Paradox Pt. 3

I heard recently that my blog is lacking something of an illustrative quality or practical application. I have been piecing through the idea of paradox recently and felt challenged to find an illustration that would quantify my previous blog.

Imagine this- You are you, a reasonably intelligent human being capable of discerning most truths from falsehoods. A mentally challenged person approaches you excited and begins to recount a story. The story entails them capturing a human baby from the roof top of a building that was on fire and under attack from crazed poison shooting aliens. After rescuing the baby from the roof the handicapped person goes to the police only to find that every officer in the station is corrupt and trying to steal his soul. He promptly rushes from the police station, leaps (in a single bound) across the Bering Sea, and returns the baby to it's rightful owner- Robert DeNiro.

You say? Ridiculous! You might be moved with compassion to hear the story to its end, but, nonetheless, you are not likely to believe this farce. It is an outrageous claim made by someone who clearly doesn't not have the mental capacity that you do and so, in your superior intelligence, you reject the tale as inaccurate and at best an exaggeration of truth.

After your rejection you walk away and your parents both come up to you to tell you that this story is true! Puzzled, you ask how they know and they inform you that they were there the entire way. They saw the whole thing unfold and could barely believe it themselves, yet they must because they witnessed it. Convinced that this wild story is truth, would you not be inclined to retell it? However, in retelling it you would note a few things.

1) You couldn't believe it either. Some persons that you trust dearly must convince you that it is true. It was outside of your knowledge and so you can have no claim to the belief itself without being convinced.

2) This story is insane. You probably won't believe it.

So the story represents the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension and all that comes with it. The idea that Jesus came as the Son of God and bore the sins of all of humanity at once is absolutely absurd. We are not inclined to believe such a tale without help. The witnesses are those who have given us revelation (Paul, James, John, Peter, etc) and ultimately God who has revealed Himself to us. They give us the ability to believe- someone we trust and rely on who has superior reasoning ability to our own is likely to convince us of truth. That is why we have teachers.

The belief in the story is our faith in the work and grace of God. So think on these things...I hope this helps.