Out Our Way: Along Goliath's Covenant Trail

Out our way, we know that horses are always looking, listening, smelling and learning. Last week, I was at the Minnesota State Fair and admired the horse barn. As I walked in most of the horses were facing the inside of their stalls and away from the crowds, but the ears were always on alert. I watched the ears as they listened to this or that as the crowds went around them. They may not have been watching, but they were very aware of all that was happening around them.

I recall riding Goliath in the Bear Paws and him suddenly going all tense and his ears wig wagging, for he had picked up "something" in the brush. I saw, heard and sensed nothing - but he did for he was on high alert. Fortunately Jack, the Rez dog was with us, went into the bushes and sorted things out - just a mule deer - but until we knew it was a tense situation.

Horses are always on the alert - always checking out smells, sounds and sights. Except for the Horse over at Normans. On the tip of the Norman Western Wear and Tack store is a plastic horse. Its ears do not move, its eyes do not see, its nose does not smell. It is an "agnostic" horse.

The word agnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis, pronounced "know-sis." The root of the word means knowledge - to know. The prefix "A" in the Greek means "without" or "lacking." Thus the word agnostic literally means to be "without knowledge." In short, like the plastic horse at Norman's, "to be unaware and without any ability to percieve."

Strangely, many people take pride in declaring themselves to be like that plastic horse - proudly declaring their lack of knowledge. Now there is nothing wrong with starting out as a agnostic. We all did when we began school. We could not read or write, did not know how to count or how to do artithmetic. We were agnostics - without knowledge. And that was good, for the person who thinks he or she already knows everything cannot learn. It is the person who recognizes their plight as an agnostic - as one without knowledge - who is ready to learn.

Unless, of course, for some reason they are convinced that education and knowledge are somehow bad things and ignorance really is bliss. How can anyone learn who refuses to even be open to it? There is none so blind as they who will not see and none so ignorant as they who will not dare to seek to learn.

Sadly, in religion, that is where many agnostics are today. Like the plastic horse at Norman's, they see, hear, smell and feel nothing and take great pride in their ignorance. To doubt is not to ignore, but to be challenged. The person who doubts Malta is east of Havre will not be convinced otherwise if they refuse to look at maps, talk to those who have been to Malta or go there themselves. Instead they sit with eyes shut, ears plugged, secure in the knowledge that no one knows where Malta is and that maybe Malta doesn't exist. Rather than find out, they prefer to remain ignorant - to know nothing, to be an "agnostic."

I have met many agnostics along the way - some in the Church, some outside the Church - but all sharing the same smug satisfaction of being ignorant and reveling in the fact they don't know anything and have no desire to find out.

It is so much easier to be an agnostic Christian who may attend Church now and then but doesn't really know if the Gospels are true and makes no effort to find out. Jesus said of such "lukewarm" believers, "You are neither hot nor cold. How I wish you were one or the other, but because you are only lukewarm I will vomit you out of my mouth." My translation.

Indeed many an atheist who put God to the test has become a believer. Look at C.S. Lewis - a devout athiest until he really took the time to explore his doubts, and became convinced of Who Jesus Christ is. But I know of no agnostic - someone content to be and remain ignorant - who ever moved beyond that lukewarm and plastic state.

When I come to Goliath, his eyes move, his ears make semiphores of recognition, his nostrils flare and he knows who I am. he whinnies his greeting. And I usually bring oats, or at the very least, carry the lead rope to take him out of the corral to where I saddle him up and take him into the hills. I approach the horse at Normans and there is no response. It is not alive for it does not know anything. It is without knowledge. It is an agnostic horse.

--

John Bruington and Goliath can be found on the web at http://havrepres.org. Their book "Out Our Way: Theology Under Saddle" is still to be found at Amazon.