Nobody is better just because they doubt.
Desi Seemona Sumasar, former Wall Street analyst, languished in jail, accused of multiple armed robberies, because detectives had no faith in her alibis. Their evidence against her pointed to a woman of Indian descent, nicknamed “Seem,” who, disguised as a cop, used a Jeep Grand Cherokee in her attacks, driving from New York to Florida to transfer the vehicle to her sister’s name after one of her crimes.1 The night of her arrest one detective shouted, “You know you did it; just admit it.”2
Trouble is, she was innocent. Detectives are experts in evidence gathering, as well as psychological research. Trained in deductive reasoning “to produce answers that make sense” 3 they had themselves become the pawns of a masterful framer.4
Happily for truth, falsehood does not evolve to fact through its logic, age, numbers, or status of adherents. And nobody is better because, for skepticism’s sake, they believe either nothing or lies. Doubt’s popularity as the requisite of sound detective work, journalism, science, or religion must not overlook the fact that it “is a purely subjective condition . . . and has no application to the facts themselves.”5
The Sumasar case illustrates how misplaced doubt yields misplaced faith and painful tragedy as well. It also shows that doubts about human experts and expertise can be well warranted. By contrast, confidence in Calvary’s God will always be justified. Those who put their faith in him will be as immovable as Mount Zion; they will abide forever (see Ps. 125:1).
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1 http://goldsea.com/Text/index.php?id=11407.
2www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/nyregion/a-revenge-plot-so-intricate-the-prosecutors-were-pawns.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=seemona%20sumasar&st=cse.
3 Summary report for 33-3021.01—Police Detectives; www.onetonline.org/link/summary/33-3021.01.
4 www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/nyregion/a-revenge-plot-so-intricate-the-prosecutors-were-pawns.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=seemona%20sumasar&st=cse.
5 Catholic Encyclopedia, online at www.newadvent.org/cathen/05141a.htm.
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Lael Caesar is an associate editor of the Adventist Review. This article was published September 15, 2011.
