Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding,
But a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding.
Proverbs 10:13 (NKJV).
Perhaps it's just the timing, but of late it's been on my mind that our lives have an inertia to them when we are intentional about how we live. When we take the time to think about what we do, why we do it, even down to what we say, not leaving anything entirely to chance. We experience no fewer struggles or setbacks, but because we've practiced intent, when circumstances really do demand our attention and our focused application of skill, even when things are going terribly for us we can keep moving forward.
In this passage, it's easy to desire understanding, if for no other reason than to avoid the contrast with the rod to our backs. Images of old childhood disciplinary methods bubble up, and that's not accidental given that wisdom and discipline are connected.
This seems rather obvious, right? Who would want to lack understanding if that meant "the rod"?
Thus the nature of the first deceit in Genesis, and the root of the most frequent pattern that has continued to this day. The deceit is that the rod doesn't exist, that consequences don't matter. You can choose whatever you want, do whatever you want, there is no "wrong".
And in turn, there is then no value in the sacrifices, the discipline, that is associated with wisdom.
Even in modern manufacturing we see this philosophy make an appearance, designing gadgets and widgets which can be assembled and subsequently operated with less and less skill required. The superficial claim is that this means that production is more efficient, less time wasted on steps for "quality", which are by nature not "value-added" activities. The end-users also don't have to waste time learning or validating anything, but can instead spend time just "doing".
Yet in practice the results are that because the people assembling and operating the gadgets and widgets don't need to be as skilled, they'll simply adapt and yesterday's "easy" becomes today's "normal", and folks start complaining all over again about the difficulties being faced. Instead of using that extra time more effectively, we fill it with wasteful activities, because whenever we've got a surplus of a resource, we never naturally try to make the most of it.
It's abundant, so why should we pinch pennies if we're "rich"?
We instinctively relegate our learning to only to that which are absolutely mandatory, what we're forced to learn, in the name of "efficiency". While we do then spend more time "doing", when anything goes wrong we have to stop, call on the services of someone who knows what to do next, and after the problem has been resolved we can then continue. Hopefully we also learn from the event so that we can avoid requiring assistance in the future, but if assistance is readily available, there's no pressure to take that understanding upon yourself.
We become like children, entirely incapable of acting beyond our current understanding, and constantly in need of "adults" to look after us, to direct us from moment-to-moment, to issue correction so that we can understand, and yet never really needing to grow up or go beyond what we know at the same time.
None of us knows everything, we all need help and assistance from time to time, we all have a lot that we could learn and have to select only so much to try and take on at a time, but that process is not prevented by anything but our own lack of motivation. There's nothing stopping us, we just don't want to do it.
And so we invite the rod to motivate us instead.
Wisdom without the welts would be so much better, no?
Showing posts with label Arrogance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arrogance. Show all posts
18.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 8:12-21
“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And find out knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, I have strength.
By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All the judges of the earth.
I love those who love me,
And those who seek me diligently will find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,
And my revenue than choice silver.
I traverse the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
Proverbs 8:12-21 (NKJV).
Hate showed back up again, and it's useful to be reminded of the full measure of God's capacity to feel. Much emphasis has been placed on trying to make God attractive to the unrepentant by exemplifying the attribute of "love", but in so doing, and in the dilution of mixing with other world religions, Christians have forgotten that God does things like hate, or feel jealous, and that salvation is not just "nice", but is a necessary step to get off the path that will experience the wrath of God against sin.
Humans aren't intrinsically evil, but manifest it in their rebellion against God, and as such, there is a tangible difference between the ignorant sinner and the outright wicked, those who understand that they are doing wrong and may go so far as to take delight in it.
Now, note that wisdom is trying to explain how the riches she affords are longer-lasting and more satisfying than what evil brings. This is not denying that evil behavior can net one a reward at all, but instead that the cost for that evil behavior needs to be fully accounted for when making decisions.
How many times have you yourself thought or heard someone say that they'd "have done things differently" if they understood some aspect of the decision process that they previously undertook?
Time and again people want to believe that, in the budget they imagine they'll have from their ill-gotten gains, they'll be more than enough to repair any damage they've caused, or that they'll find some way to resolve problems that will, overall, still have left them with a greater surplus of resources to then expend than if they'd having done things the correct way, through application of wisdom and understanding.
The fixation on "doing it my way" is a self-destructive one, yet it comes naturally to us. We want to be the ones that define terms, that can be held responsible, to have ourselves exalted and held high for what we have accomplished.
Paradoxically, when Jesus sought only to glorify God through his life, his sacrifices earned him the highest exaltation possible. Yet even without Christ as an example, the dynamic was readily apparent.
Make much of wisdom, and you will find greatness, because you are aligned with the nature and rules of this reality and the creator who oversees it.
Make little of wisdom, and you will find destruction, because you are aligned against the nature and rules of this reality and the creator who oversees it.
Some will only ever bend a knee because they've been forced, their arrogance and hubris so completely consumes them. At no point can they comprehend that they'd have all they desired, and even more, if they submitted their thoughts to the guidance of wisdom and understanding instead of relying on their own unrefined instincts.
This is why God hating those who do evil carries no condemning connotation, because it is not simple ignorance that God hates, but evil, wickedness, the intentional rejection of wisdom, of understanding, the entirely wasted life of a person in seeking only to exist as contrarian to God.
God hates that because even existence itself is a gift. None of us deserved it, earned it, can repay God even that, let alone cover the debts we incur through our sin. You can read the latter portions of Job to see how God reacts when Job starts declaring that Job should never have been born in the first place.
