Dennis Prager is an articulate Jewish scholar who is a keen observer of the American culture. He's concerned about the lack of wisdom in our society he's been observing. He points out that this lack of wisdom comes at a time when we have more information at our fingertips (via one click of a mouse) than any generation in history. Facts are readily available, yes, but no wisdom. He goes so far as to point out that there's a war going on against wisdom and he cites the following examples:
1. There is a movement to lower the voting age to 16. (At 16, all I could think about were the New York Yankees, doing homework, playing ping-pong in our garage, and playing basketball in our driveway.)
2. Two professors were accused of being racist for writing, "Get married before you have children and strive to stay married for
their sake. Get the education you need for gainful employment, work
hard, and avoid idleness. Go the extra mile for your employer or client.
Be a patriot, ready to serve the country. Be neighborly, civic-minded,
and charitable. Avoid coarse language in public. Be respectful of
authority. Eschew substance abuse and crime."
3. The social media mob condemned of a girl for wearing a Chinese dress to her high school prom.
4. The belief that there are more than two genders. (Like the T-shirt I saw, "Gender is fluid.")
5. Providing college students with “safe spaces” — with hot chocolate,
stuffed animals and puppy videos — in which to hide whenever a speaker with whom they disagree comes to their college. (I seriously disagreed with college algebra, but found no safe space.)
6. The English department of the University of Pennsylvania removed a portrait of William Shakespeare, replacing it with that of a black lesbian poet.
7. The idea that no culture is superior to another morally or in any
other way. (We can render no judgment to the Aztecs even though they practiced human/infant sacrifice.)
8. The principle that certain ideas aren't morally superior to others, and certain literary
or artistic works aren't superior to others.
9. One professor told another professor a harmless joke and found himself up for disciplinary action.
10. An influential educator, author, and philosopher says that there are two things which rank as the greatest dangers to the world and one of them is Christianity.
EXPLANATION AND SOLUTION
That's just the tip of the nonsense iceberg. It would take too much time to talk about how some universities have issued directives that campus Christian organizations can't ban atheists from leadership positions or how everyone attending Hanover Park High School in New Jersey can now join the cheer leading squad regardless of their talent or skill or how colleges are doing away with voting for homecoming king and queen or whatever other event for which there have been kings and queens elected.
The question is, how do we explain all this nonsensical war on wisdom? Is there something deeper than the ideas and actions listed above are part of a political philosophy and agenda? Yes.
How would we explain the war on wisdom? We don't have to. God did. In Romans 1, God says, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools . . ."
The explanation for all the dangerous nonsense is a spiritual, not a political one. Solomon speaks to the point: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction." "The fear of the Lord" is a positive response to God and His Word. When a culture responds negatively to God and His Word, certain results automatically come.
If the explanation for the nonsense is a spiritual one, the solution is not a political agenda nor the political process nor the election of the "right" candidate. In his first State of the Union Address, President Carter said, "Government cannot solve our problems, it can’t set our goals, it cannot
define our vision. Government cannot eliminate poverty or provide a
bountiful economy or reduce inflation or save our cities or cure
illiteracy or provide energy. And government cannot mandate goodness."
Paul says the solution to the war on wisdom is a spiritual one: "Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. 2:2-3)
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