“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up, 1945
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9 comments
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May 19, 2008 at 10:48 am
renaissanceguy
I think it is more intelligent to decide which one is true.
May 19, 2008 at 10:53 am
helenl
Hi RG,
Jesus was 100% God.
Jesus was 100% man.
You choose.
May 19, 2008 at 11:03 am
Karen Hopper
Nice post Helen – and great comment to renaissanceguy.
May 19, 2008 at 11:11 am
helenl
Thank you, Karen. I get so tired of people who want to divide not add and multiply. “For God so loved the world. . . . “
May 19, 2008 at 11:19 am
Jana
And could that “ability to function” mean holding the opposing ideas until you can objectively determine which is correct? I think the willingness to hold the ideas only happens with a person who is willing to accept ideas other than their own views to sincerely come to a conclusion. A person with a concrete mindset would refuse to hold opposite ideas for even a moment of contemplation. Personally, I prefer to be objective because I always learn so much more.
May 19, 2008 at 11:20 am
writeathome
Jesus was indeed fully God and fully man. “Great is the mystery of godliness…”
May 19, 2008 at 11:35 am
helenl
Interesting comment, Jana.
Hi Carol, That was my thought immediately when I read this quote. I don’t think Fitzgerald meant that, but so what?
May 20, 2008 at 12:01 am
renaissanceguy
Okay, Helen. There are paradoxes in the Gospel; that’s true.
But. . .
Jesus was 100% God and 100% human.
Jesus was not 100% God and 100% human.
Between those two statements, you have to choose.
May 20, 2008 at 12:18 am
helenl
RG, There are paradoxes or seeming paradoxes everywhere, not just in the Bible. There are opposites in physical relationships: up-down, left-right, back-front. But there isn’t an opposite for everything. Not really. Some things are a continuum, like how left or right handed we are. Everything isn’t black and white, right and wrong, . . . Nope.