Intelligence or Wisdom?
I have been blessed to have known some very intelligent people over the years: computer programmers, aeronautical engineers, composers, doctors, lawyers, bio-chemical engineers, authors, electrical engineers, designers, and more. I am not speaking about simply the ability to express extreme knowledge in regards to their own particular idiom, but rather the mental ability to garner knowledge about any field and bring their own unique viewpoint to the table. They could discuss music or mechanics, art or astronomy, Plato or Pluto (Mickey Mouse's best friend).
None of the people I have in mind ever came off as know-it-alls. They did not flaunt their intelligence in front of others, but often seemed hungry to learn what people around them knew and thought about the subject of the day. Many who meet them might think of them as intelligent giants, but I saw them as people of great wisdom...for they all were strong believers in Jesus Christ.
There are many intelligent people in the world. Walk into any Ivy League school and you would probably find yourself surrounded by Intelligence Quotients (IQs) well above average. And intelligence is highly esteemed throughout the world. Intelligent people have a higher than average ability to understand the information they are taught and can increase their knowledge with much less effort than most.
However, as any student of logic could tell you, intelligence does not equate to knowledge or wisdom. A person of high intelligence must still study in order to gain knowledge. And sometimes people of great knowledge can still be lacking in street smarts or common sense because they have been holed up in their ivory towers of education. They have not had much experience in real world situations. Wisdom is something that requires discernment based on learned experiences.
Therefore, I would suggest that the main reason so many highly intelligent people are unable to have faith in a Supreme Being, the Creator, God, Jesus Christ, is because they have so little wisdom. They have not experienced God, so they cannot understand God. They have knowledge and intellect to spare, but no real life experience in an area that is beyond their scope of understanding. They think that if a God did exist, He is beyond our ability to know. It really is sad that with all of their brilliance they can still be so dim.
"The fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 111:10
"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1 (as any intelligent person will tell you, repetition helps people learn)
None of the people I have in mind ever came off as know-it-alls. They did not flaunt their intelligence in front of others, but often seemed hungry to learn what people around them knew and thought about the subject of the day. Many who meet them might think of them as intelligent giants, but I saw them as people of great wisdom...for they all were strong believers in Jesus Christ.
There are many intelligent people in the world. Walk into any Ivy League school and you would probably find yourself surrounded by Intelligence Quotients (IQs) well above average. And intelligence is highly esteemed throughout the world. Intelligent people have a higher than average ability to understand the information they are taught and can increase their knowledge with much less effort than most.
However, as any student of logic could tell you, intelligence does not equate to knowledge or wisdom. A person of high intelligence must still study in order to gain knowledge. And sometimes people of great knowledge can still be lacking in street smarts or common sense because they have been holed up in their ivory towers of education. They have not had much experience in real world situations. Wisdom is something that requires discernment based on learned experiences.
Therefore, I would suggest that the main reason so many highly intelligent people are unable to have faith in a Supreme Being, the Creator, God, Jesus Christ, is because they have so little wisdom. They have not experienced God, so they cannot understand God. They have knowledge and intellect to spare, but no real life experience in an area that is beyond their scope of understanding. They think that if a God did exist, He is beyond our ability to know. It really is sad that with all of their brilliance they can still be so dim.
"The fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 111:10
"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1 (as any intelligent person will tell you, repetition helps people learn)
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