Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .
f o o l i s h n e s s ( 3 RELATED PHRASES ) |
The word 'foolishness' appears 423 times in the published writings of EGW See page on Original site Related phrase: foolishness with God ( below )
| Those who profess to love God and reverence sacred things, and yet allow the mind to come down to the superficial and unreal, are placing themselves on Satan's ground, and are doing his work. If the young would study the glorious works of God in nature, and His majesty and power as revealed in His word, they would come from every such exercise with faculties quickened and elevated. A vigor would be received, having no kin to arrogance. By a contemplation of the marvels of divine power, the mind will learn that hardest but most useful of all lessons, that human wisdom, unless connected with the Infinite and sanctified by the grace of Christ, is foolishness. {MYP 253.2}
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| The great storehouse of truth is the word of God -- the written word, the book of nature, and the book of experience in God's dealing with human life. Here are the treasures from which Christ's workers are to draw. In the search after truth they are to depend upon God, not upon human intelligences, the great men whose wisdom is foolishness with God. Through His own appointed channels the Lord will impart a knowledge of Himself to every seeker. {COL 125.2}
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| Among those who listened to the words of Paul were some to whose minds the truths presented brought conviction, but they would not humble themselves to acknowledge God and to accept the plan of salvation. No eloquence of words, no force of argument, can convert the sinner. The power of God alone can apply the truth to the heart. He who persistently turns from this power cannot be reached. The Greeks sought after wisdom, yet the message of the cross was to them foolishness because they valued their own wisdom more highly than the wisdom that comes from above. {AA 239.3}
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| When men are led to realize that their human calculations come far short, and are convinced that their wisdom is but foolishness, then it is that they turn to the Lord to seek him with all the heart, that they may find him. {CE 95.2}
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| Cling close to your Bible, for its sacred truths can purify, ennoble and sanctify the soul. You must hold the truth and teach it as it is in Jesus, else it is of no value to you. Before the light of God's truth let human opinions and ideas and human wisdom appear as they are in the sight of God -- as foolishness. Let no man feel that his position as president either of the General Conference or of a state conference clothes him with a power over the consciences of others that is the least degree oppressive, for God will not sanction anything of this kind. He must respect the rights of all, and all the more because he is in a position where others will pattern after him. {ChL 30.2}
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| We need to be self-reliant; it is the duty of all to respect self; but we are to remember that we are God's property, that we are bought with a price, body, soul, and spirit. We must guard the living machinery, and keep it in the very best condition, that we may glorify God. It is to be daily oiled by His grace, to run at His touch, without friction. To trust in ourselves, to become boastful as if we had created and redeemed ourselves, is to dishonor God. Human wisdom, aside from God, will prove itself to be foolishness, and will bring confusion and perplexity. We need to have on the whole armor of God. The holy influence of a Saviour's loving protection is our sure defense. There is but One who can prove a safeguard against the schemes of Satan.--1888 Materials 1626 (1896). {DG 144.2}
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| Moses was called to labor in co-partnership with the Lord, and it was the simplicity of his character, combined with a practical education, that constituted him such a representative man. In the very height of his human glory the Lord permitted Moses to reveal the foolishness of man's wisdom, the weakness of human strength, that he might be led to understand his utter helplessness, and his inefficiency without being upheld by the Lord Jesus. {FE 344.1}
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| The first great lesson in all education is to know and understand the will of God. Take the knowledge of God with you through every day of life. Let it absorb the mind and the whole being. God gave Solomon wisdom, but this God-given wisdom was perverted when he turned from God to obtain wisdom from other sources. We need the wisdom of Solomon after we have learned the wisdom of One greater than Solomon. We are not to go through human wisdom, which is termed foolishness, to seek true wisdom. For men to learn science through man's interpretation, is to obtain a false education, but to learn of God and Jesus Christ is to learn the science of the Bible. The confusion in education has come because of wisdom and knowledge of God have not been honored and exalted by the religious world. The pure in heart see God in every providence, in every phase of true education. They vibrate to the first approach of light which radiates from the throne of God. Communications from heaven are made to those who will catch the first gleams of spiritual knowledge. {FE 414.2}
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| How many words are spoken in lightness and foolishness, in jesting and joking! This would not be so did the followers of Christ realize the truth of the words, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." . . . {HP 177.3}
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Foolishness appears in Scripture:
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saves it is the power of God." I Corinthians 1: 18 "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." I Corinthians 1: 25
Ellen G. White comments or quotes these texts in:
Acts of the Apostles, page 241.3; {CE 94.1}; {CT 417.1}; {CT 447.2}; {CW 118.1}; {FE 196.3}; {FE 415.1}; {GC 232.2}; {MYP 191.2}
- "But we preach Christ crucifies, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness."
I Corinthians 1: 23 Ellen G. White comments or quotes this text in: {AA 245.2}; {FE 332.1}
I Corinthians 2: 14 Ellen G. White comments or quotes this text in: {COL 106.2}; {DA 391.4};
{DA 509.1}; {FW 91.1}; {FLB 96.5}; {GC 524.2}
I Corinthians 3: 19 Ellen G. White comments or quotes this text in: {COL 258.2}; {CE 107.1}; {CC 83.1}; |
| Continuing His instruction to His disciples, Jesus said, "Beware of men." They were not to put implicit confidence in those who knew not God, and open to them their counsels; for this would give Satan's agents an advantage. Man's inventions often counterwork God's plans. Those who build the temple of the Lord are to build according to the pattern shown in the mount, -- the divine similitude. God is dishonored and the gospel is betrayed when His servants depend on the counsel of men who are not under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Worldly wisdom is foolishness with God. Those who rely upon it will surely err. {DA 354.1}
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| Those who boast of wisdom beyond the teaching of the word of God, need to drink deeper of the fountain of knowledge, that they may learn their real ignorance. There is a boasted wisdom of men, that is foolishness in the sight of God. "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." Those who have only this wisdom, need to become fools in their own estimation. The greatest ignorance that now curses the human race is in regard to the binding claims of the law of God; and this ignorance is the result of neglecting the study of the word of God. It is Satan's determined plan to so engage and absorb the mind, that God's great guidebook shall not be the Book of books, and that the sinner may not be led from the path of transgression to the path of obedience. {FE 130.2} and { CE 107.1 }
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| The great storehouse of truth is the Word of God -- the written Word, the book of nature, and the book of experience in God's dealing with human life. Here are the treasures from which Christ's workers are to draw. In the search after truth they are to depend upon God, not upon human intelligences, the great men whose wisdom is foolishness with God. Through His own appointed channels the Lord will impart a knowledge of Himself to every seeker. {LHU 112.4}
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| But “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” 1 Corinthians 3:19. While the rich man is looking forward to years of enjoyment, the Lord is making far different plans. The message comes to this unfaithful steward, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Here is a demand that money cannot supply. The wealth he has treasured can purchase no reprieve. In one moment that which he has toiled through his whole life to secure becomes worthless to him. “Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” His broad fields and well-filled granaries pass from under his control. “He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” Psalm 39:6. { COL 258.2}
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| Some may ask, What has this to do with board meetings? Very much. The effects of wrong eating are brought into council and board meetings. The brain is affected by the condition of the stomach. A disordered stomach is productive of a disordered, uncertain state of mind. A diseased stomach produces a diseased condition of the brain and often makes one obstinate in maintaining erroneous opinions. The supposed wisdom of such a one is foolishness with God.—Testimonies for the Church 7:257. (See also Testimonies for the Church 7:258.) { PM 263.5}
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