Folly

The Folly of Fools

2012-01-31T20:14:00.000-08:00

A while back, Glenn Beck authored a book called, "Arguing with Idiots." In it, he quotes the arguments (talking points) of the extreme left, right, and other ideologues and then responds to them with what he considered reason and logic. Focusing as much on the 'funny' as the truth as he understands it, he employed a great deal of condescension for the 'idiots.' It could be argued the 'idiots' provide the fodder for their own character assassination. I don't think Glenn is proficient at or even concerned about arguing with 'idiots' in a way that comes off as (agapeo) loving as described in my "Other Centered"article, 'making knowledge acceptable' but his intention IS for the betterment of society and of the 'idiot's' own welfare. However, he has hit on the one correct tactical response to a fool's argument. With all the authority of an adult caretaker of an undisciplined child, insist on right, good, reason, truth speaking and accountability.

For my part, the Christian is cautioned not to use the term 'fool' in condemnation of a person. Matthew 5:22 "Rhacca" or 'worthless' could be translated into 'dangerous' and 'deadly.' That being the case, charges of 'fool' interpreted as dangerous to our culture could literally wind up with death penalties for ignorance and honest mistakes and anyway, God never intended we clean the culture by death penalty for ordinary folly. Everyone is foolish. It must be so, because all sin is foolish self destruction and yet, everybody sins. Literally, every person on earth is deserving of the death penalty in that case and what did He hang on the cross for? Therefore, Christ told us we would be in danger of hellfire for character assassination.

In the circumstance of arguing with a fool, if one is not able to be authoritative, he appears as foolish as the fool. However, if he is able to be authoritative, whatever remains of the fool's good reputation is destroyed by his own mouth in comparison to the authority of truth.

Our Lord did not condemn the assessment of a person’s character, but the assassination of one’s character. We're supposed to assess who is and is not a fool for several reasons, but again with the caution not to go around charging fools and condemning them, justly or not. The first reason we must assess the recipient's condition is for self preservation. Fools are dangerous critters. They hate and lie and slander and worse, frequently with no more incentive than an inherent blood lust.
The second reason is to measure our answer according to their ability to receive it. The more immature and undisciplined the mind, the more care required in presenting the truth to make it acceptable or palatable. It's literally like gaining the trust and respect of a child and leading them to reason out truth for themselves. "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him" Proverbs (22:15). The opening of a closed mind is usually a matter of respect and eventually, trust. Some of the reasons a mind is closed is based on prejudice or judging in advance of investigation. Some prejudice is based on real experience of abusive authority. Still other prejudice is unwarranted, self serving wickedness.
The third reason we must assess the recipient's spiritual condition is to further meet them in the area of their need. A drug addict needs assistance in kicking his habit while an Anarchist ideologue needs a swift kick in the pants. No? Okay, maybe its life coaching, but the kick would make ME feel better. (that wasn't other centered was it?)

Thus it is that I cautiously step up onto the soapbox to laud arguments with fools to expose their folly. My own abilities to articulate the truth to fools is far from where it should be at my age or even at my spiritual age. (the point at which I began to accept and employ the precepts the Bible promotes until now.) As noted again, in my "Other Centered" article, God provides the ability at the right time and any attempt outside of that supernatural embodiment of His power to love in Agape', is nothing if not getting in the way of His agenda. At the same time, I am to be prepared to give every man an answer for the hope that is within me. In that endeavor, I try to be keep up with current events and historical knowledge as well as studying the Bible under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.

In the spirit of objective truth, lets examine what behaviors exemplify folly. It isn't what we've been led to think of as folly by Hollywood movies and slapstick humorists. That's simply a projection of imaginary well intentioned oafs. The traits of the foolish are listed in the 26th Chapter of Proverbs and they ain't well intentioned or oafish in most cases. In fact, many fools can argue a blue streak and with the current state of the state-run schools promoting anti-wisdom mantras like, "Don't judge people" and "Truth is subjective" fools are purposefully filled with pride and feel justified in loudly and obnoxiously projecting their foolish opinions on the rest of the culture. In my mind, that means we Christians have a huge task ahead of us to combat the misinformation in the form of self deluded popular opinion presented every bit as authoritative as revealed objective truth. If we're not too far behind the curve of mass delusion, perhaps we can pull our culture back from the brink of self destruction. On that score, I agree whole-heartedly with Glenn Beck. I also agree with Ayn Rand on at least one point. Truth must be preached over and over again, constantly for the express purpose of defeating harmful ideas. eg. 'social justice' Truth must be intellectually defended from the ravages of self delusion and evil manipulators. Now lets dig in to the meat of revealed truth.

