Chapter 1

Diagnosing Our Disorder

America entered the 21st century with a bundle of seemingly contradictory impulses. In the late 1990s we were rolling in unprecedented national prosperity. During the same period we were shocked by a series of blows to our moral sensibilities that left us reeling like a punch-drunk fighter at the end of a punishing round. Among the top news stories of that decade, history will certainly remember these:

•the bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City by zealots who charged their own government with lawlessness and treason;

•the impeachment of a president on perjury charges amid sensational, long-denied, but finally uncontested allegations of moral turpitude;

•a shocking series of shootings in public schools throughout "middle America," culminating in an especially heinous mass murder staged by two high school boys.

All of these events deeply disturbed the nation’s soul, had citizens calling for somebody to do something, and polarized people according to their opinion of what that something ought to be! Even more disturbing, all these events seemed to be not merely isolated events, but markers of social trends. Even so, we had no idea what was going to turn up on the other side of the "New Millennium." Some were worried whether we would even make it past the "Y2K bug." That turned out to be the least of our worries. We survived that with barely a hiccup, but we carried our other real problems with us and added new ones to them as well.

We have no problem identifying the symptoms and dimensions of our social crisis: drugs, gangs, violence, racism, poverty, divorce, AIDS, illegitimacy, social and political polarization. In addition, for every element of social crisis, there seems to be a corresponding personal crisis among individuals–anxiety, fear, anger, low self-worth, addiction, depression, compulsion.

The question is, how do we diagnose these problems? (Leave aside for now the roster of issues over which our society divides when it even tries to define the problem, e.g., abortion, gay rights, capital punishment.) We must identify a cause before we can pinpoint a solution.

The Answers of 20th Century Humanism

Humanism in the 20th century has offered two basic categories of answers. I use the term "humanism" here descriptively, neither to commend nor to disparage. Humanism is a worldview that begins and ends with human understanding and capability. It is a philosophy that says that if man causes a problem, he can fix it. At least, he had better be able to fix it, because there is no one else out there who can.

There are two basic humanistic answers concerning why there is so much disorder and hurt in our society, and solutions are proposed accordingly. One approach that surfaces regularly is behaviorism.

The behaviorists, who were variously in and out of vogue throughout the 20th century, supplied us with one of the most used buzzwords of the 1980s and ‘90s that is still with us today. They told us that human problems are essentially "dysfunctions." We have dysfunctional families, dysfunctional relationships, dysfunctional institutions– dysfunctional people. I confess to you that while I occasionally use the word "dysfunction," I do not like it. It seems to connote almost a mechanical difficulty, implying a mechanical solution. What you need here is an expert technician in human behavior that can come in and repair the problem with the human machine. Behaviorism always has its proponents and practitioners, and its history suggests that even if it is not the current dominant view, it will be back.

From the beginning of the modern era, an ever-popular diagnosis of human disorder is the "disease" model, which treats people’s problems as illnesses. In this approach, all abnormality is essentially the sign of a sick person. Destructive behavior must not be punished. Rather, the perpetrator can and must be cured by the right therapy or, increasingly, by the right drug. The old commercial slogan, "Better living through chemistry" takes on a new meaning in a day when people with disorderly behavior and unruly moods are given a prescription and sent to the pharmacy. Psychology has lost its soul, pyche has been absorbed by soma, and human redemption is found in a gelcap.

Closely aligned are those who affirm that our behavior is almost entirely the product of our chromosomes. Laboratory study of the human genome has progressed phenomenally in very few years. Every new discovery brings forth some spokesman who calls it certain that all behavior is genetically determined, persuaded that our new knowledge is the key to the peace of the millennium. Once we know that a particular gene is the "cause" of a certain behavior, that behavior can now (or soon) be directed through genetic engineering. In the never-ending battle between Nature vs. Nurture, whichever has the upper hand at any given time, the loser always seems to be human dignity and meaning.

