Overlooking the Obvious, As Seen in a Commercial

In the humorous commercial below the police investigator cannot seem to draw the obvious conclusion even when the evidence is literally sitting right in front of him. He just dismisses the evidence a priori; it cannot be so since he has decided ahead of time that any such conclusion would be impossible.

Although the commercial is funny, it highlights the common tendency today to make conclusions without evidence or to exclude evidence based on preconceived notions, which is far from humorous.

For example, despite mounting evidence that abortion kills a living human being, many will simply ignore the evidence and declare the unborn child to be a non-person or a mere clump of cells. No amount of pictorial or medical evidence will even be considered.

Another example is the refusal to accept the possibility that Hell is a reality for some, or as Jesus says, “many” (see Matt 7:13). No amount of scriptural evidence (and there are quite a few passages that can be cited) will convince them. In the words of the commercial, God is “the nicest guy.” He wouldn’t do such a thing!

There are many, many other examples. To some degree, we are all guilty of overlooking the evidence right in front of us and instead insisting on our preconceived ideas and opinions. Enjoy the commercial, but takes some time to ponder this human tendency.