Nobody likes to be thought of as STUPID. I remember that in the early 60’s I moved from the elementary school to the high school building (from 6th to 7th grade). Things were different there; we didn’t stay in one room with our classmates, instead, we went from room to room for our various topics of study. This was quite a change but, it didn’t take long to adapt to this new style of learning. We also learned to associate with “upper class men” and even those who were in the “special” ( otherwise known as the retarded class ). This last group ( the special one ), looked different, didn’t act like we did and just didn’t seem as smart as they should have been. Everyone looked down on them and often called them names. What a shame!
Over the years, I learned a lesson that has stayed with me forever; that is… even the most intelligent person can be STUPID about some things. And, this applies to the very smartest of us all – people with very advanced degrees of study. For, it is very rare for a person to be extremely well versed in EVERYTHING. Even more rare than this- to find an extremely knowledgeable person who is wise and willing to listen to what God says they should do in their life.
As I things about this ( and that definition graphic, above ) I remembered the 9th chapter of the Gospel of John, which says…
John 9 ( World English Bible )
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.
4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”
9 Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”
10 They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.
14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them.
17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,
19 and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”
22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”
28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.
32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” They threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36 He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
The Pharisees were very learned and absolutely convinced that THEY AND ONLY THEY HAD THE TRUTH. If you disagreed with them, you were wrong, period! Well, they were wrong about Jesus; HE was the one who knew THE TRUTH, because HE was the Son of God.
I have never met a Pharisee, but I have known people who acted like them. In the very early 70’s I joined a Bible Study. I went once a week to meet with a group of people who wanted to learn more about God and the Bible. Then, in 1977 I talked with an Amway friend of mine ( Jacob Esh ) who introduced me to the concept of the church of Christ. Later on, a friend named Max Neel showed me a verse in the Bible about baptism which said:
Acts 2:38
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I realized that the purpose of baptism was for the forgiveness of sins, but when I returned to my normal Bible Study group, no one would believe this simple truth. They rejected this verse and many others that taught the same thing, as well as the many examples from the book of Acts. The more I studied, the more I became convinced about the genuine purpose of baptism and a few months later I became a New Testament Christian by being baptized into for the forgiveness of my sins.
So, when I think of this definition of STUPID, I remember those people in the Bible Study group and realized that you don’t have to be smart like the Pharisees to be STUPID, anyone can be STUPID, IF they refuse to believe the TRUTH of GOD and just accept a LIE instead.
May God bless us all with hearts that are willing to accept the truth of God’s word, no matter what human beings may say to the contrary.