<< Proverbs 26 >>
New American Standard Bible

Similitudes, Instructions
1Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest,

So honor is not fitting for a fool.

No one is prepared for a cold day in the summer, neither is anyone prepared to honor fools. Rain on a crop ripe for harvest delays the harvest at best and ruins it entirely at worst (with mildew or stripping winds and hail) So is the building up of a fool's pride harmful to the community.

2Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,
So a curse without cause does not alight.

Blessing and cursing require the employment of faith. Curses require the addition of the believer's righteousness and evil deeds or unrighteousness on the part of the recipient. Contrarily, the enemy curses the righteous and the unrighteous, the former any way he can and the latter with deceitful promises in an effort to get them to do his bidding.

3A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
And a rod for the back of fools.

To make any beneficial use of the animals, often they must be given an incentive to do as instructed. Similarly, with fools an authority figure must find and provide immediate incentives to the fool to behave as necessary to benefit the community or even themselves.

4Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you will also be like him.

Emotional responses or arguments without forethought bring your character and reputation down to the level of the fool. You wind up impressing no one and improving nothing. Your behavior is indistinguishable from the fool's.

5Answer a fool as his folly deserves,
That he not be wise in his own eyes.

There is nothing so destructive to a society as the pride of a fool. He goes about spreading his fool's agenda until challenged by an authoritative speaker of the truth whereupon his foolishness is exposed and his agenda scrapped.

6He cuts off his own feet and drinks violence
Who sends a message by the hand of a fool.

The author didn't have a word like 'handicaps' so he described a literal handicap (self inflicted) and compares this self destruction and public danger by his willingness to place responsibility and trust in the hands of a fool.

7Like the legs which are useless to the lame,
So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

A fool is incapable of discerning wisdom and truth. He will misinterpret the proverb and thus the proverb being misapplied is comparable to dead weight as opposed to useful appendages.

8Like one who binds a stone in a sling,
So is he who gives honor to a fool.

A stone swung in a sling that does not release it's load will continue it's round until it collides with the wielder. In other words, "you'll knock your eye out, kid!" No society can afford the presence of a proud fool. Honoring him will increase his pride and empower him to spread his folly into others.

9Like a thorn which falls into the hand of a drunkard,
So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

A drunk is more susceptible to auto responses and one such natural reaction to something touching the skin of the hand is to automatically close the hand on the object that strikes it. Closing the hand on a thorn is going to force that thorn to pierce the skin. That's what a proverb does to the fool's character and reputation through his repeating it out of proper context.

10Like an archer who wounds everyone,
So is he who hires a fool or who hires those who pass by.

This proverb reminds me of the old cartoon with Injun Joe in which one of his compatriots would always be behind another Indian during battles. When he let fly his arrow it always conked his friend in the back of the head. The employer is charged with choosing industrious and virtuous people to hire. Without foreknowledge of their character, he is taking a great chance in hiring a foolish character. The foolish character is dangerous to be near, especially in a work environment where people are focusing their attentions on their own duties instead of the dangers created by the fool.

11Like a dog that returns to its vomit
Is a fool who repeats his folly.

Yes, dogs actually do eat their vomit and yes, fools actually do repeat the same mistakes over and over again as if without memory or reason.

12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Troubling information that fools are not the worst society has to offer. Worse is a man unable or unwilling to seek or even accept correction in his behavior and purpose.

13The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
A lion is in the open square!”

Note the terms switch from fool to sluggard but the theme continues. He will lie to make excuses for not doing what he knows he should be doing.

14As the door turns on its hinges,
So does the sluggard on his bed.

He quite literally groans as he rolls over just like a door on squeaky hinges.

15The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.

It's a pretty extreme case when a person cannot be bothered to feed himself. These few sluggard proverbs are meant to exaggerate the case so the sluggard can laugh at his own ways and therefore accept correction.