Wisdom benefits in perpetuity where evil does not. Make decisions and consider more than your immediate sensational response.
And find out knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, I have strength.
By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All the judges of the earth.
I love those who love me,
And those who seek me diligently will find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,
And my revenue than choice silver.
I traverse the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
Proverbs 8:12-21 (NKJV).
Hate showed back up again, and it's useful to be reminded of the full measure of God's capacity to feel. Much emphasis has been placed on trying to make God attractive to the unrepentant by exemplifying the attribute of "love", but in so doing, and in the dilution of mixing with other world religions, Christians have forgotten that God does things like hate, or feel jealous, and that salvation is not just "nice", but is a necessary step to get off the path that will experience the wrath of God against sin.
Humans aren't intrinsically evil, but manifest it in their rebellion against God, and as such, there is a tangible difference between the ignorant sinner and the outright wicked, those who understand that they are doing wrong and may go so far as to take delight in it.
Now, note that wisdom is trying to explain how the riches she affords are longer-lasting and more satisfying than what evil brings. This is not denying that evil behavior can net one a reward at all, but instead that the cost for that evil behavior needs to be fully accounted for when making decisions.
How many times have you yourself thought or heard someone say that they'd "have done things differently" if they understood some aspect of the decision process that they previously undertook?
Time and again people want to believe that, in the budget they imagine they'll have from their ill-gotten gains, they'll be more than enough to repair any damage they've caused, or that they'll find some way to resolve problems that will, overall, still have left them with a greater surplus of resources to then expend than if they'd having done things the correct way, through application of wisdom and understanding.
The fixation on "doing it my way" is a self-destructive one, yet it comes naturally to us. We want to be the ones that define terms, that can be held responsible, to have ourselves exalted and held high for what we have accomplished.
Paradoxically, when Jesus sought only to glorify God through his life, his sacrifices earned him the highest exaltation possible. Yet even without Christ as an example, the dynamic was readily apparent.
Make much of wisdom, and you will find greatness, because you are aligned with the nature and rules of this reality and the creator who oversees it.
Make little of wisdom, and you will find destruction, because you are aligned against the nature and rules of this reality and the creator who oversees it.
Some will only ever bend a knee because they've been forced, their arrogance and hubris so completely consumes them. At no point can they comprehend that they'd have all they desired, and even more, if they submitted their thoughts to the guidance of wisdom and understanding instead of relying on their own unrefined instincts.
This is why God hating those who do evil carries no condemning connotation, because it is not simple ignorance that God hates, but evil, wickedness, the intentional rejection of wisdom, of understanding, the entirely wasted life of a person in seeking only to exist as contrarian to God.
God hates that because even existence itself is a gift. None of us deserved it, earned it, can repay God even that, let alone cover the debts we incur through our sin. You can read the latter portions of Job to see how God reacts when Job starts declaring that Job should never have been born in the first place.
Wisdom benefits in perpetuity where evil does not. Make decisions and consider more than your immediate sensational response.
17.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 8:1-11
Does not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
“To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
O you simple ones, understand prudence,
And you fools, be of an understanding heart.
Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things;
For my mouth will speak truth;
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;
Nothing crooked or perverse is in them.
They are all plain to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
Receive my instruction, and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choice gold;
For wisdom is better than rubies,
And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
Proverbs 8:1-11 (NKJV).
Let's first take note of the difference in where and when we come across wisdom versus the immoral woman. The immoral woman was out at night, in a specific location, and making empty promises about how the illicit behavior she was offering would be without consequence. Wisdom, on the other hand, is on top of a hill, at every door, at every crossroads, apparently everywhere.
Yet like how "common sense" is not actually common at all, it's this availability that causes the arrogant, the prideful, to take wisdom for granted in pursuit of the work of their own hands, even if that work leads only to destruction. If wisdom is so available, so common, then why would one need to invest in a relationship with "her"?
The fool believes that their efforts have drawn the attention of the immoral woman, that her scarcity and exclusivity (roll your eyes here) speaks to a value that the more commonly available "wisdom" cannot claim. The immoral woman may even include such flattery in her seduction, all the while wisdom is trying to compete, but people are only annoyed by the persistence.
When a child, there was a neighbor kid who wanted to play on a regular basis, every day. This got annoying, because the commonality of the availability ruined the "feeling" of our time spent together being rare or valuable. Scarcity so often determines value, with dirt being nearly worthless, but fine jewels and refined precious metals, being both more rare and more attractive, are granted higher value, are cherished more, and thus why Solomon tries so hard on a regular basis to challenge this default valuation of wisdom.
The book of Proverbs is constantly trying to challenge the default means by which people derive value, to overturn a valuation based on relative temporal scarcity, and to instead try to teach people to value something which is essentially not scarce at all, but is yet of considerable benefit to them. To learn that what we value does not reflect what God values, and that gets to the heart of the issue.
Valuing what God values requires humility, and you're not going to be humble if you are convinced in your own ability, of your own understanding, of your own strength. It's the same foolishness that has the "youth" denying wisdom in pursuit of "guilt-free" pleasure, drinking deep from the lies of the immoral woman, and believing that whatever comes of it, it's "worth the risk". Even if you are not placing yourself on God's throne, you're still trying to "make it" by your own hand, even when an infinite wellspring of assistance is being offered that you could gain access to at any time.
This is the folly of humanity, our solipsism, that we want to think that we know best, that we understand more than enough, that we don't need to grow, to learn.
Yet like the air that we breathe, that we take for granted, it's not when we have it that we appreciate it, but when we don't anymore that we start to realize the value on our own. It's when we're trying to escape from a fire and cannot but breathe smoke and ash that we are forced to understand the value of clean air. It's not till we're parched and dry that we are forced to pay attention to the value in good water.