Do not misunderstand the point here. Both models–the behavioristic and the physiological–undeniably do have some practical usefulness. To a certain extent, the methods based on them seem to have had enough pragmatic success to draw some very conservative Christians to their clinics. It is even possible to utilize their techniques within a Christian frame of reference. Nevertheless, as models they both share two fundamental weaknesses, and consequently their results will always be faulty if we try to rely on them for the definition and explanation of the human problem.

For one thing, whether we speak of diseases or dysfunctions, we are trying to analyze personal problems and personal choices by using impersonal models. As a result, if we say that someone behaves as he does because he is sick, we have allowed that he is a patient but not a person.

Someone may object here that a patient is a person. No, a patient is a subject under medical treatment. Therapy focuses not upon the person but on the disease that produces behavior problems, as though the behavior were separate from the person. The person is not really under consideration, but rather constitutes the field in which the abnormal or diseased condition occurs. Of course, all treatment is done to benefit the person, but the patient is responsible neither for his own condition nor for his own recovery, except that he must cooperate to some extent with the professionals who administer the therapy.

In the same way, the very use of the term "dysfunction" inevitably dehumanizes the very person we’re trying to help. It implies that we are dealing merely with the complexities of a system, not a soul. Once again, it is the professionals who are the key to the subject’s recovery.

In the second place, both of these diagnoses tend to magnify victimhood at the expense of human responsibility. If Joe is sick or if he is the inevitable product of a dysfunctional environment, how can Joe be held accountable for his actions? Much of the psychotherapy of the past two or three decades, with some notable exceptions, seems to have been consumed with laying blame and diverting responsibility. If the 1970s began with the theme "I’m okay, you’re okay," the 1990s devolved into, "I’m not okay, and it’s your fault." With recent advances in genetic technology, an increasing number of troubled people are claiming that it’s their chromosomes’ fault. Whether the double helix becomes the new scapegoat of the 21st century remains yet to be seen.

Some go further to blame evolution, and buttress their claims with animal studies that supposedly shed light on human behavior and ethics. For example, a few years ago a zoologist released a study in a science journal that caused a brief and entertaining (if unedifying) national flap, coming as it did in the midst of the Ken Starr investigation of President Clinton. It purported to show that infidelity is both natural and beneficial among nine out of ten mammal and bird species that mate for life–including humans. The driving force for the cheating is not lust, said the study. Lust is only the means to an end. The real explanation is the drive for species survival. Males spread their sperm around to try to sire as many offspring as possible, while females search for the best possible genetic prospects to fertilize their eggs. What a comfort to every spouse who has been cheated on and to every child affected by a broken home: Darwinian forces have everything under control! Cold comfort indeed.

The last third of the 20th century witnessed the upsurge in the Western world of a more ancient, Eastern style of humanism that appears to turn our Euro-American categories on their head. Psychology seemed to recover its soul in the writings of best-selling authors like M. Scott Peck and Deepak Chopra. New Age philosophies propose that our problems result from our failure to recognize our innate unity and identity with God, even our own divinity. The self-actualization techniques of Eastern mysticism are mined for everything from sublime enlightenment of the spirit to sublime sexual gratification. In this scenario, psyche now absorbs soma, and human redemption is achieved individually through the bodymind.

There is a semblance of personal responsibility in this scenario: the individual must lay hold of his own identity with the universe, conceived in spiritual terms. A closer inspection, however, shows this apparent sense of responsibility is, in fact, only a mirage. The monistic worldview undergirding this philosophy makes no more distinction between the individual and the impersonal forces of the universe than the naturalistic theories we have considered above. If everything is ultimately one, then not only is the distinction between the person and the universe lost, so also is the distinction even between good and evil.

The Answer of the Bible

The Bible, on the other hand, approaches human problems and the complexities of individual and social life through a moral realism. It asserts that the true crisis we face is neither educational, nor economic, nor political. At the root, the problems we face are moral and spiritual in nature.

