One of the underlying cultural assumptions is that the more intelligent a person is, the less likely he is to embrace faith. Certainly there are some statistics that could be interpreted this way- college graduates are less likely than high school graduates to attend church, and so on and so forth.
The cultural assumption is that faith is fine for the unintellectual and the non-educated lower classes among us; atheism is reserved for the college professors, the intellectual elite, the cultured, etc.
Which is basically a bunch of hogwash.
Mark Twain once said, "We must be careful to only learn the lesson being presented, or we run the risk of being like the cat who sat down on the hot stove lid. She will never sit on a hot stove lid again, but she will also not sit on a cold stove lid either."
What Mark Twain was saying is to make sure that we draw the correct conclusions from the evidence presented. The fact that so many of the "cultural elites" and folks in academia are not into faith, and in fact make a good pastime of sneering at anyone who is, is not the result of their intelligence.
It is a result of their arrogance.
One only has to look at the absolute brilliance of people like CS Lewis, St Thomas Aquinas, St Augustine, John Wesley, John Calvin, Martin Luther, and the millions of others who contributed to the rich intellectual history of Christianity to see that people of faith are not intellectually destitute. However, each one of these brilliant intellectual giants had one thing in common: they had enough humility to realize the limits of human intelligence and wisdom. They had enough self-awareness to realize they were mortal; they realized they were not God, and they were humble enough to acknowledge a power greater than themselves.
This is the difference: it is not intelligence that leads people away from God. It is arrogance that leads people away from God.
Before I go any further, I am not calling all atheists arrogant. There are very kind, humble people whose intellectual pursuit has taken them on a path away from God. That's fine.
However, the difference between the intellectual defenders of Christianity and the intellectual bashers of Christianity is in the amount of arrogance the bashers possess.
I found that the intellectual challenges of Christianity actually led me towards God. I was not content with secular explanations of the beginning of the universe, the miracle of life, and the purpose of man. I was certainly not content with the end results of atheism:
1) Moral relativism (nothing is right or wrong- everything is up to the individual, and therefore rape, murder, infanticide, etc are all morally justifiable because it may not be "wrong" in one person's eyes to commit those atrocities).
2) Because there is no higher power governing people, man-made government becomes the highest authority on earth. Since there is no Creator, people are not endowed with natural rights. Therefore, they are given rights at the whim of a government, who is the sole determiner of good and bad. Lord help us.
3) Lessening of the sanctity of life. The end result of atheism is that we are all over-evolved pieces of bacteria- some of the lucky ones to make it off the top of the pond. Therefore, since you were not made in God's image, there is nothing sacred about you, nothing special about you- why not kill you? Why not degrade you? Why not turn you into a human slave? Why not abort you if you are inconveniencing me? This is atheism full-grown.
4) Despondency and despair. The primary drive in humanity is not for sex- it is for purpose. Atheism robs humanity of purpose- life is an accident. All the knowledge we accumulate will be lost when we die. All the striving we undertake- all the work we do, all the family we have, all the friendships, all the labor, all the toil- it is for nothing. We came from nowhere and we are going nowhere, so life is futile. This leads to despondency and despair- especially as we near the end of our lives.
Intellectually, Christianity was much more stimulating and exciting to me. I don't believe in moral relativism and wouldn't want to live in a world dominated by it. I don't think government is the final authority and the highest power on earth (if it were, the Nuremburg trials were a complete farce, because Hitler did not break one single rule in Germany. What he did was perfectly legal from the standpoint of the Third Reich- he did not violate one single law. Yet, the world condemns him. Why? Because no one believes that government is the highest authority out there. We believe in an absolute right and wrong. However, if atheism is true, where does that absolute sense come from?) I believe life is sacred, and I don't want to live a life of despondency and despair. Why would atheism appeal to me intellectually?
The problem is arrogance. Arrogance gives us an untrue view of ourselves. It interferes with reality and makes us think we are smarter, more powerful, and more intellectual than we truly are. Arrogance puts humanity- human wisdom, human wants, human needs, and human explanations -at the center of reality. Christianity does just the opposite. Christianity kicks humanity off the throne and puts God there, forcing the humans to admit that they are not in control, not the end-all-be-all of existence, and that we can't do anything we want, whenever we want.
This is what the arrogant mind cannot accept. The arrogant mind cannot conceive of anything greater than itself, and therefore, abhors any mention of God or His will. The arrogant mind is like a spoiled 14-year-old who doesn't want to admit that he has parents, needs parents, or that his parents might know better. He has had a little taste of education, a little success in the classroom, and therefore thinks he knows it all. The arrogant mind, possessed by so many "intellectuals" and "cultural elites," cannot fathom a greater being, and therefore mocks and insults any mention of Him.
Don't be like the cat that sat on the hot stove lid. Don't be intimidated by the thought that atheists hold the intellectual high ground- don't draw the wrong conclusion. It is arrogance, not intelligence, that is the biggest stumbling block to faith. If you see some "super-smart" individual who is "too smart for faith," you can make a safe bet that it is his arrogance, not his intelligence, that has led him away from God.
Am I calling all non-believers arrogant? No. Am I calling all Christians humble? No. I am addressing a line of thought that is just accepted by the majority of people in this world- that atheists occupy the intellectual high ground and that Christians are lower on the rung. I think we have drawn the wrong conclusion. Many times, a high intellect leads to a high level of arrogance. Not always, but many times it does. It is this accompanying arrogance, not the intellect, that causes a person to deny God. Let us not make the mistake of drawing a correlation between intelligence and atheism. The correlation is much, much stronger between arrogance and atheism.
