Parable by Van Til?

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TylerRay

Puritan Board Graduate
It seems like I heard once about a parable that Cornelius Van Til told regarding a man whose eyes were sewn shut. It struck me as similar to Plato's allegory of the cave. Does anyone know where Van Til wrote about this, or whether it was even Van Til?

Thanks!
 
It seems like I heard once about a parable that Cornelius Van Til told regarding a man whose eyes were sewn shut. It struck me as similar to Plato's allegory of the cave. Does anyone know where Van Til wrote about this, or whether it was even Van Til?

Thanks!
This..?

If the God of Christianity does exist, the evidence for Him must be plain. And the reason, therefore, why ‘everybody’ does not believe in Him must be that ‘everybody’ is blinded by sin. Everybody wears colored glasses. You have heard the story of the valley of the blind. A young man who was out hunting fell over a precipice into the valley of the blind. There was no escape. The blind men did not understand him when he spoke of seeing the sun and the colors of the rainbow, but a fine young lady did understand him when he spoke the language of love. The father of the girl would not consent to the marriage of his daughter to a lunatic who spoke so often of things that did not exist. But the great psychologists of the blind men's university offered to cure him of his lunacy by sewing up his eyelids. Then, they assured him, he would be normal like ‘everybody’ else.

But the simple seer went on protesting that he did see the sun. “So, as we have our tea, I propose not only to operate on your heart so as to change your will, but also on your eyes so as to change your outlook. But wait a minute. No, I do not propose to operate at all. I myself cannot do anything of the sort. I am just mildly suggesting that you are perhaps dead, and perhaps blind, leaving you to think the matter over for yourself. If an operation is to be performed it must be performed by by God Himself.”​

Why I Believe in God (Chestnut Hill, PA: Westminster Theological Seminary, 1977) 6.
 
This..?

If the God of Christianity does exist, the evidence for Him must be plain. And the reason, therefore, why ‘everybody’ does not believe in Him must be that ‘everybody’ is blinded by sin. Everybody wears colored glasses. You have heard the story of the valley of the blind. A young man who was out hunting fell over a precipice into the valley of the blind. There was no escape. The blind men did not understand him when he spoke of seeing the sun and the colors of the rainbow, but a fine young lady did understand him when he spoke the language of love. The father of the girl would not consent to the marriage of his daughter to a lunatic who spoke so often of things that did not exist. But the great psychologists of the blind men's university offered to cure him of his lunacy by sewing up his eyelids. Then, they assured him, he would be normal like ‘everybody’ else.

But the simple seer went on protesting that he did see the sun. “So, as we have our tea, I propose not only to operate on your heart so as to change your will, but also on your eyes so as to change your outlook. But wait a minute. No, I do not propose to operate at all. I myself cannot do anything of the sort. I am just mildly suggesting that you are perhaps dead, and perhaps blind, leaving you to think the matter over for yourself. If an operation is to be performed it must be performed by by God Himself.”​

Why I Believe in God (Chestnut Hill, PA: Westminster Theological Seminary, 1977) 6.
Yes, that must be it! Thank you!
 
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