The Origin of Blindness

You can’t always trust your eyes. If you don’t believe it, just study “White’s illusion.” This brightness illusion happens when horizontal stripes of black and white are partially replaced with gray rectangles. When the gray blocks are bordered by black, they appear darker than the gray blocks bordered by white—even though both sets of gray bars are the same color and opacity. The “Munker’s-White illusion” is similar, except it uses color for the same effect.

Eve was deceived by her senses. When Satan appeared to her in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil—a tree God told her to not eat from— she was drawn into a conversation with the devil who was disguised as a serpent. When she repeated God’s word, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die” (Genesis 3:3), the devil lied to her by saying, “You will not surely die” (v. 4).

Satan then painted an illusion for Eve, claiming that “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v. 5). Eve began to doubt God’s word and she became blind. Notice, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (v. 6, emphasis added).

The Bible describes what happened next: “The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (v. 7). In one sense, sin closed their eyes and made them less perceptive of truth. Yes, they now knew sin, but at the expense of having their senses dulled. It was all part of Satan’s illusion.

Apply It:

Look up “White’s illusion” on the Internet and see how your eyes can deceive you.

Dig Deeper:

Matthew 15:14; John 9:39; 1 John 2:10

Key Bible Texts

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV)