Even an elf knows, you have to believe before you can see.
I’ve been grappling with understanding why this global pandemic is dividing people and not uniting us. This past week several states made the decision to allow certain businesses to re-open. Colorado, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alaska, Texas and the one that has drawn the most ire, Georgia. According to Dr. Scott Atlas professor of radiology and chief of neuroradiology at the Stanford University Medical Center, the facts (The Data Is In) support re-opening. Yet, taxpayers in New York and California are calling the aforementioned state Governor ‘idiot’….and the people who support the initiatives, ‘sheep’. In other words, not everyone sees the data and facts the same.
Properly researched and studied statistical data is used to make models and algorithms that help us understand and control the visible and invisible. We use these models to predict an outcome and mitigate risk in business, government and our personal lives. This process is essential to science (COVID-19), economics (monetary theories) and day to day life (logistics, traffic patterns in a restaurant, building a hospital, red lights at an intersection). C19 is proving confirmation bias is more critical than accurate information.
So, why all the division even when data supports an action? The current pandemic is proving that believing comes before seeing. If you don’t believe 45, then you don’t believe anything that supports his words or actions. If you believe the Georgia Governor is a Republican stooge playing politics, then you don’t believe he is making the right decisions. Oh wait, but Trump doesn’t support what Kemp is doing. It’s not about facts and data, it’s about what and who you choose to believe.
Smart minds have lost touch with critical thinking and are being led by their bias and belief systems. Confirmation bias is the most prolific virus….THIS is the real pandemic.
I don’t need to see gravity to believe in it. Like gravity, belief requires faith in things you can’t always see. ‘Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’ Hebrews 11:1. What and how you see everything reflects your faith and what you believe in. Our core beliefs in what is visible and invisible are the reasons for all division in the world today. Division is separating family and friends. ‘Agree to disagree’ will only stay civil for so long.
Faith is at the core of what you believe and therefore what you see. ‘By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.’ Hebrews 11:3. If you believe the Bible, it shapes what you believe about creation and evolution. It requires faith to believe everything in the Bible and not pick and choose what fits our lifestyle and the choices we make. Pro-life or Pro-Choice? ‘ “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.” Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” ‘Matthew 25:45-46.
I’m not a judge and I don’t claim to be the righteous one. I do believe that Christ died for me and I claim His promise that believing in Him saves a schmuck like me. I also believe Him when he said “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” ‘ I know that seeing what is visible and invisible requires light…and the only way to see the invisible is with the light of Jesus. Therefore, the root of everything we are seeing today has it’s origin in spiritual matters. My confirmation bias is towards the Bible.
Why am I making politics, C19 and all division about faith and belief in Jesus? Because, ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.’ Colossians 1:15-16. And the next verse…’He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’ Colossians 1:17. It’s always been all about Him. In turn, the battle against unity and holding everything together is a battle against Him.
Diversity of thought is good but when it divides it’s hard to see the benefit. Seeing things differently in business is an advantage and a strength. Because if all you see is what you see, then you’ll never see all there is to see. In life, we must see the invisible as well as the visible. Seeing what is unseen takes faith. Seeing the invisible takes faith and it can change your viewpoint and your life.
The Bible tells a story about a man from Egypt whose life was changed when his sight changed. Moses’ mindset originated in privilege with an ideology representing the home he was raised in and the career path he was on. In short, when he learned that all he had previously seen was not all there was to see, his life drastically changed. He then chose to endure hardship, ridicule and disgrace. ‘By faith…he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.’ Hebrews 11:27.
For the sake of our world and our country we all need to better see that which is seen and unseen…and this requires more faith in God. Where we place our faith will determine whether or not we remain a UNITED States of America or if the strength of our Union falls apart. Not a politician or a perspective or a policy…or an expert or data or a study. This means a two way street of abiding no hatred of MY beliefs as well as your own, regardless of how polarizing our beliefs may be.
What you believe will shape what you see and how you see it.
If you only believe what you can see then what you believe isn’t all there is to see.