Wisdom that comes from God. Paul assigns "deceit and trickery" to the Enemy (Acts 13:10); he calls on us to have "open hearts" to one another and "open faces" toward the Lord, even while we are not to be unaware of Satan's schemes (2 Cor. 2:11).

To be Christian is to allow the Holy Spirit to foster those elements of our nature that are unshakable and that are meant to grow: awe, wonder, dependence on God and, in appropriate measure, on each other, and thankfulness! It is to read the Bible, even those passages that we have heard before, with hungry hearts, open minds, and lively imaginations.

It is also to be attuned to the subtle interconnections in the Scriptures, and to care about how brothers and sisters of the past have read these passages—for family members should not be ignorant of the ways of God's family. It is to "read" the world and the writings of others with both welcome and care, aware of our own frailty and that of others.

The examples with which I began suggest that in some respects—especially politics—we will continue to argue about whether a stance or action is naïve or a sign of maturity. Still, if naïveté means to trust in God who will defend us, to live without affectation and without hidden agendas or dishonest motives, then it is a godly thing. If it means to ignore God's warnings, to miss the signs of the times, to neglect the weapons of the Spirit against the "many works" of the Enemy, to think that we do not need training or discipline in handling the Word and the world, to remain blind to the weakness of fallen humanity, and to think that things will take care of themselves—then it is time to grow up.

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

June 2009, Vol. 53, No. 6, Page 42