I had a son who graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in computer engineering. I read his CV one day and it included the line:
“I have cloned things”
He was one of the smartest guys I have known.
He once explained to me how integrated circuits operate. He said:
“It’s actually pretty simple. They all run on magic smoke and I can prove it. One day, I wired one up wrong. When I turned on the power, it went POOOF and all of the magic smoke got out. I never could get it to work after that.”
His assessment began with a simple solid observation of fact. And yet, the undeniable fact led to a conclusion that was ridiculous…..in this case, obviously, a joke. But there is a moral here.
Facts are facts. But, it is very easy to begin with a fact, analyse it, and come to a conclusion that is not true. Sometimes, this process is inadvertent. Unfortunately, sometimes, it is done intentionally. If you have ever listened to a politician, you know this is true. There is a politician in Kentucky who often tangles with president Trump. I know him to be a decent, honest, honorable man. His opponent in an upcoming election is running ads that make him out to be a minion of Satan. The ads are based on facts. But they are untrue.
So where is this going?
The most important ideas in our world are several steps removed from measurable fact. The most important decisions that we will ever make are several steps removed from measurable fact. It is those steps that we need to be careful with. We are remarkable skilled at taking a measurable physical fact, analyzing it, mixing in our appetites, and coming to a conclusion that is a spiritual untruth.
This is important because we are surrounded by measurable physical facts. Because they are tangible, they are extremely compelling. Physical facts tell us where we are. They can sometimes tell us where we have been. But, physical facts cannot tell us where we are going.
In the final accounting, spiritual truth is far more important than physical fact. The path from physical fact to spiritual truth is littered with our justifications, rationalizations, and our self serving appetites.
So, how do we make the journey from physical fact to spiritual truth?
To begin with, we must have a reference point. We must have a benchmark to compare with. In our current culture, we are told that that benchmark is our appetites. We use assumption, justification and rationalization in order to shape the facts before us into the conclusions that we desire. Ten different people apply ten different sets of appetites to the same set of facts and reach ten different conclusions. This alone should teach us that our appetites are not a reliable benchmark. We need an outside benchmark to compare against. I can find none better than the teachings of Jesus. They are simple. They are clear. They leave no room for justification and rationalization. They are based on a value that we all sense in our hearts.
Love.
Our appetites, applied to the measurable physical universe, lead us to the conclusion that we are in charge and can do as we please.
Love, applied to the measurable physical universe, tells us that we are the creation of a God who loves us and that we should love and care for each other.
One of these paths is wrong. One of these paths is true.
The love that Jesus teaches, applied to physical facts, will lead you to spiritual truth. It will lead you to an eternity in paradise…….the seat of love.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4: 7-12, ESV