A Word To The Wise That Fools Despise

Common Sense Commentary: High-tech advances in communications, with all it's benefits and advantages, like most medicines, has it's negative side effects. One cannot overlook the fact that email, and especially Facebook, have opened the doors of public discourse wide to both good and evil. Ironically it is called the www or World Wide Web. There is a spider in there somewhere. It is the spider's victims I address today. I, personally, avoid Facebook, except as one of the outlets of my blog, for, as the patient Job said in Job 5:3, "I have seen the foolish taking root ...." When I do, occasionally, browse across Facebook, there among the flowers of humor, love and compliments is a nest of stink-weeds fuming, slandering and defending.  The thing that mystifies me is why seemingly nice and intelligent people will let themselves be drawn into a spit fight with an obvious fool or mental case. Oh, I know how difficult it is not to defend one's self or loved ones, when attacked, insulted or lied about. Defence might be in order if the conflict were with another reasonable person of good will, but that is not usually who is doing the dirty deeds. When the attacking "fool" is either insane, hopelessly stupid or totally brainwashed, any reactive argument of defence  or explanation is already a lost battle. God's word warns us against such reactions in Prov.26:4 "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him." In other words, you too become a fool when you try to debate a fool. However reasonable your argument may be, "A fool's mouth is his destruction...." Prov.26:4.  That is another way of saying, "Shut up!" Even though you are right and your "heart is inditing a good matter", and your argument is sound, and your "tongue is the pen of a ready writer", as David said in Psm 45:1, do not argue with a fool or a lunatic. "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace (shuts up) is counted wise", said wise king Solomon. Prov.17:28. So even an absolute idiot isn't discovered until he/she opens their mouth. And then, if they do it on Facebook, the whole world knows, and it becomes recorded in black and white for their kids and grand kids to read and be disillusioned by ... forever. "Did Mom really say that".

James 3:5-8 says the tongue, or pen, can become "a fire set ablaze by hell". And Jesus warned us that our words, spoken or written, will either "justify or condemn us". Matt.12:37.  A final note: If you take offence to these verses, you must be guilty.  God has a word for you, "... fools despise wisdom and instruction." Prov.1:7.  the bottom line is, "Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities are afflicted." Psm.107:7. Marriages split up, families are broken up, lives are ruined, friends are lost, and it just kills people emotionally.  Don't let yourself be lured into an argumentive  spider's "wwweb", which is his territory, where the spider has nothing to lose, and you, nothing to gain but much to lose.  Let fools argue, fuss and fume among themselves. They enjoy it.  RB