OUR GOD -- A Story

C Mc

OUR GOD

Once upon a time there was a little village in the desert. All inhabitants of this village were blind. One day a great king with his army passed by. He was riding a huge elephant. The blind had heard many stories about elephants and desired to approach the king and touch and investigate his elephant in order to get an idea of what elephants are like. Some of them stepped forward, bowed before the king and asked for permission to touch his elephant.

The first blind man grasped his trunk, another one his leg and foot, and a third his flank. One man seized his ear, and still another was allowed to ride on the back of the elephant. Delighted with their discoveries the blind men returned to their village. The people encircled them and asked eagerly what kind of being the monstrous animal elephant was. The first one said: “It is an immense hose, and woe to him who will be grabbed by it.” The second one responded: “It is a pillar clothed with skin and hair.” The third said: “It is like a rampart having also skin and hair.” The man, who had seized the ear, replied: “It is not a wall at all but a very thick carpet which moves as soon as one touches it.” And the last one declared: “This is all nonsense. It is a huge mountain which moves.”

Similarly, we are like these blind men in our efforts to describe God. He surpasses us so much, He is so highly exalted and lives in a sphere significantly different from ours that He is not totally accessible to us. What we know about Him is what He has revealed to us. Therefore, we have only parts of all that can be known about God. However, these parts are true and allow us to relate to God and be saved.

I ran across this story. I don't know the origin. A helpful tool to understand the Trinity. What think ye? CM

Dave_L

@C_M_ said:

OUR GOD

Once upon a time there was a little village in the desert. All inhabitants of this village were blind. One day a great king with his army passed by. He was riding a huge elephant. The blind had heard many stories about elephants and desired to approach the king and touch and investigate his elephant in order to get an idea of what elephants are like. Some of them stepped forward, bowed before the king and asked for permission to touch his elephant.

The first blind man grasped his trunk, another one his leg and foot, and a third his flank. One man seized his ear, and still another was allowed to ride on the back of the elephant. Delighted with their discoveries the blind men returned to their village. The people encircled them and asked eagerly what kind of being the monstrous animal elephant was. The first one said: “It is an immense hose, and woe to him who will be grabbed by it.” The second one responded: “It is a pillar clothed with skin and hair.” The third said: “It is like a rampart having also skin and hair.” The man, who had seized the ear, replied: “It is not a wall at all but a very thick carpet which moves as soon as one touches it.” And the last one declared: “This is all nonsense. It is a huge mountain which moves.”

Similarly, we are like these blind men in our efforts to describe God. He surpasses us so much, He is so highly exalted and lives in a sphere significantly different from ours that He is not totally accessible to us. What we know about Him is what He has revealed to us. Therefore, we have only parts of all that can be known about God. However, these parts are true and allow us to relate to God and be saved.

I ran across this story. I don't know the origin. A helpful tool to understand the Trinity. What think ye? CM

Great tale! I think it is true about scripture too. We see a bit here and a bit there but often fail to get the big picture.

[Deleted User]

Is this illustration for an understanding of the Trinity to show that Father, Son and holy Ghost are only PART of God? In other words, none of the three is actually "fully God"?

A claim is made in the last sentence that "these parts are true ..." BUT that is NOT what the story conveys ... because what the folks declare even just about the part is false.

Seems like blind men are leading the blind to remain blind ....

Pages

@C_M_ said:

I don't know the origin.

Google elephant and three blind men.

@C_M_ said:

A helpful tool to understand the Trinity.

No.
This type of argumentation is most used in the attempt to demonstrate that all religions and views of God are equally valid and true. It is based on the assumption of relativism and subjectivism whereby each individual is their own foundation of personal truth.

More helpful for the Trinitarian, I would think, would be the ability to accurately convey the doctrine to others through study of the doctrine without resorting to illustrations that quite simply fail the desired intention and instead describe something contrary to the doctrine itself.

In other words, this story with regard to the Doctrine of the Trinity, would be nothing more than an encouragement that any and all explanation of this doctrine are to be considered equal and valid as the actual doctrine no matter the difference. Unfortunately, this already happens far to often.

C Mc

@Pages said:

@C_M_ said:

I don't know the origin.

Google elephant and three blind men.

In other words, this story with regard to the Doctrine of the Trinity, would be nothing more than an encouragement that any and all explanation of this doctrine are to be considered equal and valid as the actual doctrine no matter the difference. Unfortunately, this already happens far to often.

Your remarks are a reminder to stick with the revealed Word of God, even if we can't explain it to human satisfaction. CM