Intellectual merry-go-round and a dose of faith
I bumped into some foreign students who were on campus for the first time today and showed them the way to Block B. When we reached Block B, they pointed to their timetables and said, "No! It says here Block A!" I kindly informed them that Block A did not exist and spotted that the legend on the timetable referred to the venue of the class as Block B, too. Inconsistency. But they stared at me half-mockingly and kept repeating, "Block A! It's block A, not block B!" thinking that I didn't understand. Then they trotted away with some friends they met thinking that there was another way, and lo and behold, we met each other IN BLOCK B in front of the Seminar rooms and they refused to meet my gaze after that.
Well that's the problem when you have Block B without having a Block A on your campus. Hur. But besides that, the entire theme of my day centered around faith- the evidence of things not seen. I questioned why those 2 girls chose not to believe me, a student on campus for 2 WHOLE YEARS, and chose to follow their faulty printed timetable and the way of their exchange friends who were just as clueless (if not more) than they were.
Well, I figured, they didn't know me personally to attest to my credibility, and who would believe a girl who looks like a blur fresh out of JC grad to find their way around? They had tangible evidence of where to go in their hands, or so they thought.
Why do we believe in scientific formulas and rationality, logic and economic theories so easily? Why do we doubt personal experience, faith, and the validity of an instinctive feeling and common morality?
It boils down to the seen and the unseen. When I was younger, I adored the book The Little Prince. I scribbled this quote on the pages of my textbooks- What is essential is invisible. And it struck a deep chord in me. That should be the way. Something inside of me told me that should be the way.
The 3-hour long conversation with a friend and an acquaintance today sparked new viewpoints and reinforced some convictions. Everything I posited had to be backed up by evidence. "If creation could be scientifically proven to over a certain credibility threshold (don't ask me what that is), I would believe that there is a god." I know my faith is a logical, factual, faith, backed up historically, but somehow the words couldn't flow. I hadn't enough knowledge to stand up to his probing analysis and he said that it was getting "fuzzier and fuzzier".
Certainly challenged me quite a bit to read up, to gird up my loins with strength for the next dialogue of any kind, of which I know is coming soon. But I took this home today: We want something that can be proven with charts, empirical evidence, lab tests, surveys and experiments. God is not an idiot. He has the ability to make the whole of the human race believe in Him in an instant. Why doesn't He? Maybe because even when He does show Himself, hardened hearts will reject Him for another reason other than unbelief.
The Israelites disobeyed even after seeing His wonders and His hand upon them. We want something we can see, touch, smell and taste, but even when we have that in front of our eyes, displayed, we can push it away in a hissy fit. It's His prerogative not to become just a "concept" that can be scientifically proven. He's greater than the confines of a human construct.
Even when Jesus walked the earth, His own hometown rejected Him. Some had doubts. Some thought He was the prophet Elijah. Did they believe Him when He claimed He was the Son of God? Some did. I remember Mary Magdalene's devotion, and how the Lord always stresses faith. O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? He said to the disciples quivering in the storm-wracked boat. Faith as small as a mustard seed could uproot trees and throw them into the sea; faith could move mountains. Faith in the unseen is exalted, for the unseen things are the eternal things. Faith emphasizes that there is something better than this present circumstance- faith is the essence of believing in an unseen God and becoming a Christian. Faith reminds me that God exists over and above my sense of sight. It makes Him all the more precious to the world... when He can't be contained by any of our physical limitations.