An Adventure in Proverbs - Chapter 9

My whole premise in doing this read through of Proverbs was to pick one thing that stood out to me in each chapter after I read it. Never is this more evident than in today's post.

7 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,
    and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
⁸ Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
    reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
⁹ Give instruction^[b] to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
    teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

There is a pretty good chance you ended up here becuase of some form of social media (Facbook, Twitter, etc.). If that's the case, this post will make perfect sense.  The second I read the phrase "Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse" the only thing I could think of was Facebook. I've noticed recently that conversations on Facebook where two people disagree with one another turn contentious and vicious pretty quickly. Especially when it comes to matters of faith and/or politics. Especially politics. If you even try to disagree with someone in a comment thread watch out, because you're taking your digital life and putting it at risk of being piled on and abused by the infamous "angry facebook guy". So many people on the internet become "scoffers" because they say things on the web they would never say in person, or they say things in a way on the web that they wouldn't dare say to someone's face. They make themselves into cartoon characters who just spout inane platitudes that attack other people's beliefs, thus making themselves feel smart, but really just outing themselves as bitter scoffers.  

My policy on all this, don't engage in political debate on the internet at all, and only use the most gentle and thougtful language when discussing matters of faith/belief.  The only way to disarm a scoffer is with humility, because they have a hard time scoffing and disparraging someone who is genuinely not trying to go to battle with them.

Those are my thoughts for today.

One last thing though, the very next verse is tattoo worthy:

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Once you understand who you are and who God is, you're ready to start figuring life out, slowly, but it starts with knowing the difference between Him and you.