RSV to the P

"Say not, 'Why were the former days better than this?' For it is not from wisdom that one asks this." 

-Ecclesiastes 7:10

A best friend of mine's favorite book in the Bible is Ecclesiastes. It's a quick read. If you enjoy figuring out song lyrics, you'd like Ecclesiastes. If you're someone who doesn't enjoy it when people try to be naively optimistic, Ecclesiastes is for you.

If you want to skim through it (and you have a Bible nearby), it's about one-third of the way in. Psalms, Proverbs, then Ecclesiastes.

This above verse has clanged around in my brain lately. The hourly deluge of 'What's Catastrophically Wrong Today In the World' (i.e. daily headlines, social media feeds, news of evils and injustices small and large) can make it feel like everything (everywhere, all at once), is uniquely worse than ever before.

And yet. And yet this sage verse -- "Say not, 'Why were the former days better than this?' For it is not from wisdom that one asks this." -- re-grounds my daily perceptions in enduring reality:

a) It helps me resist believing the lie that life will be worse tomorrow. That's crucial. But it doesn't help me resist this by minimizing today's evils, or by turning a blind eye. It widens my view. It reminds me that for so many, this sort of evil and injustice is an old, long reality. Tomorrow won't be worse, because...

b) ...Yesterday wasn't always better. "Why can't it be like it used to be way back when? Used-to-be way back when was so good, and simple." That just isn't true. It helps me to resist giving too much stock to 'the good old days'.

c) It helps me resist a particular shame. You know, the kind of shame that comes when we learn something new, and then feel like we somehow should've known this information all along. We're not the only ones to believe this. Knowing this helps me resist feeling shame for once believing the world was better.

d) It reminds me that there are others who -- while they've fought injustice -- have also lived with and endured with such evils for a long, long time. It's nothing new. Therefore, I can't become impatient when evils and sin don't immediately disappear. That seldom happens. The patience of those who've more directly struggled with evil inspires me to check my impatience to want everything all fixed, right this instant.

Where does that leave me?

It leaves me skeptical, but not (quite as) jaded;
resolute, but not (quite as) naive;
playing catch-up, but resisting shame about needing to do that;
faithful, but not (as) surprised;
distressed, but (more) hopeful that one day, all that's wrong will be made right;
overwhelmed, but not (as) no longer believing there's nothing I can do;
motivated, but not (as) prone to thinking I can fix this through sheer effort.

So thankful this verse is here ... that way, when I need reminding, it's still written down. It's not going anywhere.

"Let's just make this clear: I have no idea what I'm doing. I am stumbling through this like everyone else." -Dr. E. McCaulley

Blessings on your week this week.

street barkers, fools rush in

 "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself." -Proverbs 26:4

"Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes." -Proverbs 26:5

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You overhear something ridiculously foolish. This happens all the time, right? It's just way off base. 

It's a topic you care about -- politics, urban poverty, religion, fantasy football rankings, best version of a video game franchise, identity, mayo vs Miracle Whip ... something like that. Or you doomscroll and see a comment on a friend of a friend's social media post. It stirs you up. "What a dumb thing to say," you think to yourself. Someone said something that you know is wrong. It tempts you to want to get involved and to correct. 

Do you give a rebuttal? 

Answer from the book of Proverbs: "Uh, it depends."

Here's the deal: Proverbs is a practical book for living well and godly in just about every aspect of ordinary life. So, depending on the situation, answering a fool is either the best response ... but then sometimes, not answering is the wiser option.

We have these two sayings: "Too many cooks in the kitchen" and "many hands make light work"*.

Which one of these sayings applies in a given situation? Discernment will give an idea of which route to take. It's not that they contradict -- they do not. It's that depending on the situation, either one can well apply. At one time in life, I might've engaged with street preachers to debate. Now, I usually walk past, and respectfully take a pamphlet if they offer one (if I happen to disagree with what they're saying, I will definitely take a pamphlet -- one given to me is one that can't be given to anyone else).

So, to get back to Proverbs 26:4-5. There's a difference between quarreling with a fool at their own level, which is often worthless and accomplishes nothing...

and yet, in certain context, we should certainly provide a reproof, so the fool doesn't think their assertion can't be rebutted.

What isn't addressed in these two verses:

-How can we tell who is the fool? These verses don't say or describe what the fool says or believes -- ergo, it could be you (or me) just as plausibly as it could be anyone else.

-How should we respond, if we do? These two verses are just about whether or not to respond, but not how. How to respond is aptly discussed elsewhere, and we should get into that, but for another time.

*(thanks to my sem prof and the Proverbs notes!)