May 10
31
Brad Cullen
The Essence of Faith II
We have travelled through the magic power of words and the magic power of believing to a place where we are bold enough to take the skeptic’s theme, “seeing is believing” and turn it upside down by pointing to a deep truth. Words are an essential part of believing effectively — meaning believing to the point of producing a change. Let’s look at “seeing is believing” and the reverse order, “believing is seeing.”
One of the most famous skeptics of all time is the much maligned “Doubting Thomas,” the disciple of Jesus who said, “No way will I believe he has arisen from the dead unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger on them to feel the scars, and then put my hand where the spear went into his side…”
Jesus then appeared to them, “Relax,” he said, then he turned to Thomas, “Here, Tom, look at my hands and touch them and put your fingers in my side so that you can believe.”
Reach Out
Instead, Thomas immediately replied to him, “My Lord and my God.”
“Thomas,” Jesus said, “because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe anyway.”
We might want to consider the fact that because of Thomas’ initial and rather pronounced, HONEST skepticism, we have Jesus’ words of assurance with which we are blessed because we’ve believed without seeing …and, therefore, we can say, believing is seeing …a whole new perspective and perception. We have the power to turn our world upside down by coming to the point of awareness that believing really is seeing.
We can also see that honest skepticism is a powerful step toward believing. A skeptic-turned-believer expresses the phenomena of her/his “conversion” enthusiastically by saying: “I saw it with my own eyes!”
I have been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to use a word I just stumbled over while researching the various definitions of perspective (point of view) and perception (understanding) — and now is the perfect time.
Just one place to look...there are more...look inside.
Pertinacity — pertinacious. Are you pertinacious? WONDERFUL! — Get this – “Pertinacity: The act of being pertinacious, that is, stubbornly holding to a belief or opinion in the face of (refusing to listen to) all logical and reasonable persuasions to the contrary.”
In other words, if you are pertinacious you are the crème de la crème, the elite, among all skeptics. You came by your pertinacity, your pertinaciousness, in all honesty. You’ve gotta see it to believe it.
So answer this question honestly: Are you willing to believe – WHEN you see? All right then, come on in and take a look. We’re not going to try to convince you with reason or logic — being pertinacious (don’t you just love a word that describes you -and much of the rest of the world- to a “t?”), you aren’t susceptible to mere logic and reason. You’ve gotta be shown, right? …Right!
Let’s digress for just a moment. Experienced investigators know all too well that five eye witnesses can provide five very different accounts about what actually took place. If we want evidence other than the testimony of witnesses we soon begin to understand that different expert witnesses will interpret the same evidence differently. We can listen to and watch a panel of learned experts become visibly and audibly hostile to one another as they argue over their individual perceptions and perspectives. We can come away with a rather jaundiced view of expert opinion …or, for that matter, any opinion. We may come to the point that we view all opinions as just that — opinions. After all, we’re pertinacious and dang proud of it, right?
Now then, back to the question, are we willing to believe what we see with our own eyes? If you’re really pertinacious you may want to hold to an even higher standard. Okay then, are you willing to believe what you both see and personally experience?
If you are not willing, there is no point in reading further, but if you are willing, you are about to have a life-changing experience …and away we go!
Some conservative Jewish religious leaders were trying to get some evidence against Jesus. So they questioned this guy who had been born blind, but now could see. They were rather zealous in their interview –trying to argue with the man about what had happened, until he’d had it.
“Look,” he finally said, with no little exasperation, “All I know is that I used to be blind, but now I can see” …and with that he walked off.
There’s just nothing like personal experience to make believers out of anyone. Ready for your own personal experience? Remember Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Guess what he told a newspaper reporter: “I was never really sure it was possible until I did it.”
Doubt but Run Anyway
Bannister doubted.
Tom, the disciple, doubted — but one of the things overlooked by many people about Thomas: Quite awhile before Jesus’ death, Tom proved his mettle. Jesus was planning a trip that might mean grave danger to the twelve as well as Jesus. The other disciples were arguing about going. Thomas was the guy who said, “Let us go die with him.” — Total commitment in the face of doubt… and death!
Roger Bannister admitted to his own doubts about the possibility, but went ahead and trained anyway.
Here is all we pertinacious ones have to do: Think of some change in your life that you know would be both desirable and possible — IF you would do something about it, but have not, as yet, decided (lopped off all other possibilities is the original meaning of the word) to do whatever it would take. Get a picture in your mind, of some of the things that would be beneficial (you may want to write out a list) see them, and feel just as you would feel if the change was already made.
If an objection is forming in your mind — and you find yourself saying something like, “I can’t do that, because I’m not very good at visualizing” (just as one example). Accept the fact that you’ve been telling yourself that for years …and it’s okay to feel that way.
NOW, TODAY, begin saying: “Moment by moment, day by day, I am getting better and better in every way.” Also say: “I CAN say this, I WILL say this. If you forget, don’t beat up on yourself — so you forgot, no big deal — and at that very moment start all over, “Moment by moment, day by day, I am getting better and better in every way” …also I CAN say this, I WILL say this at least twenty times twice every day. Don’t forget that thousands of patients of the French physician, Dr. Emille Ecoue’ were cured of any number of serious afflictions, by just saying this simple phrase. This is the essence of what he taught his patients in his free clinics. He made no claim for the cures, but rather said that he merely got them in touch with the healing power within each of us. Once you are in the habit of saying what he taught — also say, “I AM saying it …Thank YOU.” Why this is powerful will be explained later. For now just commit to doing it!
In Freedom,
Brad