Sherlock Holmes, “The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.”
We call it “jumping to conclusions.”
My mind forms a picture of a kid jumping over a water puddle following a rain. The jump is short landing the poor child in the deepest part of the puddle splashing water, becoming wet all over much to the parent’s chagrin.
I hired a young man newly graduated with a B.A. from a leading state school in Ohio for an entry level position. Something came up in conversation. He replied, “I took a course in that at university. I’m an expert.”
We read one part of a sentence from Scripture. We conclude we know everything about that idea. We read it in English. It was written in Greek.
We look at someone newly arrived. We note their clothes, height, weight, hair. We assume we know all about that person.
We know nothing.
We jumped into the middle of the puddle splashing bad thoughts all around.
We didn’t clear the puddle, that is gather sufficient data, in order to form a more accurate conclusion. Realizing that when more data arrives we may need to revise that conclusion.
Life is all about “I don’t know” and “I wonder about that”.
Faith Venture 
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