(Proverbs 26:5) . . .Answer someone stupid according to his foolishness, that he may not become someone wise in his own eyes.
Isn’t this a great Scripture? It provides such an effective technique in reasoning with someone who is perpetrating a silly notion.
Take the Trinity for instance. Trinitarians believe that Jesus is God, the Father is God, and the holy spirit is God. All three are equal.
So that means you can replace Jesus with God without losing any meaning, for Jesus IS God. So let’s use the principle from Proverbs 26:5 in reading a Bible passage. We will substitute all pronouns referring to Jesus and the Father since they are both God and both co-equal. Let’s try John 17:24 to 26 for this exercise. It reads as follows:
(John 17:24-26) . . .Father, as to what you have given me, I wish that, where I am, they also may be with me, in order to behold my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the founding of the world. 25 Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you; but I have come to know you, and these have come to know that you sent me forth. 26 And I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.”
Now we’ll try it with the conversion.
(John 17:24-26) . . .God, as to what God has given God, God wishes that, where God is, they also may be with God, in order to behold God’s glory that God has given God, because God loved God before the founding of the world. 25 Righteous God, the world has, indeed, not come to know God; but God has come to know God, and these have come to know that God sent God forth. 26 And God has made God’s name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which God loved God may be in them and God in union with them.”
Pretty silly, huh? “Answer someone stupid according to his foolishness” and this is what can come of it. However, this is not done to mock, but so that the foolish one sees his foolishness for what it is and does not become “wise in his own eyes”.
However, Bible principles are not biased. They apply to all equally. I noticed in the comments on paragraph 18 of this past week’s Watchtower study that the brothers and sisters weren’t getting the point made in the paragraph.
“In fact, that is what he promised to do for the anointed ones in the new covenant: “I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.” (w13 3/15 p. 12, par. 18)
The brothers and sisters were answering as if this text applies to all of us, missing the point that the paragraph is making in applying it to the anointed. Why would those making comments miss this point? Perhaps because it is a foolish point. Nonsensical on its face. How can this apply to only one small group of Christians? Is Jehovah the God of the anointed only, or of all? Is his law written only in their hearts or in all our hearts? But wouldn’t that mean that all Christians are in the new covenant? Well, weren’t all Jews in the old covenant, or were only the Levites in it?
Here’s another text that we can apply the principle of Pro. 26:5 to:
(1 Peter 1:14-16) . . .As obedient children, quit being fashioned according to the desires YOU formerly had in YOUR ignorance, 15 but, in accord with the Holy One who called YOU, do YOU also become holy yourselves in all [YOUR] conduct, 16 because it is written: “YOU must be holy, because I am holy.”
We claim that only the anointed are referred to as God’s holy ones. So does that free the rest of us from the need to be holy like God is holy? If not, are there two degrees of holiness? Does any of this support a two-tier class system in the Christian congregation?
Try this technique as you read scriptures that refer to the “chosen ones” and the “holy ones” and other scriptures we claim are directed only to the anointed. See if they appear foolish if we try to apply them to only one group of Christians while excluding the majority.
Of course the brothers and sisters were answering paragraph 18 as though Jeremiah 31:31-34 applies to all of us! No one noticed the asterisk (*) at the end referencing chapter 14 of “God’s Word for Us Through Jeremiah.” Yes, limiting just a few to the New Covenant creates riddles of reasons beyond anything we dare challenge. Just how does the simple, modest follower of Christ fathom a two tiered religion built on the premise there exists no clergy/laity split? We preach to others that we have no hierarchy yet deep down we know what we know. We just cannot expose… Read more »
Please take what I say to be as respectful as possible but a lot of JW’s are happy just to come to meetings, associate/ have friends, think we know more than anyone outside another JW (but actually learn the hard way sometimes some of us just scratch the surface of bible teachings or relay something told to us) so whatever is said just accept and go along with all changes since they hear it but don’t HEAR IT UNDERSTAND IT. I say that because I was one of those. I remember an CO saying we should never have a holier… Read more »
Well spoken, mdnwa.
“Not everything in the bible needs to be explained at this moment, we’re given direct and clear directions and instructions… on those things we need to act, everything else will be revealed at Jehovah’s time. Going beyond that is actually saying we are not patiently waiting on Jehovah.”
While attacking the dogma of others we expose our own.