teachings,+our+responsability+to+learn+the+truth

Our responsability to learn the truth
(Kai Stormwalker)

I found this in a book written over 200 years ago by William Wilberforce, who the movie "Amazing Grace" is about.

"(God) will hold us accountable for our stewardship of all the potential instruction we might have taken advantage of to learn the truths of authentic faith. I have to wonder what God thinks of our voluntary ignorance of these matters...

...Christianity is based on a revelation from God that is filled with information that the natural mind could never have imagined. The wealth of this knowledge will never be mastered without diligent effort...

...Those who have done so tell us of the immense value of such effort. And yet, though many have the Bible on the shelf in their homes, for most the content of the Book remains a mystery. The result is that in the Christian world in the West, we settle for a cultural version of Christianity that is far from the real thing. I'm not talking about unbelievers here, I am speaking of those who say they believe the Bible is the Word of God and who claim to have committed their lives to Jesus Christ. They have given in to a nominal faith...

...An authentic faith requires an honesty of mind, the consistent use of the means of knowledge and instruction, the humility that fosters a desire to be instructed, and an unprejudiced cnoclusion about what this inquiry reveals. If we approach thenstudy of the Bible in this way, God fulfills His promises. If we seek and keep on seeking, we will find; if we ask and keep on asking, we will receive; if we knock and keep on knocking, the door to truth will be opened. How can we refuse an offer like this? Yet such opportunity is accompanied by responsibility. If we have settled for cultural Christianity and remained ignorant or unresponsive to authentic faith, what kind of justification will we be able to give to God?"