Time and again humanity takes something for granted, and we do not choose to value it until it's been taken away from us and we then have no choice but to do so. We're forced because we didn't choose well and the consequence of poor choices results in bad circumstances.
If you're allergic to a food and you eat it, is the problem the allergy or your having eaten the food anyway?
If you need to sustain fidelity in your marriage, do you really want to have it broken apart before you can appreciate what you already have?
The arrogance implicit behind the mentality of "I am going to do what I think is right, no matter what" wreaks all sorts of havoc on both your life and the lives of those around you, and yet the most controversial aspect of all of this, the most contentious claim that could be made, is that it's all unnecessary.
You see, it's not that we can't learn at all, but it's the subtle insistence that we can't learn unless we've made the mistakes ourselves, that unless we've got the scars and felt the pain, that we're entirely incapable of behaving any other way. Paradoxically this is a thought process often tethered to the idea that, realizing this, one has achieved some state of enlightenment, as opposed to the reality of just resigning one's agency to succumb to the instincts and emotions that toss us to and fro.
Realize that, in denying that we can ever learn without failure, we are not really being honest about our own shortcomings, we're simply declaring that we are the center of the universe until proven otherwise.
This is why Solomon tries so hard, so often, to break that mindset, to provide a new framework for value, because the costs for failure are often greater than we can imagine. Material gain and sexual satisfaction are themes familiar with everyone, everyone can understand them, so they are referred back to frequently because of this, not because they're the only circumstances where this type of dynamic plays out, but because the consequences of failure in pursuit of these things is so readily apparent to even the bystander.
Wisdom is available to all, but many will reject it, and they will suffer for it. In some ways, wisdom as Solomon describes it is a foreshadowing of the salvation that Christ would afford for all of us now. It is a gift, given not because of who we are, and so because people did not work for it themselves, because they did not earn it through their own efforts, they'll foolishly reject it, thinking they can do better on their own.
Do not be that person. Surrender your pride, your trust in only what you can secure with your own hands, and instead accept the embrace, the words, of wisdom and thus walk an upright path, never envying the damage that others have wrought upon themselves to learn the very same lessons.
And understanding lift up her voice?
She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
“To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
O you simple ones, understand prudence,
And you fools, be of an understanding heart.
Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things;
For my mouth will speak truth;
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;
Nothing crooked or perverse is in them.
They are all plain to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
Receive my instruction, and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choice gold;
For wisdom is better than rubies,
And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
Proverbs 8:1-11 (NKJV).
Let's first take note of the difference in where and when we come across wisdom versus the immoral woman. The immoral woman was out at night, in a specific location, and making empty promises about how the illicit behavior she was offering would be without consequence. Wisdom, on the other hand, is on top of a hill, at every door, at every crossroads, apparently everywhere.
Yet like how "common sense" is not actually common at all, it's this availability that causes the arrogant, the prideful, to take wisdom for granted in pursuit of the work of their own hands, even if that work leads only to destruction. If wisdom is so available, so common, then why would one need to invest in a relationship with "her"?
The fool believes that their efforts have drawn the attention of the immoral woman, that her scarcity and exclusivity (roll your eyes here) speaks to a value that the more commonly available "wisdom" cannot claim. The immoral woman may even include such flattery in her seduction, all the while wisdom is trying to compete, but people are only annoyed by the persistence.
When a child, there was a neighbor kid who wanted to play on a regular basis, every day. This got annoying, because the commonality of the availability ruined the "feeling" of our time spent together being rare or valuable. Scarcity so often determines value, with dirt being nearly worthless, but fine jewels and refined precious metals, being both more rare and more attractive, are granted higher value, are cherished more, and thus why Solomon tries so hard on a regular basis to challenge this default valuation of wisdom.
The book of Proverbs is constantly trying to challenge the default means by which people derive value, to overturn a valuation based on relative temporal scarcity, and to instead try to teach people to value something which is essentially not scarce at all, but is yet of considerable benefit to them. To learn that what we value does not reflect what God values, and that gets to the heart of the issue.
Valuing what God values requires humility, and you're not going to be humble if you are convinced in your own ability, of your own understanding, of your own strength. It's the same foolishness that has the "youth" denying wisdom in pursuit of "guilt-free" pleasure, drinking deep from the lies of the immoral woman, and believing that whatever comes of it, it's "worth the risk". Even if you are not placing yourself on God's throne, you're still trying to "make it" by your own hand, even when an infinite wellspring of assistance is being offered that you could gain access to at any time.
This is the folly of humanity, our solipsism, that we want to think that we know best, that we understand more than enough, that we don't need to grow, to learn.
Yet like the air that we breathe, that we take for granted, it's not when we have it that we appreciate it, but when we don't anymore that we start to realize the value on our own. It's when we're trying to escape from a fire and cannot but breathe smoke and ash that we are forced to understand the value of clean air. It's not till we're parched and dry that we are forced to pay attention to the value in good water.
Time and again humanity takes something for granted, and we do not choose to value it until it's been taken away from us and we then have no choice but to do so. We're forced because we didn't choose well and the consequence of poor choices results in bad circumstances.
If you're allergic to a food and you eat it, is the problem the allergy or your having eaten the food anyway?
If you need to sustain fidelity in your marriage, do you really want to have it broken apart before you can appreciate what you already have?
The arrogance implicit behind the mentality of "I am going to do what I think is right, no matter what" wreaks all sorts of havoc on both your life and the lives of those around you, and yet the most controversial aspect of all of this, the most contentious claim that could be made, is that it's all unnecessary.
