FAITH OR THE SENSES—WHICH?
CHRISTIAN education bases the acquisition of knowledge upon faith, while the majority of people scoff at the idea of trusting to the eye of faith instead of, and oftentimes in direct opposition to, the truth as it appeals to the five senses. It seems that this same question puzzled men centuries ago. And the following words from an Arabian philosopher of the eleventh century show that thinking minds have again and again been called to decide upon what they would base their knowledge. After deciding that knowledge to be of any value, must appeal to the mind as a certainty, he writes: “The only hope of acquiring incontestable convictions is by the perceptions of the senses. . . . I began to examine the objects of sensation and speculation, to see if they possibly could admit of doubt. Then doubts crowded upon me in such numbers that my incertitude became complete. Whence results the confidence I have in sensible things? The strongest of all our senses is sight: and yet, looking at a shadow, and perceiving it to be fixed and immovable, we judge it to be deprived of movement; nevertheless, experience teaches us that, when we return to the same place an hour after, the shadow is displaced, for it does not vanish suddenly, but gradually, little by little, so as never to be at rest.” “If we look at the stars, they seem to be as small as money-pieces; but mathematical proofs convince us that they are larger than the earth. These and other things are judged by the senses, but rejected by reason as false. I abandoned the senses, therefore, having seen all my confidence in their truth shaken.” Have you learned the lesson of the Arabian, and are you willing to accept the wisdom of God which cometh only by faith?