One of my High School teachers held before us some cards with multi-coloured spots and asked if anyone was colour blind. One boy said he was and was asked to identify a number on each card. As you have probably guessed, the rest of us only saw spots. He and the teacher may have been in on a practical joke for all we knew. However, the numbers were printed on the backs of the cards, so, lest we had any doubts, we became believers.
Has anyone ever said to you, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”?
It may have made the other person feel better for saying it, but it probably irritated you and all polite conversation ceased.
Accusing someone of having a “blind spot” is akin to telling those High School kids that there are numbers on the cards that you must be colour blind to see.
Unless both parties are willing to expend the necessary time and effort to see a proposition from either perspective, both may accuse the other of being blinded by their own view.
One thing is clear to all, the religious world is heavily divided. A few see it as an agree-to-disagree situation, but most reject the beliefs of the others; unity is accepted as being unlikely.
Christians must work on two fronts. Firstly, we must know the Word of God, and secondly, we must know that we can be wrong. Everybody has blind spots. We don’t see them, that’s why they are called that.
Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees that they were “Blind guides.” His accusation suggested that they had irredeemable spirits. They were guilty of a sin that no teacher should be accused of: They were unteachable! In their heads was the word of God, but in their hearts, was murderous intent.
We must ever pray that God makes us humble and teachable. Then we can forgive the blind spots in others – lest they be right.
John Staiger
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