The Elephant Has Spoken

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  (Romans 1:19) 

If you enjoy reading stories to your children (or grandchildren), perhaps you have stumbled upon the  delightful tale of The Blind Men and the Elephant, written by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887). The whimsical rhythm and rhyme of the poetry are an enjoyable feast for the ears, but don’t be fooled. As with many children’s books, the philosophy underlying this story is deadly serious. 

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl:

"God bless me!

— but the Elephant

Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried: "Ho!—what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me 'tis mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a spear!"

The poem goes on to describe how each of the other blind men developed his own personal opinion about the nature of this animal they were attempting to define. One grasped the trunk and concluded the beast must be some kind of a snake. Another bumped into one of the elephant’s legs and surmised that he must be a tree, and so forth.  

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!

For parents reading to their children, the poem provides a great opportunity to explain an important life lesson: we all like to argue about what we think is true, but we need to recognize that we may be seeing only part of a bigger picture. OK. Point made. Can we read another story now? 

But there is more going on in this enchanting poem than at first meets the eye. John Godfrey Saxe has an agenda. His story is actually a cleverly disguised piece of philosophical propaganda. His purpose is to promote an agnostic worldview that considers all religions to be equally false because, at best, they each grasp only a small portion of Ultimate Reality (God). The last verse of his poem (which is left out of children’s books!) reveals his true intentions. He calls this the “moral” of the story.

So, oft in theologic wars

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance

Of what each other mean,

And prate about an Elephant

Not one of them has seen!

Dear friend, can I ask you a question – a very serious question? The way you answer it  reveals your most basic philosophical assumption about life and sets the stage for the direction your journey will take both in this world and in the world to come. The question is this: Can you know with certainty what Ultimate Reality (God) is like? 

John Godfrey Saxe believes the answer to this question is no. Finite beings simply cannot grasp that which is infinite, except in a manner that is partial and limited. And anyone who dares to say that he knows the truth about God is merely showing the world what a blind fool he really is! That is the point Saxe is striving to make. And we have to admit, he makes it very well.

We need to recognize that the poem conveys a measure of truth. We are indeed like blind men, groping in darkness, trying to comprehend the absolute Absolute, something so big it defies explanation. On our own, we can grasp only a tiny portion of the reality of God, and the conclusions we draw from our observations may actually be wrong. Without supernatural help, our concept of Ultimate Truth is nothing more than a personal opinion, a hunch, an educated guess. Yes, Saxe’s poem gets some things right.

I find it tragically sad, however, that Mr. Saxe failed to consider the possibility that the elephant might speak! There is more than one way to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. Groping in the dark is one way, a very flawed way. But what if the elephant spoke and told us who he was?  Saxe grew up in a pious Methodist home in Vermont. He should have considered this possibility. I’d like to grab him by the lapel, look him in the eye, and say:

“But Mr. Saxe! What if this mysterious animal turned to those blind inquirers and said: ‘Excuse me, gentlemen; I’m an elephant. If you’ll sit down and listen, I’ll be happy to tell you all about myself.’” This would change everything! They would know the truth about the elephant not because they were smart or had worked hard. No. They would know the truth because they were humble enough to listen as the elephant revealed his own identity. 

This is precisely what the Bible claims. The elephant has spoken! God has not left us in the dark so that we are condemned to blindly guess who he is and what he is like. He has told us! But we must be humble enough to listen. He revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, etc. And he has disclosed his true identity preeminently in and through his Son Jesus Christ. We know God not by human effort or spiritual maturity but through God’s gracious act of divine self-disclosure. This is recorded for us in the sixty-six books of the Bible.

But beware. God is intolerant of those who pretend they can worship him as they imagine him to be. Judgment will be swift and sure against those who have the audacity to make “God” in their own image.

So, my friend, I want to encourage you to open your Bible and humbly listen to what God has to say about himself. He does not want you to grope in darkness making educated guesses about who he is and what he is like. He wants your knowledge of him to be certain and true, rooted in his own self-disclosure in human history as it is revealed in Scripture. 

I've written a poetic reminder that I would like to add to Saxe's poem so that honest truth-seekers will not be discouraged by Saxe's agnosticism. God wants to reveal himself to you; but you must be humble enough to listen! 

If you desire within your heart

The truth of God to know

Don’t listen to those blind men who

Pretend the way to show.

But let God speak his words to you –

The Bible tells me so.

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