Why I Will Not Engage With a Scoffer

I am not going to argue with a scoffer. You know what a scoffer is, right? A scoffer is someone who ridicules the beliefs of another in an attempt to get the believer to engage with them, which is always a mistake. For one thing, God says not to. Where did he say that? The first words that come to mind are these: "But avoid ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:23-26). I think it's very difficult for me to be "gentle" when confronting rage and hostility, both of which are present in most scoffers. I am too tempted to try to argue back, and I have found it a very fruitless endeavor. So, no. If I were to talk to this person face to face, I might say something, if the Lord prompts me to, but as long as it's on a platform like a blog, I see no great benefit to engaging with them. They are fighting God, and I don't want to get in the middle of it. You could say I'm already in it if I write about the Bible, Christianity, God and Jesus, but not to engage in back and forth with someone who is blatantly opposing the Bible and God and shows no signs that they want to learn more about it. The best thing for me to do is pray for this person. Lord, you see this person who wants to tell me you don't exist and they want to argue about a point or two I made in a blog? They are someone you created, and you care for them. You died for them to save them from judgment and everlasting punishment for their sin, yet they want to argue--with who? With me? No, their argument is not with me, their argument is with God. King Solomon wrote in Proverbs chapter nine, verses 7 and 8 the following: "He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you." I can almost feel the fiery darts of the wicked one like little pointy knives trying to cause the hair on my neck to stand up on end, as the enemy who wants to destroy everything of God tries to stir up my flesh to argue. Well, that will not be happening. I don't post essays about Jesus Christ and the Word of God to try to argue with a scoffer. They have already made up their mind to oppose everything I say. Again, in person that might be different. I actually pray that many believers will engage with this person in a way he or she can sense their love and I pray that he or she will consider the claims of Jesus and what he endured on the cross for our salvation from our own sin. I pray that he or she might consider the claims of Christ this Easter week. I don't want to try to use my limited ability with words just to be shouted down. It's useless and pointless. I don't write to trigger people or taunt them or try to get a rise out of them. I just want to be a truth teller and I believe God wants me to because, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Amen. The Benadryl I took for my itchy eye is beginning to kick in with the sleepies and I am going to stop here. Love to you from me and Jesus.