The Mailbag: Answering a Fool #5

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

There’s a lot of foolishness masquerading as Christianity these days. Occasionally, I get e-mails and messages showcasing this type of foolishness. It needs to be biblically corrected so these folks can stop “being wise in their own eyes,” repent, and believe and practice the truth of Scripture. From time to time, I share those e-mails in The Mailbag with a biblical corrective, not only so the e-mail writer can be admonished by Scripture, but to provide you with Scriptures and reasoning you can use if you’re ever confronted with this kind of foolishness.

To answer a fool according to his folly (or in the case of most of the foolishness addressed to me – a professing Christian acting the fool by spouting unbiblical folly) is to stand toe to toe with him and firmly and biblically address his unbiblical foolishness without backing down or letting him run roughshod over you – sometimes even mirroring his own words back to him to help him see his hypocrisy. Some Christians think holding your ground, refusing to compromise on biblical truth, and offering correction in this way is unkind or unloving. It is not. Not if you’re going by the Bible’s definition of love rather than the world’s definition (“be nice” “accept everything” “don’t confront”), and not when you’re dealing with a pridefully stubborn person. One of the most unloving things a Christian can do is to see a professing brother or sister in biblical error and ignore it rather than trying to help that person see the truth of God’s Word. Jesus, Paul, Peter, Jude, John, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and many others, did this plenty of times in Scripture, and, often, much more stringently that I and other 21st century Christians do. Sometimes love – real, biblical love – has to be tough in order to reach someone’s heart.

You can read more in the “Answering a Fool” series here.

---

If you’re on pretty much any form of social media, you know foolishness abounds. Such was the case, recently on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter). But it gave me some great teaching and evangelism opportunities.

I’d like everyone to be aware of the fact that these people were commenting and leveling these accusations against me on my own post. I’ve made it a practice not go on to other people’s posts (especially those I don’t follow) and comment to them in this manner.

Immediately below is my post (it’s clickable if you’d like to read more), followed by three different comments on my post and my responses (with some modifications) to each of them.

I honestly don't care that you're an expert in eschatology, and you read the Puritans, and you're a Sabbatarian, and an abolitionist, and patriarchal, and you can argue all the finer points of theology- if those things don't form Christlike *character* in you, they're worthless.

— Michelle Lesley (@MichelleDLesley) July 7, 2024

Thomas, my friend, that is a foolish and unbiblical way of responding to my statement, but it does provide a great opportunity for a teaching moment.

1. I did not address the idea of perfection in my comment. I didn’t say anyone is or isn’t, should or shouldn’t be, can or can’t be perfect. Perfection was not the topic, so your response makes no sense.

2. This response is virtue signaling. It’s meant to demonstrate that you are more virtuous than I am. That’s a form of pride.

3. This response is meant to shame me when I have said nothing unbiblical or worthy of shaming. I don’t know if you’re a Believer or not, but if you are, that’s not only unbiblical, but very unloving toward a sister in Christ.

4. The topic I was addressing in my comment was unChristlike character. Your response was basically, “You’re not perfect so you can’t address unbiblical behavior.” As you said, no one but Jesus is perfect. So I guess that means no Christian can ever address any issue of sin because no Christian is perfect? That’s certainly not a biblical idea.

5. If no one is perfect and therefore I shouldn’t be addressing unbiblical behavior, why are you addressing what you feel to be my unbiblical behavior by responding this way to me? Are you perfect and therefore allowed to call my comment into question?

6. Your X bio proclaims you to be “just another voice in the wilderness.” That’s an allusion to John the Baptist. He called out a lot of sin and called a lot of people to repentance – much more stringently than I did in my comment. Was he perfect, or only Jesus? Perhaps he shouldn’t have rebuked Herod’s sin of adultery since he was not perfect himself. (You might want to study up on John the Baptist a little more.)

7. Would you have responded the same way if I were remarking on any other sin? What if I had made a negative remark about bank robbery or child abuse? Would you have responded, “Jesus is perfect, we are not, unless you are?”.

Or is it that I can only say that something is unbiblical or wrong if you agree it’s unbiblical or wrong, or that the world generally agrees is wrong? If that’s the case, you or society have just become my authority on right and wrong rather than Scripture.

So thank you, Thomas, for giving us this example of an unbiblical response and giving me the opportunity to make it a teaching moment. I hope it’s been edifying and helpful to you.

---

Your comment is an extraordinary thing to say. You don’t strike me as someone who has the authority to assess me or whether or not I have the authority to assess anyone/anything else. You don’t follow me and this is the first time, to my recollection, that we’ve ever interacted, so where did you get the authority you feel gives you the right to assess me?

Your authority to assess me is called into question even further by your lack of reading comprehension skills. My comment was not, by any stretch of the imagination, an assessment of the Puritans or how valuable reading them might be. It was an assessment of people who, despite reading the Puritans (plus the other things I mentioned), lack Christlike character. I would encourage you to go back to my OP and read slowly and carefully for understanding.

Goner’s response was to call me prideful, belligerent, and “arrogance personified”. That’s the type of childish, unsubstantial response you can expect when you point out someone’s hypocrisy and/or that he is wrong about something. Rather than manning up, owning it, and apologizing, he will turn around like an eight year old and call you a doody-head because he knows what you’re saying is right. He doesn’t like that you’re right, and he wants to defend himself, but he hasn’t a leg to stand on, so this is what he’s reduced to. I’m embarrassed for grown adults with jobs and driver’s licenses who act this way. It’s one of the reasons I usually ignore comments like the ones I’m sharing today.

---

A) You’re assuming facts not in evidence.

B) If “ALL” the Christians you know genuinely think they’re better than everybody else, then you might know some people who claim to be Christians, but you don’t know any who actually are Christians.

However, it’s been my experience that people like you assume Christians think they’re better than everybody else, when, in reality we think nothing of the sort.

What’s actually happening in that situation is that because the Holy Spirit abides in that Christian, you’re feeling Him, in all His holiness, convicting you of your sins so that you can repent and believe the gospel.

You don’t like that feeling, so you deflect it by sublimating your feelings of guilt and conviction into an assumption that that Christian thinks he’s better than you.

This allows you to – arrogantly – feel superior to him, and that feeling of superiority dulls the guilt and conviction you’re feeling, so you feel better.

That is what’s actually happening.

I suspect that’s what’s going on in your heart right now, leading you to make this comment. So, striking while the iron is hot, let me take this opportunity to encourage you to carefully and prayerfully consider the materials and Scriptures here, and repent and believe the gospel.

I haven’t heard back from Tony yet, and maybe I won’t, but unless he actually responds to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in repentance and faith in Christ, my guess is that he’ll respond kind of like Goner did, because…

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:14

And at that point, I’m obligated to discontinue the discourse out of obedience to Scripture:

Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Matthew 7:6

This social media generation (myself included – often) has failed to wisely distinguish between answering a fool according to his folly and the fact that you cannot argue a blind man into seeing. Let’s allow these two passages remind us of that and inform, guard, and guide our interactions online.

If you’d like to follow me on social media (as long as it’s not to argue!), click the Contact and Social Media tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page.

---

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.