Dozens of people may encounter the same elephant and come away with dozens of descriptions.<\\/h3>\\n Seeing only one aspect of something doesn\\u2019t negate the different experiences others may have nor does it dismiss what remains unseen.<\\/p>\\n It\\u2019s short sighted to dismiss the understanding others have of their elephant experience. Just because you<\\/strong> haven\\u2019t touched the elephant in a certain way doesn\\u2019t mean others haven\\u2019t either.<\\/p>\\n Some people think the elephant is only tail, and they are holding it, and that\\u2019s all there is. Or the elephant is only their personal relationship with the elephant. Others think the elephant is exclusively what they see in the zoo or on television. They can\\u2019t comprehend elephants in the wild, so they dismiss the possibility.<\\/p>\\n Others reject the idea of elephants completely, because they were taught the elephant is a tail, and nothing more, when they can clearly see there is much more to the elephant than the tail. So, they reject everything, and say the elephant doesn\\u2019t exist at all.<\\/p>\\n God, like elephants, is more than what you think or have experienced or have imagined or accepted or rejected. God is more than you have decided and much more than you can imagine.<\\/p>\\n \\u03a9<\\/strong><\\/p>\\n

{"id":2789,"date":"2024-05-21T15:16:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T19:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faithonthefringe.com\/?p=2789"},"modified":"2024-05-21T15:16:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T19:16:22","slug":"do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/","title":{"rendered":"How is God Like an Elephant?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Do you know how God is like an Elephant?<\/p>\n

"Photo <\/p>\n

Sometimes we can see God and not understand.<\/p>\n

For example, do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant.<\/p>\n

The first person touched the elephant\u2019s ear and said, \u201cThis is soft and supple like well-worn leather.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second person touched the elephant tusk and said, \u201cThis is hard and smooth, like marble.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third sightless person reached out and felt the elephant\u2019s leg. \u201cThis is strong and sturdy like a table leg, and yet rough like the bark of a mighty tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same elephant from three perspectives \u2013 all correct but also all insufficient to describe the massive wonder that is an elephant.<\/p>\n

