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Optical illusions and free will

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eggi:
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; (Rom 1:20 KJV)

Paul said that the invisible things are clearly seen. True, but sometimes we have problems with seeing the visible things too! (Explanation follows)...

The other day I was watching some optical illusions on a webpage, and it struck me that even when I knew that they were just that, illusions, they still appeared real to me. And worst of all, I KNEW that I did could not see them how they actually appear in reality! I tried hard to focus on other parts of the images, wanting to have a glimpse of how they really look. I was successful with some of them, but some of the images appeared the same way (as an illusion) no matter how I looked at them.

Then I thought: "Well, that's just how my eyes work, nothing to do about that..."

I took this thought a bit further, and I began to think about how our brains are wired. This scripture came to mind:

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Rom 8:20-21 KJV)

In the same way we were made subject to vanity, we were also made subject to optical illusions, an aspect of our brains which limits our senses and our understanding of reality. There are many other ways in which this is manifested too. With this in mind, it is a mystery how people claim that we have free will, when we clearly have so many limitations!! Sure, we can choose to compensate for optical illusions with glasses, by looking at them with one eye, but we can't escape from how our brain is set-up to interpret what we see.

Amazing stuff...  ;D

God bless you,
Eirik


A Hermann grid illusion. Shape position and color contrast converge to produce the illusion of grey blobs at the intersections.

Rene:
Hi Eirik,

This thought occurred to me on the topic of illusion:

Those who are "spiritually blind" are under an illusion when they study and read God's word.  They perceive God's word differently from what it is in reality, hence, all the false doctrines and beliefs.  Only God's Spirit can give us the "corrected vision" to see the truth of His word.

Rene'

Deborah-Leigh:


Yes, and an illusion is as real to the one "seeing" it as to the one who is seeing an hallucination or a mirage in a desert! Perhaps that is where the saying, I could swear blind that ..... ;D

It also makes me think about the claim that we only use aprox 10 % of our brains capacity! We surely do see in a glass dimly until we see Him as He really is!

Peace be to you

Arcturus :)

eggi:
Hi Rene and Arcturus,

Thanks for the input!
It's an illusion all right! We have to be given the understanding from above.

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isa 40:5 KJV)

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Mat 16:17 KJV)


It's said so clearly, but when you are not aware of the fact that God is using strong delusion, then you won't even think about the possibility that you are deceived (looking at an illusion).

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (2Th 2:3-4 KJV)

Robin:
This is a good one.

Stare at the dots in the center of the image for 30 seconds
Close your eyes
In a few seconds you’ll see a vision, what is it?

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