16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.

Again, but this time not for humor but for force to point out his unwillingness to be corrected. The seven men wise enough to provide discretion are able to measure their answers to make knowledge acceptable to the recipient.

17Like one who takes a dog by the ears
Is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him.

You have to be blind to the consequences, self destructive, looking for a fight, or supernaturally tasked and empowered to insert yourself into another's self destruction.

18Like a madman who throws
Firebrands, arrows and death,

Ever heard the phrase, "Looking for trouble?" This seeker will find his goal in short order. A prime example comes to mind that has lately made the news. "Suicide by cop." A perpetrator of crimes is relentless and unswerving in his attempt to challenge the police with deadly force until they're forced to act in preservation of innocent life, their own or bystanders.

19So is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, “Was I not joking?”

A poor disguise or a thinly veiled ill intention. This phrase is so prevalent in present day culture it needs no further interpretation. "It was a joke! Don't get mad!"

20For lack of wood the fire goes out,
And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.

Contention is not the normal state of relationships. It requires the fuel of an evil spirit to keep stirring up relational problems.

21Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Compares the fuel and the fire to evil spirits and unwitting people. The wicked want to destroy relationships.

22The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,
And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

Tempting is the drama of contention to boredom and the strife of contention easily finds the core of our relationships.

23Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross
Are burning lips and a wicked heart.

Once one becomes attracted to drama, they are unworthy to keep company with, for seeking harm to the community.

24He who hates disguises it with his lips,
But he lays up deceit in his heart.

The malcontent knows their character is unattractive so they attempt to hide it while simultaneously planning and acting out wickedness.

25When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,
For there are seven abominations in his heart.

Once you recognize this character, just know their intention is to do harm to your relationships and murder your character and reputation.

26Though his hatred covers itself with guile,
His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

Eventually, the truth always comes out and it does so in a public way no matter how well camouflaged.

27He who digs a pit will fall into it,
And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

Evil people get caught in their own traps. They cannot discern their self destruction nor it's cause frequently blaming the innocent, but the discerning spirit recognizes the handiwork as being their own.

28A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
And a flattering mouth works ruin.

Helps to define hatred as ill intentioned. Flattery undeserved, has an agenda and it is never set for wholly beneficial purposes. It is designed to win the favor of one who can be used to do evil by proxy.

Other verses scattered around the book of Proverbs include:

Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of knowledge (14:7).

The proactive Christian is tasked with pre-purposing his mind and will to be subject to one influence. That of the Holy Spirit. Prior to Jesus' ascension after having defeated death and Hades, the faithful did not have these tools. Even so, to this day we are repeatedly cautioned to guard our hearts from wicked desires and evil temptations.

Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his folly (17:12).

If you have not prepared your heart for this fool's specific folly, you may be subject to his influence. That one encounter can be enough to send you off track for the rest of your life affecting your family and everyone you ever rub shoulders with.

Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out, Even strife and dishonor will cease (22:10).

Echoes 26:21-28 but most specifically 26:23 and provides the more proactive "Drive out" the fool, referred to in this case as the scoffer and in verse 9:7,8 counters the scoffer with the wise.

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him (22:15).

The child is still open enough to respect and trust the loving righteous authority in their lives to be corrected. It may frequently not seem so, but the consistent loving and righteous authority figure will inculcate a deep and lasting effect.

He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you, Reprove a wise man, and he will love you (9:7-8).

This is self preserving wisdom. It prefers the open mind to the closed mind. Jesus encouraged every believer to go to all the world with the Gospel. He forewarned His disciples that they would be hated and persecuted for His name's sake. This call to 'follow Him' specifically includes the examples He set on the cross, eg. death. The dishonor stated above is lost at the point of 'other centeredness' and 'other concern' revealed in our personal sacrifice for the sake of the lost and self destructing fools. Paul described himself as a 'fool' for Christ because the 'wisdom' of Christians is folly in the eyes of the secular world, not for lack of Christian reason or logic, but because of the fools' disregard of reason and logic.

Okay; enough. If you want more, keep going but you're going to have to look them up and contemplate them under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit yourselves. Let me just close by saying, the issue of folly and wisdom is one of the heart. You cannot really reason folly out of the fool, neither can you teach him not to be a fool, you'd be hard pressed to beat the folly out of a fool. No, in God's time, with loving kindness present the Good news of God's accomplishment on our behalf. Until the fool is prepared to receive that fundamental truth, he will reject your proof and resent your insinuation that he is at fault for anything. By the way, Christians are certainly not immune to folly, thus the warnings to avoid the fool in his folly. Its contagious. You are however, empowered by the Holy Spirit to discern truth and you should proactively use the time at hand to study the Bible for pre-confrontation preparation against the day you are stuck in an elevator for hours with a wicked fool, or faced with the folly of your teens on a cross-country drive. I'll have to share the situation God put me in to give me the incentive to study the stuff He wanted me to study in His Word, someday. Either of the above situations would have been preferable.

Desire realized is sweet to the soul, But it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil (13:19).

Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool; And so is wisdom to a man of understanding (10:23).

Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is good will (14:9).

The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of understanding (10:21)

Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense? (17:16).

A scoffer seeks wisdom, and finds none, But knowledge is easy to him who has understanding (14:6).

Wisdom is too high for a fool, He will not open his mouth in the gate (24:7).

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction (1:7).

The mind of the intelligent seeks knowledge, But the mouth of fools feeds on folly (15:14).

A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind (18:2).

Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words (23:9).

Wisdom is in the presence of the one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth (17:24).

There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man swallows it up (21:30).

A fool’s vexation is known at once, But a prudent man conceals dishonor (12:16).

A fool always loses his temper, But a wise man holds it back (29:11).

A prudent man conceals knowledge, But the heart of fools proclaims folly (12:23).

The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly (15:2).

He who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool (10:18).

The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, But the folly of fools is deceit (14:8).

Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity Than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool (19:1).

The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly (15:2).

The lips of the wise spread knowledge, But the hearts of fools are not so (15:7)

Because they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be satiated with their own devices. For the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, And the complacency of fools shall destroy them (1:29-32).

A fool rejects his father’s discipline, But he who regards reproof is prudent (15:5).

A scoffer does not love one who reproves him, He will not go to the wise (15:12).

A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool (17:10).

Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his folly will not depart from him (27:22).

Scorners set a city aflame, But wise men turn away anger (29:8).

The devising of folly is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men (24:9).

The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel (12:15).

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered (28:26).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil (3:5-7).

Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of knowledge (14:7).

When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, The foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest (29:9).

In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back, But the lips of the wise will preserve them (14:3).

A fool’s lips bring strife, And his mouth calls for blows. A fool’s mouth is his ruin, And his lips are the snare of his soul (18:6-7).

Luxury is not fitting for a fool; Much less for a slave to rule over princes (19:10).

Strike a scoffer and the naive may become shrewd, But reprove one who has understanding and he will gain knowledge (19:25)

“How long, 0 naive ones, will you love simplicity? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge? Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you (1:22-24).

“Come, eat of my food, And drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding” (9:5-6).

A much more thorough dissertation on the topic of fools can be found at bible.org

A Fool's Dilemma

2012-01-30T19:29:00.000-08:00

A Fool's Dilemma Two posts, one title.

Wow! Do I ever want sex!!

I like sex. I want sex. However, I haven't seen too many examples of really content and happy marriages. I know most married people say they like being married and they wouldn't change anything if they had it to do over, but I also see more discontent in their lives than I'm willing to live with. Therefor, I have chosen not to seek marriage. I am not against marriage. I would probably go with the program if God put a woman in my life I found that kind of wonderful. I just do not have the desire to jump into a lifestyle that will steal my contentedness, even as a Christian who has vowed to live a celibate life until marriage. How serious am I about that? Its been about 20 years.

...so it must be YOU!!

