Choose Wisdom

Anonymous Last night some of my friends and I played a little game of "Would You Rather". For those of you who don't know (or have never been to a 7th grade slumber party), "Would You Rather" involves going around in a circle and asking questions like "Would you rather eat only chocolate cake for the rest of your life or never eat chocolate again?" And so it goes for hours and hours, with the questions becoming increasingly serious or personal. This game, along with today's lecture on the "Wisdom of Solomon", got me thinking about another question for my next round of "Would You Rather". Specifically, would you rather be blessed with eternal life or all-encompassing, unending wisdom?

This is a difficult question to answer. It's a question that has plagued human beings from the beginning of time: Wisdom or life? Adam and Eve encountered this problem head-on when they were placed in the garden of Eden with the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. As we all know, they ended up going for the tree of knowledge, and the result was a whole new human experience. The serpent's deception of Eve brought sin and death into the world, and yet humans had gained something extremely powerful and precious: wisdom.

Wisdom or life? Which would you choose? I think on this one, I'm going to have to side with Adam and Eve. Living forever is great and all, but what's the point if you don't have the wisdom to understand and appreciate everything you see? I'd rather die feeling wise and accomplished than live forever feeling I'm not contributing to the world around me. Writings from "Wisdom of Solomon" appear to confirm this viewpoint. Wisdom of Solomon 3.1 states, "But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them." The author is saying if you've done good in your life, your soul will be protected for all eternity. This verse is encouraging us to chase after wisdom and knowledge, and not worry about how our mortality will be affected in the process.

Wisdom or life. Which would you rather?