Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols. Romans 1:22-23a
Can a great mind still miss the greatest truth?
Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant physicists to ever live, once stated, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”[1] Hawking was an atheist and he wasn’t alone in his unbelief. Many of the world’s most dazzling minds—Nobel Prize winners like Madame Marie Curie, Albert Camus and Milton Friedman, all refused to believe in God.
How did some of the brightest minds come to such a conclusion? Jesus told a story about a rich man who didn’t want to give up his great wealth to gain treasure in heaven. Jesus said, “How hard is it for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God … In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23,25).
We could easily substitute intellect and pride for riches in Jesus’ statement. Scripture says that “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message” (2 Corinthians 4:4). “Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols” (Romans 1:22-23a). Today, those idols look a lot like Nobel Prizes.
Are you clinging to your own intellect for clarity? It’s tempting to limit God to something we can understand. Our human brilliance may light the world, but it’s only temporary. Only God’s Spirit—the giver of truth (1 Corinthians 2:13-14), can light up the path to eternity.
[1] Ducharme, Jamie. “Stephen Hawking Was an Atheist: His Words on Death and God.” Time, Time, 14 Mar. 2018, https://time.com/5199149/stephen-hawking-death-god-atheist/