You see, it's not that we can't learn at all, but it's the subtle insistence that we can't learn unless we've made the mistakes ourselves, that unless we've got the scars and felt the pain, that we're entirely incapable of behaving any other way. Paradoxically this is a thought process often tethered to the idea that, realizing this, one has achieved some state of enlightenment, as opposed to the reality of just resigning one's agency to succumb to the instincts and emotions that toss us to and fro.
Realize that, in denying that we can ever learn without failure, we are not really being honest about our own shortcomings, we're simply declaring that we are the center of the universe until proven otherwise.
This is why Solomon tries so hard, so often, to break that mindset, to provide a new framework for value, because the costs for failure are often greater than we can imagine. Material gain and sexual satisfaction are themes familiar with everyone, everyone can understand them, so they are referred back to frequently because of this, not because they're the only circumstances where this type of dynamic plays out, but because the consequences of failure in pursuit of these things is so readily apparent to even the bystander.
Wisdom is available to all, but many will reject it, and they will suffer for it. In some ways, wisdom as Solomon describes it is a foreshadowing of the salvation that Christ would afford for all of us now. It is a gift, given not because of who we are, and so because people did not work for it themselves, because they did not earn it through their own efforts, they'll foolishly reject it, thinking they can do better on their own.
Do not be that person. Surrender your pride, your trust in only what you can secure with your own hands, and instead accept the embrace, the words, of wisdom and thus walk an upright path, never envying the damage that others have wrought upon themselves to learn the very same lessons.
11.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 6:20-29
My son, keep your father’s command,
And do not forsake the law of your mother.
Bind them continually upon your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you roam, they will lead you;
When you sleep, they will keep you;
And when you awake, they will speak with you.
For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
To keep you from the evil woman,
From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
For by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?
Can one walk on hot coals,
And his feet not be seared?
So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.
Proverbs 6:20-29 (NKJV).
As we'll continue to read later on in scripture, Solomon understands what can ruin a man.
Note that Solomon does not try to denigrate the appearance of the "evil woman", but is instead honest about her beauty, both physical and verbal. He is intentionally identifying with his son to explain the nature of temptation.
I've said it before, but you can't be tempted by something you don't want. It just doesn't work. Temptation always comes from something we already desire, but being offered to us in a time or via a means by which we would run afoul of God's commands.
Sex, for example, is neither implicitly a good or bad thing, and so we must add context to it before it gains any moral significance. Terms like adultery, rape, fornication, all of them include a context which denies God's desires for humanity in favor of humanity satisfying their own desires by their own means and on their own timing.
Solomon, and biblical writers, speak positively about sex within the context of marriage, and even in the midst of discouraging marriage, even Paul recognized the necessity of marital intimacy, of having a sanctified outlet by which the desires that God gave us can be appropriately expressed for those who do not have the "gift" of celibacy as he did.
What this means practically is that the "evil woman" is desirable, and it's not in that we find the problem. Her being attractive isn't the issue, it's the context of the intimacy that a man would seek with her, not being his wife, that the sin is found. The reason I point this out is that physical appearance is a contentious issue, given the connection between desire and appearance.
The moralistic will seek not to address the heart issue, but instead seek to disarm the "evil woman" from being able to snare a man in the first place. An example of this idea taken to a logical conclusion is the way that Islam treats women, by covering them, in some cases literally from head to toe, with nothing of the appearance of the woman being seen by those around them.
That dynamic is also seen in the justification given by Islamic migrants to Europe, who have on record claimed that because the women dress so provocatively, the men cannot control themselves and so are driven to rape and sexual assault. European nations are then bending over backward to try and cover this up, but as the details of the sexual assaults have come out people have been appalled at the behavior of men who demonstrate no restraint when it comes to their sexual behavior.
Again, the "simple" answer may appear to be that women should then just cover up, so that a man's desires are not provoked in the first place, but the problem isn't appearance, it's in the permissive nature of succumbing to desires and then using your own failure to temptation to direct the behaviors of those around you to compensate. It's why, so frequently, those who demand legislating certain types of morality are so commonly discovered to have failed spectacularly and are now trying to project their own failures on everyone else to cope.
Because the man cannot control himself, he must exert control over women's appearance instead of learning any restraint. This is not the path towards a healthy and mature society. Legalizing morality never results in the hearts of people changing, merely restrictions on what evil those hearts are able to commit in public view, because privately the heart will pursue what it desires regardless.
Solomon hammers this topic so often in Proverbs because men so easily grow arrogant in their process of accumulating power and competency that they come to believe that they can escape the consequences of their choices. They buy into the lies that their power can overcome any negative consequences, so what's the harm in pursuing some pleasure?
Yet Solomon literally had it all, and was brought down by his lust, his sexual desires, just like his father before him.
Solomon had wisdom, but then didn't heed it himself, and brought great destruction upon Israel because of it. Remember that his father, David, is even more well known for having done the exact same thing with Solomon's own mother, Bathsheba. Yea, in case you hadn't made the connection before, Solomon's mother was the target of his father's illicit sexual desire, and Solomon was by this time very well aware of the terrible circumstances that Israel faced because of complications due to David's promiscuity and the conflict over who would succeed him on the throne, let alone the damage that Solomon caused through his own folly.
Thus the emphasis Solomon places is not on whether the sinful act is pleasurable, or whether the son might get away with it for a time, or whether the attractive woman is really attractive, but that actions always have consequences, and they will always catch up to you in one way or another, in ways you may never have predicted or expected, and so entertaining adultery is simply a terrible idea.
