Have you been called a fool because of your faith or belief in Christ?

Question

We were deceived by the wisdom of the serpent, but we are freed by the foolishness of God.

St. Augustine
I have. Sounds like we are in good company.

Answer 1

The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. for it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness (1 Corinthians 3:19).

Answer 2

Yes I have been called a fool,but I do not mind.God uses the foolish things to confound the wisdom of man.If my love for Jesus is foolish to those who do not know him,and refuse him my hope is at some point my life and faith will be an example of HIS love.

Answer 3

I think Christians should be careful not to consider it 'suffering for their faith' when they are, in fact, acting foolish. Some Christians refuse to accept science facts, it seems, which I find a bit embarrassing, and some really try to push their faith down other people's throat.

One example: one of my friends who is an atheist resigned from her previous job because the Christians harassed her. They were leaving Bible texts on her desk or having prayer meetings behind a locked door in the staff room so she couldn't get in. Why, of course people will call you a fool if you do this type of thing.

I'm not saying it's what you do though. Of course it often happens that a Christian does the right things and get told off for it. I just think we should be very careful about the image we convey.

Answer 4

Yes. Had a former girlfriend -who was converted from Catholicism to "nothing"- ask me if I believed in Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny, or little cupids shooting love arrows. I said, "No" to all of those, and then she said, "Well, why do you believe in God? God is just a figment of your imagination."

Its kind of tough to explain belief at THAT level, so I took out my can of anti-tiger spray. I held up my empty hand and made spraying motions around the room. She said, "What are you doing?" I said, "This is my anti-tiger spray," and held up my empty hand as though I was showing her the label on the can.

And she said, "There's nothing in your hand and there's no such thing as anti-tiger spray!"

And I said, "Hey, you don't see any tigers, either, do you?"

It was the best I could come up with at the time.

But since then, when people question my belief in the Almighty on the premise that such beliefs are foolish or stupid (as opposed to an actual serious discussion based on facts and experience) I use a line from the "Oh God," movie, in which George Burns (as God) explains His existence to John Denver. In this scene, God points out that PEOPLE certainly exist, and Denver agrees that indeed, they do. So Burns says, "Why should my existence be any less probable than your own?"

That's a very good line -not just for a movie, but as a metaphysical statement. And what's more, it stops that "fool" business dead in it tracks. Think about it. You don't even need the Bible, revelation, miracles, or ANY of that.

Simply point out the the person who says you are foolish exists, and they have no choice but to agree that they do. So why, then, should the existence of God be any less possible? The person may then say that it can be PROVEN that he/she exists, but there is no similar proof of God.

And you could even agree with that statement, but now the "argument" is not about existence, but rather about PROOF of existence. And you can point out that disbelief exists about everything until a person has seen what in their mind is adequate proof or evidence. The non-believer has not seen enough proof of God and logically enough doesn't believe. The believer, however, has seen enough proof or evidence and therefore DOES believe.

And no matter how much anyone believes or disbelieves ANYTHING, there can always be NEW evidence that changes their opinion; this happens all the time in science and everyday life. In fact, a real scientist must be intellectually ready at any moment to give up everything he/she believes, when new evidence comes along. Example: until recently, no scientists believed that life could exist in conditions of extreme heat, corrosive chemicals and no air or water -but then, bacteria who thrive in those very conditions were discovered! Back to the drawing board.

Your opponent may then say, OK, what's YOUR proof of God, then. And the answer is quite simple. Look at him or her, straight in the eye and say, "You are, of course." They'll ask why. And you reply, "Because you think, you care, you question, you change people and things around you but mostly because you respond to me, and it matters to me that you do. Very much like the God in whom I believe. You are, therefore, some of the strongest evidence of God I have. I see no reason why, if YOU exist, that God should not exist as well. It's all the proof I need."

Next time someone pops the G question, try it out.

May the Peace of the Lord be with you.

Answer 5

I'm not a Christian, but yes, I've been called a fool for my beliefs. A fool, a cultist, a Satan worshipper; the list goes on and on.

Nice to see you back, Debra. You've been missed.

Answer 6

A fool as well as other comments I wouldn't bother repeating. I've even been threatened with bodily harm. So there are worse things than being called foolish. :)

Answer 7

sadly we have been called a fool amongst other things for our faith/belief in Christ. but this amongst many things is in the bible. we must take it in stride,with confidence and hope and pray the accuser finds the truth. with faith we can proclaim and be reaffirmed in the church given to us the joys of being roman catholic are incalculable........much like the blessings.

"Sounds like we are in good company"
we are in the company of the blessed mother, the angels and saints in heaven.......no place like home:-) god bless.

Answer 8

The answer is yes, once someone cussed me out because I was too darn happy for them... In my opinion, who cares. Am I to be hindered in my walk with God because of a measly little comment from someone who knows nothing about why I do what I do?

Answer 9

No, not yet. I am a Christian and I have a couple of friends who are Atheist.They don't put me down because of my faith in God. Nor do I put them down for their lack of faith. We agreed early not to put strain on our friendship by trying to convert the other and to honor the the others right to believe as he chooses.

Answer 10

Christians on YA have called me a fool, an ignorant and a sinner for not believing in Jesus!!

What a narrow minded religion. frogs in the well dont know there are lakes and oceans outside their well, but for them well is the biggest water body on earth