The Foolishness Of The Gospel...

I’ve noticed that with advent of social media, and better yet, the addition of comment sections at the bottom of every Internet article, there seems to be more discussion (or argument) between believers and non-believers these days. My purpose now is not to address the utter foolishness of some believers who almost hatefully engage in these arguments with unbelievers, as if God needed them to come to His rescue – I’ll save that for another time. My purpose is to point out the foolishness of the Gospel itself.

*** Insert chirping crickets here ***

Now, one thing that both believers and unbelievers can agree on is that most unbelievers think that the belief system of Christians is foolishness. There are some very pleasant unbelievers who would never state it that way, but in reality, they think what we believe is absurd. This, by the way, is totally in keeping with what Scripture teaches:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The truth is that at one time that message was also foolishness to those of us who are being saved. At some point we were illuminated and given the Spirit to understand the foolishness for what it really is.

Think of it like this:

I know how and when to blow my nose. It comes in handy. I have been trying to teach this amazing technique to my little boys. I don’t do it to make them laugh and giggle and roll around on the floor and mock me – I do it because I know it’s for their own good. I blow my nose for them in all seriousness in order to demonstrate how it is done. But they don’t see it that way. They just see foolishness. At this point in their lives, they are not able to see the wisdom in blowing their own noses, so they don’t explore it. They just laugh because they think daddy is being foolish. And so I stand there, looking at them with their runny noses, listening to them struggling to breath, wishing I could just make them understand – It’s really not foolishness once you get it.

Neither is the message of the cross.

So you believers: just as me arguing with my boys will not help them learn nose-blowing, neither will you arguing with unbelievers somehow magically convert them (as if that were really what you wanted, and not just to prove you were right). Have compassion and patience. I will return to this some other time.

And you unbelievers: just as my boys think that me blowing my nose is foolishness, you think the  Gospel message is – but I bet you eventually embraced the wisdom of blowing your own nose. That's hypocritical. Face the fact that you do not know everything. If you claim to be open-minded, then open your mind – and don’t be so quick to disregard foolishness as if you knew better.