To say that our crisis is moral means two things. First, it means that it is rooted in the necessity of choosing between right and wrong. Second, it means that conflicts result either from choosing wrong, or else from trying to do right in a world where others are doing wrong. (Some might prefer the term "ethics" here, but the main thing is to understand that the primary issue is whether a choice is right or wrong, and that the desirability of the results is a secondary consideration.)

To say that our crisis is spiritual means that our moral choices have a significance beyond social convention. We humans are not absurd, self-aware bugs abiding in the moral void of an impersonal universe that is indifferent to our choices. Quite to the contrary, our lives are "naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." The Bible affirms that the ultimate responsibility for social order is personal and individual–that everyone must carry his own load. Moreover we will all give an account to a personal God for the motives, deeds, and effects of our lives.

In addition, to say that our crisis is spiritual affirms the foundational truth that we are created in the image of God and possess a spiritual nature. Morality, therefore, is not merely a hormonal dialectic between our brains and our gonads. We are not mere biological machines which, by an accident of evolution, acquired self-consciousness and have been tormented by it ever since. Right and wrong, good and evil, truth and falsehood are more than socially useful constructs with no real meaning in themselves. They are terms that define the nature of reality–a reality founded in a real Creator and Judge of all.

In line with these fundamental truths, the Bible searches out the manifold problems of society and identifies the root cause of as a crisis of character. This concern for character is a universal one, and the morality that defines character is absolute. It is based upon the principle that one God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign over the whole world. "For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations."

The apostle Paul used this moral argument for monotheism as the common ground on which he approached the pluralistic philosophers of Athens.

    And he made from one blood every nation of men to dwell upon the whole face of the earth,

    having determined prearranged times and the boundaries of their dwelling, for them to seek the

    Lord. For perhaps they might grope for him and might find him–though indeed he is not far from

    each of us. For 'in him we live and move and exist,' as even some of the poets among you have

    said: 'For we are indeed his offspring.'

For this reason, character is not merely a private consideration, a "deeply personal matter" as the cliché goes. Our society has become so divided culturally that, as the landmarks of the old moral consensus have fallen, we have made morality a matter of feelings to be guarded against the encroachment of social tyranny. But we err if we make character development an issue of individualism vs. collectivism. Yes, character is a matter of the responsibility of the individual, but it is more than that. The goodness and strength of any society anywhere at any time is defined by its collective moral character.

    Righteousness exalts a nation,

    but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Righteousness is a word that has not seen much use outside of church in the last several decades (indeed, it has fallen into disuse within many churches!), but it is one that is crucial to our discussion here. Any nation is elevated by righteousness, and any society is debased by the failure of its people to live righteously. Therefore, from the Bible’s point of view, all well-meaning people should be concerned with the moral development of its population. Even in a pluralistic society with many differing religious beliefs (or the lack of beliefs), the moral health of the people is a concern common to all.

There are those who suggest that Christians should not be concerned with moral development–that we are above it all. Don't we believe that salvation comes not from good works and keeping the moral law, but by faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ? Besides misconstruing what we are trying to say, such an argument both misunderstands and misapplies the doctrine of salvation by faith. More to the point in this context, we Christians also have a vested interest in the strengthening of the moral fabric of our society. It is "that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." When a society’s character is in crisis, we all suffer the effects together.

On September 11, 2001, the world lurched abruptly into a new era. The peace of that clear, sunny morning was exploded by an unprecedented attack on the free world with the destruction of the World Trade Center and the devastation of the Pentagon. Suddenly the Western nations, and the United States in particular, were required to summon all their resources of moral character to stand up to a determined but elusive foe. In the shock of the moment, all America–and indeed, the world–responded and rallied to the remarkable strength and leadership of a president who, with grim resolution, pledged a patient and protracted campaign to eliminate the mortal threat of terrorism. Before long, however, both honest differences of philosophy and cynical political pandering began to erode support for–and even a sense of the reality of–the war on terror. At this writing it remains to be seen whether the American people will have the stomach or stamina to sustain a long-term campaign against such an enemy. Every indication is that it will take a demonstration of moral resolve that America has not seen since the 1940s in order to meet this new challenge.

