DON’T BE ASHAMED THAT YOU LACK “HIGHER” EDUCATION

In Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution, evolutionist and former co-head of the Biologos Foundation, Karl Giberson, explained that:

·       [Evolutionist] Ernst Haeckel nudged the racism of the Third Reich along its malignant road by suggesting that …”You must draw [a line] between the most highly developed civilized people on the one hand and the crudest primitive people on the other and unite the latter with animals.” (76)

For the evolutionist, some humans are closer to apes and should be regarded as such. However, this belief has born bad fruit. Evolutionist Giberson admitted:

·       How shocking it is today to acknowledge that virtually every educated person in the Western culture at the time…shared Haeckel’s ideas. Countless atrocities around the globe were rationalized by the belief that superior races were improving the planet by exterminating defective elements…there can be little doubt that such viewpoints muted voices that would otherwise have been raised in protest.

In light of the consequences of this silence, our Christian voices mustn’t be muted. We are the light of the world, rather than those who have several PHDs. Instead, we are the ones who possess the higher education:

·       For 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. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where 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? For 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. (1 Corinthians 1:18-21)

Therefore, we need not be intimidated into silence by the educated elites. Instead, according to Jesus, we are being given surpassing wisdom through His Word:

·       "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Luke 10:21-22)

We are those “little children” who are the recipients of the wisdom of God:

·       The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

True wisdom is not purchased with a PHD; it is a gift of God to those who hunger for it:

·       yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity. (Proverbs 2:3-7)

Do not worry that you are not a scholar. Jesus is able to open our minds to understand His Words, as He had done with His Apostles following His resurrection:

·       Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44-45)

We are therefore the Light. We must not bury it:

·       “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15)

We have been entrusted with a precious inheritance. It is our glory to shine God’s light into a darkened and hate-filled world, even when we are hated for it. Even then, we are blessed:

·       “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12)

Let us therefore pray for the Lord’s equipping.