Sit in the middle of a topic, be a moderate, and when someone on one "side" starts taking shots at the other, physically or philosophically, you're going to be in the way.
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way" is a warning to those who don't do one of those three, because if you can't, you're likely an enemy, and enemies must be removed from having any power or influence in the material world for there to be peace.
Trying to play peacemaker means you get shot anytime peace is not brokered, but even worse, nobody cares, because you're neither for or against either "side". You're a slimy and manipulative sort, trying to have your cake and eat it too, hoping that nobody picks up on your opportunism before you've gotten your pound of flesh and can move on.
The reason that folks do this is because they're trying to emulate Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ bridged the gap between humanity and God by taking all the shots that God ever would need to make against sin, and then asking us in turn to place our faith in Him instead of trying to rush past him to take some shots of our own. That is the arrogance exposed by a works-based salvation, it places an emphasis on remedying the price of sin by your own efforts, instead of accepting the gift that Jesus Christ offers freely.
A messianic complex causes people to run into the line of fire, sacrificing themselves to try and broker peace between two parties, and superficially we laud such behavior because it is usually only motivated by a deep love and care for the two parties involved. Again, this is going to be Christianity minus the Christ thing because we live in a society that has steeped in Christian principles for so long that folks have forgotten where they came from.
So folks are rushing to be moderates, to try and negotiate, to try and stop conflicts from occurring, because Jesus Christ was exalted as a reward for his sacrifices. While he humbled himself to a mortal life, in his resurrection he has been elevated above all others as the perfect demonstration of love and sacrifice.
People want some of that for themselves, the recognition and glory for having done something difficult.
But, much like the priests who pray on street corners, to be heard by men, such rewards are equally temporal, short-lived, because nobody has a perspective that appropriately includes how their actions will ripple across existence and on into eternity. We see what appears to be a path of action which would benefit us in our goals, but we don't really know for certain. Nobody can really predict the future, though many have killed themselves trying to manifest a particular version of one.
Such suicidal instincts are not laudable, are not worthy of praise, because it's ignoring that this story isn't ours to tell.
We aren't the focus of creation, the reason it was created.
We aren't even the reason that Jesus Christ came to save us in the first place, evidenced by scripture indicating that such an act was known and planned for before even "In the beginning..."
The reality is that we exist in is God's story, and we just play a role in that story.
Look at the interactions between David and Saul. How many times could David have made a different choice in whether to allow Saul to remain alive? How much easier would David's life have been were Saul removed from the picture at his first opportunity to do so?
Yet David would not put his hand against God's anointed for Israel, because despite God having told Israel how terrible the idea of a King was to begin with, Saul needed to demonstrate fully waht God had described before Israel could understand that, even when chosen by God to do great things, humans who get a taste for power will abandon God and, in their hubris, presume that God chose them for who they were and what they could do for God, as if their own internal judgment is enough, as if God looked over their life to that point and declared "Good job, keep doing what you were doing, but now with my support!"
The reality is that God is inviting us to walk with God in what God is already shaping before us in this world. God already has designs, reasons, and while we may come to know some, ignorance is not an excuse for disobedience, let alone outright rebellion, against God.
What Jesus Christ did in being a moderator between humanity and God was unique and miraculous, and to honor what Jesus Christ did we should not blindly repeat his actions, but also pay heed to his words and understand that "becoming more like Christ" does not necessarily include one's death needing to be on a cross for having pissed off Jewish autocrats.
Anyone else? They'll just get shot, and folks will be too busy trying to reload and take another that they won't have time to lament the unfortunate death of one who was crushed in trying to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.
Showing posts with label Consequences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consequences. Show all posts
4.12.18
They're not learning
Civic Nationalism : United States :: Free Speech : Christianity
The people denying this are just buying more rope to hang themselves with.
The people denying this are just buying more rope to hang themselves with.
1.11.18
Advanced civilizations require constant conflict to survive
“Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.” —C.H. Spurgeon
One of the stereotypical generational gaps that most people are familiar with is related to technology. "Old" people didn't grow up with a new technology, so their adoption and mastery over it is inherently hindered and limited compared to "young" people who did. The temptation on the part of the "young" people is to presume that this is an intelligence or experience thing, to look at the bumbling behaviors of "old" people and mock it as if it is the "fault" of the "old" people in some manner.
The problem is that, should the young person go back in time to when the "old" people were the same age as them, the same type of skill displacement would be readily apparent. They'd be bumbling to adjust to a different environment and having just as much difficulty as the "old" people did to their new technology.
Understanding this phenomenon as described requires the ability to grasp subtlety, and to grasp that subtlety you need discernment.
To cite a dictionary definition:
To "explain like I am five", I could say that discernment is "seeing that two things are not the same".
For example, the difference between two apples that came from the same tree. They both may be genetically identical, with similar color patterns, shape, and overall size, but one may appear to have a hole in it from where a worm or insect ate into it.