One thing that must be noted about these self-described enemies of ours is this: What they most despise about America and the West is what they see as moral degeneracy and weakness of character. They see modernity as an inevitably corrupting influence to which all the West has succumbed. They are determined to turn back that influence and seek first to drive the United States–the Great Satan–out of the Middle East forever. In so doing, they have imposed upon the current generation the most critical test of our national character it has yet seen. It is a test that will set the course of the future history of the world. Moral character will make the difference in this crisis and conflict. Its failure at this moment, it is no exaggeration to say, may mean the downfall of our civilization. No less than at any other momentous time in history, we face a character crisis of epic proportions.

Character Deficiency Syndrome

The sharpest description and diagnosis of such a crisis of character ever given is found in the wisdom literature of the Bible, which comprises the books of Job, Ecclesiastes, some of the Psalms, and especially the book of Proverbs. This literature teaches that moral character is grounded in reverence for God and constitutes wisdom. It calls the failure of character "folly." The sages who wrote these books, Solomon being chief among them, presented their observations with unsurpassed poetic virtuosity. Their true genius, however, is the method by which they made their observations. These ancient writers were the original behavioral profilers.

The art and science of criminal profiling has become a celebrated subject of motion pictures and television series. Though presaged to some extent by the Sherlock Holmes stories, it actually is a relatively recent development in the study of abnormal human behavior and as a crime fighting tool. John Douglas is the investigator who developed the FBI’s elite serial crime unit, applying inductive methods of constructing profiles of serial killers with uncanny accuracy. In the book Mind Hunter, Douglas writes that he always instructs his classes that whoever wants to understand Picasso has to study his art. Likewise, whoever desires to understand the criminal personality has to study his crime. He specifies the difference between his method and a psychiatrist’s:

The mental-health professionals start with the personality and infer behavior from that perspective. My people and I start with the behavior and infer the personality from that perspective.

The similarity between Douglas’s methods and Solomon’s cannot be missed. The same approach is taken throughout the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. It is a mistake to regard Proverbs only as a book of moralistic maxims. In fact, it collects into a single volume hundreds of concise masterpieces of inductive observation. It describes what people do in order to show what they are–or, as Jesus put it, how one may know a tree by its fruit. Gathering these diverse observations together by subject matter enables the reader to construct behavioral profiles that are often startlingly complete.

The challenge is to collect and collate all these observations in a way that the fuller picture can be constructed. The proverbs that preserve these observations are dispersed so unsystematically that they give the appearance of being disconnected and haphazard. There is purpose in the seeming randomness of lessons. It is to make the reader work, to think:

     To understand a proverb and the interpretation,

     the words of the wise and their riddles.

The search is part of the fun. First one must gather the bits of information on a theme, follow the threads that lead to other themes, and analyze the relationships between issues. Our common theme in this book is the fool and his folly.

The words "fool" and "folly" in the English Bible translate several Hebrew words used widely in the Old Testament for individuals who are deficient in character. Don’t be fooled by our contemporary uses of the word "fool." The fool we’re talking about is not necessarily unintelligent. He is unwise. This is not someone who is silly or ridiculous, but someone who has never learned that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

I mentioned that there are several Hebrew words. In this book we are going to look specifically at six terms. They are not interchangeable synonyms, but each one has a distinct shade of meaning which illuminates our central theme. Together they indicate at least four progressive stages or degrees of descent into moral and spiritual depravity. I call this pattern of descent Character Deficiency Syndrome.

This is not an attempt to be jazzy or cute. I am not trying to create a New Age cliché here. Every word is deliberate and meaningful. The whole issue is about moral character. Wisdom means knowing the right thing to do and doing it. It is equivalent to the kind of sound and God-fearing character that thinks straight, makes good choices, and does what is right in a complicated world–even when doing right seems to make things even more complicated. "You’ve got to pay your dues," as the song says, and "it don’t come easy." Character willingly pays its dues. Folly amounts to a deficiency of that kind of character. The fool does not want to pay the dues. He wants the good life to "come easy." That is his first mistake. He goes downhill from there–and he does go downhill.

