Blinded to the Truth

Last night at work I spoke with a coworker whose naivete concerning Scripture was nothing short of disturbing. He believes that in the passage in Genesis where it says the stars bowed down to Joseph, the stars are literal stars; stars in the constellations we see today. The passage to which he referred was Genesis 37:9 "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me." The man I spoke to last night said he looked at the constellations and thinks he found the constellation Joseph saw in the dream. What is wrong with this man's line of thought? He is taking the dream as a literal, real-world occurence, rather than examining the meaning behind the dream. I find it sad to see that many people claim to be searching for the truth, but they are so bent on finding 'hidden' meanings and 'undiscovered' truths that they miss the plain, simple message. This searching for hidden or new truths becomes an excuse for not accepting the Truth of Jesus Christ. In a way, they blind themselves to the Truth. This is becoming common in our society and it reminds me of someone else in the Bible. Exodus 8:32 "And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go." We have many people hardening their hearts so that they will not have to repent. They don't want to change their lifestyles. They will continue proclaiming their open-mindedness while denying the evidence . . . because they don't want to be convinced of the Truth. They don't want to surrender. They don't want to take a side. And God says of these: "So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth."