A Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 1 - Article 5

Article 5 - The point of debating – Frogs and the Matrix trilogy.

This article is an illustration of the pointlessness of arguing things that cannot be empirically proven, by illustrating that when people do not want to see certain things, they will never see it unless they open up their minds. It also draws on the Matrix trilogy to explain the point.

Frog A and C are frogs that grew up in a very deep well. One day, a pail fell to the bottom of the well while Frog A slept. Frog C leapt onto the pail and was brought up to the opening of the well when it was drawn up. A farmer, who was pulling the pail up, told Frog C, "Go, find any other creatures in there, and tell them to get into the pail and stay in it. I will come back and pull up the pail along with anything that is in it. This way, you will be set free of the well, and be able to enjoy the world outside."

So Frog C went back down on the pail that stayed within it while submerged in the deep dark water. Waking Frog A up, Frog C said, "Wake up! You need to come into the pail and wait here! We can go to the outside world at last!"

Irritated at being woken up, Frog A replied, "What outside world? Are you mad?! There is no such thing as the outside world. We both grew up here, and we will die here. That's it. There is no such thing!"

Frog C replied hastily, "Yes there is! I have been shown a glimpse of it!"

"Don't be stupid! There is no such thing, is there water out there? If there is an outside world, why are we here?" We are born here, so we die here!"

To this, Frog C retorted, "No, I don't know if there is water in the outside world. I only had a glimpse of it, but I was promised that it's better than being trapped in here till we die! I don't have all the answers, because if I did, I won't be here, I would be in the outside world!"

Frog A got angry and exasperated. Pointing up, he yelled, "Rubbish! Look up! It's just a bright circle. That is all there is to it. There is no such thing as an outside world."

Pointing to the dark waters where the pail is submerged, Frog C asked, "What about the pail here? Someone put it here for us to get in!"

Annoyed, Frog A headed back to his brick in the well wall as he croaked, "What pail, it's just a smaller well with a bottom in here. There's no "someone". There's only us, two frogs! Until you can show me proof of the outside world that I can see, smell, taste, and smell, do not tell me of this nonsensical outside world!"

Unable to convince Frog A, Frog C waited in the pail, which was too dark to be seen. After waiting for a few minutes, Frog A taunted, "See! There is no such thing as a pail, or the outside world, or someone out there. You are a stupid frog. This is it! This is all there is to the world! Stop you airy fairy nonsense and come back down to reality! You must have fallen asleep and dreamt up all these."

Ignoring Frog A, Frog C patiently waited. Although he only had a glimpse of the outside world, he knew it was better than the well. Fighting the doubts that he dreamt it all, he persevered and waited.

Finally, after another five minutes, the pail started moving upwards with Frog C in it. Seeing it this time, Frog A simply laughed, "You are going to hit your head on that bright circle up there and fall back down dead!"

Frog A watched as the pail with Frog C went up, until he saw them no more. He waited for Frog C to hit his head and fall back down, but that never happened. Eventually he convinced himself that the bright circle was the sun and the mysterious pail and Frog C simply burned up.

Is there a farmer? Is there a pail? Is there an outside world?

Is there a God? Is there heaven?

If you are Frog Atheist, I guess the answer is no. Can Frog Christian prove Frog Atheist wrong? Perhaps never, or at least not in time. Yet, what had Frog A got to lose if he went into the "smaller well?"

Was Frog A wrong? No, he was right, in his own very subjective understanding. How could he have known? Can Frog A scientifically prove there is no outside world? Yes, by not being able to see one. Can Frog A prove there is only the well? Yes. Can Frog C prove anything? No. I guess not.

Matrix trilogy

The Matrix is a movie trilogy that is philosophical in nature and thus useful to further illustrate the analogy of the frog in the well illustration above. In a response from a scientific colleague regarding the frog account, he said that Frog A could do scientific research to later prove that there is an outside world beyond the well, perhaps he meant something akin to the scientific discovery of galaxies and other suns and stars.

That, however, is based on the assumption that any supernatural afterlife could be scientifically tested. In the first installment of the Matrix trilogy, Morpheus told the protagonist Neo that "no one can be told what the matrix is", and that "the mind is held prisoner by the Matrix". This idea or concept would be exactly what I would argue for the unbelievers. One cannot and will never be able to scientifically test for God directly. The real world in the Matrix trilogy can be the analogy of a heaven and hell. We are all in this world - in the Matrix, bound and held prisoner in this physical world. There is no way for one who is trapped in the Matrix to scientifically test and prove the world outside. It is impossible, especially when what we believe to be the gold standard of scientific experiments are part of the Matrix itself. One cannot test for spiritual things with non-spiritual things. That hypothesis does not hold water even in science. You cannot see taste nor smell colours. If you do, then it is subjective, and probably due to the crossing over of your neurosenses. It is not objective, nor accepted in current science.

To be able to see the outside world, one needs to have gone out from the well, or "been out of the Matrix". There is no way to use the tools and systems in the Matrix to test for the real world. In fact, unless told by someone outside the real world (much like Jesus Christ, and all the messengers and prophets of God), we would never even suspect that there was a world outside our Matrix, much less prove it.

If a scientist or anyone starts off with a close mind and believes that all the current tools in the system are all-sufficient to validate this reality, then there is no point debating, for neither side can prove anything. Further debate will only lead to meaningless disagreement and confusion.