You can’t fix the stupid

You can’t fix the stupid, but you have to love it.

According to a WIKI page I came across while researching another topic, “The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when incompetent people not only don’t realize their incompetence, but consider themselves much more competent than others. Basically, they are too stupid. to find out that they are stupid. “

Justin Kruger and David Dunning set out to test their hypothesis. They proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people:

* They tend to overestimate their own skill level.

* Not recognizing genuine ability in others.

* Failing to recognize the extreme of your insufficiency.

* Recognize and acknowledge their own prior lack of ability, if they can be trained to improve substantially.

It turns out that subsequent experiments support these findings. So now we have official evidence for what most of us already know to be true. People are stupid. Be honest now. Tell me you DO NOT know someone who meets these criteria.

The challenge for me is that nowhere in the Bible does the Bible encourage us to strive for anything less than excellent. And, when you think about it, asking, demanding or encouraging (depending on your style) something that is not the excellence of others is NOT doing them any favors. So, from a biblical perspective, how are we supposed to deal with people who seem to exhibit the Dunning-Kruger effect with astonishing regularity?

This is a major problem because not only can these people be aggravating and irritating, but they can be a huge waste of time and energy. Who are we talking about? Let’s start by establishing who these people are.

Proverbs 18: 2 – “Fools find no pleasure in understanding, but delight in airing their own opinions.”

Proverbs 1: 7 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 26: 1-11 – “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor does not suit a fool. Like a fluttering sparrow or a rushing swallow, an undeserved curse does not rest. the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools; Do not answer the fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. Answer the fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. A message through the hands of a fool is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison. Like the useless legs of the lame is a saying in the mouth of the fool. Like tying a stone in a sling is giving honor to the fool. Like a thorn in the hand of a drunkard, a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like an archer who strikes at random is he who rents a fool or any passerby. As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their madness. “

Proverbs 13:20 – “Walk with the wise and become wise, for the companion of fools suffers harm.”

Psalm 1: 1 – “Blessed is he who does not keep pace with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of scoffers.”

There are many other verses that talk about association with slanderers, gossipers, disgruntled people, immoral or hot-tempered people, even brothers and sisters in the Lord who do stupid things.

Next, let’s put aside the question of “mercy before judgment.” Many Christian leaders and churches promote a false doctrine that suggests that we should be constantly embracing both the world and our fellow Christians with a lifelong transmission of their behavior under the cloak of “mercy.” God does not do this. If it did, there would be no stories like Sodom and Gomorrah, Jonah and the whale, the Great Flood, and the list goes on and on. God’s character requires consequences for stupid and sinful behavior. This is how He put together the universe. If the blanket of mercy were applied to all human behavior, we would have no law dictated by God; instead, we would be constantly involved in some spooky carnal love feast. Did Jesus give Satan a pass-through of his behavior? Saul (soon to be Paul) did not receive a pass from God for persecuting other Christians.

The biblical roots of the word “mercy” – all go back to the concept of “love.” Putting “mercy” in the context of “love” has far-reaching considerations. God tried to save people before sending a firestorm. Jonah survived the whale. God gave the people about 100 years to see Noah build an ark. Saul was blind and became a great servant of God. This is how mercy fits into judgment and love.

From Entrepreneurial Faith: Launching Bold Initiatives to Expand God’s Kingdom by Walt Kallestad, Kirbyjon Caldwell, and Paul Sorensen: “In church, it’s difficult, because we don’t want to hurt anyone. We have bought a myth. We have concluded that that because God made everyone wonderful, we have to let people direct the music, for example, who have no talent and little musical ability. Evaluation can help to identify a talented person, but perhaps not in the position in the one you are currently serving. Your staff allows you to do some moves that will put everyone in positions where God can use their strengths to the best advantage. “

The authors turn to church leaders and urge them to have the courage to be honest in evaluating the people they work with. We would all be much better off doing the same with all of our relationships, honestly and courageously evaluating them and then taking Biblical corrective action. Putting mercy in the context of love here; It is much more loving to compassionately approach the choir member who always sings out of tune and talk about it rather than let him falsely believe that he is a wonderful addition to the choir. Now that, to me, is stupid.

Biblical principles can be applied to the stupid.

John 13:34 – “A new commandment I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another.”

Matthew 10:14 – “If someone does not welcome you or does not listen to your words, leave that house or town and dust your feet.”

1 Corinthians 13 – “If I speak in human or angel tongues, but I have no love, I am just a resonating gong or a resonating saucer. If I have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have A faith capable of moving mountains, but I have no love, I am nothing. If I give everything I have to the poor and I give my body to deprivation to boast, but I have no love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, the Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not selfish, it does not get angry easily, it does not hold a grudge. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth . Always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be quiet; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. Because we know in part and prophesy in part, but when it comes fullness, which in part is disgust. appears. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, he thought as a child, reasoned as a child. When I became a man, I left behind the customs of childhood. For now we only see a reflection like in a mirror; then we will see face to face. Now I know in part; then I will know fully, as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. “

Matthew 6: 14-16 – “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Luke 8: 11-15 – “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those who are on the road are those who hear, and then the devil comes and takes the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the stony ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but have no root. They believe for a time, but in the time of trial they fall. who fell among thorns. represents those who hear, but as they go on, they choke on the cares, riches and pleasures of life, and do not ripen. But the seed in good soil represents those with a noble and good heart. they hear the word, retain it, and, by persevering, produce a harvest. “

The plan for dealing with the stupid comes directly from the Bible.

Because there are so many verses in the Bible that speak to the principles I present here, I encourage you to do your own study. If I only consider the verses above, it seems very possible that part of the reason God puts or allows stupid people into my life is just to see how I will treat them.

It is clear that I will love them. I must do my best to move them towards the Kingdom of God.

It’s equally clear that I need to forgive them when they do stupid things. We all do stupid things and Jesus forgives us.

I should try to plant seeds in their lives, but I should also look for fertile ground with this precious time I have on earth, and if “stupid” doesn’t succeed, despite my best efforts, after a certain period of time. I should shake the dust off my sandals and move on, in search of more fertile ground.

Fools and stupid people shouldn’t be my closest relationships, by any stretch of biblical interpretation. I don’t have to hang out with them.

If I am going to practice love and model the heart of Jesus, I am going to speak the truth with love. It seems to me that many of us like the idea of ​​the “love” part of this, but we are uncomfortable with the “truth” part. Just look at the heart of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.

It might be worth considering that another reason God put “stupid” in your life is so that you can actually tell him. If not, who will?