The cultural assumption is that faith is fine for the unintellectual and the non-educated lower classes among us; atheism is reserved for the college professors, the intellectual elite, the cultured, etc.
Which is basically a bunch of hogwash.
Mark Twain once said, "We must be careful to only learn the lesson being presented, or we run the risk of being like the cat who sat down on the hot stove lid. She will never sit on a hot stove lid again, but she will also not sit on a cold stove lid either."
What Mark Twain was saying is to make sure that we draw the correct conclusions from the evidence presented. The fact that so many of the "cultural elites" and folks in academia are not into faith, and in fact make a good pastime of sneering at anyone who is, is not the result of their intelligence.
It is a result of their arrogance.
One only has to look at the absolute brilliance of people like CS Lewis, St Thomas Aquinas, St Augustine, John Wesley, John Calvin, Martin Luther, and the millions of others who contributed to the rich intellectual history of Christianity to see that people of faith are not intellectually destitute. However, each one of these brilliant intellectual giants had one thing in common: they had enough humility to realize the limits of human intelligence and wisdom. They had enough self-awareness to realize they were mortal; they realized they were not God, and they were humble enough to acknowledge a power greater than themselves.
This is the difference: it is not intelligence that leads people away from God. It is arrogance that leads people away from God.
Before I go any further, I am not calling all atheists arrogant. There are very kind, humble people whose intellectual pursuit has taken them on a path away from God. That's fine.
However, the difference between the intellectual defenders of Christianity and the intellectual bashers of Christianity is in the amount of arrogance the bashers possess.
I found that the intellectual challenges of Christianity actually led me towards God. I was not content with secular explanations of the beginning of the universe, the miracle of life, and the purpose of man. I was certainly not content with the end results of atheism:
1) Moral relativism (nothing is right or wrong- everything is up to the individual, and therefore rape, murder, infanticide, etc are all morally justifiable because it may not be "wrong" in one person's eyes to commit those atrocities).
2) Because there is no higher power governing people, man-made government becomes the highest authority on earth. Since there is no Creator, people are not endowed with natural rights. Therefore, they are given rights at the whim of a government, who is the sole determiner of good and bad. Lord help us.
3) Lessening of the sanctity of life. The end result of atheism is that we are all over-evolved pieces of bacteria- some of the lucky ones to make it off the top of the pond. Therefore, since you were not made in God's image, there is nothing sacred about you, nothing special about you- why not kill you? Why not degrade you? Why not turn you into a human slave? Why not abort you if you are inconveniencing me? This is atheism full-grown.
4) Despondency and despair. The primary drive in humanity is not for sex- it is for purpose. Atheism robs humanity of purpose- life is an accident. All the knowledge we accumulate will be lost when we die. All the striving we undertake- all the work we do, all the family we have, all the friendships, all the labor, all the toil- it is for nothing. We came from nowhere and we are going nowhere, so life is futile. This leads to despondency and despair- especially as we near the end of our lives.
Intellectually, Christianity was much more stimulating and exciting to me. I don't believe in moral relativism and wouldn't want to live in a world dominated by it. I don't think government is the final authority and the highest power on earth (if it were, the Nuremburg trials were a complete farce, because Hitler did not break one single rule in Germany. What he did was perfectly legal from the standpoint of the Third Reich- he did not violate one single law. Yet, the world condemns him. Why? Because no one believes that government is the highest authority out there. We believe in an absolute right and wrong. However, if atheism is true, where does that absolute sense come from?) I believe life is sacred, and I don't want to live a life of despondency and despair. Why would atheism appeal to me intellectually?
The problem is arrogance. Arrogance gives us an untrue view of ourselves. It interferes with reality and makes us think we are smarter, more powerful, and more intellectual than we truly are. Arrogance puts humanity- human wisdom, human wants, human needs, and human explanations -at the center of reality. Christianity does just the opposite. Christianity kicks humanity off the throne and puts God there, forcing the humans to admit that they are not in control, not the end-all-be-all of existence, and that we can't do anything we want, whenever we want.
This is what the arrogant mind cannot accept. The arrogant mind cannot conceive of anything greater than itself, and therefore, abhors any mention of God or His will. The arrogant mind is like a spoiled 14-year-old who doesn't want to admit that he has parents, needs parents, or that his parents might know better. He has had a little taste of education, a little success in the classroom, and therefore thinks he knows it all. The arrogant mind, possessed by so many "intellectuals" and "cultural elites," cannot fathom a greater being, and therefore mocks and insults any mention of Him.
Don't be like the cat that sat on the hot stove lid. Don't be intimidated by the thought that atheists hold the intellectual high ground- don't draw the wrong conclusion. It is arrogance, not intelligence, that is the biggest stumbling block to faith. If you see some "super-smart" individual who is "too smart for faith," you can make a safe bet that it is his arrogance, not his intelligence, that has led him away from God.
Am I calling all non-believers arrogant? No. Am I calling all Christians humble? No. I am addressing a line of thought that is just accepted by the majority of people in this world- that atheists occupy the intellectual high ground and that Christians are lower on the rung. I think we have drawn the wrong conclusion. Many times, a high intellect leads to a high level of arrogance. Not always, but many times it does. It is this accompanying arrogance, not the intellect, that causes a person to deny God. Let us not make the mistake of drawing a correlation between intelligence and atheism. The correlation is much, much stronger between arrogance and atheism.
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