{"id":98862,"date":"2023-11-12T09:16:30","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T14:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=98862"},"modified":"2023-11-12T09:16:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T14:16:30","slug":"a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pastor\u2019s Thoughts:\u00a0\u2018Why can\u2019t we see?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If we\u2019re willing to admit it, many of us don\u2019t like the idea that as human beings we tend to adopt the ideas and perceptions of what, and&nbsp;<i>who<\/i>, is around us. Most of us have heard the saying at some point in our lives,&nbsp;<i>\u201cKids are like sponges\u201d.&nbsp;<\/i>If you have children or grandchildren, you probably know the truth behind this all too well. Kids tend to adopt the thoughts and attitudes of the people they\u2019re around the most, for the better or for the worse. It&#8217;s monkey see monkey do, without much (if any) thought behind it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As adults we like to think the same thing doesn\u2019t happen to us. We like to think we\u2019re more grounded in who we are, more mature, and as Westerners we like to think that each of us is unique in the way we think and behave. But as we become more established in our lives we remain like&nbsp;<i>\u201csponges\u201d&nbsp;<\/i>as we were as children, but we tend to only allow ourselves to absorb what we&nbsp;<i>agree&nbsp;<\/i>with as we get older, and we&nbsp;<i>harden<\/i>&nbsp;our hearts towards what we don\u2019t<i>&nbsp;<\/i>agree with. The knowledge we often allow into our mind tends to only be the knowledge we&nbsp;<i>personally agree with,&nbsp;<\/i>that is&nbsp;<i>normal<\/i>&nbsp;<i>to us<\/i>, and so we strain out everything else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There\u2019s this interesting phenomenon called&nbsp;<b><i>osmosis.&nbsp;<\/i><\/b>Not the water kind, but in a metaphorical sense it means&nbsp;<i>\u201cthe process of a gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc.\u201d&nbsp;<\/i>Meaning that throughout the course of our lives, without even realizing it, we&nbsp;<i>take in,&nbsp;<\/i>we&nbsp;<i>absorb,&nbsp;<\/i>we&nbsp;<i>assimilate&nbsp;<\/i>into our minds the ideas, attitudes, and behaviors of the culture we\u2019re surrounded by, and it becomes part of who we are.<i>&nbsp;<\/i>A pattern in our way of thinking, and since we\u2019re so accustomed to it, it makes it difficult to see things differently than we\u2019ve always seen them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But as a believer in Jesus, I see the devil hard at work here, distracting our modern society from what\u2019s truly important for far too long. The political influence in our nation has become so ingrained in our way of thinking that we can be repulsed by something, even if it\u2019s good, if it\u2019s associated with an opposite way of thinking; we simply refuse to believe it.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Our political beliefs have become part of who we are; the lens through which we see the world, and it causes us to stop seeing the truths we don\u2019t personally agree with. If this doesn\u2019t seem true, ask two like-minded people why they believe some of the things they believe, and they will likely say the same things. This is simply because we as Americans tend to surround ourselves with what supports our view, and we eliminate any opposing truth from our minds, and even our vocabulary!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This is not entirely unlike the way humans have&nbsp;<i>always&nbsp;<\/i>done things. In Matthew 13:15, Jesus says,&nbsp;<i>\u201cFor this people\u2019s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.\u201d&nbsp;<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">See Jesus understood that man has always had this problem of only hearing and seeing what we want to. It is a part of who we are, that thing called&nbsp;<i>osmosis&nbsp;<\/i>that subconsciously inserts the ideas and norms of our culture into our way of thinking. But we should never shrink back from questioning what we\u2019ve learned. We should never be afraid to&nbsp;<i>think outside the box.&nbsp;<\/i>We should never be afraid to lay everything out on the table, and even question the norms and values and ideas that have been ingrained in us since before we can remember.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The truth Jesus was talking about above is the truth that only He could save them from their sins. And He can save you, too, if you\u2019re willing to accept it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It is the truth of the gospel that the devil has blinded our eyes to and is distracting our nation from, and as our hearts remain hardened, we will remain blind. In 2009 God opened my eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ, and He can do the same for you too. Will you accept it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So the short question and answer to the title of this article, \u201c<i>Why can\u2019t we see?\u201d&nbsp;<\/i>is this, \u201c<i>Because our eyes are closed!\u201d<\/i><\/span><span class=\"s2\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If we\u2019re willing to admit it, many of us don\u2019t like the idea that as human beings we tend to adopt the ideas and perceptions&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":98863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Pastor\u2019s Thoughts:\u00a0\u2018Why can\u2019t we see?\u2019 - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Pastor\u2019s Thoughts:\u00a0\u2018Why can\u2019t we see?\u2019 - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If we\u2019re willing to admit it, many of us don\u2019t like the idea that as human beings we tend to adopt the ideas and perceptions...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-12T14:16:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/11\/Faith_Column-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"555\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"412\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/\",\"name\":\"A Pastor\u2019s Thoughts:\u00a0\u2018Why can\u2019t we see?\u2019 - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/11\/Faith_Column-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-12T14:16:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2023\/11\/12\/a-pastors-thoughts-why-cant-we-see\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/11\/Faith_Column-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2023\/11\/Faith_Column-1.jpg\",\"width\":555,\"height\":412,\"caption\":\"Pictured is the Tracy Creek Memorial Church. 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