When You Need an Expert

When You Need an Expert
Genesis 40:9-41:24

Three months ago, I had a routine medical procedure (I will spare you the clinical details). A few weeks before it was due, I happened to read a report of research on this particular procedure that suggested it might not be as useful as has been assumed for decades. The report outlined the factors involved in determining whether it was a good idea or not and concluded that sometimes it could be worse than useless. So should people have the procedure or not? The report concluded, as such reports often do, that these were facts that patients needed to take into account in coming to a decision. Yeah, thanks. The report reflected our culture’s fascination with “the latest research.” We assume that the facts are out there and that if we investigate them we can solve every problem; and this assumption has proved fruitful. Yet each week one can read of research that conflicts with the basis on which previous research encouraged people to make decisions. The old Woody Allen film Sleeper portrays its hero asleep for decades, then waking up to find that everything that was supposed to be bad for you (such as smoking) turns out to be good for you, and vice versa. We need and long for the information that will enable us to live our lives in wise ways, but is the information possible to find?...