What do you call six boys in the woods around a campfire with a big snapping turtle? Trouble. As teens, we often camped in the woods during the summer. Once a snapping turtle walked into our camp. One of those with a massive head, a ridge of spiny plates down its back, and eyes as red as the fires of hell. Through a series of bad choices, we taunted the turtle and one another, eventually daring Shane to pick up the frightened creature. Shane, as pasty white and country as the rest of us, wasn’t about to let a dare go unanswered. He grabbed the turtle by the sides of its shell. Everything was going well until Shane tilted the turtle up to look at its head. With the speed of a cheetah, the turtle’s head shot out and bit a chunk out of Shane’s lip. He yelped in pain as we all sat stunned.
Bad Companions
Bad companions can make good people do stupid things. Solomon warned, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Prov 13:20). Foolish companions corrupt good intentions (Prov 1:10), good speech (2:12), and good behavior (4:14-17). They turn the gentle to violence and meanness (16:29), the heart to anger and bitterness (22:24-25), and industriousness to gluttony and idleness (23:20-21; 28:7). No wonder Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” (1 Cor 15:33). Even the best intentioned, wisest, and most well-behaved person can be influenced by fools to make destructive decisions.
Solomon correctly observed that keeping company with fools brings destruction, or as the ASV says, they “shall smart for it.” That summer around the campfire, Shane suffered by keeping company with a bunch of backwoods redneck fools.
Boldness in Numbers
Contrary to popular opinion, foolishness isn’t bred into the “Y” chromosome. It arises from several societal factors. One is boldness in numbers. When we are alone, any trouble we bring falls directly on ourself. However, in a group of two or more, we share blame. In groups there is anonymity. Bad behavior from a group tends to be remembered and recounted as a group. Because of this anonymity and shared responsibility, many people feel emboldened in groups.
However, both assumptions about group life are false. Sharing the guilt of bad behavior does not lighten its burden, but increases it, making everyone bear the greatest guilt. As in Lonesome Dove, Augustus McRae explained to Jake Spoon, “You know how it works, Jake. You ride with an outlaw; you die with an outlaw.” Even if we do not engage in bad behavior, our association with fools who do, brings the same degree of responsibility.
Sensible or Silly?
Another factor leading to foolishness when running with fools is that sensibilities are lost to silliness. In the 1930s, Kurt Lewin introduced the theory of “groupthink” a phenomenon where identity and cohesiveness within a group become more important than individuality. Groupthink leads group members to withhold criticism for the sake of cohesion. Alone, most people have enough sense to stay out of trouble; however, proximity to fools robs good people of good sense. We invent and entertain ideas we would never think of on our own in the company of fools (Prov 1:10-14). In groups, we lower safeguards, forsake standards, and ignore consequences. One moment we are in the crowd crying “Hosanna,” the next, “Crucify him!”
Bravado
Yet another factor of group foolishness is escalating bravado or “one-upmanship.” Historically, this gave rise to the “double dare,” “triple dare,” and the much dreaded and nearly impossible to resist “triple dog dare.” The fool introduces an idea. Someone else in the group ups the ante—the jump must be higher, the stunt more extreme, the secret more intimate—and soon lips are scarred.
Don’t Be Destroyed
Looking back, Shane wasn’t a bad kid, but he bore the pain of foolish friends. Luckily, only a small scar betrays his decision to run with us. Others in history haven’t been so lucky. Bad company doesn’t just ruin good morals; it often mocks, injures, dismembers, incapacitates, and even kills people. “A companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Don’t be destroyed.
Preaching Minister