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How To Suffer Fools Gladly

Angel

Angel

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The phrase has always delighted me for some reason. Perhaps because the meaning isn't readily apparent. So-and-So doesn't suffer fools gladly. Nice, no?

So TWO questions:

1. What does it mean?
2. How does one do it?
 
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The phrase is used to describe someone who is impatient and testy. In my own experience, it's usually an excuse, a justification.
 
Angel said:
The phrase has always delighted me for some reason. Perhaps because the meaning isn't readily apparent. So-and-So doesn't suffer fools gladly. Nice, no?

So TWO questions:

1. What does it mean?
2. How does one do it?
Click to expand...

Suffer fools gladly - Wikipedia

It's from St. Paul in his second letter originally.

It was originally a positive statement, but has been turned around in common usage. In my experience, it means simply that you get short or cranky or even angry with people you see as foolish or stupid.

To show patience and try to see from their point of view and turn them around would be what I considered suffering them gladly.
 
Angel said:
The phrase has always delighted me for some reason. Perhaps because the meaning isn't readily apparent. So-and-So doesn't suffer fools gladly. Nice, no?

So TWO questions:

1. What does it mean?
2. How does one do it?
Click to expand...

Well, to clarify; I suffer from reading your posts but not at all gladly.
 
Keridan said:
Suffer fools gladly - Wikipedia

It's from St. Paul in his second letter originally.

It was originally a positive statement, but has been turned around in common usage. In my experience, it means simply that you get short or cranky or even angry with people you see as foolish or stupid.

To show patience and try to see from their point of view and turn them around would be what I considered suffering them gladly.
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This is interesting. I was unaware of the provenance. Much obliged.

"For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise."
-- St. Paul
 
Keridan said:
Suffer fools gladly - Wikipedia

It's from St. Paul in his second letter originally.

It was originally a positive statement, but has been turned around in common usage. In my experience, it means simply that you get short or cranky or even angry with people you see as foolish or stupid.

To show patience and try to see from their point of view and turn them around would be what I considered suffering them gladly.
Click to expand...
With respect, my friend, I think you interpret it wrongly.

Paul, in his letter, is admonishing the community of the Corinthians for accepting false apostles "because you suffer fools gladly." So, he comes to them "as a fool" - with at least as much validity - to preach his version of understanding of the teachings of Christ to the faithful. That's my short answer.
 
NWRatCon said:
With respect, my friend, I think you interpret it wrongly.

Paul, in his letter, is admonishing the community of the Corinthians for accepting false apostles "because you suffer fools gladly." So, he comes to them "as a fool" - with at least as much validity - to preach his version of understanding of the teachings of Christ to the faithful. That's my short answer.
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I think you are right. Been a while for Corinthians for me. I just knew it was from that letter and thought it was praising wisdom the way I remembered it. Thanks for speaking up!
 
I'm not claiming to be any expert. I use the phrase, occasionally, because unthoughtful arguments bother me greatly - and I pop off! But, I try to put up with a lot, because it doesn't do or represent me well when I don't.

Another way to look at the question, I think (although different from the original), is that one can learn from fools, at the very least in contrast, so "suffering them gladly" can be a "Christian" approach - like turning the other cheek. It is the humble approach. When I am at my least humble, I am setting a poor example.
 
In Paul's context, he was admonishing some of the men in responsible positions in the early congregation, who evidently began taking little advantages..they felt important in the position they held...they felt that it entitled them to a little more than the ordinary member of the congregation deserved...they allowed themselves special privileges, and they expected things of a material nature from the brothers so that they could live a little easier, they could be looked up to as being somebody of importance...that was all they wanted, at first but gradually they and their successors in office became more demanding, more bold, more arbitrary in expressing authority...they deceived and misled the congregation in order to gratify their own selfish desires and "exploited them with counterfeit words"...

Peter also spoke of such men within the congregation...

"Also, they will greedily exploit you with counterfeit words. But their judgment, decided long ago, is not moving slowly, and their destruction is not sleeping." 2 Peter 2:3

As did Jude in Jude 4...

