ARE YOU SMARTER THAN ALEXANDER HAMILTON?

“I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man.”

—Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton (1755-1757) was a true “rags to riches” story. An orphan and immigrant he became wealthy, a prolific and popular writer, one of the Founding Fathers,  a major general and hero during the Revolutionary War, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, co-author of the Federalist Papers, a member of President Washington’s first cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury  and a guiding force behind the creation of the First Bank of the united States. All this, before he was forty years old.

 Hamilton was a smart man. The only exception being his duel with Burr, when he intentionally missed, according to the custom of the time, expecting Burr to return the courtesy. Burr didn’t. He’d been practicing for days prior to the duel in anticipation of the opportunity to take deliberate aim and kill Hamilton, which he did. On this occasion, knowing the character of Burr beforehand, Hamilton wasn’t too smart. He made an unintentional but irreversible mistake.

Overall, lets admit it, you’re probably not as smart as Alexander Hamilton. Probably not nearly as smart. Some of the most famously intelligent people, geniuses even,  throughout history, have “examined the evidences,” done the same heavy thinking as Hamilton, and came to the same conclusion he did about Christianity: “I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man.”

I’ve met some people during my lifetime who were so “smart” in their own minds that they were dangerously stupid; not only to the misfortune of others, but to their own selves. The rich farmer in Luke chapter 12 was smart enough to raise bumper crops and design buildings to store them in (vv. 16-19), but too dumb to make sure he was ready to die. He went to bed one night and before he drifted into sleep, “God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (v. 20). Jesus said, “So is he that layeth up treasurefor himself, and is not rich toward God” (v. 21).

Humorist Will Rogers said, “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” The salvation of ones eternal soul is something no one can afford to be ignorant about. It’s something  a lot of people need to smarten up about before it’s too late. Are you one of them? Hoe close are you to discovering that you've made an unintentional but irreversible mistake?