The Paradox of the Inner Smart and Dumb
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Mainline Christians recognize life’s paradox. The paradox is that human beings can be so amazing, yet so stupid. The old adage is still true. “We can put a man on the moon, yet we cannot ______.” Fill in the blank with your own frustration. Theologically speaking, the Reformation leader, John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion [II.iii.5] affirms, “The will, therefore, is so bound by the slavery of sin, that it cannot excite itself, much less devote itself to any thing good…” To take huge liberties with Calvin’s words, our sin makes us stupid.
Thankfully, God provides the grace and mercy necessary for our redemption. John Calvin provides hope when he proclaims, “It is necessary, on the other hand, to consider the remedy of Divine grace, by the depravity of nature is corrected and healed … God begins the good work in us by exciting in our hearts a love, desire, and ardent pursuit of righteousness; or, to speak more properly, by bending, forming, and directing our hearts towards righteousness.” God seemingly created us humans as both amazing and stupid. We rise above our sinful limitations when we accept and nurture God’s divine grace.
Clinical Psychologist Julian Frazier, PhD, writes in his article, “How Are People Both So Smart and So Stupid At the Same Time?” that “We are smart enough to create magic, but not smart enough to resist the urge to use said magic to blow each other up.” Dr. Frazier says that we all must face the paradox of the smart and stupid within ourselves if we are to learn, grow, and make better decisions. Frazier states that “The Human mind is, and always has been a weapon.” In our age of massive growth in Artificial Intelligence, along with other weapons technology, we are smart enough and stupid enough to destroy ourselves.
Frazier hopes that “In a conflict, two sides will learn from one another.” Learning from opposing sides allows humanity to develop strategies to subvert each other and develop processes that inevitably support our global society. “Dumber species or dumber humans would simply be less capable of learning from their adversaries and devising effective countermeasures-losing too many conflicts and eventually going extinct.” Our hope isn’t only in our human capacity to act with intelligence. Thankfully, we are freed from our stupid sin through the grace-filled care derived from the Holy Spirit. Our hope is found in turning yet again to the God who frees us from the paradox within ourselves, so we can “walk in newness of life.”
