The contaminated soil of misinformation

Matthew 13:4-23

           A poll was taken not too long ago that indicated that 1 in 4 Americans thinks the Sun goes around the earth. I know, it's incredible to think that some people are so stu.....err,  misinformed. 

           The former President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a person you'd think had to be moderately intelligent has often been heard to say that the Holocaust was all a fabrication and an exaggeration. One could wonder if he makes such statements simply to incite Israel  but the statement alone shows how incredibly dumb  Mr. Ahmadinejad is. Massive fail. 

             It seems some people have to be dragged kicking and screaming into modern times or to merely recognize the facts that science and legitimate history tell us. I mean it makes you wonder if there are people out there that think the world is flat. OMG my friends, OMG!

             There are an enormous number of people who seem happy to settle for sound bites and misrepresentations for news and information. Rather than inform, some media outlets settle for ideological half truths, lies and obfuscations instead of actual balanced news and information. All this does is allow a person to not think clearly, rationally and logically. Why think when you can settle and let someone else do the heavy work of actual thought. This is true on both sides of the aisle, it matters not what your actual ideology is. This is how the world gets Ahmadinejads and Westboro Baptist type churches. This is how the world gets churches that somehow think the message of the Gospel is hate and  condemnation instead of love and inclusion.

                I could say that this is laziness or make an excuse that we are all so busy that we do not have the time to look into things on our own with due diligence,  intelligence and scholarly research. What it all comes down to for me today is what kind of soil are we as people planting ourselves in? Do we settle for fertile well rounded, informed intellectualism or do we settle for shallow misguided thought patterns. Again, let someone else do the heavy lifting (of our own thought)?

           If we are to mature into a healthy plants as people and not one that will be ripped up on our death bed and thrown into the 'unquenchabe fire' of the judgement day, we must use the God given talents we have. I am not speaking of being artists or philosophers or preachers or tongues or being gay or straight either. I am speaking of using our brains. I am speaking of supporting education and fundamental thought processes and information that help us grow and survive as the human race.

           Let us not plant our brains in shallow parched soil, let us not plant ourselves amongst the brambles of political rhetoric so that independent and clear thought is choked off from us. Plant yourself in the soil of well rounded information, scholarly research and  love, always love and compassion.

               

And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!’

Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
   and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   and their ears are hard of hearing,
     and they have shut their eyes;
     so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.”
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’