“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption — that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:17-31).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nPeople have a strong tendency to see intellectualism as coming up with ideas that are different from what others think. Its very nature is to discount the wisdom of God as recorded in the Bible because it is old and well-known; therefore, to the intellectual, it cannot be useful to modern “progressive” thinking.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, as your son gets a dose of reality as he moves into the real world, he will come to realize that the Scriptures are valuable in making life better. But don’t worry about matching him on his intellectual plain. Quote the Bible when it applies and let him come up to God’s level. “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen<\/em>” (I Peter 4:11).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Hello, ‘Religiously speaking’ it’s dry around here where I live. I have a super bright son, in his twenties, who has rejected God.\u00a0 He wasn’t raised that way, but he’s gotten too intellectual. In desperation, I gifted him a stay on the Wheaton College campus for a week several summers ago to hear Ravi…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[184,1429,29],"class_list":["post-43165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-atheism","tag-intellectualism","tag-parenting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45147,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-mother-and-i-are-arguing-over-which-church-to-attend\/","url_meta":{"origin":43165,"position":0},"title":"My mother and I are arguing over which church to attend","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I tried searching for advice, and I found this. I have a lot of stuff going on in my life right now. My parents are separated. My dad, who was a preacher, no longer really believes in God. My brother has fallen back into the world. My mom wants\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-the-gentiles-have-been-saved-if-the-jews-had-not-rejected-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":43165,"position":1},"title":"Would the Gentiles have been saved if the Jews had not rejected Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question from one of my students. I know half the answer, but he did bring up an interesting question: if the Jews weren't provoked to jealousy and didn't reject God, would the Gentiles have received salvation? Even though from the prophets writing it was decided a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/this-is-marvelous-in-our-eyes\/","url_meta":{"origin":43165,"position":2},"title":"This Is Marvelous in Our Eyes","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes\" (Mark 12:11 ESV). Watch closely what Jesus is saying and why. He is talking to the Jews who were rejecting Him and reminding them that they were fulfilling the scripture statement of Psalms 118:22\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44403,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-afraid-my-son-is-gay\/","url_meta":{"origin":43165,"position":3},"title":"I’m afraid my son is gay","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I sense my son is gay because he has never had a girlfriend. And I have caught him watching gay porn. I raised him in the church, where it is taught that that is a sin. How do I talk to him about his struggles and that his lifestyle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90230,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-father-rejected-but-who-still-loves\/","url_meta":{"origin":43165,"position":4},"title":"A Father Rejected, But Who Still Loves","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steven Harper Consider the sad description of Israel's unfaithfulness, as recorded by Hosea. \"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24753,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-the-prodigal-son-come-back-when-it-is-supposed-to-be-impossible-for-the-fallen-to-come-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":43165,"position":5},"title":"How can the prodigal son come back when it is supposed to be impossible for the fallen to come back?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Doesn't the prodigal son passage contradict the part in the Bible where it says that those who've fallen cannot be brought back? It's confusing me. Answer: \"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}