Dave Seivright:
As I have said and written over and over for the last 40 years (since I devoted my life to the study of “worldviews” (including, philosophy, logic and reason) — people will continue to believe what they choose to believe. This is true on any and every subject (whether it is about cheese or wine or the ultimate questions of existence). Even worse their beliefs are fixed, regardless of objective evidence and objective facts, and in the case of atheism, regardless of hard science which now proves beyond any reasonable doubt, the existence of an intelligent designer.
It is pointless to have any discussion with anyone who does not believe in objective truth. If they chose to believe that the earth is flat, there is nothing anyone can do to convince them otherwise. Some people even believe that something is true because it is the majority view! Nowadays we call this “Groupthink”. In fact, there was a time when the majority did believe that the world is flat. There are millions of Muslims in the world who believe in Jihad, in genital mutilation of women, and that women are inferior to men. There was a time when the majority of Europeans believed that slavery is a legitimate and proper practice.
So why do I continue these seemily “pointless” discussions? The answer lies very clearly in the Bible on just about every page of the New Testament, particularly in the Gospels, in the very words of Jesus Himself, but the answer lies also in my own experience.
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.” — Matthew 18:12-14
I do this because for every 100 people who are fixed in their worldview choices there is one person who is willing to consider facts and evidence and is open to changing their beliefs if they are contrary to reality.
With regard to people rejecting the obvious objective truth that Jesus was whom He said he was, here are just a few passages:
1 Corinthians 1:21: “since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”
Matthew 13:15-16: “For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear”
Romans 8:7-8: “For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God”
John 9:39-41: “Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
John 8:11-12 “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life’.”
So, What is the answer to “Spiritual Blindness” and a lack of being able to recognize objective truth?
2 Corinthians 3:16: “But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”
In conclusion, Here are some interesting Quotes:
“In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.” Blaise Pascal
“The eyes are useless when the mind is blind.” (author unknown).
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