There's a story from ancient times about three blind men who wanted to understand what an elephant looked like. They heard that there was a strange-looking elephant at the palace gate, so they agreed to go there and investigate.
The first blind man felt the elephant's belly and exclaimed, "How strange! The elephant looks like a big drum in the temple, shiny and round."
The second blind man said, "Let me see." He touched the elephant's leg and said, "You're wrong. The elephant looks like the pillars in a grand hall."
The third blind man said, "Let me feel it, and I'll know who's right." He touched the elephant's trunk and shouted, "You're all wrong. The elephant's shape is like a big trumpet." How can our understanding of God be so piecemeal like this?
Ants Conversations
There's another story about three ants having a conversation: "We heard that there's a creature living in the world called a human. It has a big body and great power. Its movement can crush millions of us. Let's go see what it looks like."
They encountered a person sleeping there. The first ant crawled on the person's stomach and came back. The second ant crawled into the person's hair and circled around. The third ant crawled onto the person's foot and walked around. After the three ants came back, the first ant said, "A human looks like a big, steamed bun." The second ant said, "No, a human looks like a forest." The third ant said, "Neither of you is right. A human looks like a stinky salted fish." Because it had crawled on the person's foot.
Our understanding of God is often like the blind men's perception of the elephant or the ants' judgment of a human. Humans consider themselves to be the lords of creation, but if we use human intelligence to observe the God who created all things, it is truly insignificant and unworthy of mention!
You may think you have a scientific mind, but God sees you as having the intelligence of an ant. A person born blind who has never seen the sun may not acknowledge the existence of the sun. Does that mean the sun doesn't exist? You don't acknowledge God because you haven't touched God, you haven't seen God, so does that mean God doesn't exist? There is so much music in the air, but if you don't have a radio, does that mean there's no music? This is a deficiency in your faculties, not the absence of God's existence. Human insight is often like that of blind men, and human intelligence is like that of ants. How can such people confidently say that there is no God? Can you deny what you cannot see or touch?
Many people say that because they cannot see or touch God, there is no God, so they cannot believe. Is this argument reasonable? For example, a compass always points north and south, but we cannot see what force causes it to do so, yet we know there must be a magnetic force attracting it. Consider electricity: which scientist has ever seen electricity? Yet they can see the effects of its power within objects. Look! Just press the doorbell, and it rings. Have you ever seen electricity?
Therefore, from the effects, we can deduce the causes. We can admit that some things without form or shape definitely exist. Take air, for example. Although it has existed in the world for a long time, it was not until five hundred years ago that Dr. Galileo discovered it.
Similarly, tiny bacteria were only discovered with the microscope. Five hundred years ago, air was denied to exist, two hundred years ago, bacteria were denied, one hundred years ago, electricity was denied. If we were to determine whether everything exists or not solely based on human perception, would that be reasonable?
Is it unscientific to believe in God?
One of the biggest reasons that some people cannot believe in God is the misconception that believing the existence of God is a superstition and unscientific. Have you ever read Mr. Gallup's statistics? He once surveyed 300 great scientists from the past three centuries to see if they believed in God, and then compiled the statistics. The results showed that 38 of them were unable to determine their beliefs, 20 of them did not believe in God, and 242 of them believed in God. Comparatively, 92% of scientists believed in God.
Germany has always been famous for its science, and every university has at least four departments, with theology being one of them. In countries like England and America where science is well developed, kings and presidents are solemnly sworn into office with their hands on the Bible at the inauguration. It is clear that science and God are not only not in conflict with each other but are also both highly respected and admired by scientifically advanced countries and their scholars.
Some people ask, "If there is a God, why doesn't He reveal Himself in a straightforward way so that people can easily accept it?" Yes, God wants people to know Him and believe in Him, and He also wants to have communication with people. However, communication needs two requirements to happen: one is the similarity of life, and the other is the similarity of character between the two parties. Different lives cannot communicate, just as humans cannot talk to chickens; different characters cannot communicate, just as a refined person cannot be friends with an uncivilized alien. God has His divine Life, which is holy, glorious, loving, and just. We have human life, with a tendency to rebel against God and sin, with distorted and erroneous emotions, and with a dark mind. With such differences, how can we sinners communicate with the holy God? Even someone as holy as Moses cannot see God's face. How dare we see God's face? Knowing that people would perish upon seeing Him, yet God desires for us to know Him, thus He accomplishes this through Jesus, who is God incarnate in flesh.