Galileo examined our solar system through a device that had recently been invented – a telescope. He discovered realities about our solar system that rocked the boat of many, especially those in the Church who refused to look through the telescope. Those who rejected this new view of our universe thought it would in some way compromise their faith and make them appear to their peers as faithless, or worse, heretical. Many in the scientific community also refused to consider the possibility of reordering their understanding of the known world.
When Galileo was brought up before an Inquisition, he begged his inquisitors to look through his telescope to see what he had seen. His request was refused. The board of inquisitors was sure there was nothing new to see or learn from the exercise.
Galileo and his telescope can teach us a great deal about how we accept or reject new realities based on how strongly we hold to personal opinion and assumption. I am not talking about the immovable essentials of our faith, but prophetic revelation and reinterpretations of our reality that challenge our current understanding.
In 1610, when Galileo was complaining that some of the philosophers had also refused to look through the telescope he said, “I wish that we might laugh at the remarkable stupidity of the common herd.” He went on to say, “these philosophers shut their eyes to the light of truth.”
A consensual herd can walk in remarkable stupidity unless they are willing to be challenged by fresh revelation. In the comings years, the gift of prophecy will become a Galileo-like experience where prophets will offer the Church and the broader culture a glimpse into a future our current level of faith and understanding has not yet entertained. Similar to the experience of Galileo, not all will take a look because of the same fears that were present 500 years ago. Time changes, but people and their capacity to fear a new or uncomfortable reality never change.
It is always risky to declare to those who live in a herd mentality that their unwillingness to look through the telescope of truth is being used to form a worldview to fit a prepared narrative designed to keep them uninformed about a larger reality. Stupid is a strong, but sadly accurate description.
“Whoever hates correction is stupid” (Proverbs 12:1).
Individuals, Christians, will need to decide—how will they draw their lines in the sand? God never has and never will fit in our man made boxes.