Opus 2026-046: The Need to Know

If you were ever involved in the military, you went through a class that talked about security and security clearances.  It always seems strange to me that being cleared to a certain level of security did not necessarily mean that you had access to information at that level.  There was another element besides being cleared as an honest patriotic citizen.  You also had a “need to know”.

It was assumed that the general population in the military and the civilian world did not need to know all of the details of how to drive an Abram’s tank.  It is assumed that a private in the army did not need to know who the spies were giving us information before the invasion.  Although it didn’t always work out the way it was supposed to, the idea was that you would be told what you needed to know to complete your mission.

Having been in education, I would say that this principle has been quite perverted.  One of the reasons I got in trouble was because I would continually ask, “Why?”  I didn’t ask why like a six-year-old sitting in the backseat when his parents tells him to do something.  I asked why, because knowing the reason for an action often gives me better insight into how to complete that action.

There’s a difference between what we need to know in order to be effective and what we want to know in order to feel informed.

This is why the Bible is to be the foundation of all actions in human life.  I’ve written before about wondering what kind of conversations God and Abraham had that we don’t know about. It would really be interesting to hear Moses arguing with Yahweh over issues that we aren’t even aware of.  Wouldn’t you like to hear the shepherds on the way back to the field exclaiming about the exciting moment they had seen the baby Jesus?  Do you wonder just where the wisemen came from and how many there were?

You may be cleared at that level of information but, God has decided you don’t have a need to know.  Everything you need is in the book.  Every principal.  Every standard.  Every procedure.  It’s there.

Is this an excuse for book burning?  Of course not.  It doesn’t mean that we don’t keep asking questions.  It doesn’t mean that we don’t keep investigating.  I have shelves of books that consist of three categories.  The ones I keep for emotional support, but never intend to read again; the ones I have not read yet, but want to get to and those that I’ve already read, but plan to read again.  If all those books disappeared, it would not put my life in danger or change how I do things.  If my Bible disappeared, I would be in a world of hurt.

So keep reading.  Keep investigating.  Keep questioning.  Be an ethical skeptic seeking truth, but rotating it to see all aspects so you know if it is true or not.

And don’t forget to consult the owner’s manual.

homo unius libri