{"id":568,"date":"2007-02-17T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-17T14:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2007\/02\/cant-handle-the-proof-1.html"},"modified":"2007-02-17T14:28:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-17T14:28:00","slug":"cant-handle-the-proof-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2007\/02\/cant-handle-the-proof-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Can&#8217;t Handle the Proof"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size:130%\">Can\u2019t Handle the Proof<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">We demand the evidence,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">A clear and certain sign,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">We show no bit of reticence<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Ask God to please divine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Here a little miracle,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Or there a stellar light<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">To shine upon our darkness<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">And give us all insight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">But what if God\u2019s not hidden,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Not remote or too aloof,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What if we\u2019re just blind<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">And cannot handle proof?<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What if all the world\u2019s a stage<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">And the play\u2019s long been going on,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">But we\u2019re not paying attention<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Or listening to the song?<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What if the heavens shout \u2018glory\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">And the rocks and all the trees<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">But we\u2019re too damn distracted<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">To fall down on our knees?<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What if believing leads to seeing<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Not the other way around,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What if believing\u2019s our 3-D glasses<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">To see the more profound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">In a world of truth decay<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">We perish for lack of hope<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">We settle for compensation<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">For that which helps us cope.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">A visionary person<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Is one who believes the most,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">She sees the path before her,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">But she trusts the Holy Ghost. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">If you ignore all the evidence,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Then you cannot handle proof, <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Only open hands receive it,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Only open minds find truth.<span>          <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">BW3<span>  <\/span>2\/17\/07<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can\u2019t Handle the Proof We demand the evidence, A clear and certain sign, We show no bit of reticence Ask God to please divine. Here a little miracle, Or there a stellar light To shine upon our darkness And give us all insight. But what if God\u2019s not hidden, Not remote or too aloof, What&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can&#039;t Handle the Proof - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2007\/02\/cant-handle-the-proof-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can&#039;t Handle the Proof - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can\u2019t Handle the Proof We demand the evidence, A clear and certain sign, We show no bit of reticence Ask God to please divine. 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&amp;E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}