Devil In The Darkness: Don't Believe Just Your Eyes

I admit that I’ve struggled a lot with what I’ve seen in the Church or what refers to itself as the Church. Like many outside the faith I see the hypocrisy more intimately than they do because I have been in it. I understand people are flawed and by default the church as a body is also. I believe this is because we all swing wide of Christ and miss the mark. It’s sin. To justify the error in behavior is not what we were called to do. We are called to address it. Remove it from our lives. So, when I am attacked for posting what to me is an OBVIOUS flaw in the body of Christ...you’ll understand my incredulity. 

As is my nature, I address it. I think critically about it. I reason though it based on logic and Scripture. Just as Paul did at the Areopagus (Mars Hill) in Acts 17:2. I arrive at conclusions and then I explain myself in writing. I write it because if there is an error in my thinking it helps me quickly zero in on that error. Nothing jumps out quite like an obvious mistake in writing. I wish more would do it instead of spouting off uncritical thoughts and stupidity in and out of my faith. I believe this is a HUGE reason why society is where it is at right now.

So last week I made a comment about Christian being inordinately affected by Pareidolia. Often not in a good way either. I stand by my comment. In layman’s terms Pareidolia is essentially seeing images in inanimate objects. Particularly religious imagery. Jesus, Satan, Mary, Elvis, etc. It is used as a Get-Out-Of-Jail free card to bad behavior or even a justification for sin. What’s worse is that they impose images of Christ in everything from toast to tree knots. It is more an issue of a lack of faith than a reaffirmation of it. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Not the other way around. Seeing Jesus in every physical object is more a crutch than a belief. 

God gave is His word and the Creation itself is enough evidence in the things created complexity and beauty to bare witness to His existence. We needn’t see Jesus’ face in burnt toast. On the flip side some see the working of the Devil in all of their bad behavior thereby making it not their fault. That is called blame-shifting. What’s worse is you shifting it to a perceived encroachment of evil in everything. Sorry folks. That’s nonsense. One, the Devil isn’t omnipresent and cannot be all places at once. Nor can his foot soldiers. Assuming you’re being plagued by Satan at every turn is pure hubris and arrogance. You’re not that important to warrant that type of attention. No, more than likely 99% of the time the ills that plague you are the product of your own sin and stupidity. Sometimes folks….you just need to own you own junk.

The author C. S. Lewis once said that the principal reason he believed people did this is because people are wired to believe it and impose that religiosity though process on other things. The imagery isn’t necessarily on the object but merely the projection from the believer’s mind. Religious people that want to have a crutch an don’t hold themselves responsible for their own behavior will create complex denial and then project on to it. The Devil hiding in the shadows. In reality it is most often the sin in the believer. Thereby inferring mental phenomena into physical and then looking for reassurances for what they see by getting others to see the same thing. Thereby justifying in their minds that the sin or wrongs are not their fault. In short, they claim sin of omission when in reality it is quite literally sin of commission. They are just deceiving themselves. Looking for external validation for the denial they are practicing mentally.

Instead of relying on just themselves and their own mental capacity they should be reasoning from Scripture too. To avoid this obvious pitfall in human nature C.S. Lewis chose to do the very thing I told you I do in the first paragraph. I reason with logic WITH SCRIPTURE. Scripture being the touchstone or cornerstone that allows me to make sure my thinking is straight and aligned. I wish others would do the same but the evidences I’ve seen inside and outside the church point me to the opposite conclusion.

So invariably I believe people choosing to practice Pareidolia and rely on it as guide to learning about the world absent of Scripture are in pure error and deceiving themselves. Instead regarding these ‘divine’ images as signs around every corner of God or Satan working in your life would probably be better off reading the Scripture and seeing where they fit into that Image. To see how close they conform to that. See if we conform to His image. Seek God’s image via the truth of Scripture, not in toast. Are all religious images in nature projections of our mind? Not all, but most likely are.

What does Scripture say?