Jesus told us that the blind are incapable of leading the blind, as both will eventually fall into a ditch. While I agree with the statement, (since, you know, Jesus said it and all that) I also think that the blind are, in an ironic sense, capable of leading both their blind selves and followers to liberation.

There are theological positions that I now find quite absurd, heretical even, that were instrumental in helping to lead me to where I am today. The doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA), for example, helped me believe that God was not angry with me, since it allowed me to imagine his terrible wrath as having been dealt with at the cross. Now, of course, I see this as a flawed, and ultimately untenable doctrinal position, but for a young man who had grown accustomed to seeing God as angry and vengeful, the idea of there having been a moment when all of it was emptied onto a sacrificial substitute allowed me the freedom to not think of God in terms of anger or wrath. Now, yes, ultimately I came to see the fallacies inherent in this idea, its lack of biblical and historical merit, as well as its straight up absurdity, but for a moment it allowed me to think beyond my then-present paradigm.

It was ultimately this idea that led me to consider the idea that God was non-violent and non-retributive, which I would have never given a second thought to had I not been allowed the freedom to think of God’s wrath as having been set aside, or dealt with through Christ’s death.

This was a case of the blind leading the blind. I was blind in my belief that God was angry, and the doctrine of PSA was blind in its assertions that God required the death of his son to deal with his anger management issues, but for a season it led me. Ultimately, it led me into a ditch, wherein I realized that my eyes had been closed and I’d had been blinded all along. God did not need appeasement as the gods of the pagans did, and his anger against humanity was never even a real problem requiring a solution! It was the time I spent in this theological ditch, pondering the implications of my former beliefs and coming to terms with the God Jesus revealed, that led me to the path I’m currently on.

I needed the ditch. I needed the blind guide.

It was God speaking to me in the only language I was capable of understanding in that moment, and it led me to realize how blind I had been. And who knows? I might find this experience repeating itself numerous times throughout my life before all is said and done!

So, while the blind cannot ultimately lead the blind, they can, in a sense, help them to realize how blind and enslaved they are. This is important, as we have a tendency to look back at our time beneath “blind guides” and consider it wasted, but those represent some of the most significant stretches of our journeys, because it was in these times, in these ditches, that we learned we had eyes, and how to use them.

Every leg of your journey is significant. Including times spent in darkness and ditches.
Jeff Turner