WINSDAY WISDOM Session 29
My friend, Gary, sent me a picture of himself standing beside the John Harvard Statue. He was in Boston on business and took a side trip to the Harvard campus in Cambridge. He stood in the most photographed place of the university I attended many years ago.
The bronze statue erected in the center of the bricked walled Harvard Yard was created by Daniel Chester French. He is best known for his design of the monumental Lincoln Statue in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Harvard Yard statue’s inscription states: John Harvard, Founder, 1638.
You might not care about Gary’s trip, my recollection of bygone college years, or historical New England landmarks. That is not the point of the statue’s illustrative story for this Winsday session.
The iconic John Harvard Statue has come to be known as the “Statue of Three Lies.” The centerpiece of Harvard Yard is inscribed with inaccuracies.
- It is NOT an image of John Harvard, even though his name is written in stone at the statue’s base. The artist used a student model.
There were no “likenesses” of the real John Harvard. Several portraits were destroyed in a fire. The artist used a descendant relative of one of the school’s presidents, Leonard Hoar. It is a Harvard tradition to name its Houses (upper classmen dorms) after former university presidents (i.e. Eliot House, Lowell House, Adams House). For obvious reasons, there was a reluctance to name a House after President Hoar. (You might need a moment to consider that.) His nephew was used as the stand-in model for commemorative purposes.
2. John Harvard was NOT the Founder of the school.
The engraving of John Harvard as “Founder” is also not true. The college was started by a declaration of a Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Harvard was the first generous benefactor to the college. He endowed the school with a large monetary gift and a donation of over 400 books for the college library.
3. Harvard was NOT founded in 1638.
The College began two years earlier in 1636, which establishes it as the oldest institute of higher learning in the United States. John Harvard’s large donation was given in 1638. The New College was renamed the following year after its renowned benefactor.
Now you know. You can be ready to answer the Jeopardy clue with “What is the Statue of Three Lies?” The statue is NOT an image of John Harvard. He was NOT the founder of the school, and the college did NOT begin in 1638.
Ironically, the Harvard University motto is “Veritas,” which is Latin for “TRUTH.”
The original adopted shield and motto for Harvard College was “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae,” meaning ‘Truth for Christ and the Church.’ The original shield symbolized the vital importance of God’s revealed wisdom from the #1 Textbook. The leadership of Harvard College considered God’s Word as necessary for the proper understanding and application of educational reasoning.
Sadly, Harvard dropped the Christ reference from its University shield and motto. His relevance was diminished many years before that. Some Harvard people got so smart that they no longer needed wisdom. The LIE has continued. The school’s research has become very short-sighted in its scope and thesis.
The wisest man who ever lived (other than Jesus) presented his conclusive thesis from the most extensive educational research ever undertaken. Solomon had the position, power, understanding, skills, resources, and time to engage in the most thorough study of humanity’s search for ultimate purpose and lasting happiness.
Solomon explored every possible advantage in life. He worked the hardest and partied the wildest. He built the biggest, possessed the largest, invented the newest, enjoyed the finest, and became the greatest. He explored the farthest, lasted the longest, climbed the highest, and sunk the lowest.
He went to the limits of amusement, alcohol, achievements, agriculture, architecture, abundance, adoration, affairs, and ambition. They all came up empty. After he exhausted all the A’s, he moved right on through the alphabet of activities until he had finished the Z’s. He had more and did more than anyone else before him or since.
Solomon’s study determined lasting satisfaction cannot be found in things, money, pleasures, treasures, fame, or fortunes of this world. That pursuit is like chasing the wind. His conclusion stated that apart from God’s revealed wisdom, every human endeavor will ultimately be doomed futile. Any other educational or philosophical method is built on a foundation of sinking sand.
I am most likely the least educationally distinguished and least worldly successful graduate of Harvard…ever. I was blessed by the opportunity and fortunate to survive the challenge. I cherish the friendships.
The favorite part of my give-back to the university occurs when I receive the annual fundraising solicitation from a current student. I ask the volunteer if he is aware of the reason Harvard was founded as an institute of higher learning. Following his response, I always have the opportunity to quote the university’s original purpose:
There is no Veritas without Christ. That is the Truth since before the beginning of time. It mattered in the time of Adam’s pursuit of knowledge. It mattered in Solomon’s educational explorations for true purpose and happiness in life. It mattered to the original founders and instructors of Harvard University. Any other foundation for learning and knowledge will NOT be “sound.”
One either builds his/her house of learning on the rock or on sinking sand. When the storms of life come, the Truth is revealed.
Truth or Lies? What is your personal house of learning built upon? Have you ever had your foundation inspected?
The truth of God’s Word matters today in an enlightened culture of humanistic education. No wonder minds are darkened and understanding is lost in a world where people are lovers of self and lovers of money (things) rather than lovers of God.
Our education is advanced and high tech. High-capacity computers cannot hold all the knowledge data. We can exhaust the depths of literature and explore the science of the stars. Yet, our educational philosophies set aside the greatest textbook ever written…Our space age scientists declare our total ignorance of what makes up most of our enormous universe.
