Covered

But they covered their ears . . . 

 - From Acts 7

Stephen, Christianity's first martyr, was simply preaching the Gospel. You know, the basic stuff - - -

• We fear death and would long to live forever
• We would like to know why we die and how to defeat death
• While we're going about doing that, we will feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, clothe the naked, educate children, serve others
• And it's all connected together in the Person of Christ

Such horrendous ideas! Oh wait . . . I left out a very important one . . . 

• We will live pure lives devoted to self-control and the taming of our own fleshly desires.

That's the one that got the crowds. Stephen never said anything about making other people act right. He just simple announced that he was going to strive to live that way. 

And it drove the crowds crazy. They beat him up, dragged him out into the country, and then stoned him to death.

When he began to preach, the people in the crowd covered their ears. 

That was two thousand years ago. We should have come a long way. 

The crowds, either through their own mob behavior, or preferably via the government, will always try to force people with Good News to stay quiet. The human spirit longs for fellowship with its Creator . . . it just doesn't want to do the heavy lifting required to get there. And it does not like others pointing it out, through their words and example. 

But like caricatures of dopey, ignorant mobs, they covered their ears so that they COULD not hear Stephen's words. 

It's very, very bad when people refuse to listen to others. And quite likely, it's dangerous. 

God made us all different so that we could learn from each other. In an environment where there is open inquiry and the free exchange of ideas, problems get solved faster, the people prosper, happiness abounds. But you have to teach people to be okay with that. 

COVID-19 may or may not be as serious as all the pronouncements. But if it is, it is incumbent upon us to listen. The solution to every problem is found in the open exchange of our unique perspectives. And quite often, the breakthrough idea does not come from an expert. In fact, it rarely does. 

But you can't have breakthroughs if you go around, like a dope, covering your ears.