Foolish Misrepresentation

“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgement. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion...If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame...The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” (Proverbs 18:1-2, 13, 17, ESV)

Frustrated and Angry

I remember a time in my life when I was frustrated and angry. I had been entering into many conversations with people who were misrepresenting my opinion. It’s one of the most frustrating things to hear someone say, “Well, you believe this!!!” and you KNOW you don’t believe it. 

In the midst of my frustrations, God convicted me. As I was venting to someone about my frustrations, I realized I had been doing the same thing to “the other side.” I hadn’t been faithfully representing their opinion either. I had been doing the same thing to “them” that was frustrating me. I was not loving my neighbor as myself. 

Knowing Their Argument

During this time I had a professor present a significant challenge to our class. He said, “You need to understand and argue the ‘other side’s’ argument better than they can.” Not only is that a convicting statement. It’s also very difficult. 

Easier to Misrepresent

It’s a lot easier to misunderstand and misrepresent someone else’s argument. You don’t really have to study what they believe or try to understand. All you have to do is make their argument sound ridiculous, mock it, and disregard it. That’s a lot easier that trying to understand and present an argument accurately. 

To understand and present an argument accurately, you need to put in some work. You not only need to do some reading and study, but you also need to listen to things in which you disagree. You need to have conversations with people and ask questions. You need to be constantly saying things like, “If I hear you correctly, you believe this for these reasons.” Then correct things if they disagree. 

Wisdom Versus Foolishness

The book of Proverbs says this is wisdom. It also says we are a FOOL if we don’t live this way. The passages at the top of this post give us a lot of guidance. Verse one tells us that if we isolate ourselves from other opinions, we only want to hear our own opinion and end up rejecting sound judgements. Verse two tells us that a FOOL only wants to express their opinion over and over again without taking the time to understand. Verse 13 says that a FOOL is someone who gives an answer before taking the time to listen. Verse 17 says that our opinions seem right until someone examines them and questions them. 

Principles Needed Right Now

To say it bluntly, as I listen to our current cultural conversations, there are a lot of fools. I also notice a strong temptation to become a fool myself. We need these principles from Proverbs more than ever. 

When I listen to people argue about “to mask or not to mask,” I repeatedly hear misrepresentation of the other side’s opinion. When I listen to people argue about what racial reconciliation should look like, I repeatedly hear misrepresentations. When we listen to the political ads on television, they are polluted with misrepresentation. It’s all foolishness. And because we live in the midst of this foolishness, we are constantly tempted to swim along with the foolish current of our culture. 

Refuse to Misrepresent

If we are going to reject foolishness and live wisely in the world—the way God has created us to live—we need to refuse to misrepresent someone’s opinions. We need to put in the hard work of studying what they believe and why they believe it. We need to interact with what they truly believe and not some misrepresentation of what they believe. We need to make sure we’re not isolating ourselves in echo chambers that repeatedly tell us we’re right. We need to take more pleasure in understanding than in expressing our own opinions. We need to listen to people who are examining our own opinions. This is the way of wisdom. This is the way God has created us to live in the world—the way God has created us to interact with one another.