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HESE are words that I've uttered many times: "I don't want to hear it!" I suppose that in some arenas, I simply have no curiosity. There are certain things that I don't know, and that I have no desire to know. Gossip about you, for example? I'm just not interested. However, when it comes to the things of God, curiosity is a blessing. It is smug ignorance that is dangerous. Think of people who do not believe the Bible. How many of them have actually read it? A few perhaps. It's hard enough to get true believers to read the whole thing. But rejecting the Bible without actually knowing what it says is rather foolish. Peter points out here that many fools are foolish by choice (vs. 5).
Looking into the future, Peter saw that there would come a day when the idea of Jesus' return to earth would be mocked in the marketplace, as if the very idea were a complete absurdity (vs. 4). I believe that such a day has arrived. But Peter also gives us the reason for this unbelief. The worldly mind chooses to ignore the past. Specifically, the story of Noah's flood should be sufficient evidence to convince a man that the same God who judged the human race before will certainly be willing to do it again (vs. 5-6). But no, unbelievers are essentially in denial. They doubt the reality of hell and justice. Never mind that harsh justice does indeed exist all around us in our world today. It's a strange kind of mushy eschatology that denies our present reality. It isn't worth the paper it's written on. Our world is not a giant flower nursery. The souls who sin will die (Ezekiel 18:4). God will judge the world.
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