High Voltage Intellect

Freethinkers and skeptics abound.

Science and knowledge hold the world of faith to an intellectual ransom. Men of genius are honored. Articulate naysayers are well received, quoted and then repeated again. Their learning is preserved, to be trotted out when their observations suit another's case.

But will such five star thinkers all be present at the Lamb's wedding feast?

  • Thomas Edison, America's greatest inventor, 1847-1931 -

Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me - the fabled God of the three qualities of which I spoke: mercy, kindness, love - He also made the fish I catch and eat. And where do His mercy, kindness, and love for that fish come in? No; nature made us - nature did it all - not the gods of the religions... I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul... I am an aggregate of cells, as, for instance, New York City is an aggregate of individuals. Will New York City go to heaven?

  • Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist, 1941-? -

To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries.

  • Voltaire, French philosopher, 1694-1778 -

...claimed that within 100 years of his time, Christianity would be swept away from existence and pass into the obscurity of history. Yet 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his house and printing press to produce stacks of Bibles.

Three men of high-voltage intellect, yet none did apprehend when and how God spoke. 

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21-22)

"The intellect is not the way to knowing the Lord deeply." ~ Frank Viola

NOTE TO SELF: I am well warmed (eternally grateful in fact) by the notion that high-voltage intellect is not required for entry to Heaven, anymore than good social standing was necessary for the thief beside Jesus on Calvary to greet Him in paradise.

Today's Soul Snippet:

'The devil makes little of sin that he may retain the sinner'. ~ Rowland Hill

ENJOY too - CREDIBLE CHRISTIANITY

Permission is granted to reprint SoulSnacks in hard copy form, using them for Bible Studies or other Christian forums, as well as sending them to your own email lists and posting them on your own websites. SoulSupply asks only that you keep the SoulSupply website and email contact information intact.

Love this SoulSnack? - PLEASE take a moment and share it with a friend. Would you like to subscribe for free SoulSnacks either weekly or each workday?