Incredulous?

(Proverbs 14:15 KJV)  The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

How often have I been called negative or pessimistic because of my questions?  I may have my faults, but I don’t think I am “simple” (naive NASB) (6612a).  Idealistic maybe, but not naive.  What most people call being optimistic is usually based on being naive. 

The average person “believes” (539) “every word” (everything NASB) (3605/1697).  I don’t think they are naive in the dictionary sense.  That means someone like Pollyanna who walks around in starry eyed wonder seeing no evil and giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.  Most people are naive in the ostrich sense, they bury their head in the sand and don’t want to know.

I teach history.  I continually tell the kids that history is the most important subject.  It sets my teeth on edge when people say, “Let’s forget about the past.  Let’s start over and look only to the future.”  I don’t care if it is the principal of my school pushing something that has been tried many times and acting like it is a new idea, the President of the United States talking to the nation or someone pushing a heresy that was around in the days of John the Apostle.  God gave us a memory so we could learn from our mistakes and our successes.  I would rather take my car to an old mechanic who has experience than a kid straight out of tech school who has a computer hook up.

So?  We can all be fooled.  It happens.  None of us needs to be simple or naive.  God gave us a Bible and believers with gifts of wisdom, knowledge and discernment.  He promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us.  Use the tools.  Don’t believe everything, just what is true.