Proverbs 14:7
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Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
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Fools must be strictly avoided. There are several dangers. If you give them attention or honor, they will think their ignorant babbling is acceptable and right (26:1,4,8). If you keep company with them, they will corrupt your knowledge and good manners (9:6; 13:20; I Cor 15:33). But before you leave them, shut their mouths with the truth (26:5)!
Fools are everywhere today. They are persons with no regard for God or the truth of the Bible. They are confident in their own thoughts. They are too lazy to think critically. They would rather talk than listen and learn. Intelligence and education have nothing to do with it. Educated or intelligent men are the world's greatest fools i.e. Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Sagan, Sigmund Freud, and countless others.
Knowledge requires reasoning from presuppositions. Today's fools reason from several presuppositions - all existence and order in the universe are by chance (big bang theory), the highest intelligence in the universe are their own thoughts (self-esteem theory), and if they can convince you to believe their hallucination, they win (bigger fool theory).
A child can see through them with something called faith. Faith is God's gift to recognize truth that educated and intelligent men cannot discover. Faith is the only basis for sound reasoning. A man with faith begins his reasoning with God's existence, the truth of the Bible, and his own depravity and ignorance. He is the only reasonable man on earth (II Thess 3:1-2). The fool, reasoning from arrogance and chance, is profanely unreasonable.
When you meet a man that disregards God and the Bible, or freely offers his opinions, or follows the dolts in front of him into evolutionary science or other insane theories, you have found a fool. They do not deserve any honor or attention from you (19:10; 30:21-23). They do not deserve truth, for they have sold their haughty little hearts to a lie.
Jesus Christ, Lord of heaven and earth, despised fools. He said, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you" (Matt 7:6). Fools do not deserve any truth. They will mock and ridicule it, and they will twist your words to slander you. Go from them!
Jesus also said, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matt 15:13-14). The disciples thought Jesus had offended the Pharisees (Matt 15:12). He had ... intentionally! He condemned them. Go from fools!
Jesus Christ considers all wisdom of this world to be dark ignorance (Is 8:20). He has committed Himself against wise men and their so-called learning (I Cor 1:19-20; 3:19-20). He refers to the priorities of this world as profane and old wives' fables and the so-called science of this world as profane and vain babblings (I Tim 4:7; 6:20-21).
If a man argues, debates, or questions the doctrine of Jesus Christ, he is a fool (I Tim 6:3-5). Paul said the man is proud, does not know anything, and his babbling leads to perverse disputings of men with corrupt minds, who are destitute of the truth. What was the advice Paul gave Timothy about such men? The same as Solomon's! Go from them!
Today these men have crept into the churches and taken the weak and vulnerable sex captive with a religion of compromise that allows women to follow their lustful thoughts and ambitions (II Tim 3:1-7). These false teachers have flocks of silly women following them like groupies. They do a whole lot of learning without any truth at all. What is Paul's advice to Timothy about such Christian teachers? Again, go from them!
How do you detect fools? Listen. A fool cannot be quiet; his heart burns to teach you his opinions (17:16; 18:2; Eccl 10:12-14). He must tell you his thoughts on any subject, even though he has never researched or studied it before. A fool like Charles Darwin will write a book that is based entirely and only in his imagination. It took him a volume to tell his hallucinations, while God detailed the origin of the universe in one chapter (Gen 1:1-31)!
Why should you leave fools, when you detect their arrogant, anti-God, anti-truth words? Because listening will feed their conceit and make them more difficult (26:12)! Because engaging in discussion will reduce you to their level (26:4). Because they will slander your good words and conduct to justify their profanity (23:9; II Tim 2:23)! Because they might rub off on you and corrupt your good manners (22:24-25; I Cor 15:33)!
How far should you go away? Solomon taught, "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away" (4:14-15). Get away! You cannot help them. They do not deserve truth. They will return to their folly as sure as dogs eat their own vomit and swine return to wallowing in mud (26:11; 27:22). The God of heaven has a fitting reward for them (Rom 1:21-28). Amen!
Reader, do you speak like a fool? Or do you have the lips of knowledge? A wise man with a new heart by the Spirit of God and exercising the gift of faith will speak very differently from a fool. He will acknowledge God, the world's insanity, his own depravity, and search the Scriptures to confirm what he hears and believes (Acts 17:11). He will humbly submit to correction and joyfully accept instruction. He is a wise man.
Are you protecting your children from fools? The public schools have an agenda that is dedicated to folly. Read a textbook on any subject and perceive their total lack of knowledge. Hollywood has not had a moral, righteous, true, or wise thought since its founding. Are you monitoring their television intake carefully? What about their friends? Your children will not be wiser than the friends with whom they associate (I Cor 15:33).
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