National Nincompoopery

“So FOOLISH, STUPID, [emphases added] and brutish was I, and ignorant; I was like a beast before You” (Psalm 73:22, Amplified Bible). 

A nincompoop is a word that means “A FOOL, OR STUPID PERSON,” and, believe it or not, the Bible has much to say about nincompoopery.  Here are some scriptural excerpts which speak about what a nincompoop is, or reflects their nature (emphases mine in all the following):

Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is STUPID” (Proverbs 12:1, NKJV).

A nincompoop hates correction; they’d rather stubbornly retain their own mind and opinions about things no matter how much and how strong the evidence is, evidence which ought to have made them change their mind about things.        

Consider and understand, you STUPID ones among the people! And you [self-confident] FOOLS, when will you become wise?  He Who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He Who formed the eye, shall He not see?  (Psalm 94:8-9, Amp).

A nincompoop is particularly obtuse and generally ignorant of the fact that God hears and sees everything.

How long, O simple ones [open to evil], will you love being simple? And the scoffers delight in scoffing and [self-confident] FOOLS hate knowledge?  (Proverbs 1:22, Amp.).

A nincompoop glories in ignorance and truncated solutions; they hate knowing anything well enough to make a difference.

A [self-confident] FOOL has no delight in understanding but only in revealing his personal opinions and himself.  (Proverbs 18:2, Amp.).

A nincompoop is wholly selfish, completely self-absorbed; truth, wisdom, and knowledge mean nothing to them: they only delight in the expressions of their own mind and/or persons to the exclusion of anything worth expressing. 

Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For it is fitting to You and Your due! For among all the wise [men or gods] of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.  But they are altogether irrational and STUPID AND FOOLISH. Their instruction is given by idols who are but wood [it is a teaching of falsity, emptiness, futility]!  (Jeremiah 10: 7-8, Amp.).

A nincompoop is an irrational (illogical) person and one who does not fear God (which ironically is the beginning of wisdom).  Their god is wooden or plastic, an artificial construction of logic and substance that teaches them lies, wind, nothing.

If the average television program is the correct measuring stick for measuring whether or not we are a nation of stupid and foolish people today, I’d say we are either already (or fast becoming) a nation of nincompoops.  Arrogance is offensive enough with knowledge and expertise, but arrogance without knowledge and expertise, without intelligence or talent, is an arrogance without cause, and is mightily insufferable.  Indeed, “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely” (Proverbs 25:14, NASB).  And this is too often the case today; a self-confidence without cause. 

Reality shows reflect a reality no one in their right mind should want or desire, either really or vicariously, but because they are being made today and enjoyed by many, it goes without saying that we are fast becoming an out-of-mind-society, a national society of nincompoops.  At first, these shows were—at best—a curiosity, and now—at worst—a tragic but aberrant display of the fringes of our society.  Fringes which have become the center, fringes as core values, preached day and night from film and television and music pulpits everywhere.  Instead of glorifying things that are lovely and of good report, we are now glorifying ugliness and things unworthy of a moment’s consideration, things which reflect mental illness, baseness, and degeneration.

The Jerry Springer-like fringe glorification of nincompoopery is now a mainstream glorification of nincompoopery.  Why anyone would want to watch stupidity and foolishness personified is beyond me?  I personally do not want to see or know anything they are talking about on any level, and the fact that they are popular and sell today is proof in itself that we have become a nation of nincompoops: people too simple and stupid, too morally bankrupt, to even be ashamed of who they are and the things which mark their lives.  Long ago Jude characterized the type of person I am speaking about this way:

These men revile (scoff and sneer at) anything they do not happen to be acquainted with and do not understand; and whatever they do understand physically [that which they know by mere instinct], like irrational beasts—by these they corrupt themselves and are destroyed (perish).  These are…without scruples providing for themselves [alone]. They are clouds without water, swept along by the winds; trees, without fruit at the late autumn gathering time—twice (doubly) dead, [lifeless and] plucked up by the roots; wild waves of the sea, flinging up the foam of their own shame and disgrace.  These are inveterate murmurers (grumblers) who complain [of their lot in life], going after their own desires [controlled by their passions]; their talk is boastful and arrogant, [and they claim to] admire men’s persons and pay people flattering compliments to gain advantage.  (Jude 1: 10, 12-13, 16, Amp.).

Our nation in the past at least had a reason to be proud; our intelligence and industriousness, our creativity and generosity, made us formidable.  But yes, pride goes before a fall, and NO DOUBT, we are fallen because of it.  But rather than be sorry and repent, and be restored to our former glory, we are instead not sorry, will not repent, and we therefore glory in the only thing that’s left: our shame.  Of course God warned the whole world long ago that those who reject knowledge will be destroyed by the lack of it, and thus “The more they increased and multiplied [in prosperity and power], the more they sinned against Me; I will change their GLORY INTO SHAME” (Hosea 4:7, emphasis mine, Amp.).  Much of America is now overrun with this nincompoopery; indeed, instead of progressing we’re regressing, and instead of evolving we’re devolving.  We’re fast becoming a stupid and foolish nation, a nation of nincompoops.