What If We All Could See 20:20 in 2020?

Whenever we have our eyes examined, 20:20 is the standard. Basically, 20:20 vision means we can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If the second number is higher, such as 20:40, it means one’s eyes probably need corrective lenses for being able to see what the average person can see unaided from 20 feet away. 

Is seeing 20:20 in 2020 an impossible dream?

With this year being 2020, I’ve been thinking how nice if we all could see life with 20:20 vision rather than the skewed, even distorted, vision that seems to afflict so many. “Consensus” these days has become more the exception than the rule. Two people can look at exactly the same thing – or issue – and see something entirely different, not only physically but also politically, ethically, morally or spiritually.

This is why the term “worldview” has become so important in understanding the disparity of values that people hold. How we view the world shapes how we think, how we act, and how we interact. One person’s “20:20” seems like 20:200 to someone else.

What would it be like if we all could see 20:20 in 2020? 

To even ask such a question seems ludicrous. Basically it would mean that everyone should see things the way I do, or you do, or someone else does. It’s like comparing a person who can discern the full range of colors accurately with someone that’s colorblind. Even among those who are colorblind, there are some who see only black, white and shades of gray; others can recognize some colors, but within a much narrower range.

So the notion of everyone enjoying 20:20 vision in terms of beliefs, philosophy and values seems unlikely, maybe even a flat-out impossibility.

I would have to agree. After all, if we all thought exactly alike, wouldn’t that be boring? Many of us would be unnecessary. At the same time, I’d like to believe the chasm between convictions that we find so accentuated these days needn’t be so broad.

Even within the local church, we find significant differences: sacraments like baptism and communion, worship styles, types of music used during services, even which versions of the Bible to use. But as the Scriptures point out, there also should be common ground, areas where we all can see 20:20.

It was C.S. Lewis who wisely observed, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” I’ve referred to this statement before, and love it because it encapsulates how we as followers of Jesus Christ should approach whatever we encounter during the course of a day.

The apostle Paul, writing to believers in the ancient city of Corinth, expressed a similar view when he declared, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Rather than “majoring in the minors,” debating non-essential aspects of doctrine and practice, Paul was telling his readers that Jesus had to be central – foundational to everything he said, everything he did.

Elsewhere the apostle Paul wrote, "As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died” (Galatians 6:14, New Living Translation). Recognizing the many distractions that surround us, the many temptations that can get us off track, Paul had determined to focus his 20:20 vision on what mattered most – Jesus Christ, who He was, what He did, and our need to respond to the precious, priceless gift He offered to everyone who would believe in Him.

So, can we all have “20:20 vision” on everything, seeing all things the same way? No. And we shouldn’t. But the Bible does assert, to paraphrase what Lewis wrote, that to be a Christian – a genuine disciple of Christ – we should constantly strive to see things through His eyes, from His divine, perfect perspective. 

Alas, even then, 20:20 vision spiritually will remain beyond our grasp. At least in this life. “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely" (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT).

Perceiving Through Paradigms

"Made in Japan" doesn't mean today what it once meant.

Some years ago, I viewed a powerful video by futurist Joel Arthur Barker, and later read his book, Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future. There are many ways to define “paradigm,” but Barker explained we regularly use paradigms to form our unique, individualized ways of processing information and how we interpret it.

Case in point: the phrase, “made in Japan,” which has changed meanings over the years. In the 1950s, it typically referred to substandard quality material and workmanship. However, by the 1980s, aided by W. Edwards Deming and other manufacturing consultants, “made in Japan” came to mean superior quality, cutting edge, even “the best” we could buy. Suddenly automobiles and all things technological became highly prized if “made in Japan.”

How that changed isn’t the focus of this post, since what I know about manufacturing I could write on a single fingernail. What struck me is how, as with the example from Japan, paradigms shape our thinking and conclusions about virtually everything, ranging from people’s education and status to individuals of various ethnicities to brand-name products, and even to matters of faith.

What brought this to mind was a statement by C.S. Lewis I reread recently. The Oxford scholar and one-time atheist is best known as the author of Mere Christianity, a revered, well-reasoned exposition of the how’s and why’s of the Christian faith, and The Chronicles of Narnia collection of faith-based children’s stories. He also happened to die on Nov. 22, 1963, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Lewis’s quotation didn’t use the term “paradigm,” but easily could have, since he was explaining how moving from disbelief to faith and commitment to Jesus Christ had shifted his perceptions of himself, the world around him, and even the universe. He wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

I’ve referred to this quote before, but cite it again because it concisely and accurately distills what saving faith in Jesus should mean for each of us who profess to follow Him. Being “born again” spiritually, as Jesus described in John 3:3, means becoming inhabited by the presence of Christ, and this new life provides a kind of filter – as Barker termed it, a paradigm – by which we “see everything else.”

