Smarter than a Harvard Graduate?

TAKE THE BRIEF TEST

WINSDAY WISDOM 235

I am a graduate of Harvard. I am not sure if that is an accomplishment or a criticism. My college professor once called me “an embarrassment to Harvard.”

Another professor wrote a note on my test in large red letters, “If ignorance is bliss, then you are headed for a very happy life.”

When I received my diploma at graduation, the Eliot House President stopped me for a visit on the platform. That public discussion left my watchful parents fearing my diploma had been denied or revoked. That just proves how little confidence anyone had in my college studies.

For the record, the president congratulated me on my football success against Yale.

Ten thousand men of Harvard gained victory today!

I am most likely the least educationally distinguished and lowest worldly successful graduate of Harvard…ever. I was blessed by the opportunity to attend Harvard and fortunate to survive the challenge. I cherish the friendships from there.

The favorite part of my give-back to the university occurs when I receive the annual fundraising solicitation phone call from a current student. I tell the volunteer fundraiser that I would gladly donate if he could tell me if Harvard has returned to its initial purpose. After he or she responds with some prepared text to highlight the benefits of the Harvard experience, I ask if the college student is aware of the reason Harvard was founded as an institute of higher learning. That always leads to my opportunity to quote the university’s original purpose.

“Let every student be plainly instructed and consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus, which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore, to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation for all sound learning and knowledge, seeing that only the Lord gives wisdom (Proverbs 2:3).”

My repetition of the college’s original purpose statement always results in silent shock to the student caller. I use the time to tell them about my personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and encourage them to reconsider their chosen path in the pursuit of wisdom.

I repeat that I am not the poster child for the modern Harvard student. I cannot point to worldwide recognition or financial prosperity. However, I have pursued the original intent of Harvard’s founding fathers.

The Harvard University motto is “Veritas,” which is the Latin motto for “TRUTH.”

The original adopted shield and motto for Harvard College was “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae,” meaning ‘Truth for Christ and the Church.’ The 1692 approved shield symbolized the vital importance of God’s revealed wisdom from the #1 Textbook. The founding fathers of Harvard College considered God’s Word as foundational to all wisdom. It is also essential for the proper understanding and application of educational reasoning.

Sadly, Harvard dropped the Christ reference from its university shield and motto. Christ’s relevance was diminished many years before that. Some Harvard people got so smart that they no longer needed a proven method for wisdom. The school continues its short-sighted exhaustive scope and exhaustive research in the pursuit of vanity.

The wisest man who ever lived (other than Jesus) presented his conclusive thesis from the most extensive educational research ever undertaken. Solomon had more money than Harvard. He 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 most, 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. He called it the “vanity of vanities.”

The conclusive statement from the most extensive and thorough research of wisdom and happiness declared that apart from God’s revealed wisdom, every human endeavor will ultimately be doomed foolish and futile. Any other educational or philosophical method is built on a foundation of sinking sand.

I continue to be instructed in God’s Word. I have considered the main goal in life and live for the most important thing in life, love for God and others. I know God and Jesus and desire to know them better. I have been given eternal life. Christ is the only foundation of my life. He is the basis for all sound learning and knowledge. I believe the Lord is the only source of true wisdom.

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. It should matter to every student of life now. 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. The experts can only guess at its size and postulate about its origins. New discoveries only reveal how little has been known.

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 of truth 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. Now we have Artificial Intelligence which computes faster, thinks better, and confuses truth and fake realities beyond what our minds can discern.

Does it matter? Yes! Our self-made versions of reality are flawed from inception.

1. 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.
2. We are NOT the Founder of humanity. We did NOT begin our own lives. We do NOT rule our own lives because this is NOT our universe. The reality of all truth is connected to its Creator.
3. 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 class on the New Testament required a term paper be submitted by each student. Some subjects chosen included Gay Rights in the NT, Social Justice Redefined, Racial Issues Evolving from the Use of Slavery in the NT. However, the NT Professor 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 questioned whether he had ever read the New Testament which uses the words, “My God…My Lord…My Savior…My Shepherd”…all indicators of a personal relationship.

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. Jesus is the showcase of the true life and love of God. God loves first and God loves most. Everyone who has a personal relationship with Jesus 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 only 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 remains 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.

Live your earthly life for what truly matters. Invest your life into something which will outlast your earthly existence. Do your diligent research.

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.

So, here is the question you face even if you reject Jesus. I say I know Jesus; so, what do you think of me?

Examine my life as a Harvard graduate. If LOVE for Jesus and others is not the best expression of wisdom, then I am either a LIAR or LUNATIC.

You cannot discount me as religiously indoctrinated, culturally limited, poorly educated, politically motivated, or brainwashed by family or cults. I am not a red-state renegade or religious bigot. Why? Because I graduated from Harvard, where I was taught to challenge truth, think for myself, find my own way, and debate every belief. I was even instructed that the #1 Textbook had no connection to a personal relationship with Jesus.

If I was exposed to any indoctrination, it happened at Harvard, the epitome of liberal education which challenged and condemned every fiber of my belief system. I was surrounded by and interacted with educators and students far superior to me academically and professionally. I read all the assigned books. I listened to the wisdom of the ages and their sages. I had a front row seat to the cultural lectures, debates, and protests.

Contrary to my cultural enlightenment, I still believe Jesus is real and lives inside of me to lead me to others He intends to love through me. I am not perfect, far from it; but I embrace the #1 Textbook as the foundation of all sound learning and wisdom.

Am I a liar or lunatic? Have I built my life on sinking sand? Go ahead, form your conclusion. I can take it and I will continue to love you and defend your right to search for truth wherever you choose.

I hope you will 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 in the bottom as the only foundation for all sound learning and knowledge, seeing that only the Lord gives wisdom.

I pray you will join me in life that seeks to Love First. Love Most.