Introduction
Let me begin with a few lines from T. S. Eliot:
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, but ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? (Choruses from ‘The Rock’)
I want to add to this the words of Jesus in John 8:12:
I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
We live in a world suffused with the information of which the poet speaks, and much of it trivial. If we don’t prioritize correctly we will never be wise. But what information we prioritize depends much on how we view our lives and our world. Some questions are bigger and more solemn than others. It is a shame when men and women settle for explanations which do not explain; answers which do not answer. The ‘choice’ of worldview is a determining choice.
Before I launch fully into my talk I want to make 2 clarifications: