L. C. FOX-SMITH - 17/10/25 - Today I read Romans 14:1-12. I’ve been thinking about how we learn from people and history but how different that learning is for science versus faith and philosophy. Romans 14 spoke to me, especially Romans 14:12.
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Science progresses because each generation builds on what the last one discovered. We don’t have to re-prove gravity or rediscover electricity, we inherit those truths and move forward. That’s why science advances, knowledge stacks, and the foundations of science are established.
But when it comes to faith and philosophy, it doesn’t work like that. We don’t inherit conviction; we inherit questions, and these questions aren’t new, they’ve been asked time and time again for thousands of years.
Every generation has to wrestle again with God. We look for purpose, morality and meaning, and while our parents, writers or philosophers of the past share with us what they learned, it’s not the same as passing down scientific information. There’s a reset. We have to go over the questions again and then make up our own minds, because to know God is not to be knowledgeable as far as information or logic goes, it’s to know Him personally, and you can’t know someone you don’t want to know.
You can pass down information, but you can’t pass down what it is to have a living relationship with God. Others can tell us what they believe, even what that relationship is like for them, but they cannot believe for us. We have to decide for ourselves. We have to discover and develop that relationship. And that means something powerful: every one has our own chance to accept or deny God.
We’re not just products of the past or part of another generation placing bricks on top of a wall of knowledge, we’re each building a new wall of our own, right now, here in the present. These walls are our testimonies but they aren’t something others can add to; they stand alone.
Just as our testimonies stand alone, so will we when our time comes. I won’t stand before God with my parents, my church or my generation. I won’t stand with books I’ve read or the beliefs of people that have influenced me. It’ll be me, on my own, giving account for what I believed, how I lived, and whether I truly knew Him.
I find this contrast fascinating and would genuinely like to hear your take. Share your thoughts below.