3. When A Fool Judges: Why Wisdom Gets Overlooked.

What is foolish?

According to Merriam-Webster, foolish is “having or showing a lack of good sense, judgment, or discretion.”

Good sense is “sound judgment, often instinctive or unlearned.”

Judgment is “the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing”; “it is a proposition of something believed or asserted”; it is subjective and, as it states, an opinion.

There are a few verses in the Bible that talk about judging, and these are almost always used out of context. I do find it funny how those who deny the Scriptures and who don’t believe in God are the ones who use Scripture most often to defend their chosen lifestyle or to try and condemn those who do believe.

What Jesus gave was advice, or you could say a warning, on judging. We all judge; we all make judgments on ourselves and others every single day, but what the Scriptures are advising is to be careful how you judge and when you judge. As the saying goes, “There’s a time and a place for everything.” The Scriptures are not telling us to never judge; that would be impossible, but what they are saying is to use wisdom and discern between the more correct judging and the negative judging. We are to be wise and not follow that foolish misunderstanding of wise advice and follow a fool in never judging but instead use our wise judgement to discern between good and evil, Godly and evil behaviors.

A fool will either claim they never judge and affirm all things, even those of which God clearly says no to, or the fool will judge to condemn.

Discretion is “separating or distinguishing” and the “ability to make responsible decisions.”

So, if we do not have good sense to listen to and try to understand from another perspective, and if we do not have good sense to look at the facts and find the truth as they are, not the foolish distorted version, and if we cannot do these with discretion—that is, the ability to separate fact from fiction and make the responsible decision—then we would be foolish, and in being foolish we would be a fool.

In order to have a good or sound judgment, we must first be willing to hear, read, learn, and try to understand an opposing opinion or perception, and distinguish the facts from the fiction and the truth from the deceit, therefore building our knowledge, understanding, open-mindedness, and tolerance for our fellow man and giving us the opportunity to compare and discern, lest we easily fall into the credulous category.

Tolerance is not to affirm or participate in and with but to put up with without sharing in or agreeing with.

If we impose censorship toward ideas, beliefs, and perceptions that deviate from our epistemological or political ideology that we just do not like, then we greatly risk becoming ignorant, foolish, and submissive; mercilessness and oppressive; blind and deaf; tyrannical and evil—the very thing we might claim those espousing epistemological or political ideals we do not like are.

A fool buries the truth to not offend.

A fool is one who despises wisdom; they are deceitful, vindictive, and scornful; they are always right—not proven right, but always believe, even when proven wrong, that they are right. A fool closes their eyes and ears to opposing viewpoints, perceptions, logic, reasoning, facts, and the truth. A fool chooses to ignore facts and the truth if it deviates from what they are told to believe. A fool loathes and suppresses perceived ideological opposition. In other words, a fool does not want to compare, to discern, to listen, to gain wisdom or understanding.

Now, there are many, many people I have had civil and respectful conversations, discussions, debates, whatever you wish to call it, with who believe and think and perceive things differently than I. These, I do not consider fools.