Reasoning: Lent XVIX

Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray . . . 

 - From Wisdom 2

Wisdom 2 takes the perspective of scoffers, doubters, God's adversaries . . . okay I'll say it: Evil People. 

They really hate "the righteous man," for a litany of reasons, which the reader may read for him or herself.

God's enemies fancy themselves quite learned and logical. At their base, they're driven by envy - the happiness of others, that they don't share; The selfless and warm parenting that benefited some of their friends, but that they never knew; the unfairness of life. 

And this idea of envy is mentioned toward the end of the passage - that it all started with the Devil's own envy. There are other corollaries in literature and legend: Thor's brother Loki comes first to mind. All trouble starts with an envious person. What the envious person doesn't realize, is that the people they hate have troubles, too - - - they just have learned to manage it, or overlook it, or mask it. 

Personally, my attitude is that, yes, other people have lots of problems. I should not add to their problems with my own. I shall manage by response to problems. Maybe it will become a model for others to follow. Maybe it will lessen the stress in other's hearts. 

But the evil people . . . not wanting to be thought of as foolish, use all kinds of reasoning, and logic, and "credentials" to lift themselves up so that they can take others down. "You can't argue with him - he's a PhD."

But in Lent, when we should be denying ourselves things that have no eternal value, perhaps we can start by remembering that the smartest person in the room is probably the person with the fewest degrees. I have always believed it . . . and it perhaps explains why it's easy for me to see the value in everybody.