Confounding the Wise

I hear the arguments all the time. Disbelievers (note – different than non-believers) throw what they see as obvious arguments for why Biblical truths can’t be. They cite counter truths such as the nature of an animal or the lack of current physical evidence to counter those truths. Often, these claims are accompanied by derisive comments such as, “how can this intelligent person be so stupid as to believe.”

Today an old acquaintance posted a picture of a kangaroo that challenged that animal’s ability to migrate 7,726 miles from Mount Ararat without leaving a trace. Specifically, the meme challenged that the animals traveled the distance, “picking up every bone from their own dead” along the way so as not to leave a trace of their travels. Other previous posts have wondered at the mental stability of so-called “intelligent” people who believe a being that came from nothing before there was time created everything and can be everywhere.

But in 1 Corinthians 1:27 we’re reminded that “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (NIV)

These arguments, these statements of “fact” fail to account for the simple truth that a God who can orchestrate the salvation of the entire world in a single boat, who can arrange for the army of Pharaoh to be engulfed by the returning sea and preserve the shoes and clothes of his chosen for 40 years, and who can establish a single path to salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son can also easily guide a pair of unclean marsupials to Australia without incident. How much simpler is that act then raising Lazarus from the dead after his body should have started decomposing? How much simpler is that than standing in the midst of the fire without as much as the smell of smoke or a single singed fiber on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s clothing? How much simpler is that then to first swallow, then vomit Jonah out at a specific time and location?

No, some will choose to disbelieve even when faith and logic aren’t at odds and others will elect to trust when faith is all they have. I’d rather err on the side of a jealous God than risk trusting in a science that will end. Science can’t quench that eternal fire.

I have to wonder why sometimes God doesn’t echo the sentiment of one fictional Col. Nathan Jessup. I can see the exchange in my mind…

“I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very life that I provided him, and then questions the manner in which I provided it! I would rather you just said ‘thank you’ and went on your way.”

No – that’s not God’s way. No, God would rather all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4) that is Jesus Christ.