The Idolatry of Ideas Series Part II: Jesus a Stumbling Block to the Wise of Every Age

1 Corinthians 1:18-23 ESV

18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is  written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise, and the discernment of the discerning I
will thwart.”

20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in  the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God  through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22For Jews  demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of  God. 25For the  foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than  men.

During the age of Enlightenment man became the center of the universe and science the prophet – harbinger of change. We embraced this in the west and the pursuit of knowledge over the error of religion and superstition was born. It was decided that wisdom came from a natural, scientific perspective alone; therefore, science was the supreme form of knowledge. Religion was considered ignorant and irrevelant by those who followed this approach. Christ crucified and resurrected was not considered a provable fact of history; therefore, He was lumped in with all of the other religious leaders. Science exploded and never looked back as a system, requiring future education to be based on this process. Science became a stumbling block to all who would consider the claims of Christ.

The world cialis tadalafil 5mg glacialridgebyway.com medical association also approved this medicine a safe drug for erectile dysfunction. This is especially true since attractive women on internet dating sites get tons of emails from guys soft viagra tablets every day. About kamagra : Kamagra Soft Tabs are some name very popular in the world of medicine is concern, anything not regular http://www.glacialridgebyway.com/windows/Threshing%20Rig%20Alley.html cialis generic overnight needs to be treated accordingly. Studies has proved that men who have been suffering from erection breakdown for several months at viagra line a time. While I appreciate all of the modern marvels of science that have made my life easier, I’ll never bow at its feet; neither should you. The revelation of Christ is the most marvelous event in all of human history- scientifically accepted or not. Belief in science alone as an approach to all things is idolatry. The belief in the universe selecting and acting in anthropomorphic terms is a belief in a god/universe that has both laws and creative power. This is the argument of evolution- in other words foolishness.

Perhaps what Paul was trying to do is describe spiritual blindness and how it works and what it accepts as reality by using the Greeks and Jews as examples. Spiritually blind people reject what they cannot control and science is about control. Science is about man’s ability to predict, categorize and when it seems fit to do so control. The canonized appproach of science is this, view all things through the “study of repeatable, observable phenomena.” God does not fit this approach.

God cannot be controlled or manipulated. He is the Supreme Being above all things and gives us the keys to approaching Him and they are repeatable and observable from Scripture. The ultimate key here, and what the carnal self hates and denies, is that everything is on His terms. The rules are these accept Christ and follow His ways. Christ is the chasm between those who belong to God and those who do not. In addition to being, “The way, the truth and the light…” He is the bridge to God and, “no man comes to the Father…” without Christ drawing him. Science cannot create such a bridge to the afterlife and remains a tool in man’s hands and limited by that fact alone.

So what does it mean to be wise in our age.  Well it means you are highly scientific, sophisticated, skeptical and pragmatic. It means you know what people want and are able to create consumer oriented demand for it and a product that delivers this. From the Model T to various forms of personal technology at our finger tips, we have fallen in love with the things we have made, the people who made them and the systems that maintain them. We trust in science with our very lives and sometimes bow at its altar. I would challenge everyone who reads this to ask what place it has in your life. Is it your God? Can it save your soul. God has made man in his image and likeness so it is no wonder we create, fix, study and advance knowledge. The intellectual and spiritual gifts scientist have are a blessing from God, the problem is this, many deny the origin of these things. I fear that we, like the Jews and Greeks, have exalted man’s wisdom to a place it was never intended to have. If we err here, and follow this pattern, Christ will become a stumbling block to us. I pray we keep science in its proper place in our lives as a tool God has given us for good, not an idol to depend upon.