When we were children, we had a saying, “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.”

Children grow and develop their minds through curiosity. They can be counted upon to ask endless questions “ad nauseam.” As my dad would say, “You don’t know unless you ask.”
I recall taking my dad up on that and asking him question after question. Many had to do with God and His existence. It didn’t take long before his answers met a dead end. I suppose that had a lot to do with my personal journey as a seeker of God. “Seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened.”
(Matt. 7:7&8)     

Through such seeking and knocking, we are drawn closer to God and gain a greater understanding of who He is. He is the Creator of the Universe, a universe so vast and diverse that we have yet to scratch the surface.

Scientists tell us that there are 10,000 stars for every grain of sand on the planet Earth and that the universe is constantly expanding. When Moses met with God on Mt. Sinai, he asked God who he should say sent him when he approached Pharaoh to tell him to free his people from enslavement. God responds, “I am that I am.” He is the all in all, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. He is without a beginning
and without an end.

Certainly, this boggles the finite human mind, as everything we can relate to in this physical world has a beginning and an end. And this is the question that I recall asking my dad as a child.

I’ve come to realize that some questions will never be answered while in this physical existence. Just as a sponge will never be able to absorb the ocean even if fully saturated, so a finite mind will never be able to comprehend the infinite mind of God.

As scripture teaches us, the wisdom of man is foolishness in God’s eyes. I think we often overlook that God is not only the God of this world in which we exist, but of worlds we will never discover in this ever-expanding universe, as well as the spiritual world.

With that said, what we can comprehend if we desire to open our minds to do so, is that we were created in God’s image, AKA the imago Dei. This should be a concept that is within our grasp and can lead our curious minds to explore that which surrounds us, including all of nature’s inhabitants and other cultures. This only enriches our understanding and knowledge of who God is, as we see Him through His creation.

When we deny ourselves this information and seek to insist that others morph into our culture via assimilation, insisting that ours is superior to others, we do ourselves a tremendous disservice and lose a treasured opportunity to learn more about God via His splendid diversity.

In the book of Revelation, 7:9, we are told that a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language will stand before the throne of God. Does this not indicate that God treasures all of His creation and the diversity that He has created? And if God sees value in such diversity, shouldn’t we also?

Yet in this fallen world, many have gone astray, even in the name of Christianity, and denied such diversity and traded it for one group’s supremacy over all others. While there are many things we will never comprehend about God in this life, this one should be very
basic and elementary.   

As we move into this Fall season and the days become shorter, let us also realize that our days on this Earth are short, as Solomon reminds us, and therefore, our time of seeking and knocking is also short.

Our growth involves pursuing such curiosity, and God promises clarity, wisdom, and enlightenment as a result.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus was once asked by a seeker of truth.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus made it very simple and very clear. How did He treat the outcasts of society? He loved them. How did He treat sinners? He loved them. Even to the disapproval of the religious leaders of His day. And yes, even to the point of death.

So, how do we treat other cultures? Love them. How do we treat immigrants? Love them. How do we treat those of various beliefs? Love them. How do we treat those of various lifestyles? Love them.    

If we allow ourselves to develop relationships with others whom we may have been taught, fall into the category of “others,” perhaps we will find that we have more in common than we realized. When we otherize people, it makes it easier to mistreat them, disrespect them, and even terminate their existence. Ignorance leaves us open to division and divisive propaganda, while commonalities can bring unity. 

No, I don’t think it was curiosity that killed the cat; it was ignorance. And we have the choice to embrace it or reject it.