Tuesday, March 30, 2021

When Intelligence Turns Foolish

 

Tuesday of Holy Week, March 30, 2021

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.  As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”  So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters?  God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.  Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.  It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven.  And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.  So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.  But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.  This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.  1 Corinthians 1:18-25

There is a lot of intelligence in the world.  From Albert Einstein, to all the medical, political, and social scientists, added to space engineers, agricultural wizzards of GMO fame, and those who put astronauts in space (particularly those who bring them back safe to earth), the wisdom of humanity has a handle on a quantum truckload of intelligence.

But there is a limit!

The question, answered by Apostle Paul’s message to the Corinthian believers, is when does man’s intelligence turn foolish?  Paul’s answer is that humanity’s intelligence places itself in the trash can when it starts to battle against faith, and, in particular, faith regarding the cross, tomb, and resurrection.

In Paul’s Jewish frame of reference all humanity was categorized as either Jew or Gentile.  And both were guilty of the foolishness of denying the cross. 

To the Jews, who were looking for a Messiah to rule over earth, it was an offense to imagine he would be hung on a cross like a common criminal; it was a curse.  To the Gentiles, particularly the philosophers, thinkers, and debaters, the whole idea of power without human intelligence that can be proven and held in hand, was just pure nonsense.  In other words, faith, genuine faith that trusts God to handle our biggest problem is unnecessary; we can figure it out, thank you very much…no higher power needed.

For humans, endowed with sentient life – an awareness of both sensory and abstract dimensions of existance – dependence on some unseen “Creator” is a nonsequitur – there isn’t anything we can’t do for ourselves, so creating a creator is for the foolish and weak. 

However, for those who care to admit the truth, we don’t have nearly the intelligence with which we credit ourselves.  Chief among the evidence is the most basic question (and, arguably the most important question), that question of what happens when this life is over.  To deny the continuance of sentient existance solely on the basis of flesh decomposing, is to push an argument from silence.  No life seen is only proof that you cannot see with human eyes, or measure with human intelligence, what lies beyond the grave.  There are some things the 0’s and 1’s of aritificial intelligence cannot measure.

For that you need faith.

For You Today

We’re into the sacred season of faith known as Holy Week…the passion is unfolding, and the faithful are seeing the evidence of things not seen.[1] 

All true intelligence is born of, and lives-in faith in God, the author of faith[2].

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

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