Spiritual IQ
The Proper Foundation for Faith.
Recently Conservative commentator, Michael Knowles conducted a YouTube interview with the “world’s smartest man”, Christopher Langan, titled “The Interview THEY didn’t want you to see.”
In the interview which garnered 6 millions views, Langan, known to have the highest IQ on record discusses topics such as God, and the universe through his theory of cognitive reality.
Without pretending to understand quantum metaphysics in the two hour plus interview, I drew some key take aways from the interview. The “smartest man” in the world without a doubt believes in God, heaven,hell, angels and demons. And that is likely why the interview drew so much attention. You can imagine that the “smartest person” in the world belief in God upset some of the people in the comments section.
“He believes in God, he can’t be that smart” many atheists replied.
But I can’t help but feel he lacked a full (spiritual) understanding of God.
Langan, and other “minds” like psychologists Jordan Peterson, believe in God but their own intelligence tends to complicate the matter. What unfortunately results has the danger to be a warped philosophy of God and Jesus or in Petterson’s own words, “ a deep mythological enterprise.”
“So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.” 1 Corinthians 1:20 NLT.
I will give Mr. Langan credit though, he acknowledges there is more than can be seen in the physical realm, and at the end of interview encourages everyone to seek out God first. So overall this was a win.
Where he and philosophical believers fail is trying to quantify God and the Gospel in human understanding. Though we need great Christian minds on our side the likes of these men, we have to be careful not to let science and philosophy define our faith or fall down a rabbit hole of new age beliefs.
If God wanted us to understand the mysteries of the universe scientifically instead of spiritually, he would have gave us the ability to do so. But instead understanding the Kingdom of Heaven is not a matter of mental IQ but spiritual.
Jesus says in Matthew 13:11 to his diciples:
“You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.”
You see people close to Christ don’t understand God through the physical or metaphysical, but only through the spirit. John, James and the rest of the bunch weren’t sitting around discussing quantum reality with Jesus.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:1 that he did not come to bring the knowledge of Christ by “human wisdom”(NIV) but rather through supernatural means.
During my struggles with mental health in the natural, I have come to learn that there are indeed two “minds” that we possess; one physically and one spiritual.
Any Christian who has battled with an anxiety conditions has experienced the odd feeling of the two minds at war with one another.
Unfortunately we live in a physical and spiritual reality with humanity being the combination of mind, body and soul.
There will be times when one or all of these are not in the best condition depending on what’s going in our lives while living in this fallen world. But God…
So in reality and thankfully we aren’t what we think…(Cogito Ergo Sum) as famous philosopher Rene Descartes surmises. And that’s a good thing considering our brains can process up to 60,000 thousand thoughts per day, with a large percentage of them negative and repetitive.
Our intelligence shouldn’t determine our faith. One can have a high intellect but low spiritual IQ.
In a recent interview with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, I watched Peterson painfully to try to explain his exact beliefs on God and Bible. Peterson tends to teeder between Agnostic and “believer” mostly because he’s can let his faith get past his own reasoning.
Langan and Peterson’s belief in God though seemingly genuine, are a reminder to us not be lead down a path of philosophical folly concerning our faith.
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8 NIV
While watching the interview with Langan, the temptation was there to see how someone of his intelligence explains God. I found myself curious as if he has the answer or special insight about the mysteries of the universe and reality. But then a sense of conviction and warning came over me that this shouldn’t be where I seek it. After all, high IQ or not, he is just a man.
The truth is I…we…don’t need to know every cosmic mystery and very likely no matter how smart someone thinks they are, they probably didn’t actually figure it out either.
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.. 1 Corinthians 3:19
Instead all we do is make the pursuit of this knowledge an obsession and another idol in place of God. This not kept in check can lead to confusion and the questioning of certain biblical truths.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Romans 1:21 NLT
All that is we need know about God is contained in the scripture and what is extra is given to us through the Holy Spirit. But at the end the day the scripture is always our litmus test against any revelation or teaching that comes through any person or the pulpit.
Let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with science supporting scripture but it should never be the foundation of our faith alone. Take everything with a spiritual grain of salt and understand that nothing “is Gospel”(pun intended) except for the Gospel itself.
At the end of the day, your spiritual IQ should outweigh your mental IQ when it comes to your faith.
Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 1 Corinthians 3:18 NLT
Brilliant!! I can't watch Peterson for long...why?, because in his vain effort to appear smarter than the average bear he trips himself up every few seconds with vain convoluted ramblings that eventually fall off the tracks. You MUST be born again of the Spirit before attempting to speak with others about the mystery of the God of the Bible - the TRUE and ONLY God.. If attempted without this eternal gift nothing anyone can say makes much sense finally?? Most often it ends with the conclusion that they possess a possibility of becoming a deity themselves?
"Where he and philosophical believers fail is trying to quantify God and the Gospel in human understanding. Thought we need great Christian minds on our side the likes of these men, we have to be careful not to let science and philosophy define our faith or fall down a rabbit hole of new age beliefs."
Thank you for a great article. I think we have to very careful with the new age beliefs, or Theosophy as some people describe it. I follow some of them on substack and I can agree with them until they start talking about "Christ consciousness" and how they feel they are "co-creators" with God, and they can create their own reality. That's when I get an twinge in my gut and the feeling that something with their view is off! It's like they are saying that THEY are God, and are equal to God, and NOT that God is in you, and guides you.