Folly does not stay still. It is progressive. Weakness of character is degenerative, and the process of its degeneration has identifiable, integrally connected stages. When we put the biblical clues together, we can see a clear pattern of cause and effect. Hence the term "syndrome."

The first stage, the first degree of folly, signifies the simple or naïve fool, who is unthinking, gullible, and "devoid of understanding." He does not even have a basic comprehension of moral cause and effect. The second degree is the self-confident fool. He is known mainly by his stubbornness and by his big mouth. The third degree is the committed fool, who has decisively rejected wisdom and instead made a commitment to destructive ideas and behaviors. There are some other interesting–if distressing– dimensions to this stage of the syndrome that we shall talk about when we get to them.

Finally there is a terminal stage of Character Deficiency Syndrome: the scornful fool, a mocker who is openly contemptuous of spiritual truth and moral righteousness. Many fools do not advance to this stage, if for no other reason than that it requires too much effort and commitment. On the other hand, some whom one would never suspect–including many that appear to be upstanding citizens, even clergy–actually descend to this level. They not only harbor a deep hatred for ethical absolutes, they have become evangelists for moral infidelity. They may well have passed a deadline beyond which God will have no mercy for their guilty souls.

This book, then, is about folly in all its inglorious dimensions: its symptoms, its diagnosis, its causes, and–if we may be permitted to borrow for analogy the "disease model" we criticized earlier–its cure.

First, however, we must clarify the context for this teaching–and that context is wisdom. It has already been suggested above that wisdom is not a matter of intelligence, but rather moral character. Much more needs to be said. In order to understand folly, we need to grasp what the Bible says about wisdom. Wisdom, we shall see, is not a system of laws and commandments, nor is it an addendum to God's laws. It is rather a worldview, a way of looking at all of life and reality.

 * * *

Chapter 4

Without a Clue

Suppose you found in your mailbox today a letter on impressive, official-looking stationary from some office of a West African nation, say Nigeria. It is legitimately postmarked from that location. The text of the letter explains that a foreign contract overpayment has created a fiscal emergency in that country’s banking system, and that tens of millions of dollars must be quickly moved out of Nigeria into foreign banks. If you will make your bank account available to hold some of these funds, they will let you keep thousands of those dollars for yourself. There is no risk involved–except that they do ask that you disclose enough of your financial information to make sure you are trustworthy. They also want you to send an "advance fee" to pay for transfer costs. How do you respond?

If you decide to keep your own money in your bank account and your sensitive financial information to yourself, you may consider it profit. The many who have generously opened their accounts to this windfall have received nothing in return for their generosity but a sizable debit in their bank accounts and a compromise of their personal security.

This is not a hypothetical situation, but an actual scam that has been around since the 1980s and continues to hoodwink thousands of victims out of millions of dollars every year. The Nigerian letter, known by law enforcement authorities as a "4-1-9" or "advance fee" fraud, is a new and sophisticated version of an ancient swindle. In the 1920s it spawned a variation known as "The Spanish Prisoner" con. The Internet has facilitated an explosion of frauds like this. In one six month period I received fourteen different email solicitations to get rich very quickly just by letting these folks use my bank account for awhile.

I have received dozens of such solicitations over the years, some of them with a religious or charitable theme, and not just from West Africa, but from Asia and the Middle East as well. I have treated them all as the first, which I immediately deposited (wistfully, I admit) in the household trash. I could only wish that I had always shown that kind of good sense and self-control in the face of the offer too good to be true. Unfortunately, I have on other occasions also suffered the same embarrassment and loss that comes to all who share the lapse of character we shall define in this chapter.

