Eph 596 7/14/87

DOCTRINE OF NAIVETE

A. Naivete in Leadership.

1. The greater the power of any leader, the greater the potential sphere for naivete. This is because as power expands with an individual, his mind is going in more directions. So there is always a blind spot, which should really be described as a sphere of naivete.

2. So naivete in leadership can be defined as a blind spot that another might observe but is not apparent to the leader himself. This is inevitable in almost any form of leadership at some time. This is why leaders need staffs and people to give them objective counsel outside of their own organization.

3. There are three sources of naivete in leadership or those who possess an unusual amount of power (not necessarily the same).

a. Ignorance of the reality of the situation or circumstance, or in some cases rejection of the true facts.

b. Influence, defined as being inspired by the wrong people or led astray by the right people.

c. Arrogance, defined as not just a single sin but a combination of sins, and therefore a corrupting power related to either subjectivity or objectivity. The combination includes such mental attitude sins as jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, and guilt reaction. All these form a blind spot in the person who possesses power and/or leadership.

4. Illustrations.

a. Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, the most powerful creature ever to come from the hand of God, was the ruler of all angelic creatures. There came a time, according to Isa 14:14, when he said in his own right lobe, “I will make myself like the Most High God.” There is the first case of naivete by a great ruler.

b. Paul was naive when he decided to make his fifth trip to Jerusalem. He was especially warned not to do so by the believers of Tyre in Acts 21:4, by Agabus in Acts 21:10-11, and by the believers in Caesarea in Acts 21:12.

c. Gaius Julius Caesar was naive when he refused a bodyguard and pardoned all his enemies after the first civil war, many of whom became the assassins that punctured him twenty-one times in the Ides of March.

d. Napoleon was naive about the invasion of Russia. He thought that either size or ability made his army invincible.

e. Robert E. Lee was naive during the Battle of Gettysburg. On the first day when two Federal corps were running through the town of Gettysburg and up Cemetery Hill, Lee did not force Yule and Early to pursue. Yule was a new corps commander and needed definite supervision. But after leaving him on the morning of the second day of the battle, Lee never rode to his left again and left Yule to his own devices. Once Culps Hill was secured by the Federals, it was never again seriously threatened. On the attack on the third day of battle, there was the quintessence of naivete. The brilliant Longstreet had a plan that could have won the battle. But Lee’s reply to Longstreet’s proposal demonstrated his naivete. He said the Army of Northern Virginia is the greatest infantry in the world, so that they can make a frontal attack and drive the Yankees anywhere they want to! It didn’t work out that way.

f. Woodrow Wilson was naive when he assumed that the Congress of the United States would support the League of Nations.

g. Franklin D. Roosevelt was naive when he said, “I have Joe Stalin in my pocket.”

h. Our present President Ronald Reagan has his naive sphere in the Middle East. We have no business in the Middle East, which has been demonstrated again and again. We do not understand the Muslims, Israel, or anything else about the Middle East.

B. Naivete in People in General.

1. Naivete is not confined to leaders or those with power. Most people have an area of naivete caused by ignorance, influence, arrogance, or a combination thereof. For example:

a. There is the naivete of people who believe in salvation by works instead of by faith in Jesus Christ.

b. There is the naivete of people who think that arms control will stop the Russian plan for the conquest of the United States.

c. There is the naivete of people who think there is religious freedom in Russia.

d. There is the naivete of people who think the USSR will sign a treaty and keep its word.

e. There is the naivete of people who think that violation of the law is justified because they personally do not like the law.

f. People are naive who think that the end justifies the means; that is never true. This is tantamount to thinking that because vigilantes execute a criminal without due process of law, that the end justifies the means. In reality, the means (the lynch mob syndrome) destroys the law which gives us our freedom, and opens the door to mob rule. Vigilante function may get rid of a few criminals, but it also gets rid of the law, which is the basis for our equality and freedom. The principle is that we are not equal by nature; we are equal under the law.

2. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot subscribe to the principle that the end justifies the means. For under the protocol plan of God, a right thing must be done in a right way. A wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong. A wrong thing done in a right way is wrong. A right thing done in a wrong way is wrong.

3. Unfair treatment is no justification for evil or sinful reaction. You haven’t lived until you’ve been under some system of authority where you are the victim of unfairness. For example, you may think that your income tax is unfair, but that does not justify cheating on your income tax return. You may think that some laws are unfair, but that does not justify civil disobedience.

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