But are the purrs only in your head ? Would I hear them in the same room ?
You would, dear Phiz (peace to you!)... if you were listening. If you were, say, relying only on your sight, however, and letting that "speak" to you, then all you would "hear" is that "the room is dark... the cat is black... so I can't see it... and so since I can't see it it doesn't exist [in the room]." Can be a pretty loud "voice," actually. Coupled with other "noises" in the room (who said there was only a black cat in it?)... all of that would tend to overpower and drown out the cat's purrs. If, though, you remembered that you have other senses... besides your sight... including hearing... brought that to the fore... and learned to filter out the negative, false, and misleading "noises" in the room, including perhaps your own "voice"... because the only thing you're really concerned about, looking for, is the cat... then, yes, you would its purrs, too.
christian is like not being in the dark because he who says he is in darkness has no light in him...
Being a christian is absolutely like being in the dark (the world; which is why a Light was sent INTO the world - to give sight to the blind - blind due to their own lack of vision as well as being in the dark)... but being led through the darkness by the sounds made by the cat... which has EXCELLENT vision in the dark and so can see way better than the christian ever could... and so, like a "light"... can go before the christian and lead them around the "obstacles" in the room: chairs, tables, trip hazards, holes in the floor, walls...
To properly navigate his/her way around the room, the christian must first listen... so as to hear and then locate the cat (which may even brush up against the christian, or not, from time to time). At some point, though, the cat leads the christian to those night vision goggles and so, while the scene through those isn't crystal clear... or in livid color... added to the hearing, the christian can eventually make his/her way OUT of the darkness... and into the light. By following the cat... which also doubles as the door.
A christian knows that like the heart the eyes, too, can deceive. Hence, for them, the cat IS the "light"... and the "door."
Just for fun, though, I would restate the above, as:
Philosophy is like being in a dark room and asking whether there could be black cat in there, too, and if so, why... if not, why not... under the guise of looking for such a cat...
Metaphysics is like being in a dark room and asking/opining as to whether, if there was a black cat in the room what it would look like/be made of: its construction and the "shade" of black, whether it was opaque or transparent...
Theology is like being a dark room and... having read what others wrote about there being a black cat in the room... running around saying there's a black cat in the room because it's been written about it in such and so writings/books but never actually seen themselves and so such one really has no idea, but since others believed it enough to write about it, well, it must be true and so they believe it, too, and so should everyone else... oh, and the cat also wants everyone to live... and love... the way THEY (theologians) say the cat wants them to...
Science is like being in a dark room... and claiming to look for a black cat... but for the most part not really believing one exists... in the room or elsewhere (so really, why waste time and good money?)... and so tend to use a very small penlight (keychain size) to "search"... and actually finds a whole lot of other things in the room (a chair, table, wires, dust... rats...) that someone believes warrant further examinination ("Now where did that come from and how did they get in the room, too??)... and so spending inordinate amounts of time and money analyzing those... which have little or nothing to actuallly do with the cat... and then write exhaustive papers that say, "See? We TOLD you there's no cat!"... when they actually left off looking for cat (if they actually ever did), long, long ago...
Peace!
A slave of Christ,
SA
