Village Shepherd

There once was a report in "The Sunday Times" about the claims of Francis Crick to have located "the cells of our soul." Fifty years ago, Francis Crick and James Watson won a Nobel prize for their discovery of the DNA double helix, which has been responsible for huge leaps forward in health care and criminal detection.

According to "The Sunday Times", Francis Crick has been researching consciousness for many years, and much of his research has been targeted at disproving the existence of the soul. He now believes that he has proved that our minds can be explained entirely by the interaction of nerve cells. He says that one day humanity will come to accept that the concept of souls and the promise of eternal life were a deception - just as they now accept that the earth is not flat.

Francis Crick is clearly a highly intelligent scientist, who has spent his life in research for the ultimate good of humanity, but it seems that perhaps he has failed to grasp God's wisdom. His scientific intelligence is probably off the scale, but his spiritual intelligence may be much lower.

Anglican priest and scientist Michael Reiss, in the same article says that Crick has missed the point. He says, "It's like saying that a cathedral is a pile of stones and glass. It's true, but is too simplistic and misses the point."

For Christians, where the soul is located or how it's composed are largely irrelevant. What's important is a real and living experience of God, in which God's love, support, help and guidance are evident in some way. They may be evident in retrospect much of the time, but many Christians experience an overwhelming feeling of being loved, often at unexpected times and at times when it's most necessary. Scientists may claim that such experiences are merely chemical and electrical reactions within cells, and they may be right. But however it's manifest, nothing changes the experience, and those who have experienced God in some way will never forget that experience.

In today's reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul quotes God as saying: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Spiritual intelligence is as far away from brain power as Jesus was from kingship. Jesus had none of the earthly trappings of kingship, yet was the perfect model for a king. Some of the most spiritual people may have severe learning difficulties, and children often tend to be much more spiritual than adults. Sometimes intelligence can work against spirituality and prevent God from reaching us. Religious discussion can be stimulating and enjoyable and very valuable, but it's also easy to hide behind religious discussion and so avoid any direct contact with God or direct, personal experience of God.

Anyone without spiritual intelligence who looks at the crucifixion and the events leading up to it, will only see utter stupidity. Jesus plunged headlong into self-destruction, when a bit of thought could have saved his life. He was executed in the most hideous and agonising way, bringing terrible suffering not only to himself, but to his mother, his friends, his new "Jesus movement", and anyone who knew him. He could easily have avoided the cross, and have spent many more years teaching and preaching and healing and bringing good to the world, until he died of old age.

The cross is utter foolishness to those without spiritual intelligence, but to those with spiritual intelligence it demonstrates the supreme love of God for human beings, and it gives human beings the power of God. How can this be? How can the foolishness of God be wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God be stronger than man's strength?

God's love is demonstrated through the cross because despite all that human beings did to him, Jesus - God in humanity - continued to love and forgive and support and strengthen and guide human beings. And Jesus - God in humanity - faced all that human beings subjected him to, without flinching. He refused to evade or avoid the worst excesses of human torture or the blackest depths of human depravity, but lived them on the cross and lived through them on the cross. And the result of his work on the cross was glorious resurrection and the certainty of new life.

The foolishness of the cross is facing all that life throws at us, with honesty, with love, with God, and without flinching. And the result of facing our own horrors, whatever they might be, is glorious resurrection.

It may be much more sensible for intelligent people to avoid any personal horrors if they possibly can. We constantly see in the media people who have attempted to avoid their own personal horrors through deceit and cover-ups and treading all over those below them. These are the people who are caught out in the end. But there are probably many more who are never caught out - those who are truly intelligent - except that those who follow this path never experience the glory of resurrection, never wonder at God's wisdom.

How intelligent is intelligence? Give me the foolishness of God any time, and help me to dare to be weak so that God's strength can be manifest.