When Reality and Truth Collide

I turn nine years old today. Nine years clean and sober. Nine years of walking a road I never thought I’d survive, let alone thrive in. To celebrate, I’ve taken my sometimes overly cautious, deeply introspective, and fearfully human self on an adventure-packed holiday in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Yesterday, I came into contact with Themba, a 3.1-metre-tall bull elephant. As the rangers explained elephant anatomy, environmental conservation, and the crisis of human encroachment, my heart broke. I have lived my life fighting my battles, walking with Jesus, and overcoming addiction, yet not once had I considered the reality for Themba—an eight-ton being who needs half a ton of food every day to survive.

And now, thanks to good intentions and bad execution, world bodies have stopped culling elephants as cruel. But because nature cannot sustain their feeding habits, elephants are now struggling to find food, raiding farmlands, and being killed in human-wildlife conflicts. Their nomadic lifestyles are inhibited by manmade fences. Not to mention cruel poachers who exploit wildlife for money to sell elephant tusks and body parts for weird superstitious beliefs.

I came face-to-face with my own cognitive dissonance yesterday.

Later, I did quad biking and zip-lining for the first time. I saw God’s creation from new angles—tearing across landscapes on four wheels, then suspended in mid-air, soaring above treetops. There was this moment, hanging on that zipline, where everything looked impossibly vast. I felt small, yet utterly alive. And it hit me: Life happens beyond me. Beyond all of us. Beyond our physical reality too.

So why do we resist what we cannot see?

Cognitive Dissonance: Why We Reject Truth

Nicodemus had a moment like mine, but worse. Jesus told him, “You must be born again,” and the man short-circuited. “How can these things be?” he asked. And Jesus responded:

“Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” (John 3:9-10).

Nicodemus wasn’t stupid. He was a scholar. A man of logic. A man of certainty. Yet when confronted with a reality greater than his framework, he couldn’t compute.

This is cognitive dissonance—that deep discomfort when what we believe is true clashes with what is actually true. Dr. Henry Idema explains that humans will often cling to a false belief rather than accept evidence that contradicts it.¹

Jesus understood this perfectly. He said:

“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12).

Nicodemus, like most of us, wanted truth to fit into his reality. But truth doesn’t bend to human perception. It simply is.

And yet, we still resist.

Dr. Chuba Okadigbo put it best:

“If you are emotionally attached to your tribe, religion, or political leaning to the point that truth and justice become secondary considerations, your education is useless. Your exposure is useless. If you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind.“²

Nicodemus’ tribe was tradition. My tribe was my limited human perspective. What’s yours?

The Hypnosis of the Physical: Why We Trust What We See

We live in a world hypnotised by the physical. If something can’t be measured, touched, bought, or posted on Instagram, we dismiss it.

Nicodemus wanted to know: How can a grown man be born again? He was looking for a physical process, but Jesus was speaking about a spiritual reality.

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (John 3:13).

The divide between earthly logic and divine truth is our greatest blind spot.

Dr. Michael Kapolyo explains that in many African cultures, spirituality is inseparable from reality.³ Dr. Faustin Ntamushobora adds that Ubuntu theology recognises the interconnectedness of all things—seen and unseen.⁴

So why does Western thought dismiss the unseen?

The Harvard Gazette highlights that in Africa, spirituality informs every facet of life. There is no divide between the natural and the supernatural.⁵ Yet modern society hypnotises us into thinking the tangible is real and the spiritual is not.

Jesus knew this. That’s why He said:

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).

But believing in what we do not see takes something terrifying: courage.

The Courage to Step into the Unknown

We have courage to trust things we already assume are true—even if they’re false. But we hesitate to explore what we don’t know yet.

I stood at the edge of that zipline platform, strapped in, terrified. My brain screamed: “This is not safe! Get down!” But the moment I stepped off, I realised…

I was always safe. My fear was the lie.

What if faith works the same way?

Desmond Tutu’s Ubuntu theology says:

“A person is a person through other persons.“⁶

Faith is not individualistic certainty. It’s stepping into something bigger than yourself.

Dr. Sarojini Nadar argues that theology should challenge, not comfort.⁷ Dr. Molly Manyonganise says faith must be active, not passive—it should transform us.⁸

Faith is jumping before certainty arrives.

How Do We Break Free?

• What truths have you resisted because they challenge your reality?

• What fears stop you from stepping into deeper faith?

Truth isn’t about what we’re comfortable believing. It’s about surrendering to what is real.

When reality and truth collide, one must give way.

Let’s not be like Nicodemus. Let’s step off the platform.

Prayer

Father,

I confess my resistance to truth. I want certainty, but You ask for faith. Give me courage to believe beyond what I see, to trust beyond my comfort, and to step into the unknown with You. Let me not cling to earthly things that fade, but to heavenly truth that endures.

In Jesus’ Holy Name,

Amen.

References

1. Idema, Henry. Religion and Cognitive Dissonance. Holland Sentinel, 2022.

2. Okadigbo, Chuba. Political Philosophy and Rational Thinking.

3. Kapolyo, Michael. The Human Condition from an African Perspective. 2017.

4. Ntamushobora, Faustin. Ubuntu and Christian Faith. African Journal of Theology, 2020.

5. The Spirituality of Africa. Harvard Gazette, 2015.

6. Tutu, Desmond. No Future Without Forgiveness. Doubleday, 1999.

7. Nadar, Sarojini. Decolonizing Theological Thought in Africa. 2021.

8. Manyonganise, Molly. Gender and Ubuntu Theology: A Critical Analysis. 2018.