Skip to main content

Sophomoric

Sophomoric—adjective

This is a combination of two Greek words “wise” and “foolish.” The word “sophomore” goes back to 1684. “Sophomoric” got invented two hundred years later. Here is the definition: “conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature.”

I never liked the word. It seemed to me to be a “put down” word and I did not appreciate those kinds of expressions. It got worse when it seemed to me to be used by “sophomoric” people. Over the years I have seen many sophomoric people, not all of them sophomores, but I do not recall using the word to describe them.

This is a preamble to tell you that I am about to use the word. It is a descriptive word. It does not take much wisdom and discernment to recognize the characteristics of people pretending to be informed and authoritative. For hundreds of years the male of our species has bragged about his sexual prowess and multiple women. Add to this how much he could drink and not get drunk, or how drunk he could get and how often. There is more; he could also brag about his knowledge, and his athletic prowess and do it all with profanity. There would be competition in actions and in talk but mostly talk. I have lived with this for over 60 years. During this same period of time, university newspapers have been leading the charge in grossness. The editors are sophomoric.

We cannot expect natural men to act like spiritual men; however we can expect some educated men to act like educated men. They are in the university so they should be graded by professors in the Journalism Departments and the English Departments. They should be graded for being sophomoric and flunk.

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.” Romans 1:22- This describes these men.

These editors may exercise the freedom of the press granted in the First Amendment to the Constitution. How they have used this freedom is an embarrassment to the university, to the student body, and should be an embarrassment to themselves on their lack of education alone. Because they are free to be “conceited and overconfident of knowledge and be poorly informed and immature” does not mean that this is a prerequisite to be an editor or a writer of a university newspaper.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a...

Ripe for Harvest: Prepared to Give an Answer

As you read through the book of Acts, look at every conversion, and see what happened right before it: what was said, who said it. The situations are the same today.     A long time ago, my duty in the Officer’s Christian Fellowship was the east coast of the United States. I went to an officer’s office at Fort Lee, VA, and stayed overnight, then I went on to Norfolk and Fort Bragg.    Forty years later, I was no longer on the staff of OCF, but I had to go to Denver. While I was in Denver, I checked in at the OCF offices. There was the same Air Force officer I had met in Fort Lee, retired now, a colonel. I had stayed in his house when he was a first lieutenant. He asked me, “Do you know what happened when you stayed overnight?” I said, “No, I just remember staying in your home.” He said, “You led the next-door neighbor to Christ.” I had no memory of it.    Ten years after that, I was speaking at a banquet at the Hotel Salisbury, and who was th...

Lifted Up

In the first thirteen verses of John 3, Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about. It was nonsense to him. When Jesus said verse fourteen to him, Nicodemus finally understood Jesus. Here it is: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up…” (John 3:14). The reason it made sense to Nicodemus was because he knew of the event that Jesus spoke of. People who had been bitten by a serpent could look at the bronze snake and did not die. Nicodemus knew the Bible story.   Here it is: “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then ...