Has there been a greater increase in knowledge than what we’ve experienced within the last century? Patent Office Commissioner, Henry Ellsworth stated in 1843:
The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.
A slightly different, more negative, quote has been erroneously attributed to Charles Holland Duell, but in 1902 he actually said:
In my opinion, all previous advances in the various lines of invention will appear totally insignificant when compared with those which the present century will witness. I almost wish that I might live my life over again to see the wonders which are at the threshold.
How true that was! I’m typing this on my desktop, with my tablet and iPhone beside my tower. Men have walked on the Moon. Ships transport small cities' populations for pleasure. Phots from distant plants fly digitally around our world. So it seems that knowledge has increased tremendously.
The amount of patents hasn’t slowed one whit, has it? I worked for a company where algorithms were patented. Seemed odd to be at first, but their value was evident in the software our customers were willing to pay a great deal, since using it caused their profits to increase to the level of paying for the cost within months.
As a Software Quality Engineer, I knew what I did to make our software fail, and the programmers had the knowledge to fix their error. I designed tests based on max/min entries, database calls, and combinatorial interactions. I used the software to the maximum of its design elements, often in ways a programmer did not imagine. End users are good at that.
As a Christian, I cannot prove God exists – no tests as there were in our software. I take it on faith. What I know about God is written in the Bible. Many people have studied it and believe they’ve found error, but I’ve found a faith that provides a comfort level for me – and mysteries yet to be displayed. I know that I don’t know a lot. In a way, that’s a gift to keep learning.
Some of the Bible alludes to things we cannot know. Daniel was told to shut up the words and seal the book. Jesus told us that only God knows when time ends. But He gave us a different directive before He left the Disciples:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)
He gave us in three years enough to talk about our entire lives. Definitely enough to pass on to others. Why? Because He taught that our souls are eternal. Mankind doesn’t just make decisions that move last just a moment, we make decisions that last eternity:
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18 KJV)
I wish I could have listened to the full conversation Nicodemus had with Jesus. We have a tendency to skip the first part where Jesus expected Nicodemus to understand because of his position, his education, his very career, yet he did not:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:10-12 KJV)
Learn as much as you can about heavenly things. It is good for your soul.
... must believe that He Exists and that He Rewards those who eagerly Seek Him. ... Everything Created is witness and testimony and evidence of His Existence so no one in the world has any excuse, The Bible Says Plainly. He Rewards those of us who are His in Christ Jesus Extravagantly Generously, as written in Hebrew Language. (and Greek I think too)
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