After my marriage broke up, I thought I did want the married life again. I was just going to be a lot wiser about my choice and I was going to work on being the kind of guy that lady would want. Here's a word to the wise for you young people, "If you find a suitable mate but think you can either do better or you're not done sowing those wild oats, drop folly and snatch up that fruit cause later the field is harvested and all that remains is the gleanings. Knowuttamean?" This one has great looks and a rotten attitude, that one has a great attitude, but I just can't imagine... You know. Another looks great, has a great attitude but is still wallowing in her folly and has no interest in self discipline. Still another meets all the requirements I'm looking for, but apparently I don't fit hers and she is bound and determined to mold me into whatever vision she has in her head. And its weird when a pack of manipulators are trying to match you up with their pick and set you up for a blindside. Then you find yourself in a conversation with a woman who just assumes all men will if she invites him, "Look, you're a beautiful woman but I'm just not that kind'a man!" So I won't and now she's insulted cause I wouldn't and that must mean something is wrong with one of us and she frankly states it has to be me cuz she's not promiscuous or anything. Such is this fool's dilemma. I don't have a vision for a better life married with sex than what I have as a single without.

Irrational Judgment

I made the point in A Fool's Folly, that everyone on earth is a fool due to the fact that all sin is self destruction and therefor foolish and still, everybody sins. Since everyone is a fool, wisdom is a matter of perspective. If a guy has been fighting to defeat his own folly for 10 years, the guy that just started 1 or 2 years ago thinks 10's a genius, but the guy that started fighting his folly as a child and has stayed consistent through the next 20 years of his life looks at 10 and still sees plenty of folly though they are the same physical age. And God, huhhuh, God looks at us all marveling at our self destructive natures. More amazing still, those who have not committed themselves to defeating their own folly look at the wise man and perceive a great fool, though the wise logically lays out the evidence for his conclusion. Revealed wisdom makes no sense to the fool.
The scriptures note that every child has folly locked up in his heart and he is in need of discipline to guide him and drive out folly. Prov 22:15 Further, our founding fathers noted virtue is a necessity to keep a free society, with the first congress going so far as issuing a congressional recommendation to the several states to encourage the sources of morality.

Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House stated, "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."

"Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof." Continental Congress, 1778

Hey Wanda; lookit 'is!

Folly isn't cured at any stage in life or by any accomplishment. In other words you never graduate out of susceptibility to folly. It is a disease, an inherited fallibility, a genetic fault. Fortunately, folly is treatable, though not curable. We do not have to allow folly to run it's course to our destruction. The treatment is consistent application of pure and unadulterated discipline. Taking from the founder quote above describing the difference between internal and external personal discipline, we can look to the Bible and discern the different ways the term discipline is applied when referring to fools as opposed to wise. The Proverbs describe a wise man as seeking wisdom and disciplines without being driven to it, even loving it; while the fool rejects discipline and hates you for just reminding him he needs to control himself for his own well being, then opposes external discipline (required to protect the community) to the point of warring against society. Prov 9:8 Study, do what you know is right, work hard, do your best, speak honestly, care for others, do what needs to be done. Everyone knows this stuff, but we fail in the practice by surrendering to laziness, appetites and temptations that harm us. Without those two weaknesses, there wouldn't be the sins in relationships known as contention.
Here we get to the common fool's dilemma. His will is set against his appetites. He wants to do good and be respected and appreciated, but he'd rather not have to do the work required for those accolades. He'd rather be fit and strong but he doesn't want to limit his caloric intake. He didn't intend to become an alcoholic, he just knows all the good times and social success in his life are associated with drinking. (not true but a fool's self deception) So, we are faced with choices all the time which affect our long term happiness vs. our short term fun. Another way to say it is, "Intellectual vs. feelings based choices."

Good Judgment

Most of our rut-like behavior is due entirely to the patterns of thought we create. These self destructive behaviors are the result of long established patterns we know as habits. Everyone who has ever tried to change their behavior knows how hard it is to break a bad habit. Now, if you knew where the goal line was, it would be a tad bit easier to gauge your success at defeating habits. Studies have been done to evaluate just how long it takes to establish a new pattern of behavior. Believe it or not, it takes just 30 days. Can you imagine going all the way to day 21 or 29 only to give up and drop back to zero just because you didn't know how close you were to getting over the hump? Now if you tackle everything you consider a 'bad habit' in one giant haul, that might prove just as overwhelming as not knowing where the goal post is. Besides, there is greater accomplishment by going through them one issue at a time. Change that one thing and do it consistently for 30 days and then it is set as an automatic choice just like the bad habit was. Now you can choose the next thing. I would recommend starting with the biggest issue first. If you can beat that one, then you know you can beat all the rest of them. Don't think of this as a temporary way of life until you've perfected your life. This discipline should be exercised for the rest of your life. As surely as you begin this discipline, new stuff will be revealed to you that also needs 'fixing.' (especially as a Christian who studies the endlessly deep scriptures) So, doing the pattern change needs to become part of the new you, a 'good habit' and a strong 'self' discipline.

