Oh Pride, You Pain In My Butt
Yesterday I wanted you to determine what “possesses” you; 
what brings you pride and determines your value in the world. And everything I discussed yesterday, may explain “why” our God makes the wisdom of the world foolish (now did you notice that I did not say that He made the wisdom of world “seem” or “appear” foolish. That’s because He made it to be foolish). But it does not explain, “how ” our God makes it foolish.
Well, Proverbs 16:18 says:
To me, one of the most humorous example of this is found in the fifth chapter of 1st Samuel. This is where the Philistines captured the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon who was their god.
What’s interesting about this particular Dagon god is that the Assyrian’s, also known as the Ninevites, also worshipped this pagan deity. He was seen as half man, and half fish. The reason I point this out is because of the way God used Jonah and a fish to reach the Ninevites to bring them to repentance.
I suppose you could say that Yahweh knew it would take a fish barfing out a man to turn them from their half man/half fish god to the true God. Now, as I was saying, in I Samuel 5 we see what happened when the Philistines captured the ark of God:
But let’s be honest. Doesn’t worshiping a fish seem foolish? And folks think we’re foolish. But wait a minute. Their foolish fish-god fell before the true God I worship. If that wasn’t foolish enough, they were so foolish they still believed that when their god fell and broke, he could still help them when they fell and were broken? Bring that forward. How is that different from folks today who worship the foolish gods of the world?
Not only that, don’t you think it is foolish to believe that a god who can’t take care of himself would take care of you? The same way that the Ark of God can make Dagon foolishly fall when it is brought in, the Word of God makes any god foolish fall as well.
To illustrate how our God will turn the “wisdom” of men into foolishness, I want to tell you a story that dates back to the early 20’s. Now this story has been told several different ways, but I presume one of them may be true.
As the story goes, there was a professor of philosophy who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable intellect.
At the end of every semester, he would say to the class of 300 students, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” In twenty years, nobody ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, “Anyone who believes in God is a fool because if God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove he is God, and yet he can’t do it.”
And every year he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All the students could do nothing but stare. For 20 years all of his students, even the Christians, had been too afraid to stand up.
That is until a particular freshman happened to enroll in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. Though he too was afraid, he prayed that every morning he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what his classmates thought
That is until a particular freshman happened to enroll in the class. He was a Christian and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. Though he too was afraid, he prayed that every morning he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what his classmates thought
Finally, the day came. The professor said, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, standup!” Much to shock of the professor and the class of 300, he stood up. The professor condescendingly shouted, “YOU FOOL! If nothing, I have said all semester has convinced you that God doesn’t exist. Then, you are a fool! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!” He proceeded to follow his standard argument, and dropped the chalk, but this time, as he dropped the chalk,
it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, into the pleats of his pants, and off his shoe. And as it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, UNBROKEN.
The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus Christ for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Is that just a fable? One of those tales we Christians like to promulgate? Well . . . maybe. I am sure it has been told so many times, that some of it has been embellished some. But it does illustrate how our God takes the “wisdom” of men and makes it to be foolishness.
Nickolas
what brings you pride and determines your value in the world. And everything I discussed yesterday, may explain “why” our God makes the wisdom of the world foolish (now did you notice that I did not say that He made the wisdom of world “seem” or “appear” foolish. That’s because He made it to be foolish). But it does not explain, “how ” our God makes it foolish.Well, Proverbs 16:18 says:
Pride precedes a disaster,Another way to say that is that the wisdom of the world is destroyed vis-à-vis man’s pride going before the destruction, as will his haughty spirit before the fall.
and an arrogant attitude precedes a fall
To me, one of the most humorous example of this is found in the fifth chapter of 1st Samuel. This is where the Philistines captured the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon who was their god.
What’s interesting about this particular Dagon god is that the Assyrian’s, also known as the Ninevites, also worshipped this pagan deity. He was seen as half man, and half fish. The reason I point this out is because of the way God used Jonah and a fish to reach the Ninevites to bring them to repentance.
I suppose you could say that Yahweh knew it would take a fish barfing out a man to turn them from their half man/half fish god to the true God. Now, as I was saying, in I Samuel 5 we see what happened when the Philistines captured the ark of God:
Early the next day the people of Ashdod saw that Dagon had fallen forward on the ground in front of Yahweh’s ark. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the next morning they saw that Dagon had again fallen forward on the ground in front of Yahweh’s ark. Dagon’s head and his two hands were cut off and were lying on the temple’s threshold. The rest of Dagon’s body was intact (I Samuel 5:3-4)Please forgive my sense of humor but when they saw their god on its face as if it was worshiping the Ark of the Lord, wouldn’t they know something was fishy was going on? (Sorry, I just had to say it).
But let’s be honest. Doesn’t worshiping a fish seem foolish? And folks think we’re foolish. But wait a minute. Their foolish fish-god fell before the true God I worship. If that wasn’t foolish enough, they were so foolish they still believed that when their god fell and broke, he could still help them when they fell and were broken? Bring that forward. How is that different from folks today who worship the foolish gods of the world?Not only that, don’t you think it is foolish to believe that a god who can’t take care of himself would take care of you? The same way that the Ark of God can make Dagon foolishly fall when it is brought in, the Word of God makes any god foolish fall as well.
To illustrate how our God will turn the “wisdom” of men into foolishness, I want to tell you a story that dates back to the early 20’s. Now this story has been told several different ways, but I presume one of them may be true.
As the story goes, there was a professor of philosophy who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable intellect.
At the end of every semester, he would say to the class of 300 students, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” In twenty years, nobody ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, “Anyone who believes in God is a fool because if God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove he is God, and yet he can’t do it.”
And every year he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All the students could do nothing but stare. For 20 years all of his students, even the Christians, had been too afraid to stand up.
That is until a particular freshman happened to enroll in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. Though he too was afraid, he prayed that every morning he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what his classmates thought
That is until a particular freshman happened to enroll in the class. He was a Christian and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. Though he too was afraid, he prayed that every morning he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what his classmates thought
Finally, the day came. The professor said, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, standup!” Much to shock of the professor and the class of 300, he stood up. The professor condescendingly shouted, “YOU FOOL! If nothing, I have said all semester has convinced you that God doesn’t exist. Then, you are a fool! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!” He proceeded to follow his standard argument, and dropped the chalk, but this time, as he dropped the chalk,
it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, into the pleats of his pants, and off his shoe. And as it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, UNBROKEN.The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus Christ for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Is that just a fable? One of those tales we Christians like to promulgate? Well . . . maybe. I am sure it has been told so many times, that some of it has been embellished some. But it does illustrate how our God takes the “wisdom” of men and makes it to be foolishness.
Nickolas
(I send out messages like this each morning in emails, and if you are interested in receiving them, send me your email address and I will add you to the list. However, you can also find these messages at: Thought For The Day)
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