THOUGHTS
Wisdom is a funny thing . . . we constantly seek it but often we invariably seek it in places that are illusory and self-serving. We want to hear what our ears are tickling to hear, often missing the truth because we have gone to the wrong source.
I just finished reading The DaVinci Code in which that premise is illustrated beautifully and seductively. It is a well-written mystery entwined around an ancient heresy of the church in which Christ is portrayed as a man, not God. His alleged liaison with Mary Magdalene as an ordinary man with extraordinary powers and insights gives rise to other heresies that are equally fraught with danger for believers and seekers as well as those who are resisting the visible church, constructed by man. This book is an indictment against the Catholic Church, against the deity of Christ and is full of error, but it is on the best-seller’s list and has been for many weeks. The lies are intricately interwoven with truth, enmeshed and almost inextricable unless you refute them one by one. Why is this on the best seller’s list? Is it because it is so well-written? I believe it is because it appeals to man’s wisdom and wishful thinking . . . he can be god.
So it is with many of the issues we deal with in our culture. Our culture runs to man’s wisdom because man is depraved and his mind is full of deceit; that deception extends to his own understanding of his true motives. It is why we reject the Ten Commandments as being one of the foundations of western law. It is the reason some feel justified in exploiting women and children as objects of sexual desires . . . they want to believe that it is okay if it is consensual and that it doesn’t hurt anybody. Man’s wisdom tells us that we can take an embryo and “harvest” its organs because: a.) man has decided that it is not life in spite of his own science telling him otherwise b.) The embryo is expendable and has no voice of its own, therefore easy prey for selfish desires, c.) Man has become his own god and therefore can cannibalize another human being if it benefits him. We couch our motives in sincerely expressed “good intentions” and in compassion for those outside the womb, but never give a thought to the unique life that has just been snuffed out.
Man’s wisdom tells us that a person like Terri Schiavo would be better off starved to death; that no one would want to live in her condition. Feeling good about this compassionate stand, some move blissfully on, not understanding that a stroke or an accident could make them the next Terri Schiavo.
Some women feel justified in having an abortion because they want to believe that it is their body and that every child should be a wanted child. Some refuse to allow their “unwanted” pregnancies go to term because “it is better for everyone” and “no one will ever know.” Jobs, education, comfort, svelte figures, incomes, and self-interest come before the child, yet ironically, society is quick to point out, “It’s for the children.”
Science has become the god of our time . . . man’s ingenuity can fix all our problems. Wisdom is worshiped at the altar of man; gaining more knowledge will give more control over our lives and circumstances. “Be the best you can be” is the modern mantra.
The God who made us does not think our thoughts, does not have our frailties, and is without self-interest. Man, on the other hand, desperately ascribes to evolutionary science instead of attributing God His due. God is love . . . perfect and complete love and the possessor and creator of wisdom. Science could not exist without the laws of nature that God put into place; wisdom comes from acknowledgment of who He is. Man’s wisdom is puny, short-sighted and selfish, yet man continues to attempt to “make a name for himself” just like early man attempted to build the Tower of Babel.
As we commemorated Sanctity of Human Life last week, let us remember that the God in heaven who gave us life does not ignore our rebellious dismissal of His statutes. The God who made the zygote, embryo, fetus, infant; whatever you want to call it, created more than a clump of cells to be harvested or done away with as we choose. He made each union of an egg and a sperm a newly-formed unique human being . . . instantaneously. He did not make us into assembly-line manikins to be cannibalized and done away with for our convenience. We were chosen before the foundation of the earth for a special purpose which He alone knows. Man in his limited vision would harvest those “cells”; get rid of that baby; and put the infirm and ill “out of their misery.”
But God has the last say. Faith in His goodness and His plan must prevail over the schemes of men, who "professing to be wise, became fools." [Romans 1]
In Him,
Judy Smith
State Director