We cannot count the galaxies much less the stars and yet, God knows each star by name. We cannot number the grains of sand and yet, God knows the exact count and weight. We do not know the future and yet, God declares it from the beginning.
What are we doing? Where are we going? Why are we here? What will we leave behind for our families and beloved friends? Apart from God’s truth for our lives, nothing!
Truth? What is truth? It depends on whom you ask. Our culture reshapes truth to fit its latest whims. Historical truth is rewritten by social agendas. Scientific truth fluctuates with new discoveries. Philosophical truth varies with each new viral TikTok sage. Laws are changed to accommodate current morality trends. Love is redefined by personal convenience.
We live in our own man-centered world of “relative truth” and “situational ethics.” University professors and students scoff at the concept of truth. Truth is now clothed in preferences and opinions and lifestyle choices. Our normality has become filled with fake news, edited selfies, and padded resumes.
Does it matter? Yes! Our self-made versions of reality are flawed from inception.
- We post our best selfie-image as the center and controller of our world. We have substituted a man/woman-made model. That is NOT the likeness of the one created in the image of the Creator God.
- We are NOT the Founder of humanity. We did NOT begin our own lives. This is NOT our universe. The reality of all truth is connected to its Creator.
- Our lives did NOT begin at our birth date or with any calendar whether Solar, Lunar, Sumerian, Egyptian, Roman, Chinese, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Gregorian, or Harvard. Life did NOT start with the ever-changing dates for the Big-Bang Theory. We were known by God BEFORE the creation of this world.
TRUTH OR LIES? Each of us stakes our earthly and eternal life on what we believe. Each of us lays a bottom for the foundation of sound learning and knowledge, hoping it will produce wisdom. You do NOT need to go to Harvard to find the TRUTH. Just be sure NOT to lose it there.
TRUTH OR LIES? My Harvard professor for a class on the New Testament refused to accept my paper on the subject, A Personal Relationship with Jesus. He argued that had nothing to do with the New Testament material. I wondered if he had ever read the New Testament. Ironically, my highest university grade was earned in a history class for my “fake” Civil War Diary.
This session is not my argument or debate with anyone. I do not condemn those who share a different opinion. I am just stating my college thesis. The question is whether this #1 Textbook affirmed by the early Harvard leadership is the sole foundation for wisdom. Or is it to be rejected as irrelevant and unnecessary to learning as subsequent university educators propose? I believe it is what it claims to be.
God’s #1 Textbook declares itself to be the sole, supreme, and sufficient source of Truth. “The sum of God’s Word is Truth.” It reveals the Creator as the “God of Truth.” Jesus proclaimed that he came into this world as the “revelation of Truth” in human expression. He is the showcase of the true life and love of God. God loves first and God loves most. Everyone who is connected to Him is part of that universal reality.
Truth means nothing apart from God. That is an unchanging reality whether one comes from Adam or from Harvard. When any person refuses to honor or thank God, his/her thoughts become futile; his/her foolish heart remains darkened. Professing to be wise, they reveal themselves to be fools (#1 Textbook).
One cannot disassociate truth from the knowledge of God revealed in His #1 Textbook. Life does not work that way, no matter how many people lecture, vote, or protest.
The skeptical Roman ruler, Pilate, responded with the rhetorical question, “What is truth?”
Well, for all the Pilates out there past, present, and future, I do not claim to be the expert. But there is One who is proven qualified. No search or soliloquy regarding truth will be successful apart from Him.
Truth is not subjective. There has to be a starting point. Any other starting point than the Creator God revealed in His self-revelatory #1 Textbook will be a person-based philosophy full of hidden flaws and ultimate futility.
Good and evil, right and wrong, honor or dishonor, love or self-centeredness, beautiful or ugly do not exist in the eye of the beholder. They are not subject to personal feelings and cultural winds. They cannot be redefined by social media editorials, political arguments, or mass protests. They come from the unchanging truth of the wise God who has our best interests at stake.
The most important thing in life remains true: Love God and love others. Love first and love most. That is not only what makes this beautiful world go ‘round; it’s also the only way to make sense out of it. You cannot know who you are or why you are here on this earth apart from God. There is no Veritas without Christo.
Do not let your earthly existence be remembered by “three lies.” Do your diligent research.
TRUTH OR LIES? Jesus Christ is an historical man, not a myth. He cannot be dismissed as just a good man or wise teacher. He claimed, “I AM the TRUTH.”
Jesus is either a LIAR, a LUNATIC, or the LORD.
Grab the #1 Textbook today and be plainly instructed and consider well the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus, which is eternal life.
Lay Christ at the bottom of the only foundation for all sound learning and knowledge, seeing that only the Lord gives wisdom.
Love First. Love Most.
Let this week be defined by loving wider, longer, higher, and deeper than ever before.
LOVE FIRST...LOVE MOST 