Paul’s first letter to Corinth was a rave review of how awesome it is to be a fool. We have three different verses in which Paul insists that god really likes foolish people. 1 Corinthians 1:21 (god loves preaching fools), 1 Corinthians 3:18 (in order to be wise, you have to become a fool), and 1 Corinthians 4:10 (religious idiots are wise in Christ). The last one seems to support the idea that science and Christianity are incompatible: “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ.”

That’s how Paul feels about foolishness. What about god? Psalm 5:5 has the answer to that: Foolish people will not stand before god. Paul also wrote a letter to the Ephesians in which he says don’t walk like an idiot. Walk like a wise guy! –Ephesians 5:15 (paraphrased).

This contradiction might be explained by the idea that Paul really was a wise guy. That is, some people insist that Paul liked to use sarcasm in his writing. Essentially, he was being a jerk in his letter to the Corinthians. If that’s the case, why include his letter in the Epistles? The average reader (pretty much 100% of them) won’t be able to tell the difference between serious matters (what the bible is supposed to be) and sarcastic humor. It also casts doubt on the seriousness of the rest of his letters. For example, in 1 Corinthians 4:16, Paul calls on the people of Corinth to join a new cult that he was forming. Sarcasm or seriousness? With Paul you can never tell the difference.