The message resonates even today, if you are watching the political scene, wherein the adulterous actions of the current President were being used as justification to collect information to support efforts to impeach him from office. Whether that is appropriate or not, consider that had he not partook in such an illicit affair in the first place, there would not be a weakness to exploit, even if the whole ordeal is entirely disingenuous, in the first place.
When men give in to their instincts, their desires, they rebel against God, wreak havoc on both their families and their nations, all in choosing to believe that the pursuit of short-term pleasures can sufficiently offset the long-term costs. Do not be so foolish, do not believe that "where they failed, I will succeed in escaping judgment for my actions."
Do not surrender to your desires, but instead give yourself over to God, pursue God's wisdom in humility, and take pleasure only in the wife of your youth.
And do not forsake the law of your mother.
Bind them continually upon your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you roam, they will lead you;
When you sleep, they will keep you;
And when you awake, they will speak with you.
For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
To keep you from the evil woman,
From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
For by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?
Can one walk on hot coals,
And his feet not be seared?
So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.
Proverbs 6:20-29 (NKJV).
As we'll continue to read later on in scripture, Solomon understands what can ruin a man.
Note that Solomon does not try to denigrate the appearance of the "evil woman", but is instead honest about her beauty, both physical and verbal. He is intentionally identifying with his son to explain the nature of temptation.
I've said it before, but you can't be tempted by something you don't want. It just doesn't work. Temptation always comes from something we already desire, but being offered to us in a time or via a means by which we would run afoul of God's commands.
Sex, for example, is neither implicitly a good or bad thing, and so we must add context to it before it gains any moral significance. Terms like adultery, rape, fornication, all of them include a context which denies God's desires for humanity in favor of humanity satisfying their own desires by their own means and on their own timing.
Solomon, and biblical writers, speak positively about sex within the context of marriage, and even in the midst of discouraging marriage, even Paul recognized the necessity of marital intimacy, of having a sanctified outlet by which the desires that God gave us can be appropriately expressed for those who do not have the "gift" of celibacy as he did.
What this means practically is that the "evil woman" is desirable, and it's not in that we find the problem. Her being attractive isn't the issue, it's the context of the intimacy that a man would seek with her, not being his wife, that the sin is found. The reason I point this out is that physical appearance is a contentious issue, given the connection between desire and appearance.
The moralistic will seek not to address the heart issue, but instead seek to disarm the "evil woman" from being able to snare a man in the first place. An example of this idea taken to a logical conclusion is the way that Islam treats women, by covering them, in some cases literally from head to toe, with nothing of the appearance of the woman being seen by those around them.
That dynamic is also seen in the justification given by Islamic migrants to Europe, who have on record claimed that because the women dress so provocatively, the men cannot control themselves and so are driven to rape and sexual assault. European nations are then bending over backward to try and cover this up, but as the details of the sexual assaults have come out people have been appalled at the behavior of men who demonstrate no restraint when it comes to their sexual behavior.
Again, the "simple" answer may appear to be that women should then just cover up, so that a man's desires are not provoked in the first place, but the problem isn't appearance, it's in the permissive nature of succumbing to desires and then using your own failure to temptation to direct the behaviors of those around you to compensate. It's why, so frequently, those who demand legislating certain types of morality are so commonly discovered to have failed spectacularly and are now trying to project their own failures on everyone else to cope.
Because the man cannot control himself, he must exert control over women's appearance instead of learning any restraint. This is not the path towards a healthy and mature society. Legalizing morality never results in the hearts of people changing, merely restrictions on what evil those hearts are able to commit in public view, because privately the heart will pursue what it desires regardless.
Solomon hammers this topic so often in Proverbs because men so easily grow arrogant in their process of accumulating power and competency that they come to believe that they can escape the consequences of their choices. They buy into the lies that their power can overcome any negative consequences, so what's the harm in pursuing some pleasure?
Yet Solomon literally had it all, and was brought down by his lust, his sexual desires, just like his father before him.
Solomon had wisdom, but then didn't heed it himself, and brought great destruction upon Israel because of it. Remember that his father, David, is even more well known for having done the exact same thing with Solomon's own mother, Bathsheba. Yea, in case you hadn't made the connection before, Solomon's mother was the target of his father's illicit sexual desire, and Solomon was by this time very well aware of the terrible circumstances that Israel faced because of complications due to David's promiscuity and the conflict over who would succeed him on the throne, let alone the damage that Solomon caused through his own folly.
Thus the emphasis Solomon places is not on whether the sinful act is pleasurable, or whether the son might get away with it for a time, or whether the attractive woman is really attractive, but that actions always have consequences, and they will always catch up to you in one way or another, in ways you may never have predicted or expected, and so entertaining adultery is simply a terrible idea.
The message resonates even today, if you are watching the political scene, wherein the adulterous actions of the current President were being used as justification to collect information to support efforts to impeach him from office. Whether that is appropriate or not, consider that had he not partook in such an illicit affair in the first place, there would not be a weakness to exploit, even if the whole ordeal is entirely disingenuous, in the first place.
When men give in to their instincts, their desires, they rebel against God, wreak havoc on both their families and their nations, all in choosing to believe that the pursuit of short-term pleasures can sufficiently offset the long-term costs. Do not be so foolish, do not believe that "where they failed, I will succeed in escaping judgment for my actions."
Do not surrender to your desires, but instead give yourself over to God, pursue God's wisdom in humility, and take pleasure only in the wife of your youth.
9.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 6:12-15
A worthless person, a wicked man,
Walks with a perverse mouth;
He winks with his eyes,
He shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
Perversity is in his heart,
He devises evil continually,
He sows discord.
Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NKJV).
What are worthless and wicked people like?
They are constant liars,
signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,
a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.
Their perverted hearts plot evil,
and they constantly stir up trouble.
But they will be destroyed suddenly,
broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NLT).
A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
winks with his eyes, scrapes with his feet,
points with his finger,
with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (RSV).
I've talked about the wicked and their destruction before, but this passage provides opportunity to discuss something important: translations and exegesis.
The Bible wasn't inspired in English. This is a controversial statement in that most people have an understanding of the Bible being inerrant which is not logically coherent. If you have ever asserted that a specific translation, let alone only that translation, is inerrant, you were wrong.
To start, the modern understanding of an "error" is considerably more exacting than the ancient, and many folks want to treat the Bible as if it were a textbook, a reference manual that someone sat down and wrote with the specific intent of communicating very specific messages in every passage. While this is true for some passages, like this one, it's not always clear exactly what the utility is in a section of scripture.
I enjoy the NKJV because it was translated in a word-for-word manner while attempting to reconcile the grandeur of the language in the KJV with the multitude of manuscripts that have been collected since the KJV was written. In a "word-for-word" type of translation, when an illustration, allegory, idiom, metaphor, or a cultural reference was used in the original text, instead of trying to account for those understandings in the process of translating, they're reproduced "as-is".
If you look at verse 13 in the original language, it most literally states "He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers." Look again at how each of the three translations I provided are communicating that same information, just in slightly different fashion. Even better, choose from some of the other translations you're familiar with (or not) and see how the entire passage is rendered differently in each while still trying to communicate the same truths.
The reason this is important to see and understand is because much ado is made of specific words and phrases in various English translations, and yet folks to not do due diligence and reference the entirety of the scriptures we have, placing their faith on the translators having done an accurate job and not having left out any important details.
If you've ever heard someone talk about a "bad" translation, exactly how would you imagine that is possible if the Bible is inerrant in every single manifestation of it? To help drive this point home, if you tear a page out of any Bible, does it magically return to that Bible to keep it intact? Could a Bible ever be printed with a typo in its pages? Is it possible to misquote the Bible?
In each circumstance, if we are to assert that, to be inerrant, every copy or manifestation of the Bible is perfect, the answer you are required to provide to those above questions is rather different than the one you're logically inclined to provide.
We can see that damaged Bibles can be missing pages, or are perhaps defaced, but God does not somehow correct them. We have some translations that are "better" than others, and some which are downright deceptive in the efforts of the translators to re-write scripture through the translation process to suit modern proclivities.
It's this illogical assertion regarding what it inerrant that has given people like Bart Ehrman any sort of platform at all, in that they push this concept to the logical extreme, and declare that Christianity cannot be true on the grounds that there have been typos or errors in the process of transcribing or translating scripture, even if those errors do not affect any actual truth being transmitted by the scripture. The rigidity of the understanding creates a barrier to belief which was not constructed by God, but by Satan, who regularly uses false dichotomies to disarm and disable those who truly seek God's will in their life.
Think about it. If Satan can tell you both that every manifestation of scripture needs to be perfect, right down to the last jot or tittle, and then in the next breath provide examples where any manifestation of scripture has an "error", can you see what the "logical" conclusion would then be?
Satan, by emphasizing an exaggerated understanding of what scripture is supposed to be, will create the very circumstances on which he can then discredit the truth of scripture without actually arguing about any of it in specific. If anything, Satan wants the belief in the idea of scripture being inerrant to be as strict as possible by human standards, so that just as we have all fallen short, so will any scripture, so why read and study it if it will not truly lead us to understanding truth?
This is why it is extremely ignorant to presume that Satan wants to undermine the authority of scripture merely by taking potshots, by discrediting specific doctrines or theologies within a framework of debate. Satan wants the whole Bible to both be casually dismissed as well as debated to a degree of pedantry that distracts from the necessary ecumenism within the Church.
Most recently, I was struck with the naive hypocrisy in a book I've been reading recently from a Father in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, that at the surface appeared like a logical claim, but upon further inspection was a demonstration of great stupidity.
The basic nature of the claim was that, if there wasn't a specific sect in the "Church" which was "The Church", that the different sects were relative to each other, then no similar argument could be made to distinguish between the other religions of the world that would then be relative to Christianity in exactly the same fashion.
This is the logical equivalent to saying that your physical body is no more distinct from anyone else's because your hand and your foot are different. That because your hand is not your entire body, that because your tongue is not your body, and so on and so forth, that because there is no one distilled element of the body which represents The Body, there is no "body" at all, is moronic.
Look at this passage about the wicked man, and how some translations are attempting to reproduce what he's literally doing as part of his wickedness, and some are trying to communicate what the meaning or significance of what he's literally doing, really is. Each is correct, though each is different, and if any were held up as the "perfect standard", the others would be considered "wrong" or "in error".
The "high standard" which you may be tempted to think comes from God may not at all, and Satan has no qualm feeding you all the lies and rationalizations you would desire to first foster an impossibly high ideal that Satan can then turn against you to undermine your witness and your faith.
Having a standard is not the problem. Scrutinizing translations is not the problem. The problem is when we add to what God really says, when, like Eve, we add to what God has really commanded, as if to demonstrate our own superiority. The problem is that we aren't ever nearly as clever as the master of lies, who has been learning and refining how he can trick and deceive humans for thousands and thousands of years, and yet we somehow think that we're the ones with the upper hand?
