Chapter 32 The Arrogance of Stupid 2024
People can and will fight for the right to be stupid and it will cause long term problems. Having said that, all will be tested. Can’t have all this and fail a test for correct thinking.
God will teach you and try you. It is a part of a lifelong journey in Sanctification, ..I would say. How much do I want to put up with me, until I give it to God?
Job 23:10
“But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
The measure of a person is how fast you get off of it…, I try to remember that. -Patrick R.
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. -Benjamin Franklin
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Stupid gets in the way. Best scenario is to catch it quick, stand down and get away from it — get back on track. The arrogance of stupid doesn’t allow for that. Stupid feels itself to be very smart, very crafty and very wise. All of that is not true.
Don’t be foolish with power and authority. “I believe I deserve to have, bla, bla, bla..:” is not a good way to start any sentence.
Philipians 2:3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
Rettig Corporation Principle #2 (of 4): Always supportive, slightly detached and always equal. Be a problem solver, slightly detached so people don’t break your heart, always equal, not above or below anyone, in all things to our fellows.
3 D’s – Dissension, Division, Deliverance
What exactly happens in the arrogance of stupid? Loss of relationships, time, and love. Dissension first, division second, and Deliverance/God must fix it third. He gets me through my bad choices and the consequences. However, I run the risk of permanent damage. Not fun. Paul knew this and for this reason appealed to the Colossians in a letter outlined in this passage.
Colossians 1:9-14
New International Version
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[a] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[b] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
It is a very small fraternity that succeed long term, maybe in the short run many do what it takes stop the madness, but forever better — not very many make that committed change.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
New King James Version
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
The original set of problems will be repeated. Negligence, immaturity, indignation and a lost, never to be realized, destiny.
Proverbs 18:3
When wickedness comes, so does contempt, and with shame comes reproach.
As captured by the 19th century British politician Lord Acton “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Without correct checks and balances all people will go astray. King Solomon, reigning over Israel during the times of Circa 970 to 931 BC is quoted in many scripts as saying: “fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Hebrews 5:11c
New King James Version
You have become dull of hearing.
Transversely, winners are willing to take a path they don’t like, walk with inconvenience, push through challenge and frustration. Faith that God is doing His good work.
The flip side? Destructive behavior, many times in the name of God, or not, either is all bad. Luck runs out. And I do mean luck, because without God, that’s all you got and that is never enough.
Pro 12:20a
Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil,
In the arrogance of stupid how to combat our selfish, indignant nature? Perhaps even pray until God sees it the way I want it. Or just skip God. Mankind has tried to explain human nature without God and these were the results. Europe during the years between 1685-1730 questioned traditional authority (The Age of Enlightenment is was called) embracing the notion that humanity could be improve through rational change. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals. It didn’t work. None of it. People went right back to their old intolerant and easy ways of doing things. Accountability seemed to be too much trouble, especially when stupid is so convenient.
Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Renee Descartes, Galileo, Kepler and Leibniz. Recognize those names? Probably not, maybe a couple, there’s a reason for why you don’t know these people. They explained the human condition and what to do about it and it didn’t work. It was all forgotten. Isaac Newton published “Principia Mathematica” (1686) and John Locke his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” (1689), two works that provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical toolkit for mankind’s opportunity for major advances. Didn’t work. None of it, all written by presumably brilliant men. Why? Nothing sticks without the Word. What does work? The Book, truly to study, not just read, study, and then what happens?
Joshua 1:8c
New King James Version
For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Resist the need to be right — you could be wrong. Be gracious. Take a moment to ask, clarify, understand, engage conversation. Say prayers, verify every plan with the Word, find a scripture that supports your inclination. Without knowledge, competent clear knowledge, accountability and wisdom — my name is what?
“Without knowledge and God, my name is Ignorant”
Please, hear me, my friends. Fight against mediocrity and yourself. Revolt against yourself and evolve. Revolution/Evolution.
Luke 12:48b New International Version (NIV)
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything. There’s no honor in that. If you’re going to fall — stand for Jesus.
Isaiah 35 tells the great description of the “Highway of Holiness.” A safe place for believers.
Isaiah 35:8
New International Version
And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
There is dangerous curves, but He keeps us from falling off. He develops the wisdom and maturity in us. Stay on the highway.
Isaiah 35:9
No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there.
The devil is not on this highway, nor anything that can harm the believer. The passenger on the road arrives where God lives, happy, singing praises, the blind can see, the deaf hear, weak and crippled healed.
Revelation 21:4
God will wipe away every tear, no more death, sorrow or crying, no pain the former things have passed away.
Do you believe in such a text or do you think it is just a story in the Bible? Let me tell you something about the Bible. About 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors.
The odds for all 2000 prophecies to be fulfilled by chance “without error” is less than one in 10 to the 2000th power, 1 with 2,000 zeros written after it! It’s the only book that tells the future, the rest, conjecture.
Charles Spurgeon is quoted as saying:
“Many books in my library are now behind and beneath me; I read them years ago, with considerable pleasure; I have read them since, with disappointment; I shall never read them again, for they are of no service to me. They were good in their way once, and so were the clothes I wore when I was ten years old; but I have outgrown them, I know more than these books know, and know wherein they are faulty. Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.”
The Arrogance of Stupid. Like jumping off of a 90 story building and thumbing your nose at those looking from the safety of their windows as you fall.
Leave stupid alone, it costs everyone around in your life, including and especially children.
Isaiah 55 New English Translation The Lord Gives an Invitation
“Hey,[a] all who are thirsty, come to the water!
You who have no money, come!
Buy and eat!
Come! Buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.[b] Why pay money for
something that will not nourish you?[c]
Why spend[d] your hard-earned money[e] on something that will not satisfy?
This is the Word of God, given to you and me. Why do we decide that we know better. I don’t know, but we do it, all the time and we pay the price of wasted time, talent and destiny. Lord, could our prayer just be that we have eyes to see and ears to ear. You might ask, what have I found to be the example of Arrogance of Stupid. There are two for that I have discovered, there is probably more, but these are what I’ve personally witnessed.
- There is no God and the Bible is an irrelevant novel.
- What I decide is the truth.
If that is your mantra, may God help you. If that is the mantra of someone you know — let’s pause and pray for the family.
Leviticus 10:10 New King James Version
10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean.
Chapter 32 – the arrogance of Stupid 2024, Amen…