The first, or latent stage of Character Deficiency Syndrome is to be "simple," and the Bible provides a thorough description of the simple fool. The Hebrew word is pethi (pe-thee), from the root pata (pa-tah), which means open, spacious, or wide. It is tempting to call this fellow an "airhead," but that would be missing the point. Remember, in the Bible neither wisdom nor folly is a matter of intellect or even personality. Both are moral issues, and both are a choice.

The simple one is empty, rather, in the sense of being naïve, immature, lacking judgment and discernment. The phrase most often associated with this word is "one who lacks understanding." There is a kind of simplicity that is a virtue. This is not it. This is not simplicity but simpleness, the front door to folly, which is the way of destruction. The word denotes someone, as we will see, who is gullible and easily enticed. He is usually contrasted with the "prudent" person, who has learned or is learning how to make choices based on moral convictions rather than feelings. Prudence is the normal (i.e., God-intended), healthy human condition–but simpleness is the prevailing one, the universal default pattern of human behavior.

Moral Carelessness

The chief characteristic of the simple one is credulity, gullibility, dullness. One might think that the simple one needs only to become sophisticated through education and experience. His situation is not that, well–simple. Remember, the key issue is moral character, not intellect, or personality, or even common sense. This sort of naïveté is not merely the product of innocent trust. The simple fool chooses to trust those who are liable to mislead him, while at the same time he remains skeptical of those who would instruct and advise him about right and wrong. He may see himself as wise and understanding.

Moral character proceeds from choices that are freely made. The simple person, however, does not see his choices as being morally loaded. For him it comes down to a matter of what he wants. Notice how Solomon diagnoses his problem:

    The simple believes every word,

     but the prudent watches well where he steps.

In other words, the simple one trusts people without weighing either the wisdom of their words or the goodness of their motives. The only thing that matters is that someone is telling him what he wants to hear and to believe. This soul cannot–or rather, will not–tell the difference between someone who is telling the truth and someone who is feeding him a very clever line. It is a relatively mild form of character deficiency, but one that makes him easy prey for those who would take advantage of him or lead him astray into virtually any kind of vice. In his mind exercising discernment might short-circuit a good time or cut off a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. The simple one is a fish ready to bite the hook.

This habitual gullibility leads to a pattern of behavior that can only be described as careless and foolhardy.

    A prudent person foresees the evil and hides himself,

    but the simple pass on, and are punished.

He simply does not calculate consequences. It is not that he is over-confident. He just does not think ahead because that would be too much trouble. Neither does he consider that there are moral causes and effects. Moral thinking might interfere with what he wants to do. He may even regard prudent planning to be pessimistic. To him, optimism is to plunge ahead and assume luck will favor him.

At first glance, the proverb above presents the picture of two responses to an impending disaster. A hurricane approaches the coast. The prudent board up their homes and businesses and take their families to a safer place further inland until the storm is passed. The simple assume that the storm will probably pass by as usual and do nothing. The fun-loving among them take their surfboards out to catch the best waves that have ever hit the beach and play until the storm overtakes them and it is too late to escape.

There is more to be found in this proverb, however. It lies in the contrast between the attitudes of the prudent and of the simple. These attitudes not only control how the two react differently to a set of circumstances. They also control how each one actually creates his own set of circumstances. The prudent individual acts with foresight, while the simple individual just acts.

Prudent foresight is not anything like psychic clairvoyance. No one knows the future but God. No one can truly calculate or comprehend all the compound effects of any single deed or word. It is only reasonable, however, to anticipate the direct consequences a given choice may produce. It is not hard to understand that doing right is good and that wrongdoing creates havoc. It is true that sometimes doing the right thing is difficult, or that the goodness of the moral choice may be obscured by pressing needs of the moment. It is also true that evil often wears the cloak of expediency. Doing right often must be done by faith. This is why we have the wisdom literature in the Bible: to show us the advantages of the right choice and the disasters of the wrong.

****

The Heritage of the Simple

There are indeed consequences to every choice, according to whether the deed is good or evil. It is possible that the simple one may learn from those consequences, but too often he is shielded from the unpleasant results of his choice by others who truly may be well intentioned. Their help is misguided. If the simple one does not experience pain from his mistakes and misjudgments, he is doomed to repeat them–and worse.

