The Shocking Truth About Human Wisdom That Modern Society Doesn't Want You to Hear
Have you ever wondered why our world seems to be spiraling further away from truth, despite all our technological advances and educational achievements? Why does humanity, with all its accumulated knowledge, continue making the same destructive choices generation after generation?
The answer lies in a profound biblical truth that cuts against everything our culture teaches us about human potential and self-actualization.
The Root Problem: Pride That Blinds
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:22).
These seven words diagnose humanity's fundamental problem with laser precision. We don't have an education problem. We don't have a resource problem. We have a pride problem that blinds us to our desperate need for God.
Think about it—mankind acknowledges builders, designers, and creators in every area of life. Look at a fence, and you ask who built it. See a beautiful garden, and you inquire about the master gardener. Admire a Corvette, and you wonder about the engineer. Yet when confronted with the intricate design of creation itself, modern man declares, "No Creator needed!"
This isn't intellectual honesty; it's willful blindness driven by pride.
Three Types of Foolish Professors Throughout History
1. The Original Foolish Professor: Adam and Eve
Genesis 3 shows us the first humans who fell for the serpent's lie. They had everything—a perfect garden, direct fellowship with God, meaningful work, and companionship. What more did they want? Wisdom. The tree was "desired to make one wise" (Genesis 3:6).
They traded God's truth for a lie, and we're still living with the consequences. As Romans tells us, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).
2. The God-Denying Educators
From Sigmund Freud calling religion a "childhood neurosis" to Abraham Maslow's pyramid of self-actualization that places man at the pinnacle, secular education has systematically removed God from the equation. Charles Darwin gave humanity the ultimate excuse to deny their Creator—we're just evolved slime, after all.
But God's Word declares: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7).
These professors want your children to believe they're nothing more than highly evolved animals. No wonder society increasingly acts like it! When you remove accountability to a Creator, you remove the foundation for morality itself.
3. The Soft-Peddling Preachers
Perhaps most tragic are the ministers who refuse to preach the whole counsel of God. They'll talk about love and grace while avoiding sin and judgment. They offer self-help wrapped in religious language but deny the transforming power of the Gospel.
These Laodicean churches have "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:5). They promise to make you a "better you" when what you need isn't improvement—it's resurrection from spiritual death.
The Divine Response: God Gives Them Up
Three times in Romans 1, we read the chilling phrase "God gave them up" (verses 24, 26, 28). When humanity persistently rejects God's truth, He eventually gives them over to their chosen delusions.
This isn't God being mean—it's God being just. He won't force Himself on those who profess themselves wise enough to live without Him.
The Only Escape: Embracing True Wisdom
Here's what modern psychology, education, and even much of contemporary Christianity won't tell you: You're not basically good. You're not evolving upward. You're not your own god.
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments" (Psalm 111:10).
True wisdom starts with recognizing who God is and who we are in comparison. We're not ascending toward enlightenment; we're sinners in desperate need of a Savior.
Grace That Transforms Criminals
Imagine a criminal caught red-handed, with overwhelming evidence against him, facing a death sentence he fully deserves. Now imagine the judge saying, "By grace, I'm giving you what you don't deserve—complete pardon and freedom."
That's the Gospel! "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
You can't appreciate grace until you understand guilt. You can't value the cure until you acknowledge the disease. This is why Romans 1 matters—it shows us our true condition so we can understand our desperate need for the salvation only Christ provides.
The Choice Before You Today
Will you continue professing yourself to be wise, following the world's system that leads only to foolishness and destruction? Or will you humble yourself, acknowledge your Creator, and receive the wisdom that begins with fearing the Lord?
Remember Titus 3:3-5: "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived... But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us."
The same God who declares the indictment of Romans 1 offers the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. But you must stop professing yourself to be wise and instead trust in the only wise God and Savior.
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