The verse does not seem to me to teach that all persons who are unbelievers are fools. If one is a fool, in the biblical meaning of the word, he or she is not as likely to believe in God, but many fools do believe. The statement is generalization, something that is common to language usage. Not all fools will be unbelievers, though that identifies those who do not find some faith, or refuse to do so – since faith is vital to life, whether earthly or heavenly. One of the problems with many criminals is that they have no faith in human beings, or institutions, perhaps in themselves. (Arrogance is not evidence of faith.) Unbelief is a mark, evidence that makes one foolish about the meaning of life and nature. A flat earth believer tries to make a fool of the believer with a globe. (There is a sense of stupidity in all.) Scripture teaches the view that nature is an evidence of God – persons are creatures of nature’s God. Whatever made me is God. If this is true, and one rejects it without acknowledging source, the person has played the fool, as related to nature’s context. The adequate creator for nature is made truant to it. That suggests irresponsibility.
A careful study of the word fool in Scripture provides a contextual description of a fool. The meaning is wider and broader ranging than it may mean in modern life. The easiest singular point that identifies the fool is that the fool tends to distort the best, the right, the real, the true. The fool may not be a fool in any other thing, but, in this context, he may play the fool. This is illustrated in King Saul’s statement to David: I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. Saul, sensing God, had played a fool. For the context at hand, an otherwise normal person may become a fool. That is, wise in all else, in this a fool. Had Saul followed his own witness, he could have emerged, and righted his situation. For now he recognized that he failed God, his family and the context of the situation which is to play the fool. Whether a fool or playing the part, Saul’s action was foolish, whether he believed it to be so or not. (1 Samuel 26:21) Well educated and normal persons can become fools. I have met some, and I feel I have sometimes played the fool. The word fool in the biblical sense is not necessarily pejorative. It tends to declare factual that which is not. A fool in a Shakespeare play is the jester, a popular fellow liked by virtually everyone in the royal house, and mimicked among the peasants for entertainment. In Scripture there is nothing funny about the fool. He is one who distorts – becoming a liar. It may not be sinister in the human being, but it distorts evidence.
I have known, in person and in reading, congregations of atheists. They are usually intelligent (perhaps well prepared for their views); decent persons (perhaps hale fellows, well met, and gracious); and, contributing to society (perhaps giving more to others than those who say they are committed to God’s order of service). Some of these have been revisiting their ideas, not to deny them, but for intensifying attitudes they hold and dispel. They are matched by some theists, who may have also generated skeptical attitudes about some preferred viewpoints. This competition, say for origins, gives us pause so as not to make vital conclusions because persons may be unattractive to our person or belief contexts. Each person decides for self, but ought to have a reasoned structure for true comforting beliefs and constructive action.
It has been said that the deist is an atheist who hasn’t taken time to work through matters. It seems obvious to the biblical Christian that God is God, partly because he is interested in the preservation of what he does. The deist believes God created, and then went off to do other great things, winding up nature to function in its own order. So we are on our own – in life and death. Christians reject a god who doesn’t care. Such an unloving god is the subject of the fetish, idol, conjure maker. Such a god offers no value system except the ones that mankind can make – often contradictory. These gods have no continuing interest in nature so offer no perfect love, care, or hope. Prayer and Scripture are lost. Life becomes zero in the end. For the Christian such a god is far too small. God can go wherever he wants to go, without leaving whatever occupied him before. Like the range of life experience and competency between a new-born babe and the parents, so is to be analogous to the great difference between the limitations of mankind and the expansions of God. Resolution is found when we believe God is personal – abiding. It is also good to believe that what perfect God does remains in his attention for ultimate perfection and meaning. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020