Rob Bell's video, "All things are spiritual" is a fantastic and inspiring piece of art and thought.
As we were watching it, he talks about a illustration of what it would be like if we lived in a two dimensional world. Rob used the example of Flatland, a story written by Edwin A. Abbott in late 1800s about the inhabitants of a two-dimensional world. When someone from 3d land tried to interact with someone from Flatland, to Flatlanders, the interaction would appear as lines and dots since the "depth" dimension does not exist; a sphere would appear as a circle, a cube would be a square, and so on. This is the illustration Rob used to illustrate how far we are from understanding the true nature of God, yet how close God could be from us and yet would we still not realize it.Two people are there, and they both see something coming toward them.
Rob uses the illustration of his wedding ring being poked through a napkin. He is in 3d...but the two people are only in 2d...what do they see?
He muses that one of them sees and feels that there is something more. The other one does not.
The question we asked in our small group was, "What is the difference between the two?" Why do some people see God in circumstances and nature, why do some not? It is a vexing question.
Bell references the scripture which bodly declares, "the fool says in his heart there is no God".
So often those we consider intellectual may have actually made a heart decision. That they will not see God, even when creation screams out His name. They may be fools.
As we were watching it, he talks about a illustration of what it would be like if we lived in a two dimensional world. Rob used the example of Flatland, a story written by Edwin A. Abbott in late 1800s about the inhabitants of a two-dimensional world. When someone from 3d land tried to interact with someone from Flatland, to Flatlanders, the interaction would appear as lines and dots since the "depth" dimension does not exist; a sphere would appear as a circle, a cube would be a square, and so on. This is the illustration Rob used to illustrate how far we are from understanding the true nature of God, yet how close God could be from us and yet would we still not realize it.Two people are there, and they both see something coming toward them.
Rob uses the illustration of his wedding ring being poked through a napkin. He is in 3d...but the two people are only in 2d...what do they see?
He muses that one of them sees and feels that there is something more. The other one does not.
The question we asked in our small group was, "What is the difference between the two?" Why do some people see God in circumstances and nature, why do some not? It is a vexing question.
Bell references the scripture which bodly declares, "the fool says in his heart there is no God".
So often those we consider intellectual may have actually made a heart decision. That they will not see God, even when creation screams out His name. They may be fools.
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