I.Q. is Overrated

We are easily impressed by I.Q.

Personally, I am a skeptic of I.Q. as a final measurement of a person’s intelligence. Here are some points why I doubt: 

a.) Most I.Q. tests are multiple choices. Thus, even if we don’t know the answer we can pick from the choices by random. Maybe, the odds are low that you’ll get the answer, but it’s still a chance! (Another thing that doesn’t impress me are odds… so what if it is 1% chance against 99%? The 1% is still a chance nonetheless. It could still come up, no matter how low the chance.) So, you may “luck” yourself to a high score. 

b.) Can I.Q. tests measure these aspects of intelligence: linguistics, musical, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and spatial? Based on the questions in I.Q. tests, it seems that the only thing that they might obtain is intelligence in logical-mathematical aspect. 

c.) Sometimes I.Q. tests have questions that require information/trivia knowledge. Example, there is a set of groups of letters and you should rearrange them first to form them to words, then find the odd-man out. Let us assume you get London, Paris, Tokyo, and Sydney after rearranging them. Of course, it’s easy. Sydney is out. The others are capitals. But assuming this is a hard question and would require special knowledge. Assume there are two who took the test, and the first have just read about it recently (again, we are assuming that the determining Sydney as a non-capital requires special knowledge and not general knowledge). The second have not. Thus, the first knows that Sydney is not a capital. Is it a point against the second’s intelligence because he does not have this information or trivia in his knowledge? If you look at it this way, this could be unfair to the second since it is not his fault that he had not have the chance or had the circumstance to encounter it. 

d.) Can intelligence be really measured?  I am (a bit of a) skeptic that something complicated and abstract as intelligence can be measured at all. 

e.) I don’t think I am a genius, but I always get a high score in these tests. (Now, why is that?) That is why I’m a skeptic, I doubt I am that smart.

Here is a result of one of those tests I took on the net:

127. Hmmm. Can it really be that high?  However, I think, it’s the best test I took (that almost convinced me that this I.Q. thing may really work). Here are the points why I think this is almost the closest thing to a perfect test to measure my I.Q.: 

a.) no information/trivia knowledge required (though, I would not mind if there were. I am king of irrelevant facts, but, if there were, that would be an “unfair” advantage on my part). 

b.) it’s under a time pressure of 20 minutes (I finished it in 18 minutes). 

c.) no multiple choices in the number problems. Choices were only on abstract problems.  Thus, picking answers randomly are minimal. 

d.) In all the tests that I had taken, it is the lowest score I had so far, thus, more believable (believe me, I’m saying it without arrogance at all).

The highest score I had was in high school (many items, and also under a time pressure. It was good in its own right) and I got a 144. Yah, I think I answered well, but I also made a lot of random choices in that test. So, maybe I got many of those random picks right because of luck. 144 was unbelievable for me. 

I am not showing off. I am just saying that I don’t trust the results. Yeah, maybe I can say that God gave me an intelligence above average. But I don't think I am that smart (I could stomach 127, but 140s are unbelievable) as I.Q. tests make it. Not a super genius.  If I am, I could have understood quantum theory and all that other difficult  concepts of Physics. 

I conclude that I.Q, tests are imperfect. And I.Q. is overrated. It can’t really measure one’s intelligence. Maybe only a small part, but not something definite. There are other things to consider. Talents, skills, E.Q., leadership, how you deal with people, experiences, and other factors. Intelligence is too complex to be measured by a mere I.Q. score.

Besides, I believe that the true measure is not at all about how intelligent you are. It’s how you use your intelligence. How you handle situations with what’s in your head, and to what end you’ll use it. As Doc Ock said in the movie Spider-Man 2: “Intelligence is not a privilege, it's a gift, to be used for the good of mankind.”

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Fear God

The following is my sharing in our church’s Wednesday night meeting, May 6.

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Good evening.

In our Living Life text for today, Psalm 76:1-12 (entitled “Victory is the Lord’s”), let me use verses 7 and 10 as my key verses. Verse 7: “You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before when you are angry?” Verse 10: “Surely your wrath against men brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.”

Just as we should appreciate that God is a God of Love, we should also be able to appreciate that God is a God of Wrath and worthy to be feared.

If we truly know and see the character of God, our response would be spontaneous: to love, to enjoy, to worship, and the fear Him.

We our sinners. We deserve to suffer God’s wrath. Hell is our destination because that is what is just, and God is a God of Justice.

Let us imagine that we are not Christians. Internalize. Imagine it as if is a truth. Now if this hypothetical imagination is reality, we are doomed. Ultimate despair. Why? Because we are objects of God’s wrath. God, with all his power and glory, would bring eternal damnation upon us, just like what He does to His enemies. Scary indeed.

But instead of His power and glory manifesting this way (by letting His wrath upon us by letting as burn in Hell forever), He instead showed His power and glory by choosing us and saving us. Instead of glorifying Himself by giving us damnation, as we deserve, He glorified Himself by giving us grace – grace that we do not deserve at all.

Because Jesus died on the cross, He shielded us from the Wrath of God. He absorbed the punishment for us. And now, we are no longer “the objects of God’s wrath” but the apples of His eyes!

Thus, as we see God’s glory, our response is not only of love and gratitude, but also of fear. Fear, because we know His power. What He can do. What destruction He can bring to His enemies.

We should indeed fear God. But not because we fear of His wrath coming upon us and of us being sent to Hell. No, because of His grace, we are assured of salvation.

Then, what does it mean to fear God as a Christian? Even the devil and his minions fear God – His enemies fear Him. But this is the kind of fear mentioned by Master Yoda in Star Wars Episode I, “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side.” The devil’s fear is a fear with hate. We, Christians fear God with love, joy, and awe.

The beauty and majesty of God goes hand-in-hand of Him being worth fearing.

Let me illustrate. When I was a young boy, we went for a trip to Mt. Isarog. There, I first saw my first waterfalls (three of them). Of course, I admire the waterfall’s beauty. But the largeness of it, the loud roar of the falls, and its manifestation of its “power” also inspired fear in me. My heart beat fast. But that fear was hand-in-hand with awe - seeing the beauty and majesty of Nature. And this fear of the waterfall also gave me a smile.

Just as Nature’s beauty – the Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, Mayon Volcano, Lightning Storms, etc. – inspire this fear with awe and admiration, a fear that also brings joy, in some way is the same with how God inspires fear to us Christians.

With the same power and glory God manifests to punish His enemies, this same power and glory is instead manifested by delivering us from our troubles and granting us undeserved favors and blessings. Thus, we don’t need to fear anybody or anything in this world because only God is worth fearing, and God is on our side. There is nothing bigger than God. And it is sure that He will show His glory – not by punishing us - He will show His glory by delivering us from our enemies and problems.

In response, we should continue to glorify Him, by praising Him, enjoying Him, and fearing Him. Indeed, victory is the Lord’s (just as the title of today’s reflection says), and we have the victory. Because having our Lord in our lives is our victory.

Amen.

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