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Whoever Mocks...

             Whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 17:5)

Mock: tease or laugh at in a scornful or contemptuous manner

Mockery runs rampant in our society. Some would justify themselves with the notion that they don’t mock the poor. They mock stupid people who think to highly of themselves. They mock the “Kool-Aid” drinkers, the sheeple, the evil and idle rich…you know, Those folks. The ones who deserve to be mocked, shamed, ridiculed, isolated, relieved of their children, sterilized, forced to do what’s “right,” and perhaps locked away. Those aren’t the poor.

Aren’t they? Are they not, in the eyes of their mockers, lacking the essential currency that would make them acceptable? If they are not the equals or the betters of those who mock them, are they not poorer, no matter what category of poverty the mockers might want to establish? And, if they are poorer than the mocker, is that necessarily their fault? Is it right to blame the victim? Is it possible to mock someone without doing so in a scornful or contemptuous manner? Is it even possible to tease or to laugh at someone without it being in a scornful or contemptuous manner? That’s one about which I’m not sure. Laugh with, perhaps, but laugh at? That might be a step in the wrong direction.

Does the mocker want what is in the best interest of the poor person? Does the person who gloats over another’s misfortune want what is best for them? Does the one who does these things want to be around the one at whose expense they are enjoying themselves? I’m told the goal is to shame the person into proper behavior, but is that what is really sought? Or is the goal stroking the ego of the mocker and gaslighting the one mocked?

And what do we do with what the Bible says about mockers and those who gloat over disaster? This may be the M.O. of the world, but not of those who belong to God.

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