Shalom, all.
Look, having a degree doesn't make one smarter than another or more likely to do this or do that. Having a degree simply means that one is smart enough to do the requirements that lead up to a school or institution conferring that degree upon that person. I have four degrees from three different institutions and was a "professional student" for about 13 years (some of that while working full time for a job). Big deal. Having the degrees is nothing. HAVING THE EXPOSURE TO LOTS OF DIFFERENT FIELDS OF STUDY IS EVERYTHING!
When I had a brief episode with a multi-level marketing company, we were instructed to constantly read books, most of which were self-improvement books or motivational books, and one of the quotations that really made sense for me was this:
"You don't know that you don't know what you don't know."
Profound, right? A couple of these books called it having "blind spots." It's like seeing your own nose all the time in your own field of vision and totally ignoring it for the what you are focusing on.
Close one eye and focus on where your nose is in your vision. Touch your nose, if you want confirmation that what you are looking at is indeed your nose. Then, close the other eye and see your nose with the other eye. Then, open both eyes and look cross-eyed at your nose! (Do this in private if you don't want to be taken for some kind of nut.) You'll notice that you've been seeing your own nose all the time! It's been there all along! You just haven't been paying attention to it! (Don't worry too much about noticing your nose for the rest of the day. The revelation sticks with you for a while.)
Now, think about this sentence again,...
"You don't know...
that you don't know...
what you don't know."
What are some of the things that one doesn't know? Well, that could be ANYTHING that is outside of the instruction you've had up to the present. Most don't know how to do calculus. Most don't know who all the vice presidents were to all the presidents down through the history of the United States. Most don't know how computer programming languages work, even if they know a particular programming language and can use it well. And, these are just tidbits of information from only 3 different subjects! We have such an information overload today, that NO ONE can be master of it all! Oh, there's a few like the "Jeopardy" champion, Ken Jennings, who have a good command over several subjects, but even they don't know it all.
What an education does for us is to EXPOSE us to what is POSSIBLE to learn, and all around the world, people are making strides into many different fields of study, ever expanding the body of knowledge from which we build our societies. Hopefully, when one attends an academy, college or university, he or she will find his or her "niche" - a place where he or she can excel because it's a necessary field of study and one likes that field and is good at it.
Now, let's talk about the work of the Ruach haQodesh Eloheinu (the Holy Spirit of our God):
Do the Scriptures EVER tell us that someday we'll know it all? NO!!! Some believe that the verse...
1 Corinthians 13:12
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
KJV
means that we'll know it all someday, but that's not the "know" that Paul is talking about here. Paul is saying that we will RECOGNIZE others like they will recognize us. It does NOT mean that God will give us all knowledge! What ARE we told?
John 14:26
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
KJV
In order for the Ruach haQodesh (the Holy Spirit or the "Holy Ghost") to "bring all things to your remembrance," means that the knowledge of what we COULD remember was there FIRST! The Greek word translated "shall teach" in this verse is didaxei, a form of didaskoo:
NT:1321 didaskoo (did-as'-ko); a prolonged (causative) form of a primary verb daoo (to learn); to teach (in the same broad application):
KJV - teach.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.) (I use "oo" for an omega and an "o" for omicron.)
Therefore, the word "didaskoo" stems from "daoo" meaning "to learn"; that would imply that the word, meaning "to teach," really means to "help one to learn" as a causative action.
The point I'm making is this: God doesn't go ... <POOF!> ... You have INSTANT knowledge! I mean, sure, the Holy Spirit COULD just help one to have instant knowledge, if He so chose to work that way, but generally speaking, HE DOESN'T!!! He brings all things - whatever Yeshua` (Jesus) has said to us - to our remembrance! He helps us to RECALL what Yeshua` said that is ALREADY STORED IN OUR MEMORY!!
IF we have not taken the time to STORE what Yeshua` said IN our memory, do we really think that we can EXPECT or COMMAND the Spirit to put it in there for us?! Wouldn't you think He would require some work from US?! Learning should be an on-going, never-ending process in each one of us! We can trust the Ruach haQodesh to lead us to the knowledge He would have us learn, but WE still have to do the learning! THAT'S where Bible colleges and universities and seminaries come in!
We are ALWAYS responsible to God to learn more about Him each day, whether in school or outside of school! But, again, the schools are there to HELP GUIDE us into knowledge that would benefit whatever our roll is in His economy and His will for us, whether a pastor, a teacher, or a lay worker in some other capacity!