Dozens of people may encounter the same elephant and come away with dozens of descriptions.<\/h3>\n Seeing only one aspect of something doesn\u2019t negate the different experiences others may have nor does it dismiss what remains unseen.<\/p>\n It\u2019s short sighted to dismiss the understanding others have of their elephant experience. Just because you<\/strong> haven\u2019t touched the elephant in a certain way doesn\u2019t mean others haven\u2019t either.<\/p>\n Some people think the elephant is only tail, and they are holding it, and that\u2019s all there is. Or the elephant is only their personal relationship with the elephant. Others think the elephant is exclusively what they see in the zoo or on television. They can\u2019t comprehend elephants in the wild, so they dismiss the possibility.<\/p>\n Others reject the idea of elephants completely, because they were taught the elephant is a tail, and nothing more, when they can clearly see there is much more to the elephant than the tail. So, they reject everything, and say the elephant doesn\u2019t exist at all.<\/p>\n God, like elephants, is more than what you think or have experienced or have imagined or accepted or rejected. God is more than you have decided and much more than you can imagine.<\/p>\n \u03a9<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are a few other articles I\u2019ve written from my unique perspective.<\/h4>\n The Day My Daughter Met President Jimmy Carter<\/a><\/p>\n My Review of To Kill a Mockingbird<\/a><\/p>\n Midnight Mass\u2014 a mini review<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jim Meisner, Jr.<\/b><\/em><\/a> is the author of the novel <\/b><\/em>Faith, Hope, and Baseball<\/strong>, <\/b><\/em>available on Amazon<\/b><\/em><\/a>, or <\/b><\/em>follow this link to order an autographed copy<\/b><\/em><\/a>. He created the Facebook page Faith on the Fringe<\/a>.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you know how God is like an Elephant? Sometimes we can see God and not understand. For example, do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant. The first person touched the elephant\u2019s ear and said, \u201cThis is soft and supple like well-worn leather.\u201d The second person touched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3527,"featured_media":8541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,17],"tags":[653,656,782],"class_list":["post-2789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtic-spirituality","category-faith","tag-faith","tag-faith-development","tag-god"],"yoast_head":"\nHow is God Like an Elephant?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you know how God is like an Elephant? do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How is God Like an Elephant?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you know how God is like an Elephant? do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith on the Fringe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FaithOnTheFringe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-21T19:16:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1007\/2024\/05\/closeup-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"565\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Meisner Jr.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Meisner Jr.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/\",\"name\":\"How is God Like an Elephant?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-21T19:16:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-21T19:16:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#\/schema\/person\/2d26fba85dd3fa240f8644a9f7c162a4\"},\"description\":\"Do you know how God is like an Elephant? do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How is God Like an Elephant?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/\",\"name\":\"Faith on the Fringe\",\"description\":\"Christian faith on the fringe of the mainstream culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#\/schema\/person\/2d26fba85dd3fa240f8644a9f7c162a4\",\"name\":\"Jim Meisner Jr.\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bca26cf18666732ce4077ac78590cd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bca26cf18666732ce4077ac78590cd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jim Meisner Jr.\"},\"description\":\"I attended seminary, earned a Master of Divinity and was the pastor of a church for a few years. I created this blog and Facebook page, Faith on the Fringe. I\u2019ve been the pastor of my current church for more than three years. Jesus gives us a better way to be, but too many judgmental Christians get in the way and drive people away from the message of Jesus. I\u2019m frustrated with both Christians and non-Christians who make judgments based on what they think the Bible says, rather than what it actually says. What they think the message of Jesus is, rather than what it actually is. The authentic message of Jesus remains on the fringe of the faith and many spiritual seekers are on the fringe of the culture. Here they can find faith on the fringe.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/faithonthefringe.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FaithOnTheFringe\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/author\/jmeisner\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How is God Like an Elephant?","description":"Do you know how God is like an Elephant? do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How is God Like an Elephant?","og_description":"Do you know how God is like an Elephant? do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/","og_site_name":"Faith on the Fringe","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FaithOnTheFringe\/","article_published_time":"2024-05-21T19:16:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":565,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1007\/2024\/05\/closeup-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim Meisner Jr.","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Meisner Jr.","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/","name":"How is God Like an Elephant?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-05-21T19:16:22+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-21T19:16:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#\/schema\/person\/2d26fba85dd3fa240f8644a9f7c162a4"},"description":"Do you know how God is like an Elephant? do you know the story of three blindfolded people who were led to an elephant.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/2024\/05\/do-you-know-how-god-is-like-an-elephant\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How is God Like an Elephant?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/","name":"Faith on the Fringe","description":"Christian faith on the fringe of the mainstream culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#\/schema\/person\/2d26fba85dd3fa240f8644a9f7c162a4","name":"Jim Meisner Jr.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bca26cf18666732ce4077ac78590cd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bca26cf18666732ce4077ac78590cd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Jim Meisner Jr."},"description":"I attended seminary, earned a Master of Divinity and was the pastor of a church for a few years. I created this blog and Facebook page, Faith on the Fringe. I\u2019ve been the pastor of my current church for more than three years. Jesus gives us a better way to be, but too many judgmental Christians get in the way and drive people away from the message of Jesus. I\u2019m frustrated with both Christians and non-Christians who make judgments based on what they think the Bible says, rather than what it actually says. What they think the message of Jesus is, rather than what it actually is. The authentic message of Jesus remains on the fringe of the faith and many spiritual seekers are on the fringe of the culture. Here they can find faith on the fringe.","sameAs":["https:\/\/faithonthefringe.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FaithOnTheFringe\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/author\/jmeisner\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3527"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthefringe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}