God's kind of smart

[Gail]

There's been quite a bit of discussion recently on here about whether education hampers a person's spirituality, Stephen Hawking, discernment, etc.

I have a term that I coined called, "God's kind of smart". What I would like is feedback about that idea.

Is there some education that is not available through the world but we need to be able to do great things for God?

I was thinking about the example of Moses, who was raised with the best education that Pharaoh's court could offer. Certainly his military training came in handy when leading a million people out of Egypt and along a wilderness journey. But God could not use Moses UNTIL he had him alone in the wilderness for 40 years. 40 YEARS!!!

Joseph had potential as a child but it was after he had undergone the severe testing of a harsh confinement at the hands of heathen jailers that he was lifted up to help rule a mighty nation to save them from starvation through famine.

[Tobiwan]

Must be something to what you are suggesting. We are told even Christ learned through what He suffered

[Woody]

Is this a religious topic? Or is talking about God and the Bible not "religious"? I guess I am confused.

[Stan]

Get over it Woody

[Woody]

I have not the capability of common sense to be able to do so.

[Gail]

[Dr. Rich]

Gail, very good question and one I have asked a few times too. On one hand we have Jesus saying that we must become like children to enter into the Kingdom and on the other hand we have the servants of Jesus being wise with special insight.

I have mensa friends who are very 'smart' but appear to have a lack of common sense. (Reminds me of Obama and others in leadership roles.)

Could the 40 years Moses spent alone be a time of cleaning out the junk from his brain (deleting) so that he could download information from God?

[phkrause]

Could the 40 years Moses spent alone be a time of cleaning out the junk from his brain (deleting) so that he could download information from God?

Good point Dr. Rich, I believe those 40 years is what God needed to get Moses ready for his assignment.

[Flyboy]

Not to veer too much from the topic Gail started with, but the education/discernment issue has had me thinking.

The leaders of our church unions and conferences are generally from the older generations, people who have long accepted the beliefs and practices of the church in toto, who may have once questioned them but no longer do, regardless of their level of education.

The people they are leading are, for the most part, respectable blue collar working class with lots of common sense and often less formal education. These people tend to see things much more black and white.

Those with more education, a minority in most congregations, receive more training and encouragement in questioning accepted truth, thus creating friction between them and the church leaders and their less educated fellow pewsitters.

Bringing this around to Gail's topic. People with more training, such as Moses, had been trained to rely on logic, perceived reality. Those with less training more easily rely on blind faith.

Ultimately, I think that reliance on God, and allowing oneself to totally surrender to Him is less about the length of one's formal training and more about experience the personality of the person. Moses was stubborn. Was this because of his training or because he was just a stubborn guy? Consider that he was also older. The older one becomes the less one is inclined to change. But clearly, Moses was close to God's heart, even though he didn't see the Promise Land.

So, yes, it seems that experience (some would say trials and tribs) is the only real way to learn to serve God. Whether formal training helps or hinders that experiential learning depends, I believe, on the personality.

[Sonny]

There's been quite a bit of discussion recently on here about whether education hampers a person's spirituality, Stephen Hawking, discernment, etc.

Well, I don't buy everything Ellen White states (for one, truth is progressive) however I believe these statements are very accurate:

At such a time as this, what is the trend of the education given? To what motive is appeal most often made? To self-seeking. Much of the education given is a perversion of the name. In true education the selfish ambition, the greed for power, the disregard for the rights and needs of humanity, that are the curse of our world, find a counterinfluence."

"There is an education which is essentially worldly. Its aim is success in the world, the gratification of selfish ambition”

“Without the vital principles of true religion, without knowledge of how to serve and glorify the Redeemer, education is more harmful than beneficial.”