Can a Christian call someone a "fool"?

Bro. Peter Dimond It’s interesting that in Matthew 23:17, Our Lord called the Pharisees “foolish and blind” for the bad will and dishonesty they exhibited.  The phrase in Matthew 23:17 (mōroi kai typhloi - Greek) could also be translated “moronic and blind” or “You blind fools/morons.”  An etymology will confirm that the word moron comes from the Greek word mōros, which has a plural form of mōroi (the word used by Our Lord in Matthew 23:17).   Nevertheless, certain doctrinal liberals and heretics have attacked us for using similar language about certain extremely dishonest and bad-willed individuals.  They claim that it’s necessarily wrong to call someone who exhibits bad will or dishonesty a fool or a moron.  They don’t know what they are talking about.   It's obviously wrong and uncharitable to criticize or condemn others for a defect or a deficiency they have from birth or that is beyond their control.  However, the term "fool" or "moron" can be an appropriate description of someone who demonstrates profound dishonesty, hypocrisy or wickedness, especially when the person displays great arrogance in the process.   If we use such a description, it’s always in reference to someone’s bad will, not any innate defect.  Bad will, which begets blindness and spiritual stupidity, is what Our Lord referred to when He used such language.  Obviously the liberals haven’t read the Gospel.

Matthew 23:16-23- “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’  You blind fools [morons]!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?  And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’  You blind men!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?  So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.  And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it.  And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

St. Alphonsus (c. 1760): “… no fool esteems himself foolish, but his folly consists in being a fool without knowing it.”  “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1) “The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite.” (Ecclesiastes 1:15)

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