A few weeks back, I was writing a report for my Civil Engineering Materials (CEM) on an advanced type of concrete termed as ultra-high performance ductility concrete (UHPdC) based on a site visit to a manufacturer a few days prior.
Halfway through the paper, I incidentally recalled an event that happened during my site visit. Our class was introduced to a one inch thick UHPdC retaining wall (those used to prevent the ground/soil from collapsing), and was asked to pound it with all our strength using a metal hammer that was supplied. Neither the student nor staff pounding the wall managed to deal any significant damage to it. We were subsequently informed that the material was capable to resist even gunshots.
However, some students voiced out their disbelief and wanted to witness it happen in front of them before accepting it as fact (of course, such test did not take place in the factory). Even after proceeding to our next agenda, a significant portion of students remained behind and loud repeated pounding could be heard from one end of the factory to the next.
Maybe those that remarked so did not actually mean it; maybe they do. Yet it had me thinking: if people cannot accept something that is almost practically proven to them in front of their eyes, how much more would the world reject something physically intangible as faith in God?
This reminds me of a story I heard a few years back. There was a man who firmly disbelieved in the existence of God. He challenged a priest one day on his religious faith and was asked this question, “If I could somehow definitively prove that God truly exist, would you then believe?” “No,” the atheist answered. “Well then,” the priest went on, “What’s the point?”
When Alfred Wegener set out to prove his theory of continental drift (a theory that our continents on Earth are slowly drifting apart, initially being one huge landmass), most were sceptical; even with all the evidence he had collected they demanded more, and subsequently rejected this concept. It was only after his death, with the advancement of technology and accumulation of more reasons did many began to acknowledge Wegener’s theory. All this is through scientific/logical deduction – yet spiritual insight cannot merely be gained through this reasoning alone, no matter how technologically advanced we may become.
The record of Isaiah 6:9-10 rings prominently when God said, “Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” As it was during Jesus’ time (John 12:37), so it is now, as it had been, and will be, in every generation.
No matter how many reasons one may provide, ultimately it is up to the individual to take his stand. Nonetheless, I really wish it otherwise when Jesus said, “Know that many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:13)
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