WISDOM

There are questions and there are questions. Whether one has faith in God or not, the world is filled with unanswered questions. I have taught the Bible for many years and have had all kinds of students, from unquestioning sponges to knot-headed atheists. I like to lecture for part of the class and then slip into the Socratic method of question and answer, going back and forth between teacher and student. Neither teacher nor student can get away with only asking questions and never having to answer questions or justify their answers. An acceptable answer is “I do not know.” Then we can talk about learning about what we do not know and try to find some wisdom in understanding the limits of knowledge. But there are bad questions that are put forward that are intended do nothing but confuse the issue, waste time, and avoid other questions. A classic bad question is, “Can God make a rock so big that He cannot move it?” It is a bad, time wasting question, because it assumes that an irresistible force and an immovable object can exist in the same reality. I have learned to trust the Word of God to answer the most important questions that any person can ask, “Where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going?” Do not look to atheistic evolutionist for the answers, for their answer is, “You are an accident of time and chance, there is no reason for your existence, there is no hope beyond the pleasure and purpose of the moment; you are going to die and that’s it.” I have learned that many atheists are atheists not because of evidence found in nature, but because of their skepticism. They simply do not want for there to be a Creator God.

The beginning of wisdom is to believe what God said through Moses, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Joshua the Son of Nun was in the first generation to receive the written word of God from Moses. He saw the sea parted by the hand of God He witnessed the fire on the Mountain of God and heard the thunderous voice from the Mountain. But what made Joshua wise is that he learned from Moses.

^“Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.”  Deuteronomy 34:9-10 (NASB)

In recent years, science has been converging with Genesis. Physics and astronomy have shown that here was a beginning to the universe and there will be an end. Microbiology has shown that time and chance cannot produce the complexity of life we observe. Archeologist have found a creation “event” in the fossil record, the per-Cambrian “explosion” that records the sudden appearance of all the body plans we observe today. We can conclude that evolution was never a theory at all, just an unproven hypothesis glommed onto by atheists of the nineteenth century so that they could argue against creation and the Bible. Joshua did not have what we would call scientific knowledge. But he had wisdom gained through hearing the Word of God through Moses. The Bible has withstood the test of time and every assault of atheists. Look there to find the answers to those fundamental questions, “Where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going?”

George Cargill, author of “In the Grip of God: Journey into Corinth” and a forthcoming devotional, “Love the Narrow Path.”