Ethics, Culpability and the Human Brain – Part 8
February 7, 2012
Dear Friends,
Last week we explored the conflicting danger of remaining ignorant with the danger of pursuing knowledge and exposing oneself to harmful ideas (which we, using a computer analogy, termed viruses).
Knowledge is, for the most part, benign. Most of the time, simply knowing something is neither good nor bad. You can be an expert in Nazism, for example, without being a Nazi or being tainted in any way from such a horrific set of ideas. You might benefit from such knowledge to become a professor of history at a college or a writer about the Holocaust. Knowing something is not the problem, it is what we do with it and we synthesize that understanding with other ideas. What we do with it is more than likely based on what we already believe. If we studied Nazism but already believed that Jews were “Christ-killers” and believed in Replacement Theology, then we would certainly be susceptible to falling prey to this virus. If, on the other hand, we already believed that the Jews were God’s chosen people, we would be far less susceptible to the ideology.
Look at the people of Germany in the 1920s through 1940s as an example. Germany lost World War I and had oppressive reparations taxed on them from the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazi party was able to capitalize on the oppression the people felt by playing on their sense of pride (calling them Aryans) and giving them a scapegoat for all of their troubles. The Nazis also picked the perfect target for Germany’s failures – the Jew. With centuries of European anti-Semitism to build upon, the Nazis were able to convince a nation to engage in their psychopathic attempt at world domination and the destruction of God’s people. It wasn’t just one thought or idea that made this possible, but the combination of many thoughts.
We, as a body, tend to emphasize knowledge, especially Bible knowledge. Again, I would suggest that Bible knowledge is benign. We can know the Bible cover to cover, but if we don’t synthesize those ideas correctly and put them to use by faith, it is a fruitless effort. If you read your Bible, you know that one could justify virtually any behavior using (or abusing!) the text. For example, one can justify polygamy, infanticide, genocide and capital punishment using the Bible without too much heavy lifting. However, we would again suggest, it is not the random facts that the Bible presents that are important as much as how we put them together and use them. If these facts don’t make us more like Jesus, the desired effect is not taking hold.
The Bible does not emphasize the pursuit of knowledge as much as we might think it does. The Bible has a one word answer for the dilemma we have presented of the danger of ignorance and the danger of the pursuit of knowledge-that word is wisdom. My definition of wisdom is “the skillful application of knowledge.” Wisdom means that you assemble the facts you have at your disposal in a godly, healthy manner and are able to put those things to use in your life. Wisdom and the pursuit of wisdom is what the Bible promotes rather than knowledge by itself. Wisdom is, in the terminology we have been using, the ability to decipher the good ideas from the viruses and to put them to good use in our actions to the glory of God.
Our community has always had an emphasis of Bible reading and study. This is all fine and good. However, we have not always coupled that with an equal measure of emphasis in putting that knowledge to proper use. We have probably all witnessed the sad case of a brother or sister who always had their nose in the Bible but failed to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in their demeanor or seldom did anything for anyone. It may sound odd to say, but I would suggest that for some people, they will be much more pleasing to God if they read their Bibles less, not more. Some people have an abundance of knowledge and no wisdom. They need to spend much more time in service to others rather than loading their heads with more and more knowledge which they seldom put to good use.
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.(Pr. 4:7)
Have a great week,
Comments»
No comments yet.