Apart from the little we know of 'doing good,' none of this stuff is automatic knowledge. Again, that Bible quote describing the folly being locked in a child's heart requires an external discipline to drive out the folly and inculcate 'self' discipline. If you never had that initial disciplinarian in your life, you can't even imagine putting yourself through this work. You have no vision for the goal or sense of how much you must sacrifice to achieve it.

Religious Virtue
Now, consider our culture and all the failures of parents to pass on the virtues they acquired from their parents on top of the failures of their parents receiving from their forebears. Folly building upon folly until the culture forgets it's roots, forgets why virtue is valued, forgets how virtue is passed along from generation to generation. Our culture has graduated to feelings based choices in our national policy. In the secular view, our culture has vastly improved over past times. We are more knowledgeable and less evil than those ignorant and racists and slavers and savages. According to the observation I just cited, if our forebears can now be judged ignorant, drunkard, racist, slaver, savages; what does that make us? We haven't investigated the facts of history if we believe we are better than our forebears, especially our founding fathers' virtues because they are so well recorded. But that is our cultural belief. If not for the intervention of the Holy Spirit and the injection of virtue and morals in our culture from time to time through what Christians call 'outpourings,' (through which large portions of the culture throw off the bonds of folly and begin to apply the precepts spelled out in the Bible) we would be living in a stone age.

Such an authority on history has no
understanding of consequential knowledge.

The Bible states that a father's sin will be passed down through the generations, up to 4 times. God intervenes for individual families without being called to it by prayer because He set the limit and He is faithful to keep His promises. I am a product of that intervention. I was blessed with an appetite for knowledge and a desire to defeat the folly in my life. I was guided to seek wisdom, I was broken by the consequences of my poor choices until I could receive correction, God set prayer warriors around me to pray for my recovery. But I went all the way beyond 30 years of age before I was healed of my accursed world view. Though every information source I knew agreed with the public narrative we get from the evening news and Hollywood and state historians' text books and schools, I began to see all of them proved worthless. Only my acceptance of Biblical principals would have any effect on my skewed world view. Once those sank in, I sought other scholars because I began to discern the inaccuracy in the information I'd acquired over the years. The search led me to produce a means of determining good sources of information based on respect by those former information sources though opposed by those former sources. These scholars earned their respect on the authenticity of their work. These scholars were forced to prove their conclusions because they oppose the popular narrative. The former information sources only have respect because they agree with each other and form the majority. They are a majority because our culture has lost the value of virtue. Those folks don't want truth, but prefer 'facts' that support their ideology. Their ideology will not condemn their folly. Their power is the appetites of our flesh and the national will to be deceived with acceptance in folly as right, good, and true.

Wrong Conclusion

When discerning observers argue for the values of the founding fathers, the vocal folly crowd populating our institutions of higher learning point out the minutiae of the fathers' faults to discredit their sacrifice and wisdom. Anything to erode arguments for discipline and self reliance or requirements to sacrifice personally for the good of the whole. The selfishness and absolute stark terror their imaginary security could be yanked from them precludes any consideration their choices will consume all security for the entire nation. The national debt will collapse the economy and subject the country to an external ruler like Islam or China. And on the subject of Islam, they refuse even to allow the discerning to do the necessary work to defend them from this global threat. They prefer we act like a pup in the presence of an aggressor, drop to the ground and lift a leg to expose our most vulnerable parts. In their minds, that will guarantee peace.
A job is NOT an entitlement. Neither is home ownership or food or clothing or transportation. These are impossible demands. This type of message was all over the Occupy Wall Street protests. This is an indicator of the level of ignorant and entitlement sentiments in our culture.

