Article August 23, 1993 Issue

The search for intelligence

Should we be searching the stars or the Scriptures to find wisdom and well-being?

Jeffrey M. Sinatra

"Is there intelligent life in outer space?" asks a cover of Life magazine. It continues, "A $100 million NASA program ... may finally answer one of mankind's most compelling questions."

The question that Life magazine posed to its readers is certainly "compelling," but we can see more implied in this question than simply whether there are other intelligent beings. The search ultimately needs to go much deeper. The question "What is real intelligence?" is perhaps the most essential one, for the answer to this question would dissolve all mystery concerning what life itself actually is.

In the first chapter of Genesis we read, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (verse 2). Doesn't the mystery that surrounds mortal existence often feel that way—dark and void? Doesn't "darkness" symbolize the apparent inability to comprehend who or what we are, what the universe is, and our relation to it all? Doesn't it signify the unknown? But with spiritual sense we can look to God for the answers that will shed light on the mysteries of the universe. And when these answers dawn in thought, we will gain an understanding of the prayer "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10), which Christians of all denominations pray. On the basis of such spiritual understanding, each of us can help to break the ignorance that binds humanity, and bring needed healing.

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