July 16, 2016 Bible Study — Arguing With a Fool

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 25-28.

    Today’s passage is another one where there are so many proverbs which contain things worth noting that I am having trouble deciding what to write. There is no point in me pointing out each and every good proverb in the passage. You can go read them for yourself, and I hope you do. I was struck by the similarity between what the writer says in 25:6-7 and what Jesus says in Luke 14:7-11. I am quite sure that the similarity is not an accident. Jesus most certainly was familiar with the proverb and applied it to the situation He found Himself in. We should not promote ourselves for honors. Let others see our actions and honor us if they see fit. There is actually a little more to this than is immediately obvious. We should not do things so that others will honor us. If that is our motive we may be disappointed if others fail to take notice of our good works. Instead we should do things because they are the right thing to do.

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    When I finished writing the previous paragraph I was going to stop there. Then I read through the passage again. When I came to 26:4-5 I could not resist commenting on them. These two verses seem to contradict each other, but, as someone who has trouble resisting a debate, I think I understand where the writer is coming from. All too often when I get into a debate with someone I think is expressing a foolish argument I become emotionally invested in showing them why their argument is foolish. As a result I start to make foolish arguments myself. However, when I decide that I will avoid responding to foolish arguments at all I start to see people claiming that people are foolish for not believing their foolish argument because “everybody knows” it is true. I have realized that it is important to let people know when you do not “buy” their argument.