A Willing Suspension of Disbelief (Or, Frankenstein's Monster Visits Starbucks)
In his book, RANDOMNESS HAPPENS FOR A REASON, the founder of Illustration Exchange discusses the limits of randomness in the creative process:
The term “willing suspension of disbelief” was coined by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1817. Coleridge asked readers to set aside their skeptic glasses to allow a “willing suspension of disbelief,” so they might better engage with his fantasy-filled poems. Of course, we’ve all been captivated by the inked magic of a good page-turner or transported to unexplored dimensions by the bewitching spectacle of the silver screen.
But even as we indulge in one of these flights of fantasy, no one genuinely believes that the guy with the big 'S' on his chest is actually whooshing past skyscrapers, or that they might stumble across Dr. Frankenstein's pet project at Starbucks, sipping a pumpkin spice latte. Instead, for the sake of being taken on the journey, we willingly place our critical thinking on airplane mode, allowing the magic to wash over us.
What we are less cognizant of is that we are often called upon to suspend our disbelief when it comes to how we view the real world. For example, who has ever actually witnessed life springing forth from non-living matter? Given that such an event has never been observed—even in today’s high-tech, billion-dollar labs—it raises the question: What’s the difference between this “story” and the tale of Frankenstein’s life-imparting lightning bolt? As far as we’ve been able to determine, one is just as improbable as the other.
Yet, inexplicably, without blinking an eye, we suspend our critical faculties by accepting the audacious proposition that the diversity of life we witness today was woven by the clumsy fingers of blind, aimless chance. Secular society asks us to allow a “willing suspension of disbelief” so that we might better engage in its fantasy-filled theories about reality—and we have obliged.
... [To] keep the fantasy afloat, modern narrators distort reality on two fronts. They hyper-hyperbolize the creative potential of randomness while adamantly denying the authenticity of the design observed throughout nature. By tweaking the narrative in these two specific ways, it can be claimed that chaos and order not only work towards the same end; they are, in fact, the same thing.
With the help of a little creative storytelling, our critical capacities are disabled so that our brains are no longer capable of discerning the difference between chance and design. Instead, we gaze out at the vast complexities of the natural world and all we see is the byproduct of chaos. Chance and design have become indistinguishable.
But let's not be fooled: Chaos and complexity are not even on speaking terms. By any measure, they are as compatible as fire and ice. Rather than aiding and abetting order and design, entropy is a relentless saboteur, dismantling it with ruthless efficiency. ...
But beyond the realm of our imagination, randomness has real limits. It lacks the knowledge and the finesse to write the intricate DNA codes that distinguish every species inhabiting our blue marble, nor can it produce the fine-tuned complexity found at the molecular, cellular, or systems level of living organisms. Moreover, it fails to explain how these layers of design came to operate in perfect harmony with one another.
The story that’s told of the wonders of a Creation, molded and shaped by random processes, is as fantastic a tale as any penned by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, or anyone else for that matter. Yet, here we are, fully immersed in a fantasy world where chance is deemed more capable than God Himself. That’s because, all too often, we’ve allowed naturalistic assumptions to overshadow common sense. ...
To break this spell, we must shake off the stardust and reclaim our critical faculties. Rather than ascribing superpowers to randomness, we must recognize it for what it truly is: a rudderless, reckless, chaotic force, as incapable of producing the complexities of the human brain as a tornado is of constructing a jumbo jetliner capable of flight.
"in the beginning, God ..." (Genesis 1:1).
"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16, ESV).
When Fear Melts Into Freedom
A small little bird was trapped in a net ball containing bird food near our back window. It was fluttering about trying to escape. We went out to help it, but when it saw us coming, it chirped furiously in panic. We pulled down the net ball, bird attached, and held it gently, speaking softly to the little guy. At this point he was listless and tired from trying to escape, for perhaps hours. We carefully and gently cut the net from around its legs and gently set it on the picnic table. It immediately flew away in freedom.
Its initial panic eventually yielded to let one much more powerful, yet gentle, release it from bondage.
When God sees us trapped, we often struggle to escape by our own devices, yet we consistently fail until we yield to God's gentle and gracious power to release us. Only then do we find true freedom.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1, NIV).
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29, NIV).
Offering Our Weaknesses To God As His Weapons
"He never received a formal education. His numerous letters, many of which still exist, are filled with grammatical errors. His physical appearance is not particularly impressive. His voice is high-pitched and nasal. Yet, these obstacles did not hinder God from using him to shake two continents."
A journalist was sent by his newspaper to write about the gospel campaign organized by D.L. Moody in England and to find out what the secret was behind his ability to bring so many people to Christ, those from both the nobility and the common people. After careful observation, he reported, "I cannot see anything in Moody that can explain his astonishing work."
When Moody read the report, he purportedly chuckled and said,
"That is precisely the secret of the spiritual revival that has taken place. The power of God has worked in [me]. The work is God's, not mine.'"
The way God works is beyond human comprehension. He uses those who surrender themselves and allow Him to work more than they can think or imagine.
J.S. Stewart wrote,
"It is that God always builds His kingdom on the very things that are weak and humble in man, and He can not only use us in our ordinariness and helplessness, with weaknesses that render us seemingly useless, but precisely because of those weaknesses ... there is nothing that can overcome a congregation or a soul that is taken, not by its strength, but by its weaknesses, offering those weaknesses to God as His weapons.'"
Today, as you look at your life and the "work" that is set before you (in your career, your child rearing, your ministry, or whatever), remember the "work" is not yours to do. It is God's to do through you. Surrender yourself to Him and His purposes.
Offer up your weaknesses to Him as His weapons!
"'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).