If pursuing God, in earnest and in humility, we would have the upper hand, but that also comes with genuine humility, not a blind arrogance being passed off as humility. When we start erecting edifices, physical or psychological, in the name of glorfying God, but instead only make much of ourselves, it is our actions, not just our words, our declared intent, that God will judge us by.
Read various translations. Go back to the original languages. Learn about what God truly thinks constitutes as "error", and refine the Gospel that you preach to adhere only to truth, empty of all vain puffery.
Avoid being as the wicked man, where the disparity between your actions and your words betray your true master, the one whom you truly worship and obey.
Walks with a perverse mouth;
He winks with his eyes,
He shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
Perversity is in his heart,
He devises evil continually,
He sows discord.
Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NKJV).
What are worthless and wicked people like?
They are constant liars,
signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,
a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.
Their perverted hearts plot evil,
and they constantly stir up trouble.
But they will be destroyed suddenly,
broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NLT).
A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
winks with his eyes, scrapes with his feet,
points with his finger,
with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (RSV).
I've talked about the wicked and their destruction before, but this passage provides opportunity to discuss something important: translations and exegesis.
The Bible wasn't inspired in English. This is a controversial statement in that most people have an understanding of the Bible being inerrant which is not logically coherent. If you have ever asserted that a specific translation, let alone only that translation, is inerrant, you were wrong.
To start, the modern understanding of an "error" is considerably more exacting than the ancient, and many folks want to treat the Bible as if it were a textbook, a reference manual that someone sat down and wrote with the specific intent of communicating very specific messages in every passage. While this is true for some passages, like this one, it's not always clear exactly what the utility is in a section of scripture.
I enjoy the NKJV because it was translated in a word-for-word manner while attempting to reconcile the grandeur of the language in the KJV with the multitude of manuscripts that have been collected since the KJV was written. In a "word-for-word" type of translation, when an illustration, allegory, idiom, metaphor, or a cultural reference was used in the original text, instead of trying to account for those understandings in the process of translating, they're reproduced "as-is".
If you look at verse 13 in the original language, it most literally states "He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers." Look again at how each of the three translations I provided are communicating that same information, just in slightly different fashion. Even better, choose from some of the other translations you're familiar with (or not) and see how the entire passage is rendered differently in each while still trying to communicate the same truths.
The reason this is important to see and understand is because much ado is made of specific words and phrases in various English translations, and yet folks to not do due diligence and reference the entirety of the scriptures we have, placing their faith on the translators having done an accurate job and not having left out any important details.
If you've ever heard someone talk about a "bad" translation, exactly how would you imagine that is possible if the Bible is inerrant in every single manifestation of it? To help drive this point home, if you tear a page out of any Bible, does it magically return to that Bible to keep it intact? Could a Bible ever be printed with a typo in its pages? Is it possible to misquote the Bible?
In each circumstance, if we are to assert that, to be inerrant, every copy or manifestation of the Bible is perfect, the answer you are required to provide to those above questions is rather different than the one you're logically inclined to provide.
We can see that damaged Bibles can be missing pages, or are perhaps defaced, but God does not somehow correct them. We have some translations that are "better" than others, and some which are downright deceptive in the efforts of the translators to re-write scripture through the translation process to suit modern proclivities.
It's this illogical assertion regarding what it inerrant that has given people like Bart Ehrman any sort of platform at all, in that they push this concept to the logical extreme, and declare that Christianity cannot be true on the grounds that there have been typos or errors in the process of transcribing or translating scripture, even if those errors do not affect any actual truth being transmitted by the scripture. The rigidity of the understanding creates a barrier to belief which was not constructed by God, but by Satan, who regularly uses false dichotomies to disarm and disable those who truly seek God's will in their life.
Think about it. If Satan can tell you both that every manifestation of scripture needs to be perfect, right down to the last jot or tittle, and then in the next breath provide examples where any manifestation of scripture has an "error", can you see what the "logical" conclusion would then be?
Satan, by emphasizing an exaggerated understanding of what scripture is supposed to be, will create the very circumstances on which he can then discredit the truth of scripture without actually arguing about any of it in specific. If anything, Satan wants the belief in the idea of scripture being inerrant to be as strict as possible by human standards, so that just as we have all fallen short, so will any scripture, so why read and study it if it will not truly lead us to understanding truth?
This is why it is extremely ignorant to presume that Satan wants to undermine the authority of scripture merely by taking potshots, by discrediting specific doctrines or theologies within a framework of debate. Satan wants the whole Bible to both be casually dismissed as well as debated to a degree of pedantry that distracts from the necessary ecumenism within the Church.
Most recently, I was struck with the naive hypocrisy in a book I've been reading recently from a Father in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, that at the surface appeared like a logical claim, but upon further inspection was a demonstration of great stupidity.
The basic nature of the claim was that, if there wasn't a specific sect in the "Church" which was "The Church", that the different sects were relative to each other, then no similar argument could be made to distinguish between the other religions of the world that would then be relative to Christianity in exactly the same fashion.
This is the logical equivalent to saying that your physical body is no more distinct from anyone else's because your hand and your foot are different. That because your hand is not your entire body, that because your tongue is not your body, and so on and so forth, that because there is no one distilled element of the body which represents The Body, there is no "body" at all, is moronic.
Look at this passage about the wicked man, and how some translations are attempting to reproduce what he's literally doing as part of his wickedness, and some are trying to communicate what the meaning or significance of what he's literally doing, really is. Each is correct, though each is different, and if any were held up as the "perfect standard", the others would be considered "wrong" or "in error".
The "high standard" which you may be tempted to think comes from God may not at all, and Satan has no qualm feeding you all the lies and rationalizations you would desire to first foster an impossibly high ideal that Satan can then turn against you to undermine your witness and your faith.
