God for Dummies?

I’m a big fan of Derren Brown: He’s a TV psychologist, illusionist, magician, mentalist.
I find his work and the psychological skills he uses fanscinating. On Derren Brown’s blog there was an article from the Telegraph which claims that people with a higher IQ are less likely to believe in God.

Professor Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, said many more members of the "intellectual elite" considered themselves atheists than the national average. “A decline in religious observance over the last century was directly linked to a rise in average intelligence” he claimed. Professor Lynn said most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence - and their intelligence increased - many started to have doubts.

At first, I thought this to be quite negative and offensive until God nudged me on the shoulder and said “this is exactly how it’s meant to be.”

Because this article and this research has been carried out and written about from an exclusively worldly perspective. Secular Academia has a very different idea of what intelligence and wisdom are compared to God’s.

Just read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31...

When Paul writes in Romans to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, he wasn’t joking was he. When he says ‘you’re going to need a whole different mindset to get through this life in a Christ-like style’ he knew what a challenge that was going to be.

Because Paul writing in Ancient Greece had the same head-on collision that we struggle with today in this ‘post-modern’ contemporary world we live in; Society’s version of intelligence and wisdom Vs God’s version- and they are total opposites. In both cultures – then and now – the social system was founded on who was the best, the cleverest, the richest, the sharpest, the most philosophical. But we hear in Paul’s words that God doesn’t operate within that system.

Paul, operating in God’s mentality, surrounded and engulfed in this melting pot of culture; Greek/Roman/Jewish/Pagan; in amongst the religiosity of his time Paul passionately preaches the most bizarre message –

"JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED". It didn’t make sense.

To the Jews, who were expectant of a mighty warrior messiah who would defeat the Roman Empire and restore the Kingdom to Israel and they would all live happily-ever-after; the thought of the Saviour being executed by the very army they hoped he would free them from would ludicrous.

To the Greeks and the Romans, no person worth listening to or following would let themselves be murdered. No hero worth giving ones allegiance to would die. The message that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, was crucified, and died so that he might save the world from sin... it just didn’t add up.

But Paul explains that God has chosen the foolish things through which to show his glory. He has chosen to value the lowly things. God chooses weakness over power. He chooses the things that are not. That way EVERYONE can hear the message and receive new life (without the need for ‘necessary’ qualifications). That way no one can boast. Because it is everything He has done. That way God gets all the glory.

God could’ve sent Jesus to have been the smartest, strongest Messiah Hero the world had ever seen: Imagine it; Jesus with Two Roman centurions in a head-lock whilst simultaneously bamboozling the top Greek philosophers – “Is there another word for thesaurus?”; “What is the opposite of opposite?”

But instead the Almighty came to gently demonstrate to us;
Love your enemies. Look after the poor.
The Genius God that designed and built the universe came down to our level and said “love one another”. And even in his profound simplicity, the ‘Wisest’ of the world missed him. And still miss him today. If we live by the worlds system of what is wise and what is foolish we run the risk of missing something beautiful.

When we come to the cross, we come before Christ in his weakest, most humiliating, most foolish state.
When we come to the cross, we come before Christ in his most glorious, most regal, most heroic state.

The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom
The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Don’t be afraid of looking stupid for Christ. Be prepared to take flak for going to church, for buying a homeless guy lunch, for holding doors open, reading a bible on the bus. The academic world might look down their noses at us. Richard Dawkins and Derren Brown and a whole host of other atheist intellectuals might ridicule us for being foolish. The message of the Cross seems like foolishness to those who are perishing. But for to us who are being saved... it is the power of God.

Even in foolishness weakness, Jesus has saved us from sin and death and is victorious! And in foolishness and weakness we believe in him and receive new life. Amen.