the    sides

When the first images of the World Trade Center were being broadcast on September 11th, 2001, no one could believe it was really happening. We sure as heck didn’t think it was a terrorist attack. Then the second plane hit. Then the plane hit the Pentagon. Then another one crashed in a Pennsylvanian field. The two towers fell forever changing how we lived.

Then it came out that for years certain members of the CIA and FBI had been warning their superiors that this kind of attack was not only possible, but probable from a man named Osama Bin Laden.

I’ve wondered how folks in Germany missed what Hitler was doing in the 30’s and 40’s. How did they not see what was going on. Then the pictures of Aushwitz and Dachaw came out. There are people today who still believe that it never happened.

The verse in the middle of this passage - (John 12:37) “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.”

The fundamental flaw and hope of humanity - the ability to believe something in direct conflict with all the evidence available.

There are times we applaud such a stance - call it faith, hope, positive thinking. There are times we villianize such a position - denial, doubter, cynic.

Is it irony that the God who demands to be known by faith gave us so much evidence?

Or does God know the human condition so intimately that he know that most of us choose what we want to believe, not based on evidence but on convenience. Which belief will cause the least amount of disruption to my life? Which belief is easier to live with?

It was easy to shout “Hosanna!” at the beginning of the week when everyone was doing it and there was the chance of a political revolution that required nothing personal. By Friday it was easier to shout “Crucify him!” because to follow him could mean death, would mean a major life change.

The unbelievability of it all is that after all we know, we still make decisions more on convenience, not evidence.