Certainty or Ambiguity – Which is Better?

The attempted assassination of Trump brought clarity for some people and ambiguity for others. Many Trump followers may not like his platform, but they like his certainty on issues. And his response to being shot reinforced that image.

It’s election season in America. With just over three months until we vote, we’re still faced with a lot of ambiguity. For a long time we wondered if either candidate would actually be nominated.

If “certainty or ambiguity?” is the question, don’t fall into the trap. Either/or questions like that one want one thing: certainty.

Young people seem to prefer a binary choice. Just tell us, is it True or False?

I hear a lot of young people asking me for certainty I cannot in good conscience provide. Yes, I could take a problem that has multiple possible outcomes and reduce it down to a binary issue. But doing so could force me to eliminate the best solution before it actually appears.

Life has continually surprised me with things I didn’t I expect. Experience has made ambiguity more tolerable. I’ve seen that truth may take a while to reveal itself and that often, I need to be more patient.

If you are a Christian, you follow a Lord who often responded to calls for certainty in challenging ways. For example, the Pharisees, seeking to trap Jesus gave him binary options:

“Should we pay our taxes? Yes or no?” Matt. 22:15-17

And Jesus’s ambiguous answers infuriated them: “Whose image is on the coin?”

Similarly, the disciples thought in binary terms:

“Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” John 9:2

But Jesus didn’t take the bait: “This happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.”

Why would he do this? I propose that there is an upside to ambiguity. Consider these five reasons why:

1. More information needed

Imagine you’re looking into your closet for a shirt. Looking at the right handside, you see just two old shirts that you wish you had thrown out. Which to choose? That’s a binary choice. But looking to the left of the closet, you see five other awesome shirts you’d forgotten about. Sometimes more information is available if you just look around.

2. More time needed

Now imagine that same closet. The drive for certainty says, “make the decision now.” But you remember that a friend has gone shopping for you and is coming by in five minutes. Often sitting in that place of ambiguity a while longer gives you the time to make a better decision.

3. Other perspectives needed

The friend who has gone shopping arrives, sees the ugly red shirt you have chosen and says, “You know you look better in blue.” And immediately you realize that your friend’s perspective is right. Often we can make a better decision by seeking wise counsel.

4. It can humble you

If not knowing what to do is uncomfortable, consider why that is so. Maybe we were just raised that way and it has become a character flaw – we make decisions too quickly. Or do we have a need to be right that is impeding our capacity to embrace truth? Are we trying to prove ourselves to someone else? If so, then ambiguity may be a gift.

5. Opportunity to grow your faith

When Jesus’s disciples responded to ambiguous situations, he often encouraged them to have greater faith. When we don’t have the answers in life, maybe those situations are an opportunity to ask God for help. Ambiguity may be God’s way of asking us to depend on him.

Are you someone who feels an inner drive for certainty? Letting go of your need for certainty may open up all kinds of incredible options you wouldn’t have seen before.

Consider praying or asking more questions before you make decisions. You might find yourself seeing the world more clearly.

Photo thanks to Kyle Glenn