A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing

Thursday of the 1st Week of Advent

Is 26: 1-6; Mt 7: 21, 24-27

Dc. Larry Brockman

“Yes, but”.  Is our allegiance to the word of God characterized by “Yes, but” or a resounding “Amen”?  Because that’s the difference between building our foundation on rock or sand.

You know, there is a fallout associated with all the education we get these days.  In very blunt terms:  “A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing”.  And in the American society we live in, our level of education is so much more sophisticated than it used to be.  We are taught to question everything; we are taught to be critical thinkers.

And that is a good thing, unless…  Unless we try to second guess God’s law.  We can become so arrogant about our little bit of knowledge that we don’t listen to God.  You see, God thinks at a level that we cannot begin to approach.  His ways are totally beyond our comprehension.  And so, God has revealed His law to us through the prophets, Jesus and the Apostles, and the great doctors of the Church.  God’s revelation is slow, and doesn’t always seem to be provable or understandable according to man’s level of intelligence.  The Incarnation, the Trinity, the Resurrection of the body, the Eucharist; and some of our moral standards, like the right-to-life, and the dignity of a human person, are examples of that.  These are just a few of our beliefs that are challenged by secular society using sophisticated learning and reasoning today.

Consider some examples of areas where human “thinking” tries to second guess the aggregate teaching of the Church in today’s society.  Usually sophisticated arguments are used to consider the exception.  We say- marriage is the union of a man and a woman;  Society’s elite say- yes, but what about two people of the same sex who truly love each other.  We say- an embryo is a human being just like the parents.  But society’s elite say- yes, but what about the fact that the embryo cannot exist without the mother’s body;  And if that support can in any way danger the mother, than shouldn’t there be an exception  So the mother can make a choice.  We say- thou shalt not steal; but society’s elite say- yes but  those who have should be forced to pay for those who have not  because all are entitled to basic needs- it’s only fair.

It is important for all of us to remember that the truth is not relative- It is absolute.  There is black; and there is white.  It is possible to cross the line between one and the other.  In other words- there is sin.  Abortion is either right or wrong; marriage is between a man and a woman; and we cannot just steal from people who have, to give to the poor- the rich have to give of their hearts.  Right is right, and wrong is wrong.  And we must build our foundation on rock- that which is right.

That means we must take a position that some things are absolute, not relative.  The things that God has revealed to us as our foundation are things like the ten commandments and the beatitudes.  Otherwise, when we think that human beings can discern by the circumstances,  we are building our house on sand.

 

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