Intellectual Maturity

What did Jesus mean when he said “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”?

No adult wants to be thought of as being like a child. Where’s the respect and prestige in that? How will anyone ever take us seriously? Isn’t it only natural for a child to want to prove their maturity and wisdom as adults?

But maybe to “become like a child” IS a stage of maturity. After all, Jesus didn’t say “remain” as a child, but, in speaking to adults, he said that they should “change” and become like children. Maybe this means that they had already proven themselves as adults in many ways, and now the next step was to change and become like children again in some ways.

This is where I think I found a man named Ryan at – on the verge of becoming more like a child again in certain areas of his life, and in a very good way.

With his doctorate in physics, Ryan has certainly proven himself mature in many ways intellectually, and at a fairly young age. Has he reached the highest stage intellectually, with no other ways to mature? What about the connection between intellectual and spiritual knowledge?

I asked Ryan how all his extensive knowledge of the universe and the laws that hold it together affected his view of God. Given the great frontier of knowledge man has attained in this area, I was curious if his focus was on the expanses of man’s knowledge, or the even greater expanse of mystery this knowledge reveals. After all, the greater the perimeter of the known universe becomes, the more the area of the unknown universe grows exponentially.

Ryan told how he has passed through an atheistic stage and now describes himself as agnostic. “Agnostic” has its roots in the word “ignorant”, and Ryan is willing and able to say that, when it comes to spiritual things, there is much he just doesn’t know. I believe this to be a more advanced stage of maturity both intellectually and spiritually, and I see it as part of the change that Jesus referred to as becoming “like little children”.

There is nothing wrong with looking around at this amazing universe with the wide eyes and wonder of a child, even if one has their doctorate in physics. Even more so if it leads one to see that what makes it so amazing is the great Mind that created it all!