Dangers of Spiritual Ignorance: How Ignorance Can Affect Your Life from Cradle to Grave
Have you ever wondered how dangerous ignorance can be?
Ignorance is not simply the absence of information. In some situations, ignorance can become a matter of life and death.
A person may genuinely mean well and still make a devastating decision simply because they do not know what to do.
This is true in the natural world, and it can also be true in our spiritual lives.
The Bible repeatedly emphasizes the importance of knowledge, wisdom, understanding and spiritual discernment. Hosea 4:6 says:
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
This does not mean that every problem a person experiences is caused by ignorance. Neither does it mean that every sickness, tragedy or misfortune has a spiritual explanation.
However, it does teach us an important principle: what we do not know can sometimes expose us to serious danger.
Table of Contents
What Is Spiritual Ignorance?
Spiritual ignorance is a lack of understanding about spiritual realities, biblical principles, God’s Word, spiritual discernment, prayer, temptation, deception and the believer’s identity and authority in Christ.
A person may attend church regularly and still be spiritually ignorant.
Someone may know many Bible verses but lack discernment.
Another person may experience a troubling dream, unusual spiritual experience or recurring pattern in life but have no idea how to respond biblically.
Spiritual ignorance can therefore affect both the believer and the person who has little or no knowledge of God.
The answer is not fear.
The answer is knowledge, wisdom, biblical understanding, prayer, discernment and a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
Physical Ignorance Can Also Be Deadly
Consider a disturbing illustration.
Imagine a babysitter whose baby develops a very high body temperature. The babysitter becomes frightened and, because of ignorance and a terrible misunderstanding of how the human body should be treated, places the baby inside a deep freezer, believing that extreme cold will solve the problem.
Instead of saving the baby, the action causes catastrophic harm and can result in death.
This illustration shows how dangerous ignorance can become when a person acts on a wrong understanding of a serious situation.
The intention may have been to help.
The knowledge was wrong.
The action was therefore dangerous.
This is why fever should be handled using proper medical guidance rather than dangerous experiments or extreme measures.
Good intentions do not automatically make an ignorant decision safe.
Spiritual Ignorance Can Also Have Serious Consequences
Now consider a different illustration.
An elderly man who had served for many years in a church once described a troubling dream in which he ate a very delicious meal.
When he woke up, he dismissed the dream and continued with his normal activities.
He did not understand dreams.
He did not know how to examine troubling dreams biblically.
He did not know what questions to ask.
He did not know how to pray concerning the experience.
Most importantly, he did not know that Christians should test spiritual experiences rather than simply accepting or ignoring them.
After some days or weeks, he began experiencing unusual swelling of his abdomen.
He sought medical help, but according to his account, the problem persisted. Eventually, he remembered the dream and connected it with what he was experiencing.
At that point, he realized that he had ignored something that had deeply troubled him.
What should he have done immediately after waking from the dream?
This story should not be taken to mean that eating food in a dream medically causes abdominal swelling. Physical symptoms can have many medical causes, and unexplained swelling requires appropriate medical evaluation.
Rather, the story illustrates another kind of danger:
What happens when a person encounters something he believes may be spiritually significant but has no knowledge of how to respond?
That is where spiritual education becomes important.
Spiritual Ignorance Can Follow a Person from Cradle to Grave
Spiritual ignorance is not restricted to a particular age.
It can affect a person from childhood through adulthood and even into old age.
1. Spiritual Ignorance in Childhood
Children need more than physical education.
They also need to learn biblical values, prayer, truth, forgiveness, obedience, discernment and the difference between good and evil.
A child who grows up without spiritual instruction may enter adulthood without knowing how to recognize spiritual deception or make biblically informed decisions.
2. Spiritual Ignorance in Youth
Young people face enormous pressures.
They encounter peer pressure, sexual temptation, materialism, occult practices, internet influences, false teachings and many competing worldviews.
Without spiritual knowledge and biblical discernment, a young person can mistake destructive influences for harmless entertainment or acceptable behaviour.
3. Spiritual Ignorance in Marriage and Family
Spiritual ignorance can also affect relationships.
People may enter marriage without understanding biblical principles concerning love, forgiveness, responsibility, communication, sexual purity and spiritual leadership.
Some family conflicts become worse because people respond according to anger, pride or cultural assumptions rather than wisdom and biblical principles.
4. Spiritual Ignorance in Times of Trouble
When difficulties come, an uninformed person may become vulnerable to fear and deception.
