Increased knowledge has become an asset in medical diagnosis and treatment. But knowledge of the genetic code has revealed the existence only of longer, not eternal, life. It hasn’t always allowed longer life to be active, carefree and independent. It has developed a monstrous industry of health care based on increasing government subsidies.
Should Christians, knowing that Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the grave offers a full life now, John 10:10, and everlasting life beyond the end of history, surrender Biblical knowledge to trust ourselves to medicine or technology? Movies, books, television shows, and even sermons rely on emotion to attract and maintain interest. Without denying or diminishing the usefulness of emotion, God’s Word subordinates it to intellectual stimulation. It can never be true that the less we know, the better. Nor is it true that little knowledge increases trust in God and much only independence from God. That it often happens doesn’t constitute proof that it must. It’s instead disproved by the presence of brilliant minds in history, including today, filled with both belief in Christ and masterful knowledge of one’s interest. A Christian’s Bible knowledge should always exceed his emotional experience. Only if the former exceeds the latter can our faith be anchored in God’s Word, not our feelings. Personal experience, like the human heart producing emotion, is deceptive and can be corrupt, as Jeremiah said in 17:9. Examples of human emotion in the Bible are numerous—high or low, delight or despair, excitement or dread. But Psalm 119 exalts God’s Word, as the basis of the believer’s life. Bible knowledge will always lead to deeper faith and more certain confidence in God. Only it leads to intellectual and emotional maturity. Only it protects us when emotions fail us. Only it leaves us absolutely sure of God when life circumstances seem to deny either his existence or his concern for us.
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