Towards the end of the nineteenth century, men of learning argued whether or not some diseases were caused by the microscopically small creatures known as “bacteria.” The champion of the bacteriologists was Robert Koch, and that of the skeptics was Max Joseph von Pettenkofer.
To prove his point, Koch sent Petternkofer a
tube that swarmed with virulent microbes that were said to be the cause of
cholera. Pettenkofer—to the great alarm
of microbe hunters—swallowed the entire contents of the tube. Then he said,
“Now let us see if I get cholera!”
Now there were supposedly
enough cholera germs in this tube to infect a regiment but Max Joseph never got
sick. Thus, he proved forever the mistaken notion that bacteria could cause
infection.
Expect he was
completely wrong. The failure of the Pettenkofer to come down with cholera
remains to this day an enigma, maybe the vial was not tainted as thought, maybe
he just got lucky but one thing is for sure he was not right. Just because he seemed right in this one
instance, didn’t mean what he thought was true.
Many religious folks
today will take a singular experience as the end all and be all even when the
totality of facts show something different. A singular verse rather than the
whole console of God. One bad experience with a particular preacher rather than
the consistency of the entire church. A moving time when they felt in their
heart a way was right rather than the reasoned study of the Scriptures. A brief
misspoken exchange rather than the bulk of all that has been explained. One experience trumps the overwhelming
evidence
I think we can miss
out on what is right by overvaluing experience over facts. One bit of knowledge
might not be all there is to know. What is seen one time might not be all there
is to see. How we feel might be factual.
Make sure you have
not proven something to yourself that is not been proven.
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