Thou Fool!

It is a serious matter to call another person a fool, but there is still a lot of foolishness in this world.  A foolish person is not necessarily a bad person.  It is just someone who cannot see reality for what it is, and is therefore prone to poor judgement and decisions.  It twice tells us in the Proverbs: "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God."  This person is living in an alternative reality.  They are missing the whole purpose for which they were created, Romans 1:22.

In the 1930's, Germany was rapidly rearming.  The British intelligensia kept reassuring the people that they were protected by a network of treaties and the League of Nations.  But there was one man in England who would not be silenced, and he was so unpopular that they would not even let him speak on the BBC.  It was, of course, Winston Churchill.  Someone who reminds people of reality is never going to be popular.  In 1934, the Oxford Debating Club issued their famous dictum that "they would not fight for King or country."  However, 5 years later, reality intruded, and the Second World War left over 70 million people dead. 

Jesus gave us several parables which speak about the foolish person.  It is not generally what we would think.

Luke 12:20  "Thou fool, this night thy life shall be required of thee."  This man would generally be admired and considered wise.  He thought ahead, he made good decisions, and he planned ahead. However, "he was not rich toward God", and he was therefore tagged a fool.  Everything he did was going to end at the grave.

Matthew 7:26  A wise person is defined as someone who is building their lives on the words of Jesus.  He is taking them seriously.  A foolish person is just one who is not taking them seriously.  We are told their end.  The winds came, and the storm blew, and everything they lived for was taken away.

Matthew 25:5  The Parable of the Ten Virgins.  In small villages, the wedding feast would last into the wee hours of the night.  The custom was for the groom to then be escorted to the bride house for the first time.  His friends would hid along the way, and join him.  No one knew how long they would have to wait, and it was pitch dark.  A wise person would bring additional oil because of the unknown length of time.  All of the people were virgins; or good people.  But not everyone was prepared.  A wise person in this parable was the person who was prepared.