Suspending Disbelief

I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie last night. Hey, small groups are over and I had to do something on Tuesday night! The best (and most accurate) summary of the movie I have heard was that it was like being in the middle of a video game. It was a non-stop run-jump-shoot action game from the opening scene, and I found myself reaching for a video-game controller. And the action was not exactly what one would call believable. I wonder how many people will come out of the movie thinking that all you need to do to survive a direct nuclear explosion is hide in a lead-lined refrigerator? And if I ever need to catch up to a speeding truck, I now know that you can do so by swinging through the trees on Tarzan vines! Well, you know that you are really going to exercise your "suspend disbelief" muscles when you come away thinking, "Boy, that wasn't nearly as believable as Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Is faith in God something akin to suspending disbelief? Do some of the stories in the Bible sound a bit like the plot from an Indiana Jones movie? A strong wind divides the Red Sea just in time for the Jews to make their escape? A chariot of fire swoops down to carry Elijah to heaven? An army walking around a walled city, blows their trumpets and the wall falls down? There are some pretty unbelievable stories in the Bible, aren't there? So must we suspend disbelief in order to embrace these stories? No, at the center of these stories is an All-Powerful, All-Just and All-Loving God who is acting in human history to accomplish His will. Once you believe in God, then these stories are much more than divine special effects. If God truly exists, then all things are possible.

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
......you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived,
......no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:3-4)