You can’t fix stupid

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

According to a WIKI page I found 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 everyone else. Basically, they’re too stupid to know they are fools.

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

* Tends to overestimate their own skill level.

* Failing to recognize genuine ability in others.

* Failing to recognize the extreme of your insufficiency.

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

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, do you NOT know someone who meets this criteria?

The challenge for me is that nowhere in the Bible does it encourage us to strive for anything less than excellent. And, when you think about it, asking, demanding or encouraging (depending on your style) anything less than excellence from 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 amazing regularity?

This is a major problem because not only can these people be annoying and irritating, but they can also 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 take 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 at harvest, honor does not suit a fool. Like a fluttering sparrow or a swooping swallow, the undeserved curse does not cease. Whip for the horse “A bridle for the ass, and a rod for the backs of fools. Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you yourself be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own opinion.” message by the hands of a fool is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison. Like the useless legs of a lame man is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. As to tie a stone in a sling is to give honor to the fool. Like a bramble in the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. As an archer who wounds at random is the one who hires a fool or any passerby. Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so fools repeat the madness of it.”

Proverbs 13:20 – “Go with the wise and become wise, because the companion of fools suffers badly.”

Psalm 1:1 – “Blessed is he who does not walk like evil men, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the company of scorners.”

There are many other verses that speak of associating with slanderers, gossips, discontented people, immoral or short-tempered people, even brothers and sisters in the Lord who do stupid things.

Next, let’s leave the subject of “mercy before judgment” aside. Many Christian leaders and churches promote a false doctrine that suggests that we must constantly embrace both the world and our fellow Christians with a lifetime pass on their behavior under the cloak of “mercy.” God doesn’t do this. If he 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 sinful and stupid behavior. This is how He put together the universe. If the mantle of mercy were applied to all human behavior, we would not have any law dictated by God; instead, we would be constantly involved in some lurid festival of carnal love. Did Jesus give Satan a pass on his behavior? Saul (soon to be Paul) did not receive permission from God to persecute 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 the people before sending a firestorm. Jonah survived the whale. God gave the people about 100 years to see Noah build an ark. Saul was blinded and became a great servant of God. THAT 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 hard, because we don’t want to hurt anyone. We’ve bought a myth. We’ve concluded that because God made everyone wonderful , we have to let people direct the music, for example, who have no talent and little musical ability, we really allow this to continue because we don’t want to get into the difficult zone of evaluation, which can lead to disappointment, but in the long run term leads to people being placed where their gifts can be most fully exercised Assessment can help identify a person who has talent, but may not be in their current position Assess your staff It allows you to make some moves that will put everyone in positions where God can use their strengths to the best of His ability.”

The authors address church leaders and urge them to have the courage to be honest in their assessment of the people they work with. We would all be much better off if we did the same with all of our relationships, honestly and courageously evaluating them and then taking biblical, corrective action. Putting mercy here in the context of love; it is so much more loving to compassionately approach the choir member who always sings off key and talk about it instead of falsely letting him 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 to you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Matthew 10:14 – “If anyone does not receive you or listen to your words, leave that house or that city and shake the dust off your feet.”

1 Corinthians 13 – “If I speak human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I become like resounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but I have no love, I am nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not envious, it is not boastful, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not selfish, it is not easily angered , keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues shall be silent; where there is knowledge, it shall pass away. For we know in part and prophesy in part, but when fullness comes, what is in part to say appears. I became a man, I left behind the paths of childhood. Because now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we will meet 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 others 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 stand by the wayside are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those who are on the rocky ground are those who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a time, but in the time of trial they fall away. the one that fell among thorns represents those who hear, but in their way are choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of life, and do not mature, but the seed in good soil represents those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, the retain, and with perseverance produce a harvest.

The blueprint for dealing with stupidity comes straight from the Bible.

Because there are so many verses in the Bible that speak to the principles I’m presenting here, I encourage you to do your own study. If I just 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 am to love them. I must do my best to move them towards the Kingdom of God.

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

I must try to plant seeds in their lives, but I must also seek fertile ground with this precious time I have on earth, and if “stupid” does not succeed, despite my best efforts, after a certain period of time. I should dust off my sandals and move on, looking for more fertile ground.

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

If I am going to practice love and model the heart of Jesus, I am going to speak the truth in love. It seems to me that many of us like the idea of ​​the “love” part of this, but 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 you can actually tell them. If you don’t, who will?