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Of all the body’s organs, the eyes are perhaps the most influential and thus the most prone to attack and abuse.
We’re Talking Mind-Blowing Tech
Nothing says “miracle” like the eyes and the highly advanced image processing done by the brain. Turning billions of faint neural signals into patterns of useful information is something even the greatest and most powerful non-organic computers struggle with. Everything that we perceive is generated by a coordinated, stereoscopic pair of optical sensors, built entirely of organic material, including a perfectly organized array of protein-based color and intensity sensors, equipped with automatic focus and aperture controls.
Even the father of creation skepticism, Charles Darwin, felt it was absurd to suppose that a system of muscles, lenses, fluid, high-resolution imaging sensors and the associated imaging regions of the brain could have all been formed through progressive mutations driven by natural selection.
To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.
Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species”, chapter 6
As an aside, the rest of Darwin’s quote continues with many sentences attempting to rationalize this truly amazing impossibility and so dismiss his natural amazement. Darwin struggles to talk his readers through a new fairy tale of evolutionary possibility. I love how Darwin, still astounded by the miracle of vision, goes on to suggest he still is has a bigger problem: life from non-life:
How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself originated;
Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species”, chapter 6
Indeed, how a rock can become even the most primitive, DNA-based, single-cell living organism is a far greater leap than an already living, specialized nerve cell must make to become a dependent component in a complex vision system.
I won’t attempt to re-write for you the abundance of long and scientific books on the fascinating design and engineering that is our human eye. Yet there are even better and more amazing examples of eye technology in the animal kingdom. Consider hawks and eagles that can detect motion and discriminate shape from long distances, about compound insect eyes that can form a complete 360 degree image of the world around them, or some lizards that can operate either eye independently of each other. Other animals have many more than just two non-compound eyes. I think God threw these creatures into our world just to make evolutionists squirm. The physics and the physiology of the eye testify to a creative genius with abilities beyond everything we can imagine.
The most interesting aspect about the eye is of course it’s moral nature. The connection between “seeing”, a physical and biological phenomenon, and “believing”, a moral concept, is profound. Although physical blindness is rare condition, the deceptive and delusional blindness, that prevents even the most observant from sensing their own moral depravity, is hardly rare.
The eye’s role in the gathering of information makes it a key to controlling our lives. What we see and perceive with our eyes directly affects how we interact with the world around us.
The Eye’s Leering Desire
As we’ve noted before, from the moment Adam and Eve fell in the garden, the purpose of the eye was somehow compromised, being commandeered by the soul to filter the images and alter the interpretation of what is seen, not to the advantage of the whole created human being, as was intended in the beginning, but to the advantage of the selfish and never-satisfied soul.
I’m going to take a risk here by being so transparent: Everyone struggles with sexual lust that is triggered by visual stimulation, including me. I used to explain to my teenage Sunday School class (which for several years was just all boys) that the first look was just the normal program of the soul, searching, seeking and observing the world around us. The second look was always motivated by sin. For example, driving down the street, we are all trained to scan our surroundings, monitoring traffic on every side of our vehicle, watching for road signs and unexpected hazards, like rows of parked cars where children may be playing. This is “business as usual” for the defensive driver. However, when that scanner catches the outline of a female in shorts and tank-top walking a dog, all the scanning and defensive driving is interrupted by an emergency signal, very hard to resist, rising from the soul to take that second look, hoping to maximize the joy of the imagined pleasure a long stare would supply.
I know you know what I am talking about. The wise reader will immediately ask, “Where and why does this happen? I’m ashamed of myself when I fail to defeat this force enslaving me to lurid, lustful leering.” Read “What Went Wrong?” for a good explanation. The best training in moral propriety, the best discipline, the strongest will-power and character building can, after much perfection, make a small dent in this behavior– but even then this behavior won’t be eliminated. As a Christian, a follower of Jesus, with the power and deliverance of the Holy Spirit on my side, I can tell you the lust of the flesh is still a force to be reckoned with. Don’t take this lightly. If you even for a moment, give in to this deadly lust, the harm you will suffer in this life and the life to come will be justifiably painful.
Oh, how my heart goes out to those of both sexes who have been abused by the merciless, uncontrollable beast of lust. In days of old, there was talk of “a fate worse than death.” I firmly believe this fate is related to sexual abuse.