Having a standard is not the problem. Scrutinizing translations is not the problem. The problem is when we add to what God really says, when, like Eve, we add to what God has really commanded, as if to demonstrate our own superiority. The problem is that we aren't ever nearly as clever as the master of lies, who has been learning and refining how he can trick and deceive humans for thousands and thousands of years, and yet we somehow think that we're the ones with the upper hand?
If pursuing God, in earnest and in humility, we would have the upper hand, but that also comes with genuine humility, not a blind arrogance being passed off as humility. When we start erecting edifices, physical or psychological, in the name of glorfying God, but instead only make much of ourselves, it is our actions, not just our words, our declared intent, that God will judge us by.
Read various translations. Go back to the original languages. Learn about what God truly thinks constitutes as "error", and refine the Gospel that you preach to adhere only to truth, empty of all vain puffery.
Avoid being as the wicked man, where the disparity between your actions and your words betray your true master, the one whom you truly worship and obey.
18.3.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 1:28-33
“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.”
Proverbs 1:28-33 (NKJV).
There is such thing as "running out of time", as "too late" when it comes to choices you make in this life. Even if you later learn what you were supposed to have done differently, you cannot go back in time and "try again".
You get one shot and after that you've set history and every action you take will exist in the context of that decision having been made the way it was. This is why understanding that your life matters, that your decisions carry weight you may not ever understand, is so important.
Think briefly of the chain of decisions that were made by the people which led to Pontius Pilate taking the station he had, and being in it when Jesus was brought before him. For Pilate to have been in the position he was, with no more or less authority than he had, it relied on scores of decisions prior to him ever being born.
The establishment of Israel, the founding of Rome, the specific laws to which the expansion of Rome would follow, the resistance (or lack thereof) in Israel to Roman rule, all of these things were driven by human choices, and at each choice someone could have accepted or rejected wisdom. A different choice would have resulted in a different outcome, yet in concert all the decisions up to that point produced that interaction, and then even it would play a supporting role in what came after.
Wisdom is not mandatory to survive. You can live without it, and especially if you are lucky, you may even think you're better off without it. Take note in this passage that rejecting wisdom does not occur in a vacuum, there are consequences and they at the superficial level, appear to be desirable as well.
Who wouldn't want to be filled to the full with their own fancies? Who doesn't want to get what their heart desires? How is this supposed to be a "negative" outcome for ignoring wisdom?
For the same reason that the United States of America is dealing with school shootings, near 40% of the population is obese, divorce rates are 40-50%, and so on, what we fancy is rarely good for us, whether in the physical or philosophical sense. We crave unintelligibly, not understanding the consequences of our choices, only that satisfying them makes us feel good in that moment.
Thus why wisdom is so valuable, and so universal, because it provides a reliable mechanism by which we can distinguish between healthy choices and poor ones. We have the option of making good choices, or making bad choices and hoping we learn enough not to repeat the same mistake again.
Why would anyone insist on inviting destruction upon themselves through bad decisions to "learn" when the knowledge they seek is available already if they'd just accept it? Such stubbornness is not a sign of intellectual enlightenment, but of a deep immaturity and blind arrogance.
Make good choices the first time, and then build upon that, instead of constantly going back and trying to re-make a poor decision to get a better result.
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.”
Proverbs 1:28-33 (NKJV).
There is such thing as "running out of time", as "too late" when it comes to choices you make in this life. Even if you later learn what you were supposed to have done differently, you cannot go back in time and "try again".
You get one shot and after that you've set history and every action you take will exist in the context of that decision having been made the way it was. This is why understanding that your life matters, that your decisions carry weight you may not ever understand, is so important.
Think briefly of the chain of decisions that were made by the people which led to Pontius Pilate taking the station he had, and being in it when Jesus was brought before him. For Pilate to have been in the position he was, with no more or less authority than he had, it relied on scores of decisions prior to him ever being born.
The establishment of Israel, the founding of Rome, the specific laws to which the expansion of Rome would follow, the resistance (or lack thereof) in Israel to Roman rule, all of these things were driven by human choices, and at each choice someone could have accepted or rejected wisdom. A different choice would have resulted in a different outcome, yet in concert all the decisions up to that point produced that interaction, and then even it would play a supporting role in what came after.
Wisdom is not mandatory to survive. You can live without it, and especially if you are lucky, you may even think you're better off without it. Take note in this passage that rejecting wisdom does not occur in a vacuum, there are consequences and they at the superficial level, appear to be desirable as well.
Who wouldn't want to be filled to the full with their own fancies? Who doesn't want to get what their heart desires? How is this supposed to be a "negative" outcome for ignoring wisdom?
For the same reason that the United States of America is dealing with school shootings, near 40% of the population is obese, divorce rates are 40-50%, and so on, what we fancy is rarely good for us, whether in the physical or philosophical sense. We crave unintelligibly, not understanding the consequences of our choices, only that satisfying them makes us feel good in that moment.
Thus why wisdom is so valuable, and so universal, because it provides a reliable mechanism by which we can distinguish between healthy choices and poor ones. We have the option of making good choices, or making bad choices and hoping we learn enough not to repeat the same mistake again.
Why would anyone insist on inviting destruction upon themselves through bad decisions to "learn" when the knowledge they seek is available already if they'd just accept it? Such stubbornness is not a sign of intellectual enlightenment, but of a deep immaturity and blind arrogance.
Make good choices the first time, and then build upon that, instead of constantly going back and trying to re-make a poor decision to get a better result.
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