Contradiction?

During Wednesday night’s lesson, Pastor commented on the number of people who look for contradictions in the Bible, using them as reasons for ignoring everything the Bible says.  He was teaching from Proverbs 26, and gave a very good example of what many see as contradicting advice:

Pro 26:4  Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Pro 26:5  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Which is it?  Do we answer a fool, or not?

Let me jump back a few years to a class I took on software testing.  Our instructor’s name was Rick, and after introductions, he told us he was going to give us the answer to every question he would ask during the course:

“It depends, Rick.”

That’s the same answer I would give for the example’s apparent contradiction.

First, it depends on the definition of a fool.  That is given in Psalm 14:1 and 53:1:  The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. A fool is one who believes there is no God.

Now that we have that definition, we need to know what the fool’s folly would be. The 37 times it is used in the Bible, it has been described as causing problems for the people of Israel. Much greater error than being irresponsible or absurd, folly resulted in tragic consequences and godlessness often brought about God’s punishment.

Now we’re back to the question – are these verses contradictory? Based on the two definitions, no there is no contradiction.

As one who believes God exists, and that He speaks to His people through His word, we are not to answer a fool in agreement, or according to his folly, or we become as he is in his godlessness.

However, we are to answer the fool, explaining his folly, or he will believe that he is correct and become even more prideful in his belief that what he thinks is important.

The importance to us is our ability to discern whether or not it is a waste of time responding. There is wisdom both in ignoring and in answering. Discerning the correct response will require knowledge of God and the building of faith.

This is a lesson Timothy was given:

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. (1 Timothy 6:5 KJV)

If Christians misbehave, the name of God and his doctrine are laughed at by non-believers. Because of this, we should living according to His word so no one speaks lightly of God. Some disputes help, some hinder. Some we answer, some we simply ignore.

However, yesterday’s closing bears repeating:   Become familiar with God’s word. Remain close to Him in prayer. Be aware of backgrounds and be knowledgeable about people – but (a huge hesitation here) do not get in God’s way. Allow His word, His plan, His work be done in our witness.