This post has been excerpted from my apologetics bible study, “Why Do You Believe That? A Faith Conversation,” LifeWay Christian Resources, 2012.

In a passage from Proverbs 26:1-11, Solomon discusses the nature of the foolish person. He utilizes some fairly striking imagery. Solomon’s description of the fool is extremely derogatory. It is a person that no one would ever hope to become. The fool is injurious to others (v.1-2), doesn’t respond to intellectual appeal—only to physical discipline (v.3), untrustworthy with messages (v.6), is not worthy of honor (v.8), isn’t hirable (v.10), and doesn’t learn from past mistakes (v.11). However, Solomon is not setting up the image of the fool merely to describe the foolish person, he is going to make a shocking statement:

“Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.”

It always stuns me when I meet a person who seems to believe that they have everything figured out. They won’t take correction or even a little constructive criticism. They are unapproachable and have no accountability for their beliefs. Solomon says that this pride is more damaging to a person than is the foolishness of the person he previously described. Solomon’s warnings throughout Proverbs are just a small part of the overall warnings in the Bible to constantly seek wisdom through correction and instruction; not allowing pride to creep in.

We must take a position of humility of knowledge in this life realizing we can never “know it all.” One way to encourage humility of knowledge is to really listen to others’ ideas and thoughts.

When we engage with people in conversation (of different belief or similar belief) we should always see this engagement as an opportunity to learn. We must constantly be mindful of the error of being wise in our own eyes. Our minds, and therefore our thoughts, are subject to the fallen nature of man. We should not expect that everything we are thinking is accurate all the time. To do so is an egregious mistake. To avoid this error, Solomon has some more cautions for us.

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Proverbs 12:15

“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” Proverbs 18:1-2

If you put together the teaching from 12:15 and 18:1-2, what could you say about a person who doesn’t listen to others advice?

We must listen to others in order to keep ourselves accountable for what we believe and for what we think. If we become unwilling to listen and accept correction, Solomon says we are the fool.

Obviously, we must strike a balance between accepting everyone’s criticism and rejecting everyone’s criticism if we are going to have great conversations. That is why you need to be skillful in handling the doctrines of the faith as well as in listening. As Timothy instructs us, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

You need to be confident in your beliefs to confidently engage in discussion with others who will criticize them. Note that I used the word, “confident” and not the phrase “arrogantly dogmatic.” There is a difference. The first one is part of being a good ambassador for Jesus Christ. The latter can be a conversation stopper. The first one is still open to learn from others, while the latter is closed off from further learning.

Finally, as part of a lifelong journey of discovering truth, we should expect to find those people who have studied an area much further in depth than ourselves. If we aren’t willing to listen to them, we’ll miss opportunities to grow in our knowledge.