Those of a “modern” and “progressive” persuasion scoff at Victorian modesty and the respectable chivalry understood by older generations. Now that every aspect of life, schools, government laws and community (and even some churches), are working to eliminate all inhibitions to sexual sin, nothing prevents a depraved soul from exercising the lust of the eyes. There is a “hard wire” in the human soul connecting the images seen by the eyes to the hunger for satisfaction enticed by these images. The Truth of the Bible holds the answer, but so few are willing to stand up and discuss openly the root cause of this sexual mess.
Job, a man of wisdom and great suffering, already knew the secret to maintaining moral purity while chained to a corrupt soul. He shared this secret with us:
I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
Job 31:1
Additionally, the Apostle John listed the world’s worst influences when he said:
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
1 John 2:16
Other Spiritual Eye Contexts
Jesus said,
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
Matthew 6:22
This statement isn’t hard to understand once you realize that the light (truth) that enters through the eye, is first filtered, or even completely hijacked, by the corruption of the soul. Sinful souls want to maintain their control over the whole being because it is “truth that sets men free” (John 8:32). If truth successfully makes it through your eyes, without sinful filtering or interpretation, then that truth will bring “light” to your whole body. The corrupt soul intercepts plain truth to prevent the freedom that light brings.
Jesus was part of an amazing situation with a poor man who was born blind in John chapter 9… I’d love to walk us through this whole chapter, but time and space don’t permit. The chapter isn’t about a physical blindness, but about spiritual blindness. When the truth is presented boldly, lived out and demonstrated clearly to people of learning, moral training and education, yet they still refuse to act on the compelling insights powered by that truth, this is evidence that the people viewing the display of truth are blind.
39 Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?” 41 “If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
John 9:39-41
The Pharisees saw the physical healing of a man born blind and still refused to acknowledge the deity of Jesus… since they claimed to have wise and learned spiritual sensibilities, therefore their guilt will not be ignored. If they were instead ignorant or were willing to confess the truth of the matter before them, they would not be guilty of sin.
If you’re watching the world and its activists play their outrage game on social media, then you already know the problem of this world isn’t fake news, it’s sin’s greatest power over the eyes preventing oppressed souls from even sensing truth.
Jesus had a short dialog with Pilate right before an angry riotous mob forced him to sentence Jesus to death by Crucifixion… this is how it went:
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
John 18:36-28
37 “Then You are a king!” Pilate said.
“You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”
38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked.
Truth isn’t only a fact, a testimony, or a body cam video… truth is Jesus Christ. Nothing wants to prevent our leaders from knowing the truth more than Satan and the corrupt powers of our own sinful soul.
Hiding Your Eyes
Are sun glasses merely for protecting our sensitive eyes from the harmful rays of the sun? or to give us better, clearer vision in hazy environments? People often wear sunglasses to hide their eyes from the interpretation of those around them. It is a well known, but not often acknowledged truth: you can sense the level of mastery that a person’s soul has over their being by just looking into their eyes. Emotions “talk” through your eyes. Feelings “communicate” through your eyes. The language is not a precise tool, but at the very minimum, your eyes will tell others how you feel.
Proverbs has this special insight for us:
Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
Proverbs 4:25
Looking at someone out of the “corner” of your eye is a way to hide your evil intention. Our souls want that second look, but it’s aware that its intention is sinful. We look out of the corner of our eyes because when we turn our head and present our faces to the one we’re looking at, this immediately signals an intention for communication and an attitude of interest. But if our motive is lust or leering desire, that too will be plain from our eyes. Being willing to stand square in front of someone and look them straight in the eye is a sign of good intentions. But when someone is constantly giving you a look from the corner of their eye, there is immediately a suspicion in their motive.
Sometimes hiding ones eyes is justifiable, like when your eyes are swollen and teary at a funeral for a loved one, but most of the time, dark glasses obscure our natural tendency to detect when we are the focus of someone else’s attention. Men can watch women without alerting them to the danger of a cruel intention when their eyes are hidden. If we see someone looking at us, there is a natural assumption of interest or even attraction. Sadly, some very happy and perky women, in their zeal for life and overflow of kindness, will make eye contact with a man who then interprets that eye contact wickedly. Today, many women have been advised to never make eye contact with men, keeping their gaze down at the ground. This is beyond a tragedy in our society, a byproduct of years of ignoring the wisdom of God’s Book.
