They Are Foolishness Unto Him

One of my favorite teachings of Paul is this one to the Corinthians about how we learn spiritual things: “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.... But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:11, 14).  To understand the things of God we must have the Spirit to teach and direct us.  We simply cannot figure out the things of God by using only the wisdom of men.  And we shouldn’t be surprised when our faith is mocked by those who do not understand how we could believe the things that we do—for them it is simply foolishness because it cannot be proven or readily understood with the physical senses.  Paul gave one example of this in the previous chapter: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).  To claim that there is spiritual power and healing and redemption for us because of the death of Christ on the cross is indeed foolishness when seen only in the wisdom of the world—how could there possibly be any connection with that single event 2000 years ago and our lives today?  And yet, for those who believe, it is a source of “the power of God” to enable us to overcome our challenges. 

               In the Book of Mormon we see numerous places where the unbelievers labeled the teachings of the prophets as mere foolishness.  For example, Laman and Lemuel described their father’s prophecies and teachings as “the foolish imaginations of his heart.”  They likewise used the same label to describe Nephi who believed his father: “And thou art like unto our father, led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart” (1 Nephi 2:11, 17:20).  They could not understand the things of God because they were past feeling the Spirit, and so it was all just foolishness to them.  Hundreds of years later when Alma was preaching in the city of Ammonihah, they said to him, “We know that thou art high priest over the church which thou hast established in many parts of the land, according to your tradition; and we are not of thy church, and we do not believe in such foolish traditions” (Alma 8:11).  The belief in a Savior for them was just foolish traditions.  When Aaron taught the Nephite dissenters at the Lamanite city of Jerusalem, he asked them if they believed in Christ and they responded, “We do not believe that thou knowest any such thing. We do not believe in these foolish traditions” (Alma 21:8).  Again the notion of Christ was just a foolish idea they could not understand.  Korihor especially liked to use the word foolish to describe the things of God: “I do not teach the foolish traditions of your fathers, and because I do not teach this people to bind themselves down under the foolish ordinances and performances which are laid down by ancient priests….  Ye lead away this people after the foolish traditions of your fathers” (Alma 30:23,27).  He tried to teach that anything spiritual was simply foolishness—the only things that mattered for him were what could be experienced physically. 

              Korihor’s ideas and those of the other unbelievers in the Book of Mormon are prevalent today and we must seek the Spirit to guard against them.  Without the testifying influence of the Spirit of God unbelievers cannot know the things of God, and the practices and faith and obedience of those who believe in Jesus Christ will simply appear as foolishness to them.  The only way to understand the things of God is through the Spirit that comes through sincere seeking and genuine faith.  As President Packer said in a famous talk on the subject, “The skeptic will never know, for he will not meet the requirement of faith, humility, and obedience to qualify him for the visitation of the Spirit.”  We must every day seek to meet those requirements to keep the Spirit of the Lord as our constant companion.