With humans, this is like knowing the difference between a set of twins. They're genetically similar, and again of similar physical appearance, and when playing practical jokes they may hide their distinctive behavior patterns to fool people, but there are differences if one knows them well enough.
A final example comes from counterfeit currency. The entire goal of the counterfeit is to exactly reproduce the genuine article in substance and use, and to do so in a way which fools others into accepting it as the genuine. Being able to tell a counterfeit from a genuine requires discernment.
In each case, while appearances are not irrelevant, what information one can gather on a cursory inspection will not be sufficient to make a good determination as to whether two things are similar or different. While an "old" person may not understand that they haven't been selected as the sole inheritor of a Nigerian fortune, a lot of "young" people don't understand the difference between "good" and "bad" soil to grow plants in either.
Advanced civilization requires discernment because the levels of automation required to achieve that advanced state will naturally hide themselves from the end users, and so in order to be stable over long periods of time, people need to be able to dig past the surface level to determine what the root problem is so that it can be solved.
An example I like to use to demonstrate this is with two sportscars of equal power, but one has a manual transmission and the other an automatic. A person who is a skilled driver can drive both safely, but an unskilled driver will burn out the clutch on the manual, but could essentially drive just as fast as the skilled driver in the automatic, at least in a straight line.
In this case, the unskilled driver is much more quickly able to go beyond their actual skill level, but until driving conditions that challenge the driver show up, to the casual observer one can't tell the difference between the skilled and unskilled driver, especially since the physical requirements of professional driving don't result in quite as physically obvious distinctions in participants of the sport as, say, weight lifting.
Advanced civilizations automate simple processes in order to enable the end users to move to a higher tier of complication without investing the brain power into the lower tiers, since the human brain and its processing capability is finite. Formula 1 cars don't have a manual transmission with a clutch, because the speed at which the vehicles drive and the intricacies of the road courses requires their full attention.
On top of that, Formula 1 drivers have "crew chiefs" to monitor various performance metrics so that the driver can focus on driving and not on certain aspects of maintenance of the vehicle while they are driving.
Lacking discernment, one would presume that the surface level is all there is. That you get food from a grocery store, and just one of them will have everything you need all the time, presuming you should even have to leave your house in the first place. That you can just push a button on a website and you can get things, same day shipping just like you went out to buy it! That car shops all do all the same car services, so even if it's called "Discount Tire" they probably do oil changes too, right?
The hiding of the lower level mechanisms certainly enables them to be ignored so that other more important tasks can be focused on, but it's a double edged sword in that it also allows those who weren't capable of handling those lower level mechanisms to get past the barriers to entry to participate in activities that are beyond what their skills and knowledge can support.
So, how does one generate and hone discernment? Conflict.
Again, the Formula 1 drivers have automatics, or semi-automatics if you want to get pedantic, but because they're trying to drive better than everyone else, they are required to hone their skills in driving and they can't just take advantage of not having to focus on shifting gears with a clutch pedal, because everyone else also has that same advantage, and so if they want to do well they need to push themselves.
Competition is conflict, and without a reason to try harder, humans simply won't. Advanced civilizations which abhor conflict and competition will become unstable and fall apart because without the impetus to improve, people won't. Without a reason to learn, people won't. We're efficient in that manner, because time wasted developing skills we don't need would have put us at a survival disadvantage compared to those that didn't waste their time and energy at all.
That's why Western Civilization is falling apart now, because enough bought into the delusion that, absent conflict, humans would choose to invest time and energy in pursuits which would grow them, when in reality all of our behavioral dispositions handed down through the generations gear us towards only investing time and energy into that which is required.
Now, there is a catch to this, because even a civilization which seeks to avoid conflict can't eliminate it completely, because when we lack in physical conflict, the philosophical begins to rage. Namely that if you exist in an environment absent challenges, purpose and meaning become arbitrary. There is nothing that you need to do to say alive, to keep existing, and so lacking any need for purpose or effort to stay alive, a nihilistic boredom with existence sets in, and the conflict then boils down to "why am I still alive?"
With no clear "winner", people commit suicide because there's no good reason not to.
This has a eugenic effect in that, were a civilization able to sustain itself otherwise, over the course of generations only the people who could summon the motivation to push themselves harder regardless of circumstances would reproduce and the society would overcome the problems of nihilistic boredom through natural selection.
The problem is that because this is so small a portion of an existing population, the suicidal stage crashes the whole system down to nothing, and so the selective process for those types of people never has much of a chance to occur, and thus the vast majority of humanity that does survive continues to be those who require external motivations to drive their behavior, because when those advanced civilizations crash, everyone is reverted back to the most basic tiers of activity and is forced to rebuild again, or die trying.
