I had a teacher (when I was in the 6th grade) that told us a story about an experience he had as a young boy. When he was growing up, there was a map of North America in his classroom. The United States was green on the map; Canada was pink. My teacher said that he was shocked when his family visited Canada. The trees and the grass were green! Because of the colors on the map, he was expecting the grass and trees in Canada to be pink. However, the trees and grass in Canada were not pink, they never had been pink. And yet, up to his families visit, that was my teacher’s reality – that is what he thought was true. 

In addition, sometimes experiences and feelings change our reality. Have you ever known someone who had a strong belief in God, and then, for whatever reason changed that belief? There may have been a terrible accident that killed a friend or family member; something so traumatic that it caused that person to become bitter and lose all faith in an all powerful being. They may say “If there is a God, how could he have allowed such a thing to happen?” Whether there is or is not a God has not changed. The man’s BELIEF in God, however, is now the exact opposite of what it once was. This change did not come about because of intensive study and research. His beliefs before and after the accident are based on feelings and experience - not proof. This is not unusual. Most of our deep beliefs are not based on proofs, but on our feelings and our experiences.

Fill in the Blanks

However, even when we base beliefs on specific Biblical texts we don't all agree on what we are reading. Have you ever wondered why there are  so many religions, and so many denominations WITHIN those religions? How could this be? If we are all reading the same text, the Bible, wouldn’t we all believe the same thing? The problem is, we have a limited text. There is much that is NOT in the Bible, so we must “fill in the blanks”. 

 

 

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