"My reason is that certain men have slipped in among you who were long ago appointed to this judgment by the Scriptures; they are ungodly men who turn the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for brazen conduct and who prove false to our only owner and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Paul's admonition has stark warning for us today...do not suffer fools who misuse/misunderstand God's Word for their own selfish purposes...
 
Elvira said:
In Paul's context, he was admonishing some of the men in responsible positions in the early congregation, who evidently began taking little advantages..they felt important in the position they held...they felt that it entitled them to a little more than the ordinary member of the congregation deserved...they allowed themselves special privileges, and they expected things of a material nature from the brothers so that they could live a little easier, they could be looked up to as being somebody of importance...that was all they wanted, at first but gradually they and their successors in office became more demanding, more bold, more arbitrary in expressing authority...they deceived and misled the congregation in order to gratify their own selfish desires and "exploited them with counterfeit words"...

Peter also spoke of such men within the congregation...

"Also, they will greedily exploit you with counterfeit words. But their judgment, decided long ago, is not moving slowly, and their destruction is not sleeping." 2 Peter 2:3

As did Jude in Jude 4...

"My reason is that certain men have slipped in among you who were long ago appointed to this judgment by the Scriptures; they are ungodly men who turn the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for brazen conduct and who prove false to our only owner and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Paul's admonition has stark warning for us today...do not suffer fools who misuse/misunderstand God's Word for their own selfish purposes...
Click to expand...

Very impressive explanation! Thank you very much for that. Ever taught Sunday School?
 
Angel said:
The phrase has always delighted me for some reason. Perhaps because the meaning isn't readily apparent. So-and-So doesn't suffer fools gladly. Nice, no?

So TWO questions:
Click to expand...
one answer.
1. What does it mean?
2. How does one do it?
Click to expand...

that saying describes those who talk down to others only because they can
 
Keridan said:
Very impressive explanation! Thank you very much for that. Ever taught Sunday School?
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lol...no, just my own children...thanks and you're welcome...
 
Elvira said:
lol...no, just my own children...thanks and you're welcome...
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I was raised by a fervent atheist and an agnostic. I never even went to church regularly until I met my wife. I'm trying to take my kids regularly until they are old enough to make an informed decision about their beliefs. It's very hard to be learning and teaching your children at the same time. Luckily my wife helps pick up the slack.

My sons have gotten curious about Muslim and Wiccan beliefs too and we try to give them as much information as possible. It's amazing how much you can not know and not be aware of that lack of knowledge. It's probably been more educational for me than the kids.
 
Keridan said:
I was raised by a fervent atheist and an agnostic. I never even went to church regularly until I met my wife. I'm trying to take my kids regularly until they are old enough to make an informed decision about their beliefs. It's very hard to be learning and teaching your children at the same time. Luckily my wife helps pick up the slack.

My sons have gotten curious about Muslim and Wiccan beliefs too and we try to give them as much information as possible. It's amazing how much you can not know and not be aware of that lack of knowledge. It's probably been more educational for me than the kids.
Click to expand...

Good for you...I think that is where a lot of parents go wrong, especially Christian parents...you can be too dogmatic in teaching them and then you will end up pushing them far away from what you are trying to instill in them...teach as best you can but allow them to make their own decisions as they get older...they will anyway, but then they will not resent you if you give them the space to make their own choices...I like this proverb in Proverbs 22:6...I have found it to be true...

"Train a boy in the way he should go;
Even when he grows old he will not depart from it."
 
I don't suffer fools gladly. People of low intelligence profoundly irritate me. It is unfortunate to realize that half of the people one interacts with in one's life are of below-average intelligence. Necessarily so, given that by definition, 50% of the population should be placed below an average, while the other 50% should be placed above it, in a normal distribution.

So, there are too many fools out there, and the fact that they often get to decide what happens, is infuriating. Take, for example, Trump's electors. A disproportionate number among them are not intelligent, and are under-educated (two states that don't necessarily overlap, but still). Nevertheless, they got him elected (even though they were a minority, considering that he lost the popular vote, and considering that voter participation in America is low).

We have a situation depicted in that movie, Idiocracy. The stupidest people around, are the ones who defined the destiny of this nation for the current 4 years, and God forbid, possibly 4 more years.

