A syllogism is an instance or form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions. An example would be: All mammals are animals – all elephants are mammals – therefore, all elephants are animals.
There was a syllogism going around a few years ago that went like this: God is love – love is blind – therefore, Stevie Wonder is God. Now this obviously is meant as a joke. However, blindness is no joking matter, as it is a condition that can have grievous consequences. The Bible speaks of both physical and more importantly spiritual blindness.
Physical blindness is the inability to see through our physical eyes the material world around us. It can be a congenital condition or a result of injury, disease or aging. Being totally blind physically can be a tremendous handicap to being able to care for ourselves without substantial dependence on others and to enjoy and feel secure in the world around us. It can limit our opportunities to work or to maximize the use of our talents.
According to the US National Institute for Health (NIH) Center for Biotechnology Information, in 2015 there were an estimated 36 million people worldwide that were totally blind. Considering that there are over seven billion people in the world this would seem a very small percentage.
Now there are forms of physical blindness that can be corrected through medical procedures, and there are individuals who have worked very hard to overcome this significant limitation to live wonderfully enjoyable and successful lives, contributing much to humanity in the process. We can think of Helen Keller and the aforementioned Stevie Wonder who with other such musicians such as Ray Charles and Jose Feliciano have contributed much to our culture. In Michigan we have attorney Richard H. Bernstein who sits as a Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court.
I would note that we are all blind to many things in our physical world and universe, such as distant galaxies, atoms, molecules, cells, viruses, and bacterium that we cannot see without the aid of modern technology, such as microscopes and telescopes. In becoming able to see these things, we have been able to improve the quality and even length of our lives in this world.
However, there is a much more grievous and fatal blindness that has afflicted all of mankind from Adam on, of which man in himself or collectively has no way of mitigating or overcoming. It is what theologians have historically referred to as spiritual blindness, the inability to see the glory of God, the infinite beauty and perfections of His eternal Being that He created us not just to behold, but to delight in such that we would find our greatest joy and pleasure, our greatest significance and satisfaction in knowing, loving and being loved by God and one another as bearers of His glorious image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-28) (Isaiah 43:7).
And though this blindness is congenital (Psalm 58:3), it is also a chosen blindness in that mankind, beginning with Adam, has gone to great lengths to suppress the knowledge of the glory of God. In doing so we have made ourselves the objects of the wrath of God (Romans 1:18-20), His divine judgement on our unrighteousness, which is displayed in our opposition to His person, purpose for and rule over our lives.
Mankind, beginning with Adam and Eve have exchanged the truth of the glory of God for the lie of the devil, who convinced Adam and Eve, and everyone since, that our greatest joy and pleasure, our greatest significance and satisfaction is to be found not in relationship with and obedience to God, but in the freedom to do whatever we please, whenever we please, however we please, determining for ourselves right and wrong, good and evil, accountable to no one, just like God (Genesis 3:1-4). As such, we strive to find alternative explanations for our existence (think the theory of evolution), while pursuing our happiness and wellbeing in the sin cursed creation rather than in the infinitely glorious creator (Romans 1:22-25).
As a result, God’s wrath, His just and righteous anger and indignation toward our rebellious, self- centered, self-deceived, sinful race, is displayed in God exiling mankind from His glorious presence, cutting us off from the glorious life with Him for which we were created, a condition the Bible refers to as death (Romans 6:23). In our exile we are subjected to the hardships and suffering inherent in a sin corrupted, sin cursed world (Genesis 3:17-24) (Romans 5:12).
Ephesians 4:17-19 describes mankind in our present rebellious condition as living out our lives, “in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness”.
God in His wrath gives us over to our desires for personal autonomy and absolute freedom, resulting in our foolishly pursuing that which will lead to the ruin of our soul and the loss of the life with Him for which we were created. He confines us to the darkness of our spiritual blindness, which will have its ultimate expression in Hell, where we will be objects of His justice and wrath forever (Romans 1:24-32) (Psalm 9:17) (Matthew 22:13) (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).
This is a condition in which men and women cannot recover from on our own, any more than a man physically blind from birth can restore His own sight. Ephesians 2:1 describes us as being dead in our trespasses and sins (what can a dead man do?). In Ephesians 2:12, we are told that that we live without hope and without God in this world. However, after describing in these verses our desperate, helpless condition, we are told in Ephesians 2:4-9 and Ephesians 2:13-19 what God has done, in the ultimate expression of His love through the person and work of Jesus Christ, to restore us to spiritual life and right relationship with God, who desires all men to come to see and know Him in all of His glory, that we may love Him and enjoy His love forever (1 Timothy 2:4) (John 17:24-26).
More in my next post.
Grace and Peace ×