While the Bible insists that those who deny the reality of God are fools, this in no way means such skeptics are unintelligent. The biblical idea of “fool” and “foolishness” has less to do with brain power and more to do with an unwillingness to conform to reality: it’s foolish to not go to the doctor when you have cancer because it doesn’t align behavior with the real-life situation. Many smart people (like Steve Jobs, for instance) have made this fatal error. And atheism is the same - it’s not dumb to disbelieve in God, it’s foolish.

In fact, Chuck and Aaron discuss how atheists are almost always very intelligent; as it seems to be one of the main qualifiers to being an atheist. But while atheism is almost exclusively for intelligent people, Christianity is far more inclusive: many super-intelligent people like scientists, philosophers, writers, and the like have been devout Christians, but Christianity is also made up of many people who work more from their emotions, and in addition there are lots of believers who are neither “book smart” or overtly emotional but are “doers”.

The God of Christianity in Jesus (and therefore the Christian worldview) is wide open to all different types of people because this God connects with every type of human. Whereas the necessity of being intelligent means that only one slice of society can truly belong within its ranks, Christianity is inclusively open to everyone.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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