Should I suffer this situation gladly? Not at all. I'm very cranky about it.
 
Elvira said:
Good for you...I think that is where a lot of parents go wrong, especially Christian parents...you can be too dogmatic in teaching them and then you will end up pushing them far away from what you are trying to instill in them...teach as best you can but allow them to make their own decisions as they get older...they will anyway, but then they will not resent you if you give them the space to make their own choices...I like this proverb in Proverbs 22:6...I have found it to be true...

"Train a boy in the way he should go;
Even when he grows old he will not depart from it."
Click to expand...

Thank you. I very much want the boys to be comfortable with religion and understand that their parents believe in God, but they can make their own choices. I also feel that an understand of other religions is important for a wealth of reasons.

It's a tough path to walk at times, but we want to do right and we honestly believe that they gain important life lessons and no bad ones at a catholic church that follows the ideals properly.
 
Keridan said:
Thank you. I very much want the boys to be comfortable with religion and understand that their parents believe in God, but they can make their own choices. I also feel that an understand of other religions is important for a wealth of reasons.

It's a tough path to walk at times, but we want to do right and we honestly believe that they gain important life lessons and no bad ones at a catholic church that follows the ideals properly.
Click to expand...

Can I ask, Keridan...what caused you to change your view? Your wife or something else?
 
Elvira said:
Can I ask, Keridan...what caused you to change your view? Your wife or something else?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it really was a change, to be honest. I wasn't exposed to or taught about anything Catholic growing up. I sometimes went to church, but not much and it was usually with someone else and I would end up in cringy places like 7th day Adventist or Mormon sermons.

As I got close with my wife, we would often end up at 2 different churches that were Catholic and smaller and just a warm place. It helped me solidify the feelings I had always kind of been unsure about.

May I ask, what religion do you follow and have you always been in the same beliefs?
 
Keridan said:
I'm not sure it really was a change, to be honest. I wasn't exposed to or taught about anything Catholic growing up. I sometimes went to church, but not much and it was usually with someone else and I would end up in cringy places like 7th day Adventist or Mormon sermons.

As I got close with my wife, we would often end up at 2 different churches that were Catholic and smaller and just a warm place. It helped me solidify the feelings I had always kind of been unsure about.

May I ask, what religion do you follow and have you always been in the same beliefs?
Click to expand...

I grew up exposed to several different denominations only because of my maternal grandfather...my paternal grandmother was a Church of God preacher...my maternal grandfather went to whatever church was close by...Southern Baptist, Church of God, Pentecostal Holiness, Assembly of God...and took me with him, since my parents had more or less given up on going to church altogether because of their dogmatic upbringing...

When I was about 16, my parents began studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses and of course I rebelled, as teenagers do and went my own way...at the age of 22, I began to seriously question life, since my own husband was dying from liver cancer...low and behold, my parents seemed to have more answers which came directly from the Bible than anything I had ever heard before so I began studying with Jehovah's Witnesses for myself...long story short, I was baptized in 1976 and have been one of Jehovah's Witnesses ever since...
 
Elvira said:
I grew up exposed to several different denominations only because of my maternal grandfather...my paternal grandmother was a Church of God preacher...my maternal grandfather went to whatever church was close by...Southern Baptist, Church of God, Pentecostal Holiness, Assembly of God...and took me with him, since my parents had more or less given up on going to church altogether because of their dogmatic upbringing...

When I was about 16, my parents began studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses and of course I rebelled, as teenagers do and went my own way...at the age of 22, I began to seriously question life, since my own husband was dying from liver cancer...low and behold, my parents seemed to have more answers which came directly from the Bible than anything I had ever heard before so I began studying with Jehovah's Witnesses for myself...long story short, I was baptized in 1976 and have been one of Jehovah's Witnesses ever since...
Click to expand...

That's very interesting and I could see how you ended up there. Thank you for sharing that and I'm sorry about your husband. Liver cancer is very tough.

My understanding of Jehovah's Witnesses is definitely on the more limited side. I've read a bit here and there and have 2 friends who don't practice themselves, but were raised ringing doorbells. Sometimes I feel it's actually one of the more complicated interpretations.

Thank you again for sharing!
 
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