THE SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Did you ever notice that in the comic books no one ever figured out that Clark Kent and Superman was the same person? I mean, Superman didn’t wear a mask (like Batman) and Clark wore his Superman costume under his suit; but the only facial difference between the two was that Clark Kent wore glasses and his alter-ego didn’t. And Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson and Perry White couldn’t figure that out? But how is it that we accepted the “logic” of this in the comics, television and the movies?

Or what about the action movie where the lead character is able to shoot eighty-five bad guys with a pistol holding only fifteen bullets all while firing at full gallop unscathed while the bad guys are spraying him with a machine gun? Funny when you really think about it. And we all know that the magician doesn’t really cut the woman half, or a make the elephant disappear on stage. As much as we pride ourselves in our intelligence and common sense, sometimes we willingly accept the illogical and unbelievable.

The Suspension of Disbelief is an expression not readily familiar to most, but if you enjoy magic, the movies or fiction, you have experienced the suspension of disbelief. The expression Suspension of Disbelief, AKA Cognitive Estrangement was coined in 1817 by English author Samuel Taylor Coleridge to describe that belief in the unbelievable and the willing surrender of logical thinking. While we can occasionally “check-out” mentally for the sake of entertainment, when it comes to theology, the suspension of disbelief is a dangerous practice.

The Prolegomena is a fancy-schmanzy theology word meaning preliminary assumptions. Simply stated, the prolegomena is what we know before we believe. The Bible begins with an assumed belief in God (Genesis 1:1); that’s the prolegomena; and faith itself is based on the presumed belief in the existence of God (Hebrews 11:6). There are some who claim they do not believe in God or His mighty acts (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). The Bible describes their suspension of disbelief as “willingly ignorant” (2 Peter 3:5). Psst…spoiler alert---God’s not dead. He really exists. Think about it.