In an article in USA today titled “Pilots’ sense of motion easily tricked,” author Robert Davis tells how that pilots understand the limitations of the inner ear.
The inner ear is described as being like the body’s “gyroscope,” telling our brain which way is up and which way is down. Fluid within the cupula in the ear canals acts as a pendulum. When we turn sideways, the fluid moves and sends signals to our brain telling us about our movement. The inner ear works together with our eyes and with body sensory nerves that detect the force of gravity. All this happens so automatically by God’s design that we don’t give it any thought.
But pilots have a special challenge because their other senses that would work together with their inner ear may be eliminated from the equation by darkness, clouds, etc. As a result, the inner ear may not provide reliable signals in flight.
Making a long-banking turn is a case in point. The fluid that had moved in the inner ear and given the pilot the sense of turning is held in the same spot because of “unusual gravitational pressures during flight,” and the sensation is given that the turn has stopped when really the plane is still turning. According to the FAA, “severe disorientation can occur in less than 20 seconds.” The FAA goes on to say, “perhaps the most treacherous thing under such conditions is that the signals the inner ear produces – incorrect though they may be – feel right.” The author stated, “the fact that everything feels normal is what makes it so dangerous for pilots.”
Pilots have been taught in aviation what many do not understand in religion. God never intended for our feelings to be our guide in religion. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov 14:12).
How many people follow their feelings in religion? If an activity feels to them like it is worship to God, then they do it. It seems for many there is no end to what will qualify as worship as long as one feels good about it. If the sermon makes them feel good, then they accept it. Never mind whether it is true when measured against the word of God. The Lord said long ago, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer 17:9). The greatest deception of all is self-deception. Feelings are real to us, but just like the working of the inner ear of the pilot in flight, they do not define what is truth.
Regarding his former life in Judaism when he persecuted Christ and the church, Saul said that “indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9) and that he lived in good conscience doing it (Acts 23:1). That describes a man who felt good while doing wrong. What was missing? A knowledge and understanding of the truth of the gospel.
Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (Jn 17:17). God’s word, then, is truth. And it must be our guide in all that we do. “To the law and to the testimony” (Isa 8:20) must be the attitude in finding out what pleases God. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path” (Ps 119:105). The word of God is sufficient to make us complete, thoroughly furnished for every good work (2 Tim 3:17). Through knowledge of that word we gain all things “that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet 2:3). Our choices and decisions and the things we do in work and in play, in abundance and in want, by day and by night should be directed by God’s word, the only reliable standard of truth.
We ought to learn the lesson pilots have been taught, and that is that just because it feels right does not make it true. As pilots know, what is so dangerous is the fact that “everything feels normal.” Follow the objective standard of truth, the Word of God.
-Larry Jones