10 People Who God Calls Fools

There are those who are wise and there are those who are foolish. God distinguishes between the two. There are tons of examples in the Bible defining who is a fool in God's eyes. 

There are a ton of synonyms to describe a fool. Here's some: an idiot, jackass, halfwit, nincompoop, blockhead, buffoon, dunce, ignoramus, imbecile, moron, dope, dummy, numskull, knucklehead, lamebrain, dingbat, goofball, and so on.

Some people call other people fools, but when God calls someone a fool, we need to listen! So, according to the Bible, which is God’s Word, here are 10 types of fools according to God:

1. One who claims there is no God. 
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.  (Psalm 14:1)

2. One who disregards the message of the cross. 
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

3. One who despises wisdom and instruction.  
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1:7)

4. One who is prideful.  
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." (Proverbs 12:15)

5. One who strives to be wealthy.  
"Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." (1 Timothy 6:9)

6. One who is quick to quarrel. 
"It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel."  (Proverbs 20:3)

7. One who lives just for today.  
"The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down." (Proverbs 21:20)

8. One who does not practice what Jesus taught.  
“But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (Matthew 7:26-27)

9. One who turns from God.  
"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools." (Romans 1:21-22)

10. One who is selfish and not rich toward God.  
"And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’  “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

Those are 10 types of people that God considers to be a fool.  
1. One who claims there is no God.
2. One who disregards the message of the cross.
3. One who despises wisdom and instruction.
4. One who is prideful.
5. One who strives to be wealthy. 
6. One who is quick to quarrel. 
7. One who lives just for today.
8. One who does not practice what Jesus taught.
9. One who turns from God.
10. One who is selfish and not rich toward God.

Listen -- we've all been foolish one time or another, and are probably guilty of being one or more of the 10 types of people I've listed. So what do we do about it? We try to live the opposite of these 10 characteristics. After all, the opposite of being foolish is being wise. Let's look at opposites of the 10 types I've listed. So, here are the 10 types of people God considers to be wise.

1. One who claims there is a God.
2. One who regards the message of the cross as powerful
3. One who seeks wisdom and instruction.
4. One who is humble
5. One who is content. 
6. One who is slow to anger. 
7. One who lives with eternity in mind.
8. One who practices what Jesus taught.
9. One who consistently turns to God.
10. One who is generous and rich toward God.