If a person’s an agnostic or atheist, denying or rejecting the existence of God and a belief in a divine creation and order for “nature,” that individual’s paradigm must require some other explanation for the beginnings and continuance of a relatively orderly universe that supposedly commenced through chaos.

Followers of Jesus, however, can accept the opening premise from the Bible, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1), along with the biblical creation account, and the narratives and teachings that come after it. Do we fully understand everything we read in the Bible, including how God did certain things – and why? No. But that doesn’t delegitimize our beliefs. As the Scriptures point out, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). When the journey takes us where we can’t see, we proceed by using the eyes of faith.

As Lewis observed, faith in Jesus means that we seek to understand the truths of Christianity as they are presented, we experience many of them at work in our lives, and by them we come to see everything else. The Christian faith indeed is a paradigm of sorts. But then, so is belief in any form, so there’s no reason for apology.

When the trials and struggles of life occur, as they inevitably will, we can attempt to fix them on our own. When we can’t, we can descend into frustration, even despair. Or as Lewis said, we can see everything, good and bad, through faith in Christ and what God has revealed about Himself – and us – in the Scriptures.

We can trust in His promise, “‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). And we can embrace another promise the Lord offers just a few chapters later: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).

We may not always know or understand what God is doing, or why He’s doing it. But we can know Him, and that’s enough.

Believing is Seeing

Sunrise at Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Alan Cash)

The adage tells us, “Seeing is believing.” This particularly applies to our physical world, in which we make observations and draw conclusions based on what we’ve seen. Prior to the initiative and inventiveness of Orville and Wilbur Wright, mankind suspected it might be possible to fly but as every effort failed, it seemed a hope beyond belief. After the Wright brothers demonstrated human beings could in fact travel aloft, albeit for only a short distance at first, others saw, believed and pressed forward to discover what it would require to travel by air.

Of course, some still feel a disconnect between sight and belief. They’ve seen planes in flight, perhaps even close-up at an airport, but refuse to board a jet for fear it will crash. Even though many more people die annually in car crashes, while plane accidents are relatively rare, they’d sooner walk a tightrope than get on a plane. Seeing doesn’t always correlate to believing.

There are times when the antithesis of the adage is also true. A child stands at poolside, looking simultaneously at the water and open arms of a parent who urges, “Jump!” The little girl gazes around, weighing her options, probably thinking, “Daddy, you’re not raising some fool. That water’s deep, and I’m little…. I’m not going to jump.”

Yet after persistent parental pleadings, the toddler casts childlike sense to the wind and, believing in daddy – even though the water still seems threatening – leaps and is captured by her parent’s waiting hands. Believing and trusting in the parent, the girl finally “sees” her father protecting her from the watery depths.

Decades ago C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite writers, and a very astute thinker, made this observation; “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Lewis – a former atheist – found that believing is seeing.

From a spiritual perspective, this is the conundrum. We’re asked to believe – and trust – in a God we can’t see. From a scientific, empirical sense it’s true – we can’t prove the existence of God. At the same time, neither can you prove scientifically or empirically that God doesn’t exist. The spiritual is not confined or controlled by physical laws. So you can either conclude, “I can’t see God, therefore He (or she, or it) does not exist,” or you can decide even though you can’t see God in physical, quantifiable form, you’ll believe in Him just the same.

Think about it this way: Do you believe in love? Can you prove the existence of love in a scientific way? No, you can’t. You can observe its effects, but you can’t categorically “prove” love – after all, people do “fall out of love,” don’t they? Maybe they weren’t “in love” to begin with; they just liked what they got out of a relationship and when they tired of it or it stopped meeting their needs, decided it wasn’t love after all so it was okay to bail out of it.

In the same way, while God can’t be observed in a test tube, Petri dish, microscope or telescope, we can observe His effects: Compassion shown to people victimized by disease, disaster or tragedy. People who give generously to people, as well as causes, that can offer them absolutely no personal benefit, other than the joy and satisfaction of knowing people have been helped and causes advanced because of their kindness. Individuals giving up lucrative, comfortable careers and lifestyles to immerse themselves in alien cultures with strange languages and unfamiliar customs to assist the less fortunate in the name of Christ.

We all have an inner sense of right and wrong. We admire acts of selflessness and humility. We applaud the “good Samaritans,” so-called because of a biblical parable, who go to great lengths to come to the aid of those in distress. No, we don’t have to believe in God to abide by some moral code, but where do those values come from in the first place?

Years ago I took a step of faith, committing my life to Jesus even though I had no clue what that would mean. As it’s turned out, it has meant much, much more than I could ever have imagined. As I’ve been hoping to share through this blog over the past six years, similar to what Lewis wrote, I believe in Christ as I believe the sun has risen – because by Him, and through Him, I see everything else.

Or as Jesus said even more eloquently, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Free not to do anything I want, but free to progressively become everything He wants me to be.