Don’t answer—do answer!

15 March 2003

Some who superficially read the Bible claim that Proverbs 26:4-5 makes contradictory¹ statements: ‘Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.’

These two verses actually sum up the emphasis of the Answers in Genesis ministry: apologetics (giving a defense of the Christian faith). If only pastors and Christian educators—all Christians, in fact—would apply the wise principles God has laid down for us in His Word, then the church and Christian schools would be much more successful in countering false arguments and in witnessing. Let’s learn the lessons God teaches us in these verses: ‘Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.’

Time and time again, we have insisted that it is essential to understand that all evidence is interpreted on the basis of ‘pre-suppositions.’ As Christians, we must recognize that all of our thinking—in every area—should be built upon the history revealed in God’s Word. By doing this, you then have the correct ‘big picture’ way of understanding the universe so that the evidence of the present can be interpreted correctly.

Sadly, many Christians often succumb to the non-Christian’s challenge to provide evidence for the existence of God, creation and the Christian faith, etc., without using the Bible. When you agree to these terms of the debate, however, then you are answering a person ‘according to [i.e. within the terms of] his folly.’

In other words, the Christian has accepted the non-Christian’s presuppositions (that thinking is not to be built on the Bible), and thus, by default, he has only the non-Christian’s way of thinking to interpret the evidence. Such a person cannot ‘win’ the argument because he has no true foundation (God’s Word) on which to correctly (and differently) interpret the evidence. The Christian might try to use a different interpretation of the evidence (consistent with a Biblical foundation), but without acknowledging the foundation, the argument will likely fail.

If Christians truly understood the presuppositional nature of the argument, they would never answer someone ‘according to their folly’ (i.e. on the basis of secular presuppositions about life). Now verse five: ‘Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes’ appears to contradict verse four. But when you think about it, there is infinite wisdom behind it.

As we said, first you show the non-Christian that you will not argue according to someone else’s presuppositions. Rather, you use the Biblical foundation of history to interpret evidence, confirming this with real science. Then you need to proceed by applying verse five—i.e. answering an opponent by showing the logical consequences of his ‘folly’ (non-Biblical presuppositions). For instance, if someone does not believe in God and claims there is no absolute authority, then logically, there is no basis for right or wrong, good or evil, etc. In other words, morality is relative. If someone believes they evolved by chance, then you need to point out that their processes of logic—of thinking—also evolved by chance. Because these things evolved by chance, you can’t be sure they evolved the right way—thus ultimately you can’t be sure they are even asking the right questions … let alone understanding the answers!

I thought about the application of verse six recently when we received a testimony about a 14-year-old student at a church-run school. She challenged her compromising teacher, who was telling students that Christians could believe in evolution. As reported to us, the principal apparently called her to his office and said, ‘Well, if I believe this [evolution], why can’t you?’ The young girl simply replied, ‘If we can’t rely on the Genesis account, we can’t rely on anything in the Bible, and we can’t accept that Jesus really is our Saviour.’ This sharp young lady was answering this person according to his folly—pointing out the consequences (for a Christian) of starting with the wrong presupposition, in this case that you can accept evolution without any problems. Praise the Lord, as a result of this girl’s argument, we read in the e-mail that she had ‘stirred a hornet’s nest amongst the staff … A staff retreat had to be called to determine the truth of the matter. Never before had their theological viewpoint been so seriously shaken.’

It is vital that we don’t answer … and that we do answer. God’s Word is powerful, when we take Him at His Word.

---

1. Sadly, some sceptics think that since ‘ancient people were stupid’, they didn’t realize that these ‘contradictory’ statements were next to each other. But obviously, the author intended these seemingly opposite statements to go together, and this article suggests some applications. In fact, they do not have the logical form of a contradiction, but a dilemma—there are problems with both ways of dealing with a fool. Also, we should add, proverbial literature is not intended to be absolute. Return to top.