BELIEF AND FAITH, AMIDST OUR FATE

In the late 1890s, Bishop Milton Wright visited a small religious college, and he was invited to dinner by the college president. At the end of the meal, Bishop Wright shared the thought that, he was sure the millennium was coming, and that according to Revelation 20, the coming of the millennium meant that, holiness would prevail and Christ would reign on earth for the next 1,000 years. He was certain that everything that could or would be invented in the world would have been done by the end of the 19th Century. The college president (who doubled as a physics and chemistry professor) hesitated to comment for a moment, because he realised the religious significance of the millennium. Then he politely gave his counter opinion, pointing out that many things were yet to be invented. The obviously displeased bishop demanded to know just what could be invented that had not already been invented. The president responded that he was certain that, within 50 years humans would be able to fly. “Nonsense; only angels are intended to fly!” said Bishop Wright. About 10 years later, his own sons Orville and Wilbur Wright, invented the aeroplane!

The fact that you believe something so much from your deepest internal conviction does not necessarily mean it is really true or sound. I have seen countless number of faithful Christians who somehow think that God has disappointed them, because God did not do for them something they trusted him so much to do; in the real sense God did not disappoint them, it is just that they had false-faith. We have to know for sure what the Bible is saying; equally importantly, we have to know what the Bible is not saying.