HeavenScent
“Prove God exists!” They shout.
“Prove the scent of mown grass exists!” I answer.
“Prove the aroma of baking bread exists!” I follow up.
I have named my blog ‘HeavenScent’ as I compare one’s awareness of Christ in one’s life with the ability to smell. Trying to convince someone that God exists is as difficult as proving that the sense of smell exists, to someone who does not have a sense of smell.
People with no sense of smell can argue that aromas are ‘not even a thing, dude’. They demand solid, measurable proof that people can enjoy the aroma of things before they will believe in it themselves. They have deep hatred for those that are convinced that the sense of smell exists, (that God exists, in this analogy) considering them delusional, as it is a dimension they cannot themselves experience.
They ask ‘well how much does this supposedly wonderful smell of baking bread weigh? What color is it? How fast does it go? Describe its shape then – what does it look like? Well then, what does it sound like? Does it bark like a dog or moo like a cow? If I can’t feel it, hear it, see it, time it, or measure it, then there is no evidence for it, and any thinking person will rightfully conclude that it doesn’t exist!’
Anyone who argues otherwise is automatically a stupid Neanderthal, an ignorant, bucktoothed, cross-eyed, inbred, banjo strumming, gun toting, uneducated, primitive, superstitious, gullible, unscientific, six-toed FOOL! Or perhaps even a Christian! (shudder) (I Corinthians 4:10 NASB ‘We are fools for Christ’s sake..’)
I Corinthians 2:14 NASB – ‘But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand (smell?) them, because they are spiritually (olfactorily?) appraised.’
Because the nonbeliever does not have an ‘olfactory nerve’ (spiritually speaking), they cannot perceive what someone with an olfactory nerve can sense, and they will die stubbornly, shaking their fist at the FOOLS they so hate, denying the existence of smells.
Feeling very enlightened by seemingly sophisticated arguments crafted by fellow skeptics they will start clubs like ‘The Noseless Society’ and write books like ‘There is No Such Thing as a Sense of Smell.’ ‘What do Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy Smell Like? (Debunking Smell and Other Fairytales)’ and the bestseller, “Stop Brainwashing Children to Believe in a Sense of Smell!”
They will hold rallies and parades, pumping signs in the air while chanting through bullhorns to show their mass disgust for something as silly as a belief in aromas, hoping the ‘power’ of their numbers will convince believers how outnumbered they are, and therefore how wrong, stupid and ignorant they are, and get believers to admit the whole ‘smell’ thing was probably a hallucination after all, implanted in their young minds by controlling parents with an agenda.
They will insist that the sense of smell should not be taught in school since its existence cannot be proven by metrics they will accept (witness testimony is not permitted as such ‘witnesses’ (people who claim to have enjoyed the smell of roses, a sea breeze, mown grass, or baking bread, and even come together weekly to share their olfactory experiences with each other) are obviously suffering from mental illness.)
The non-smellers’ incessant anger stems from the insistence of those who can smell that aromas do exist, and they have actually experienced it for themselves, without being able to prove their case using things the non-smeller will accept as evidence. The nonbelievers are told, ‘have faith and believe, and you will receive the gift too.’ But they argue back, ‘I am not going to release my hold on my intellect to even entertain such a notion unless you can prove it to me before I believe.’ They insist to the day they die that people who claim to have a sense of smell all suffer either from mass hysteria, perpetuated by the power of suggestion by persuasive speakers, or personal psychoses.
Silly, right? Yes it is! But this is exactly the way atheists view believers of all faiths other than their own (yes atheism is a faith – belief in nothing is their faith – they are betting their eternity on the belief that there is no creator or other higher power they need to be accountable to.)
For believers, the gift of the sense of smell, the olfactory nerve, is bestowed upon one’s acceptance of the invitation to eternal life that Christ gives everyone who opens the door to Him. The ‘aromas’ of the believer’s life that only one purchased by the blood of Christ can experience, are moments of unmistakable spiritual peace with God, episodes of palpable communion with God, an undeniable sense of forgiveness of one’s sins and the deep peace that brings, inexplicable love for people we have every right to hate or distrust, spiritual wisdom as if God is whispering passages from the bible to us in certain moments, deep insight as one reads the bible, a knowledge of the friendship and presence of God in certain situations ( the peace that passes understanding) when one would otherwise have every reason to doubt God’s love and presence, among others. These are the fragrances of God’s presence only one who believes in Him has a right to enjoy.
‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,’ (John 1:12)
The Holy Spirit is to the believer, connecting us with Christ, what an olfactory nerve is to a pleasant aroma in a normal human. The function of the Holy Spirit is proof enough to the one who can smell – one who can smell does not deny that he can sense the pleasant aroma of a rose or freshly mown hay. There is no argument that can convince him that he hasn’t experienced that.
Likewise, there is no argument that can convince one who has truly experienced the transforming power of Christ’s forgiveness and rebirth that he didn’t actually experience what he experienced, that it is all some kind of mind trick or hypnotic suggestion, or wishful thought, or that (s)he summoned the experience out of a desire to assuage a guilty conscience. Rubbish! The experience at the foot of Christ’s cross, where one sees all the shame of his life nailed there with Christ’s body, cannot be faked!
The smellers are called ‘pushy’, ‘annoying’, and constantly accused of ‘shoving that nonsense down our throats,’ when in fact the believer simply wants the unbelievers to be able to experience the joys of the sense of smell, such as a fresh bouquet, a salty sea breeze, popping popcorn, fresh mown grass, a rain drenched forest, a cake in the oven, etc. But in our case it is the forgiveness and peace of Christ we want you to enjoy.
Understandably, those who can smell often lose patience with those who say they can’t smell, or refuse to try. Believers are human, so they sometimes get annoyed and impatient over the ridiculousness and futility of trying to prove something so blatantly obvious to someone who crosses his arms and refuses to consider that another person’s experience with Christ could be valid, and they might themselves experience it if they were to only let go of their pride and stubbornness and give it a chance.
In Song of Solomon, the Shulamite woman declares that her king’s (God’s) love is better than wine: “Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, Your name is like a purified oil;” (Song 1:3 NASB).
This aroma then gets on the believer, like a baker, florist, or wheat farmer wears home the scent of his trade:
II Corinthians 2:15,16 (NASB) – ‘For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life…’ (Ryrie note: the same gospel brings life the believer and death to the rejecter.)
This gift of the sense of smell (spiritual discernment and enjoyment of Christ’s abundant life (John 10:10)) also works to let us know when something literally smells ‘fishy’ spiritually. When presented with heresy, something within us cringes like one who has wafted sewage. Maybe we can’t explain it at the time, but the Holy Spirit within us can. Some people have demonic oppressions and a believer can sometimes sense a spiritual void with that person, a spiritual sickness like the smell of vomit or diarrhea.
Friends, we may never be able to convince some people that the sense of smell (perception of the presence of God) exists, and for those people who can never believe, they will never experience that gift. Keep praying for them, daily, pray that God turns their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), and that one night, in a quiet moment as they are trying to go to sleep and restless thoughts assail them, they call out to God and say, ‘if You really exist, show yourself to me in a way I can understand.’
He promises to let those who diligently seek Him, find Him, (Matthew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:9-13).
‘Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven five what is good to those who ask Him!’ (Matthew 7:7-11)
‘And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who (diligently) seek Him.’ (Hebrews 11:6 NASB)
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5,6)
He tells those who don’t believe, to cry out to Him to reveal Himself to them, and He will.
And once they’ve found Him, they too will have a sense of smell and realize the joys of the hidden dimension they’ve been missing out on.
For some of my friends, who knew me in past times, when I was perhaps not yet fully invested in my beliefs and acted more ‘like the world’, and now my statement of faith is confusing, disorienting, or maddening to you, Paul’s words in Galatians 4:16 might apply, ‘ Have I become your enemy, by telling you the truth?’
My views will not be welcome by some of you, because they make you think about God (or what you consider a god for you – perhaps a god of your own construction) and make you ‘test’ your god against my ‘God’ like Elijah did with the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18). Nevertheless, I press on, regardless of how it makes you feel.
I must. The time is short.
(Housekeeping – Unless otherwise noted, all biblical texts quoted in the blog are taken from the New American Standard Bible (The Lockman Foundation).