Instead of seeking God, Scripture, wise counsel and appropriate professional help, someone may run to anyone who promises an immediate supernatural solution.
This is one reason Christians need spiritual discernment.
The Bible says:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” — 1 John 4:1
The instruction is not to believe everything.
It is also not to fear everything.
It is to test.
5. Spiritual Ignorance in Old Age
Spiritual learning should not stop because a person has become elderly.
A person can spend decades in church and still have areas of spiritual ignorance that need correction.
We should remain students of God’s Word throughout our lives.
Why Spiritual Knowledge Matters
The Bible repeatedly connects knowledge with wisdom and protection.
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
Paul prayed that believers would be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding.
“That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” — Colossians 1:9
This is important because spiritual maturity is not simply about having spiritual experiences.
It is about learning how to interpret life through God’s Word.
A person can have a dream without understanding it.
A person can experience temptation without recognizing it.
A person can encounter deception without detecting it.
A person can experience a spiritual battle without understanding how to respond.
Knowledge does not make us omniscient, but biblical knowledge can help us respond more wisely.
Five Dangers of Spiritual Ignorance
1. It Can Make a Person Vulnerable to Deception
Jesus warned about deception.
Not everything that appears spiritual is from God.
That is why Christians need biblical discernment.
2. It Can Cause People to Misinterpret Spiritual Experiences
A dream may be ordinary.
A dream may arise from thoughts, experiences or emotions.
A dream may also be spiritually significant according to biblical examples.
Therefore, we should neither treat every dream as a message from God nor dismiss every unusual dream without examination.
We should test it.
3. It Can Lead to Fear
When people do not understand something, fear can fill the gap.
Spiritual knowledge should not produce obsession or terror.
Instead, it should lead us toward God, truth, prayer, wisdom and sound judgment.
4. It Can Make People Dependent on Others
One of the purposes of spiritual education is to help Christians develop a personal relationship with God.
A believer should be able to pray, study Scripture, seek God’s guidance and test what he or she hears.
Pastors, elders and mature Christians can provide valuable counsel, but every believer should also develop personal spiritual understanding.
5. It Can Cause People to Ignore Important Warnings
Sometimes ignorance causes people to dismiss something simply because they do not understand it.
The solution is not to become superstitious.
The solution is to become knowledgeable and discerning.
What Should You Do When You Encounter Something Spiritually Troubling?
Please read my post on why experience is expensive here
Also visit my prayer and counselling page here
If you experience a troubling dream, unusual spiritual concern or recurring fear, do not immediately panic.
Instead:
1. Pray.
Take the matter to God.
2. Examine it against Scripture.
God’s Word should be the standard for Christian belief and practice.
3. Do not accept every spiritual interpretation you hear.
Test what people tell you.
4. Seek wise Christian counsel.
Speak with a mature and biblically grounded Christian leader when necessary.
5. Take physical symptoms seriously.
If you experience pain, swelling, fever, weakness or other physical symptoms, seek appropriate medical care. Prayer and medical care do not have to be enemies.
6. Do not allow fear to control you.
The purpose of spiritual knowledge is not to make you afraid of dreams, objects, people or unseen forces.
The purpose is to help you walk wisely with God.
Spiritual Knowledge Is a Lifelong Journey
Nobody knows everything.
The important question is not:
“Do I know everything about spiritual matters?”
The better question is:
“Am I willing to learn?”
The Christian life should be a journey of growing in knowledge, wisdom, faith and discernment.
We must learn God’s Word.
We must learn to pray.
We must learn to recognize deception.
We must learn to examine spiritual experiences.
We must learn to seek wise counsel.
And above all, we must learn to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ.
Final Thought
Ignorance can be expensive.
In the natural world, ignorance can sometimes cost property, health or even human life.
In spiritual matters, ignorance can leave a person confused, fearful, vulnerable to deception and unable to respond wisely to situations he or she does not understand.
But there is hope.
You do not have to remain spiritually ignorant.
You can learn.
You can study Scripture.
You can pray.
You can seek wisdom.
You can test what you hear.
You can grow in spiritual discernment.
And you can learn to face mysterious situations with faith, wisdom and biblical understanding rather than fear.
At Conquer Mysterious Problems of Life, our goal is to help people discover biblical principles that can help them understand and confront life’s mysterious spiritual challenges personally, while encouraging appropriate professional help whenever a physical, psychological or other non-spiritual issue is involved.
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” — Jeremiah 33:3
Do not allow ignorance to control what you do not understand. Seek knowledge. Seek wisdom. Seek God.