    The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

As we look at the total description of the simple one, it is hard to avoid the similarities between this aspect of character deficiency and the foolishness associated with youth. Indeed, much of the book of Proverbs seems to be aimed toward the adolescent. We must not make too much of the comparison between the naïve fool and the teenager because folly has no respect for age or class. Nevertheless, the comparison is there to be made. The simple one is, in some respects, someone who has a lot of growing up to do.

The goal of the maturing process is to gain the practical moral knowledge that will make one "prudent." Prudence consists of making the wise choices that enable a person to be successful in life–and possessing enough self-discipline to live by those choices. Those who do live this way accumulate that precious commodity, wisdom. Thus, "the prudent are crowned with knowledge." They get more of it, and it rewards them–in addition to the fact that the knowledge is its own reward.

On the other hand, folly is not a plateau but a slippery slope. In the 4th century A.D., St. Augustine observed that the wages of sin is–more sin! The path of the naïve fool will lead him into more serious and destructive forms of folly. If the simple one will not turn toward wisdom, and if nothing interrupts his course, he will eventually develop into a fool in the fullest sense of the word. The word "folly" in Proverbs 14:18 above, is ‘ivveleth (ih-ve-leth), usually translated folly or foolishness. It speaks of an advanced stage of moral perversity specifically associated with the third degree of Character Deficiency Syndrome. It represents the bankruptcy of moral character, the willful determination to take the wrong path. We shall consider it in detail in later chapters. For now, it is worthwhile to note that it is the inheritance of the simple one, i.e., it is what he has coming to him if he does not seek wisdom. There are only two ways to take: the way of truth, light, and life, or that of falsehood, darkness, and death.

The Obstacle to Wisdom

One obstacle that blocks the simple one’s path to wisdom is his acute susceptibility to peer pressure. Solomon must have the simple one in mind when he warns,

    My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.  If they say,

    "Come with us! Let us lie in wait to shed blood.  Let us ambush the innocent without cause. 

    We shall find all kinds of precious wealth.  We shall fill our houses with loot.

    Throw in your lot with us.  We shall all have one purse" –

    My son, do not walk in the way with them.  Keep your feet from their path.

This is not just a father commanding his son not to join a violent act of larceny. It is a plea to a young man to stay away from lawless influences altogether. It is an extreme example of why young people should be careful of their choice of friends and role models.

Why would anyone raised under any standard of decency, especially a king’s son, enter into such an outrageous act as described above? He would do it in order to be accepted by a group. It is not a far-fetched scenario. In the Bible, one only has to go back as far as David's sons to see examples of how youths raised under high privileges and low controls can gravitate toward unwholesome friendships.

The pledge of a share in "one purse" is more than a promise of money. It is an invitation into a fellowship, albeit the fellowship of a criminal gang. People will do many things, even illegal and immoral things, in order to keep from being alone or feeling alone. Peer approval is a powerful motivation, peer suggestion is an amazing persuader, and peer pressure can be an overwhelming force for anyone–especially for the simple one.

Add the love of money to the desire for acceptance, and the simple one may indeed find himself involved with gangsters to plot violence against innocent victims. Like Oliver Twist, who believed that the thief Fagin had his best interest at heart, so the simple one will tend to believe those who offer to let him in on "the deal of a lifetime." Easy pickings mean easy wealth. Callous souls will argue that anyone who can be easily robbed deserves to be robbed and that it is his own fault for being weak and vulnerable. Who is going to be open to such a vicious philosophy? The willing, gullible, simple fool–particularly the one who has not experienced the influence of a strong father figure in his life. This latter point is a topic in itself, and we’ll consider it in a later chapter.

Before we get there, however, we must see how the emptiness of the simple one’s conscience leaves him vulnerable to the biggest, perhaps the deadliest, fraud of all.

***

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