The Limitations of Mans Knowledge Our second question is: What are the limitations of the knowledge of natural man? The preceding makes them evident. We can illustrate the limitations of our senses in giving to us a true picture of Reality by the following: a blind man who had never possessed the sense of sight, and who had never come into contact with men who did possess it would think that through his four senses he had a true picture of the world around him. He would never be able to know what color was or light was because he had no sense that could perceive it or admit an understanding of that quality to his mind. A man who had never possessed the sense of hearing and never contacted men who did would think that he knew the universe as it was through his four senses. He would never imagine that the universe was filled with music. So it may be that man with his five senses does not possess a true picture of Reality of the universe around him. We do know that mans five senses limit him only to the knowledge of matter. Every invention that he produces to aid his senses in receiving a true picture of the universe is a physical one and only aids in this knowledge of the physical. Reason for Atheism and Materialism It is because of this fact that materialism and atheism have developed. Man has said that there is nothing in the universe but matter and its properties. He has said that man does not survive the existence of his body because there is no spiritual quality in man to exist after the body has disintegrated. We can see that such an attitude upon the part of man toward life is a natural attitude, for with his five senses to which he is absolutely limited, he can contact nothing but a physical world. It would be just as logical for a blind man to refuse to believe that color existed as for man with his five senses to say that the spiritual does not exist. A fish might just as well say that there is nothing outside of water, as for a man to say, In this universe there exists nothing but matter. Two of our questions are answered. The source of mans knowledge is the central nervous system of his physical body, and its limitations are the physical universe and matter alone. Rational Thinking and Sense Perception We do not want to give a wrong impression when speaking of the source of mans knowledge. Thinking does not arise out of sense perception. Man has capacities for thinking, reasoning, reflecting and memorizing that are not based upon sense perception ; yet mans mental powers and reasoning faculties have only the material of sensation from which to draw their conclusions. Animals have sense perception, yet they do not have rational thinking. Rational thinking does not arise in sense perception ; yet our statement is true : man knows nothing except as it comes to his mind through one of his five senses. Now we come to our third question: To what extent will the knowledge that man has gained through the medium of his five senses satisfy his hunger for Reality? To what extent is this knowledge sufficient in answering the most vital problem that man faces? As Voltaire has said: Man has been able to measure the distance of the stars, and yet himself he has not come to know. The problems that concern a man the most have been left unanswered. He has not been able to find the reason for his own existence, and until man knows the reason for his own existence he cannot know the purpose or meaning of life. The Bible in the Light of Our Redemption
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:03:15 +0000
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