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What is biblical view on curiosity? Is curiosity sin and therefore impossible for God? One reference is rom.10:17 that tells that first proclaiming the gospel, hearing it and faith cometh, but before that you need to have curiosity or need aroused through advertisement by the media or what?

alvoutila
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God is the creator, and He creates with purpose. Curiosity is a feature of eternal design that God uses to compel mankind.

John 4:23,24 (NIV)
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Luke 6:45 (NIV)
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Curiosity, wonderment is contemplation or a consideration born from the heart of man.

Luke 12:34 (NIV)
for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The human heart holds our personal economy (the things that matter most). When young lovers first encounter one another, curiosity naturally encourages discovery, discovery of a deeper love.

This is especially true in regard to God. God designed the human heart to esteem Him and naturally we should be curious about God and His will for our life.

El'endia Starman
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Rick
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God is omniscient; He knows everything. Curiosity spawns from a lack of knowledge, therefore, God cannot be curious by logical extension.

Mankind, however, certainly is curious; we do not have to make that point. But does the Bible condone curiosity? I would think it does:

Psalm 143:5 NIV
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.

Curiosity is a strong desire to learn about something. We see in this particular Psalm a strong desire to understand God and His work and Creation.

Naturally, curiosity can lead you astray, such as the example with the Prodigal Son. The young man tells his father to give him his inheritance then immediately sets off to see what is in the world. We know what that got him; he was soon broke and stranded far from home with no one to help him. Curiosity led him to sin against his father and to make poor life decisions.

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The only bit I can think of curiosity is with Uzzah. I think curiosity can be a good and a bad thing. Uzzah was carrying the Ark of the Covenant, he tripped over and he was warned not to look inside. Because of curiosity, he did look inside and God had to smite him down and he died. He was commanded not to look and he listened to his curiosity.

2 Samuel 6 (ESV)
5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs[c] and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. 6 And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. 8 And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah[d] to this day.

It is just like hearing the Gospel for the first time. I hear different testimonies of people saying they were searching for Jesus and wanted to know who he was, until they found him or he allowed them to be seen (not his image). Because the Word does said "you will search me and find me".

So the conclusion: curiosity can be a good thing if you hear the Gospel and want to know who Jesus is. Or you're a Christian and want to keep researching what something in the bible or someone said.

curiosity can be a bad thing, if you were warned and commanded not to do this/that or that is wrong. You may have curiosity to find out what it is and essentially you will sin.

It also goes back to Garden of Eden, when Eve was deceived by the snake, she would think "why didn't God want us to eat the fruit but said we would die, why?" the reason for her curiosity is WHY same way Uzzah wondered Why should we not look inside the Ark? WHY? what's inside?

God Bless

Xino
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    Scripture says Uzzah reached out to steady the arc not that he looked into the arc. Uzzah error was in trying to prop God up. God does not need us to support Him. – Rick Oct 04 '13 at 11:47
  • ok. in other translation he held the Ark. He was obviously going to look inside so God had to strike him down. – Xino Oct 04 '13 at 13:19
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    It is very dangerous to read more into scripture than scripture reveals, I do not believe it is obvious that he was going to look inside. Assuming one know the heart of another is a slippery slope. – Rick Oct 04 '13 at 13:25
  • so you believe because the Oxen stumbled and Uzzah was going to fix the situation was the reason why God struck him down? if that's what you believe, then that's fine, but I have a different belief. – Xino Oct 04 '13 at 13:53
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    @Xino - your belief is not in accordance with the written account in any way – warren Oct 04 '13 at 20:20
  • @Warren we all have our interpretations of the Word. The way you read it does not Justify what the bible exactly says because you are forcing your view and beliefs onto me. Everyone has their own interpretations. "psalm 22 says Jesus heart turned to wax". Now we can have different interpretations towards that verse. Your view on the Word does not justify you are right. – Xino Oct 05 '13 at 00:26
  • @Xino - there is only one interpretation, we do not all have our own. We may have our own opinion, but opinions are not interpretations. The clear wording of the Bible indicates your belief as written to be wrong. Uzzah was punished for unlawfully touching the Ark. He was not punished for being "curious". – warren Oct 06 '13 at 00:54
  • @Warren, oh boy have I heard the excuse of 1 peter 1:20. Please don't try to use that to force your own understanding of the bible onto others. I will say it again we all have our own understanding. If there really is 1 interpretation, then we wouldn't have so much disagreements and so much Christian sects. – Xino Oct 06 '13 at 20:52
  • @Xino - I'm not forcing my own understanding: I am merely pointing to the clear text of the account! Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.. The passage itself explains why Uzzah reached and why he was punished. Claiming it was from "curiosity" is applying your personal opinion to the text, which the text does not support. – warren Oct 06 '13 at 21:50
  • like I said above, God killed him because he wanted to correct the oxen's mistake. right? So it means God is a harsh God. but not my God, my God is a loving God who does things for a purpose. There's OBVIOUSLY a reason why he had to strike down Uzzah. believe what you want to believe – Xino Oct 06 '13 at 22:11
  • @Xino - maybe you should read the lest of the Old Testament :) the Ark was only supposed to be moved on poles carried by Levites. It was already being moved incorrectly by being placed on a cart. Uzzah was punished as said for touching the Ark. NO one was supposed to touch it in that manner. God is Loving, He is also Just, Righteous, Holy, Wrathful, Merciful, Gracious, and myriad more attributes. Ignoring aspects of God just because you don't like them does not give you a full picture of who He is :) – warren Oct 07 '13 at 13:53
  • yes...i'm sure God is all "Loving, He is also Just, Righteous, Holy, Wrathful, Merciful, Gracious, and myriad more attributes" that he had to strike down someone for touching the Ark. He is JUST, that he had to strike down someone for fixing a Ark. please enough arguing, we have our views. Don't force your view onto me. This is the second time someone has tried doing this. – Xino Oct 07 '13 at 19:56
  • @Xino - perhaps others are trying to teach you, as I am doing herein, to exegete rather than eisegete. Could there be other aspects of Uzzah's behavior he was punished for? Of course. Does the text say why he was punished other than specifically because he touched the Ark? No. All other conclusions are speculation - which is OK to speculate about, but not to dogmatically say you *know* exactly why else (if there even is an "else") he may have also been punished. – warren Oct 08 '13 at 09:32
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Is curiosity a sin? Not according to the thinking minds of:

  • Arnold Edinborough:

    "Curiosity is the very basis of education and, if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly."

  • Albert Einstein:

    "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.... Never lose a holy curiosity."

Christians are encouraged in sermon, song, and literature to "only believe". But which is better?

  1. A mind closed by belief?
  2. A mind opened by curiosity?
M. Wm. Ferguson
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    that doesn't really have anything to do with Christianity – warren Oct 04 '13 at 20:23
  • My dictionary informs me otherwise; i.e., by definition, "belief" has everything to do with Christianity, and Judaism, and Islam, and every other belief system. – M. Wm. Ferguson Oct 05 '13 at 17:50
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    But this is a site about Christian doctrine and sacred writings. It is not a site about dictionary definitions and logical extensions therein. You quoted two people who where not Christian theologians to support a belief as christian. You see the problem, right? The question asks what the Bible says, then you quoted non-Christians on the same subject. That's a little like asking what the doctor says and you give the mechanic's opinion. –  Oct 05 '13 at 21:34
  • I thought this was a site about "Biblical Hermeneutics" from which Christian doctrine and sacred writings were developed. Am I mistaken? Nevertheless, and since "curiousity" is a cognitive state and not an action (and if logical extensions are not permitted), then Romans 10:17, specifically referenced in the OP, has nothing to do with "curiousity". – M. Wm. Ferguson Oct 06 '13 at 18:06
  • @PatFerguson - that would be the "Biblical Hermeneutics" site that you're looking for, perhaps. Though this answer would also be voted-down there because it is poorly written, has nothing to do with Greek, Hebrew, or the Bible, and doesn't address a hermeneutical approach. – warren Oct 07 '13 at 19:08
  • No it has more to do with reality I think. –  Oct 10 '13 at 07:12
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Old Post, anyways did anyone find anything about this subject?

This is what I could find:

Matthew 7:8King James Version (KJV) 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

I think that our curiosity should be based on searching for the truth, whatever subject it is that we are curious about. But does this curiosity deviates our ways? does this curiosity leads us astray?

Occultism assumes certain ideas as truths, and I think that we get lost by "assuming", were does the source of information comes from? Is the source reliable? For everything we truly need is in the Lord's words.

John 20 King James Version (KJV) 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

I'm a curious person and I've got lost in transition too many times because of that. I've got blinded by knowledge and felt like I'm better than other humans, because of this I've been humiliated by God and realized I'm not as great as knowledge made me think I was. It was the wrong knowledge that led me astray.

Matthew 6 King James Version (KJV) 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Let's say some guy found a mathematical formula that describes the movement of the planets. That formula can be replicated, there are too much variables involved to predict a precise position of one planet at a given time, we don't know all the variables but know most of them that we can predict with some exactitude. This formula is considered to be truth.

This information even though truthful and replicable, has nothing to do with the kind of truth we should be curious about right?

Well because some people found out how the movement of the planets work, the invisible string that ties them, they understand how it works,then they tend to discredit a creator even though there is an evident link with an intelligent design in all of the "formulas" they have "discovered".

Does this type of knowledge lead us astray? away from the path of the Lord?

Indeed, if we don't have the mind of the Christ we should not be adventuring away by ourselves, we should look first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, we should strive to become perfect as our Father in Heaven is.

Juan Ramirez
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  • Welcome to the site. We're glad you're here. Please take the [tour] and visit the [help] to learn how to use the site. I hope to see you post again soon. –  Feb 26 '15 at 17:58
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