Also from the book of Proverbs is this reflection:
16 There are six things that the LORD hates,
Proverbs 6:16-19
seven that are detestable to Him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that run swiftly to evil,
19 a false witness who gives false testimony,
and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
Notice, Solomon (the author of most proverbs) prioritizes “haughty eyes” as top on the list of things the LORD hates. An eye is just an eye, right? Not true… the eyes give away the character of the beast who stands behind them.
Can an eye mock? or scorn? As metaphor for the attitude behind the eye, this picture is quite apt:
As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
Proverbs 30:17
In Connection to The Fall
The first significant change that Adam and Eve experienced as a consequence of disobeying God’s ban in the Garden of Eden was related to their eyes. Genesis 3:7 tells it this way:
And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:7
Obviously, Adam and Eve’s eyes were functioning perfectly prior to their fall, but after the fall, their “eyes were opened”. Either hijacked or commandeered in some way, after the fall, their eyes became an organ of influence, hardwired to their souls which had rejected God and welcomed sin. Their newly “opened” eyes were aware of their guilt and naked shame. Read “What Went Wrong?” for full explanation of the fall of man.
The multiple truths we’ve reviewed in Scripture, in addition to our very own personal experience, testify to the reality we live in today, a reality where sin and eyes are connected. This is such a sad fact universal to all people everywhere. As bad as this all is, with God’s help, through the redemption and mercy found in Jesus Christ, we can be born again, not from the ground as Adam was in the beginning, but born from God’s Holy Spirit. Part of that regeneration is the formation of a “New Self” that is delivered from the power of sin. This is GOOD NEWS!
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Colossians 3:9-10
Seeing Without Eyes
Our eyes are permanently hard-wired directly to the soul who uses our eyes to do its “shopping” for satisfaction. In order to break this linkage, our minds and spirits must use a different navigation system that is able to identify when the soul has hijacked our behavior for its own selfish needs. The Bible calls this superior navigation system faith. Consider reading the chapter on “Faith” for a better understanding of this amazing concept. Through hearing truth about God, our knowledge of better future situations inspire us to hope for them. As we trust the promise-er and put our faith in God’s truth, we gain a joy of anticipation. In all cases, we lose that joy when we abandon the plan that places Jesus first in our lives.
So here is where faith allows us to see better than with our own physical eyes. When our soul see something that can benefit our self in the short-term through what is perceived through our eyes, our mind and spirit can veto the soul’s urge by the power of faith– sticking to the plan of commitment, centered around Jesus Christ and His ability to satisfy not our soul’s desire, but our hearts desire for a future hope.
This process of faith-seeing is confirmed in Scripture in several places, best illustrated by Paul’s advice to the Corinthians:
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
In fancy Biblical language, walking is a picture of how we apply our faith to live our lives. When a certain action seems right from a visual perspective, we won’t commit ourselves to an action until we understand the consequences. Will this action interfere with my promise by faith to Jesus? Will doing what I want to do now to satisfy a short-term desire, keep me from living in the joy of my hope with God and His promises to me?
Temptations will always pit your physical, visual senses against your joy of hope founded by faith in the truth of God.
Jesus said,
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
Mark 8:36
This statement makes sight vs. faith trade-offs perfectly clear. You can try to satisfy your soul with every good thing is sees and desires, gaining even the whole world, but the result will be a completely lost soul, lost to hell for eternity, separated from God. Or you can choose to live by faith, committing the plan for your life to Jesus, walking in obedience to a promise of a better future, which for now is a daily feast of joy. God honors a life lived by faith, that resists those fleshly urges, that cooperates with the Spirit who illuminates our minds with truth.
Years ago there was a detective series on TV about a man who had lost his sight, but instead of giving up on his life or his career, continued to let his situation teach him to amplify all his other senses, making him a crack detective, perceiving clues that others who had sight missed. When you make that decision to no longer let your life be influenced by visual perceptions, primal feelings, commercials, advertisements and base urges, but instead follow a path of principle, integrity, character and faith in God, you will discover a blessing that was literally invisible to everyone else in the human race.