Historical Folly
Here we are in a culture of folly, and the self disciplined and discerning vocal minority are witnessing it's fall. We hold out hope for the culture to push back folly even if only temporarily. As I watch the conservative party debate their primaries, I am dismayed. Apart from our choices being under qualified to articulate or even recognize the original intent of the constitution, they aren't great candidates to face the general election against a big, unrestricted government, 'entitlement' incumbent. Both front runners have engaged and continue to espouse big government program answers to the problems created by big government programs. Neither candidate can demonstrate a turning point in their world views that indicate any depth of understanding of the need for a drastic restructuring of the current responsibility this government assumes for itself. Again directly opposing the limitations spelled out by the founders in the document that defines our United States government. For a government which respects liberty, we need a bunch who will represent and encourage the virtues of self discipline and self reliance in the constituency just like the original congress and president did. For a virtuous bunch to represent us, we need a self disciplined and self reliant culture who choose candidates who respect liberty. Without an outside disciplinarian, we are caught in a degenerating catch 22 loop.

I had great hope for the TEA party grass roots movement. They sounded like the answer to prayer. They espoused the values of the constitution, they believe in the power of prayer (most of them) and they were ready and willing to speak back at the media, the politicians and anyone else the truth as the media and politicians advocated bald faced lies. We had a great success in planting a bunch of TEA party candidates in congress in the mid-term election. We seemed to be on our way down the road to righteousness. Now we have a general election and somehow all the TEA voices I hear on the talk shows sound like the Republicans indistinguishable from the Democrats for a BIG GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENT politician. (I'm sorry I yelled, its just so stinking frustrating.) Those voices are cashing out my credibility in the national discourse for a 'better than them' candidate. I AM THE TEA PARTY, and I DON"T APPROVE!!!

Just like families, nations degrade. Unlike families, God never limited nations' degeneration without it's people humbling themselves before God and praying for it. The country has lost it's way. It has misplaced it's faith and chose to trust in the government provision for security both personal and national. Whether people have been bought by a government check or convinced they are exempt from the sacrifices required to preserve liberty, for more than 100 years, we've chosen representatives who ask less and less of us and promise more and more to us with disregard for it's original design and purpose. As for the entitlement folly, all of history reveals where that road goes. It looks like the fall of Rome or the killing fields of Polpot, the Gulags of the U.S.S.R. or the ovens of Nazi Germany. If you want real change and real hope, then replace your faith in government back to God. Pray for the nation and look for your part in restoring the virtues that created and built it into the freest location on earth to live by your own choices. Pray the people seek answers to explain how they were so deceived with respect to dealing with the global threat of Islam and the false hope of government care which results in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a Welfare office who literally destroy subcultures. Pray the government returns to the practices of inculcating it's constituency with the knowledge and virtues which prevent cultural dependency.

Fools Rush In

2012-01-30T19:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not exactly what you'd call a 'rusher' so I don't have a great number of anecdotal stories to pull from to express the folly of rushing. Really, if you understand the intent of the proverb, 'fools rush in' you first need to define rush. The application the proverb refers to is that of knowing what you're getting yourself into and making a reasoned choice to get in or not. In that sense our entire culture is in a rush, so much so that for generations we've been working at organizing our rush (to reduce the number of tragedies) valuing a quarter teaspoon of glory, ("haha, I'm passing you, sucker") rather than life, wisdom, and knowledge. In that sense, maybe I do have some anecdotal stories, because for the longest time I didn't command any wisdom. Folly is folly. No matter how long I contemplated my options, I'd choose the Fool's path. It was so bad I was tired of getting burned and reluctant to make a choice to the point parents, teachers, classmates, and eventually workmates and bosses were urging me to get off the fence and commit. Wisdom isn't just about learning from your mistakes. Wisdom is also about your worldview, a kind of all encompassing perspective. I sensed I had something wrong with my chooser. I couldn't articulate it of course, but I could sense it and knew I was paying an unnecessary price because of it. It wasn't until God intervened in my life that I began to perceive the better choices at hand. And a rush isn't a rush if you know what you're hurrying into. So, my speed in decision making improved markedly by familiarity with God's will and His enemy's nature.

Our freeway system forces you to commit to entering before you can perceive the circumstances beyond the on ramp. You could be spending the next three hours in a virtual parking lot that would have been totally avoidable if you could just investigate the conditions before the commitment. Three hours would be a minor loss compared to the level of preparedness for life we afford our kids. They have no real concept of what they're doing by jumping into relationships one after another and then similarly committing to marriage. This propels the value of marriage relationships down toward the value of dating relationships. By refusing to do the hard part of parenting to instill the discipline every child desperately needs, we may as well be allowing them to play out on the highways. Without that discipline they cannot receive common sense information until they see the consequences for themselves, at which point they've paid a dear price.

