The center of the Universe

          Let's face it, literalism of any kind can cause really big problems.  Lack of understanding, lack of education and not using the brains the good God gave us has caused incredible evil. One need only look at some of religious fanatics in the middle east and around the world. The United States has been no stranger to literal fanatics either.

          When speaking against biblical literalism I have always noted how God speaks to us in ways we can understand - at a given point in human history.  The ancients would be have absolutely no comprehension of particle physics for example. The ancients fully believed that we lived under a dome as described in Genesis.  I mention this today because it is the day in the church's calendar when we honour the holy men of Kepler and Copernicus.  They delivered such seemingly wild and anti-establishment ideas from their intellect and reason. It is shocking that the state of education in the United Sates still yields a good number of people that still believe that the Earth is the center of the universe.  Yes, a mind is a terrible thing to waste!

          The larger issue though is things that we fail to comprehend and so we make it into an evil. How often does this happen? Well in Jesus' time when someone was blind or lame as in today's passage, people would ask whose fault was it? The sin of the person or the sin of the parents? Is this not ridiculous. Would we believe that today?  Moving forward in history though, when you'd think we might be more enlightened. How many nuns would force children to be right handed because being left handed was 'of the devil'. How ignorant.  The list goes on.  What did people say about black people that they simply did not understand or whom they had never experienced before. We still have not emerged fully from the shadow of this racial nightmare.

            Today so many of the right wingnuts who thrive on literalism have been railing against the LGBTQ community. They misquote, cherry pick and take passages in the most literal terms  and far out of context to boot. The ignorance of mankind is sadly not new.

            While Jesus did not speak one or the other about being gay ( maybe because the term would not be invented for another 1800 years? ), he did heal the Centurion's male lover, "pais".  What we should know about Jesus though is that he embraced his humanity.  As God created us, we are inquisitive, capable of learning and thirsty for knowledge of Him and His universe.  When we observe the world, learn and use our brains we are less likely to be arrogant, rude, mean spirited and ignorant. 

         It is astounding that the church, and by that I mean the Roman Church, has stood so firmly against all sorts of education, advancement and learning.  How was Galileo treated? When was he pardoned? Try 1992 !  Like I said, astounding.

         Education, learning and embracing knowledge is a key to our humanity, a key to being fully human and what God created us to be.  If we are on some scale higher than other animals, we will not reach our God given potential by acting like  things that we do not understand are evil, of the devil or some kind of voo-doo. 

Matthew 12:22-32

Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Can this be the Son of David?’ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.’ ²He knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.