Don't Rebuke a Fool

Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
the requirements of the LORD.

'How can you say, "We are wise,
the Lord's Torah is with us,"
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has turned it into falsehood?

The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the LORD,
what kind of wisdom do they have? (Jeremiah 8:7-9)

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." (Psalms 14:1 & 53:1)

The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. (Ecclesiastes 10:2)

It is clear from the verses above that wise men follow the Torah of God and fools do not. We are forbidden from correcting or rebuking "fools" or persons who are not under the covenant. What does it mean to correct or rebuke someone?

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)

According to Paul, Scripture should be used to train someone in the ways of Righteousness. Who wants to walk in the ways of Righteousness? The people of the Book ... Jews and Christians.

So why do we try to force religious rules on non-believers? Why do we have "blue laws" that prevent people from buying alcohol on Sunday? Why do we care if gay people get married? Why do we care if they remove the Ten Commandments from a building? These things while appearing very bad to Christians and Jews are really none of our business. We should be correcting our brothers and sisters if we see them committing a sin that does not lead to death. If we rebuke fools they will hate us ... which is exactly what has happened. The people of this world hate us for telling them that they are wrong. Jesus never rebuked sinners he only rebuked religious people. Let's just be the salt that makes them thirsty for the joy we have by showing love for one another.

I know that I did not mention abortion but that is because abortion is not a religious issue. We already have laws in this country against murder.