WHAT IS GREAT LEARNING?
Thomas Fuller was born in Africa about 1710. He was sold as a slave in Virginia in 1724. There is some disagreement about whether someone taught him to count to 100 or if he taught himself. He never had a day of formal education.
He taught himself to figure in his head how many shingles were needed when roofing a building and how many fence posts were needed to enclose an area. Eventually, he learned to figure the building materials for any construction project in his head quicker than 99 of 100 engineers with paper and pencil. He could observe land surveys and calculate the area. He went on to more complicated mental calculations. His abilities were not just urban legend. Among those who wrote about observing him was Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
One documented problem for testing him was about a farmer with 6 sow pigs. Each gave birth to 6 sows in a year. They all gave birth to 6 sows the next year. This continued for 8 years. With no education about sums of geometric progressions, exponential rules, or even exponential notation, he correctly calculated, that with no deaths the farmer will have 34,588,806 sows.
The first 6 give birth to 36, total 42. To do it on a calculator, enter 6 then multiply by 7. Multiply by 7 again for the second year, again by 7 for the third, until you calculate 8 years. Thomas Fuller did it in his head.
Near the end of his life, he was asked if he regretted not having a formal education. He said, “No, it be best I got no learning, for some men of great learning be great fools.”
“Some men of great learning be great fools.” This is often apparent in regard to the Bible. Interpreting for deaf college students for decades, I heard biology and anthropology profs mock creation. I heard English profs discuss the Bible as a product of primitive, human inspiration, as remarkable as the inspiration of William Shakespeare or Louis L’Amour, but no more. Men of great learning can be great fools about the Bible.
(From a sermon by Mark Stepherson, The Purpose of Second Coming Prophecy, 5/29/2012)