Truth and Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you                                                                                                                                                        James 1:5 (NIV)

In yesterday’s blog I talked about the pursuit of truth over the centuries, and that we have moved from accepting some truth as absolute, to a sense of relative truths, and finally to a belief that nothing can be certain.

Many, many factors are at play in this evolving thinking, not the least of which was the dawn of the “Enlightenment Era”, followed by our technical and scientific era of the present time. Science has blossomed exponentially, especially over the last two centuries, and as a society, we are reaping many benefits. Scientific breakthroughs have given us amazing advances in health, better sanitation, increased food production, longer lifespans, improved transportation- well you know, just about everything.

However, not all technology and science has been useful and good for the people of the planet. Terrible destructive weapons have been formed, many people groups are still oppressed and in poverty, and the environment has been damaged significantly. That is why the pursuit of wisdom, of truth, is now more important than ever.

The perspective on how we see truth has also been affected. Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle had more than just an effect on science. It has thoroughly pervaded the culture. We now have the understanding that we cannot even exactly know the movement and locations of the very building blocks of the universe. At the subatomic level, strange and wonderous things happen, which we still do not understand. We cannot be certain at any one time of both the location and velocity of those particles that comprise our world. In other words, we can make predictions about matter and energy states, but we cannot be certain.    

I believe that this concept seeps into our culture gradually, and leads to a sense of relativism, or simply a belief that fate is in charge -that one can never really know the truth of things. One can choose that approach. Or one can conclude that the Creator alone has the answers to His creation, and that pursuit of knowledge is very different from pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom, that is, seeing the world the way God sees the world, is why the Bible was even written.

Tomorrow, more thoughts on that. Please stay tuned!

Prayer: Lord, you have promised Wisdom to us as we seek it from you. Give us clarity in that quest, Amen.