In history, there has been a number of inventions and ideas that people initially said “couldn’t be done.”
But many of those larger-than-life ideas — much like naysayers' criticisms — succeeded.
Consider this:
•New Jersey farmers rejected the first cast-iron plow, invented in the United States in 1797, under the theory that cast iron poisoned the land and stimulated weed growth.
•An eloquent authority in the United States declared that the railroad's introduction would require building many insane asylums. After all, the sight of locomotives rushing across the country would drive people mad with terror.
•In Germany, so-called experts proved that, if trains went at the frightful speed of 15 miles per hour, blood would spurt from travelers’ noses, and passengers would suffocate when passing through tunnels.
•Commodore Vanderbilt dismissed Westinghouse and his new air brakes for trains, stating, “I have no time to waste on fools.”
•Those who loaned Robert Fulton money for his steamboat project stipulated that their names be withheld. They feared ridicule if people knew they supported anything so “foolhardy.”
•In 1881, when the New York Y.W.C.A. announced it would offer women's typing lessons, protestors said the female constitution would break down under the strain.
•Men insisted iron ships would not float; that they would damage more easily than wooden ships when grounding; that it would be difficult to preserve the iron bottom from rust; and that iron would deflect the compass.
•Joshua Coppersmith was arrested in Boston for trying to sell stock in the telephone. The reason he was cited for fraud? “All well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over a wire."
•The Springfield Republican's editor refused an invitation to ride in an early automobile, claiming that it was incompatible with his position's dignity.
•The disciple Thomas and many others doubted that Jesus's resurrection actually took place.
About that last one: Jesus' resurrection did take place over 2,000 years ago. And the tremendous ramifications have been echoing throughout the world ever since.
Don’t scoff at something simply because it cannot be proven.
That is where faith comes in.
The Rev. Mark Broadhead is Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview’s pastor.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FROM THE PULPIT: When proof is nowhere in sight, have faith