Right now, all of us in Western culture have foolishly rushed into the information age. Some few are beginning to measure the consequences of this folly. Our privacy is null. You can no longer expect any right to it, because literally anyone can access anything you've ever done online. Every credit card transaction, text message, health report, insurance payment or benefit, education transcript, employment record, or telephone call, when and where you vacation, what you like to read or what shows you watch, the service records of your car, it's endless. Now, corporations can pinpoint you're current location to gear their local ads to your likes and dislikes, and police can monitor you through security cameras or at least hear your conversation. Even with your cell phone turned off, they can track it's location. There are devices from which they can collect your credit card and driver's license information just by walking by, and for a price anybody can buy any of this tech. For a price anybody can acquire any information on you. RFID are literally sewn into our clothes. It's called data mining and the government is the worst culprit having invested with the corporations like our ever helpful pals over at Google, to bring your privacy to the government's immediate call up. After all, they need to do that to keep you safe from terrorists.

The upcoming generation don't even have a concept of privacy. What value it is or what dangers it's absence present. A prime example is the recent warning about the use of social media. A loan agent can do a simple google search on your name and read your and your friends' comments and view your pictures and evaluate his risks in loaning his firm's assetts to you based on them. This generation has never known a time without smart phones and Internet. They cannot fathom keeping hard copy records and organizing them so they can be found when needed. They are as lambs awaiting the slaughter and harvest of their assetts or the destruction of their good name. No one is prepared to deal with cyber-attacks like the group Anonymous have perpetrated on many of the most secure online businesses. The most recent reports of Anonymous' attacks were targeting Stratfor, a private firm providing strategic intelligence to it's subscribers. No one, not even the data miners themselves, are safe from cyber-attacks. Subscribers and employees alike were victimized by taking money fron their bank accounts and donating it to charities and publishing their e-mail conversations. Whoever you are and whatever you're up to, don't imagine anything you say or do is private anymore.

If you want to participate in our society, there is no possibility of going off grid. So much of our privacy is lost already, there's very little point in jumping off at this point. Doing so would put you front and center of the government's and corporations' attention. They will access your history and determine from it, what your options and likely choices would have been to track you down and actively investigate you instead of the passive means they are presently employing. It may not be too late for your kids though, if you are prepared to cut them off from their social media completely and begin choosing your service providers (as in doctors, educators, etc.,) based on whether they keep digital records or hard copy records, you may have a snowball's chance. The hardest part of protecting their privacy will be training them to value and protect it, themselves. I heard one professional digital security manager say it took him ten years to train his wife to value and guard theirs. Now that's a reasonable adult being consistently informed. Imagine what it's like getting adolescents to value and guard theirs by one or two of us.

As a nation, we aren't acting any more rationally than the facebook and smartphone crowd with regard to security. Our government has invested billions and perhaps trillions into an information superstructure and yet, they have not hardened it against real world attacks as in bunkering the hardware used or shielding it from electro-magnetic pulses as produced by a single nuclear explosion 60 miles above the ground. Experts estimate Iran will have the capability to put that one nuclear device over the center of the U.S. within 5 years. That single pulse could effectively take out the entire national information and power grids as well as nearly 1/2 of Old Mexico's and 1/3 of Canada's, not to mention disabling most vehicles and all computers by frying every microchip in use. If that were to happen, we could lose one million people to starvation, disease, and riots within weeks of the event. I believe we have no concept of self preservation as a people, and those numbers are incredibly hopeful. On the other hand, this may be the only real hope for a people asleep at the wheel. Imagine, if you will, Iran successfully mobilizing Islam to act as a Caliphate and work as one to invade, conquer, and dominate the U.S. Or maybe we spend our wealth defeating Islam and their backers in Russia only to have China step in while our resources are spent. All that data is now controlled by a marauding force to kill dissidents and steal personal wealth. I won't pray for calamity. I don't want to go through those times, but those times are looking more and more likely all the time.