Wildebeest - Seeing Is Believing

I found this cute little animated cartoon about a couple of wildebeest at the watering hole.
It's only 1 minute long, so you should watch it now, before reading on....



Silly Wildebeest!  Won't believe the truth until they see it for themselves!  That really is the hard way to learn a lesson, but isn't it just how we people often operate, too?

Like Beest 1 and Beest 2, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors and look at the world around us.  Christians look at the world and see the marvelous creation of a loving God.  Atheists look at the very same world and see a product of chance, happenstance, and luck.  We moo at one another with our differing opinions, but until one or the other can somehow SHOW that their answer is the correct one, it remains just a mooing match.

And that's because it's had to believe difficult things, unbelievable things, contradictory things, without seeing them for yourself.  The Christian scripture gives us the example of St. Thomas, to reassure the doubters that it IS hard to believe unbelievable things, and it's okay to question hard things.

Thomas was absent when Jesus first appeared to his disciples after his resurrection.  Doubting Thomas refused to believe such an impossible thing unless he could see and touch for himself.  Lucky for him, he does have a chance to see (and touch!) the resurrected Lord, and he believes.  Jesus closes his interview with Thomas by saying,

"You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me." (John 20:29)

But it is the rare person indeed who believes without seeing SOMETHING to convince them!  Followers of Jesus after his ascension can no longer point out direct evidence that he rose, because Jesus himself is no longer available to touch.  But I'm sure every believer has seen or heard some indirect testimony to the living Christ that has convinced them, whether it was a moving moment in worship, the suddenly powerful truth of a word of scripture, or the tangible evidence of another believer's changed life.

What convinced you to believe?

How can you show "the truth" so others might believe?