Saying, "I don't know"

I don't like to say, "I don't know" about something, especially when I've been studying that something for a few days.  I had to tell the Sunday School class that this morning while we were studying 1 Peter 3:21. 

I told them that the temptation when you come across a part of Scripture like this is to go with your tradition or what you've always heard on the subject and dismiss the difficulties that a passage may bring. 

I refused to do that this morning for 2 reasons:  #1. "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness."-James 3:1  #2. When someone I'm listening to is dealing with a tough subject and they dance around it, while trying to sound very convincing, I have a hard time trusting that person's teaching on other, less difficult, topics. 

As a teacher God will judge me with greater strictness and this is a fearful thing to me. I don't want to stand before God and have Him question me on how I taught people and my only answer be, "Lord, I know I didn't search it out, but everyone believed X on that topic so it was impossible to explore Y, so I just took the easy route.  Forgive me."  I also know that as a student I have more trust in someone that's willing to say "I don't know" than I do in someone who will just give an answer hoping they are right.

In my mind the man that will say "I don't know" is taking it serious while the one who is giving all the answers, regardless of their confidence in them, is untrustworthy.  He's untrustworthy because he can never deal with one issue.......

WHAT IF HIS AND EVERYONE ELSE'S TRADITION IS WRONG?

He can't deal with this issue, not because his tradition is necessarily wrong, but because he's unwilling to even explore that possibility.

In the end, understanding 1 Peter 3:21 and the issue it raises concerning baptism and salvation isn't a subject one is going to be able to master in the time I was able to devote to it this week.  However, when that is the case we should not be pretending to have the answers and should instead stick with a more trustworth response, "I don't know."