day no. 16,603: simple courage

"Everything that is happening... is a test of courage, and not an intellectual test. And a courageous man defending the way reality actually is may of course be killed -- but he is still invincible... We don't need much courage --- just enough to see and say how ludicrous it all is. Just enough to summon up the nerve to fill the room with the smell of burnt Marshwiggle." — Douglas Wilson, Rules for Reformers

The great blessing of our cultural moment is that it reinforces the fact that moral courage is superior to intellectual prowess. This is always true, but it isn't always as manifestly true as it is now. The simple can see that the man swimming laps around the women is not himself, a woman. So, it removes the matter of intellect altogether. Anyone can see it, but who will say it? A good deal of courage may be required, but not much cleverness. To insist on two and two being four is so obvious that a four year old can pick up on it. The differences between pegs and holes is something a toddler can sort out, but in our days it takes courage to insist on it. The blessing of all of this is the great opportunity for faith and faithfulness it provides to those who are tempted to see themselves as simple. The blessing of it all is how simple it is... and how glorious it is to be simple for the sake of Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:19-20

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

The number of academic designations required to understand what a woman isn't is staggering, but it is nothing. It is an empty bubble that only appears shiny and growing. It has no substance and cannot hold anything long before it pops.

1 Corinthians 1:25-27

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

You don't need initials behind your name to be brave. You might get out cackled by the academy, but you need not sweat their arrogance. They don't know what they are talking about. No matter how much they insist you accept that they do. Regardless of how many graduation parties they throw themselves, they can't thread two nuts together. They won't bond and they can't hold anything together or produce anything new. It's just two nuts too nutty to even be screwed up.

So, as Bunyan's Christian realized at the House of the Interpreter, "his safety would depend it seemed not on cleverness but on simple courage."