From the Outside Looking In

Imagine a train going north at 100 MPH. On said train, there is a boxcar in which two men are playing a game of ping-pong. It is a lively game, with tremendous power behind every swing. Finally, the gentleman on the north side of the boxcar hits the ball towards his opponent and won the game!

Now I have a question. How fast was the ball going after that last swing, and in what direction was it traveling? The guys inside of the boxcar suggest that the ball was going south at 50 MPH. A woman outside of the train, looking towards the boxcar, suggested that the ball was going north at 100 MPH. A man hanging out on the moon says that he believes that the ball was going east at 1,040 MPH. A philosopher said that matter is but an illusion and thus there never really was a ball for him to observe.

All of these answers were different, but from their specific perspective, they were also correct. So how will we ever know the actual direction and speed of the ball? We need a being outside of our dimension. We need someone who transcends time and space. We cannot see every thing from every perspective and figure out the right answers. We, from a natural standpoint, can only take what limited knowledge we have and work with it.

If one believes in God, then he believes in such a transcendent being. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul contrasted the “natural man” from the “spiritual man.” The natural man calls himself wise because he thinks he sees all and knows all, but in reality, he can easily be wrong because he doesn’t have all the information. He must reason inductively. The spiritual man gets his information from one who sees all and knows all. The spiritual man, being in the flesh, will sometimes stumble and think naturally. However, when the spiritual man relies on one who has true knowledge and wisdom, he himself becomes wise.

Wisdom doesn’t come purely from natural experience. It does not even come only from the words in the Bible. Wisdom and true knowledge is something that transcends logical equations and literary deductions. True wisdom is miraculously from above (James 1). When seeking wisdom, one must also seek the power of God in humility. – Jesse