Today, I saw a picture of an owl (the one on the extreme left above) that was quite interesting to me. Interesting, because this little guy had turned his head to an extreme angle, which seemed to say that he was making quite an effort to understand me. Now, I am fairly sure that he is able to do this because the anatomy of his neck differs from yours and mine, but irregardless of how he does it- HE CAN DO IT!
Anyway, as you can see from the photo labels, I tried adjusting the original picture in the following ways: Black and White, Edge detection, Emboss and Outline. I did this to reciprocate his action- namely, it appears that he is trying to understand me, so I should do the same in return.
How do I understand HIM?
1. The original picture: as presented in normal understanding.
2. A very literal understanding (black and white) that is superficial.
3. A colored view (Edge detection) with my ideas colored by my own preconceived ideas.
4. A superficial view of his main ideas only (Embossed).
5. A selective view that (Outlines) only the ideas that I like and ignores the rest.
Then, I thought of the following passage from the Bible; it says…
Matthew 16 ( World English Bible )
13 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Who is the Son of Man? People have differing opinions, which, like the picture at the top are mostly are the result of trying to understand him through something other than a straightforward method. Face it, people understand life as they wish to understand it! People use whatever filter they can to achieve the result they want, period. Only Simon Peter gave the correct answer. He just accepted Jesus based on the facts as he knew them. OK, its many, many, many years later, so what kind of conclusion do we arrive at? I don’t know what you will say, but I think that in spite of all the time that has passed, there is one thing that PROVES the identity of Jesus- HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD! No one has ever produced his corpse, and for me, that is enough.
How about you?