Recently, someone tagged Connecting Point Ministries on social media and made this comment: “If it needs to be imagined, then it is not real.”

Have you ever thought this too? If we cannot see, touch, smell, hear, or taste it, is it reasonable to think something is true? Must all truths be measurable in order to be truth?

I found this to be an interesting statement. Let me share my response to this statement.

“Hi. Thanks for tagging me. I think that will depend on what you mean by imagine.

If I am to say that I have a dog, and he is a boxer mix. He has brindle coat with shine, with a muzzle that is like a cross between a labrador and a great dane, you can imagine what he looks like. Even If I did not share a picture of him, in order for you to picture what he looks like you would need to imagine what he looks like by my description. Just because you imagined it, it does not make it unreal, right? Now to see if you imagined him right, you can take a peek at my instagram feed to see his pic. He’s our Big Baby that turned me into a crazy dog lady.

Take another example, though you cannot physically feel what it is like for me to feel pain in my shoulder, you can imagine what it is like if I explained it to you. Although you can not feel the pain first hand, it does not make it unreal.

I think, perhaps what you mean to say when you say “if it needs to be imagined, then it is not real.” is that in order for something to be verified as real, you want to confirm its veracity with one or more of your five senses, or by measuring with one of the measuring instruments such as a scale or a thermometer.

But again, I invite you to examine that statement if that is in fact what you meant. Whether something is true or not is much deeper than what we can confirm with one or more of our five senses, or even measuring instruments.

Concepts such as courage, hope, or even the thought “if it needs to be imagined, then it is not real.” cannot be measured or confirmed by one of five senses, but just because they cannot be measured or picked up by the five senses, that does not deny their existence or truthfulness.

In other words, someone could ask you, did you imagine the thought, “if it needs to be imagined, then it is not real.” ? And since you imagined it, would that make it not real?

But perhaps what you meant by “if it needs to be imagined, then it is not real.” was something else since the word “imagine” can have a few different connotations depending on context.

Sean and I have been studying how we can know what is true, and what is the clear difference between “belief,” and “knowledge.” It has been interesting study so far. We would love to invite you to share some thoughts too if you are interested.