When all the layers of automation and complexity are stripped away, all the power of our intellect as adapted to that highest tier is lost, as even the most stupid and incompetent will retain the most basic survival instincts to stay alive, instincts which are not activated or manifested until the appropriate external stimulus is applied.
This is why artificial conflict, which synthetically introduces the same instincts and drives, is necessary for advanced civilization. When an advancing civilization properly grasps this and enshrines this in its cultural milieu, when it applies it such that it affects everyone, that everyone is conditioned to face and cope with conflict and have both their instinctual and intellectual pathways activated, they'll be the first to break the cycle that humanity has been experiencing since our creation.
Western Civilization didn't do that. I wonder if the civilizations that will rise from its ashes will do better.
One of the stereotypical generational gaps that most people are familiar with is related to technology. "Old" people didn't grow up with a new technology, so their adoption and mastery over it is inherently hindered and limited compared to "young" people who did. The temptation on the part of the "young" people is to presume that this is an intelligence or experience thing, to look at the bumbling behaviors of "old" people and mock it as if it is the "fault" of the "old" people in some manner.
The problem is that, should the young person go back in time to when the "old" people were the same age as them, the same type of skill displacement would be readily apparent. They'd be bumbling to adjust to a different environment and having just as much difficulty as the "old" people did to their new technology.
Understanding this phenomenon as described requires the ability to grasp subtlety, and to grasp that subtlety you need discernment.
To cite a dictionary definition:
1 : the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure : skill in discerning
2 : an act of perceiving or discerning something
To "explain like I am five", I could say that discernment is "seeing that two things are not the same".
For example, the difference between two apples that came from the same tree. They both may be genetically identical, with similar color patterns, shape, and overall size, but one may appear to have a hole in it from where a worm or insect ate into it.
With humans, this is like knowing the difference between a set of twins. They're genetically similar, and again of similar physical appearance, and when playing practical jokes they may hide their distinctive behavior patterns to fool people, but there are differences if one knows them well enough.
A final example comes from counterfeit currency. The entire goal of the counterfeit is to exactly reproduce the genuine article in substance and use, and to do so in a way which fools others into accepting it as the genuine. Being able to tell a counterfeit from a genuine requires discernment.
In each case, while appearances are not irrelevant, what information one can gather on a cursory inspection will not be sufficient to make a good determination as to whether two things are similar or different. While an "old" person may not understand that they haven't been selected as the sole inheritor of a Nigerian fortune, a lot of "young" people don't understand the difference between "good" and "bad" soil to grow plants in either.
Advanced civilization requires discernment because the levels of automation required to achieve that advanced state will naturally hide themselves from the end users, and so in order to be stable over long periods of time, people need to be able to dig past the surface level to determine what the root problem is so that it can be solved.
An example I like to use to demonstrate this is with two sportscars of equal power, but one has a manual transmission and the other an automatic. A person who is a skilled driver can drive both safely, but an unskilled driver will burn out the clutch on the manual, but could essentially drive just as fast as the skilled driver in the automatic, at least in a straight line.
In this case, the unskilled driver is much more quickly able to go beyond their actual skill level, but until driving conditions that challenge the driver show up, to the casual observer one can't tell the difference between the skilled and unskilled driver, especially since the physical requirements of professional driving don't result in quite as physically obvious distinctions in participants of the sport as, say, weight lifting.
Advanced civilizations automate simple processes in order to enable the end users to move to a higher tier of complication without investing the brain power into the lower tiers, since the human brain and its processing capability is finite. Formula 1 cars don't have a manual transmission with a clutch, because the speed at which the vehicles drive and the intricacies of the road courses requires their full attention.
On top of that, Formula 1 drivers have "crew chiefs" to monitor various performance metrics so that the driver can focus on driving and not on certain aspects of maintenance of the vehicle while they are driving.
Lacking discernment, one would presume that the surface level is all there is. That you get food from a grocery store, and just one of them will have everything you need all the time, presuming you should even have to leave your house in the first place. That you can just push a button on a website and you can get things, same day shipping just like you went out to buy it! That car shops all do all the same car services, so even if it's called "Discount Tire" they probably do oil changes too, right?
The hiding of the lower level mechanisms certainly enables them to be ignored so that other more important tasks can be focused on, but it's a double edged sword in that it also allows those who weren't capable of handling those lower level mechanisms to get past the barriers to entry to participate in activities that are beyond what their skills and knowledge can support.
So, how does one generate and hone discernment? Conflict.
Again, the Formula 1 drivers have automatics, or semi-automatics if you want to get pedantic, but because they're trying to drive better than everyone else, they are required to hone their skills in driving and they can't just take advantage of not having to focus on shifting gears with a clutch pedal, because everyone else also has that same advantage, and so if they want to do well they need to push themselves.
Competition is conflict, and without a reason to try harder, humans simply won't. Advanced civilizations which abhor conflict and competition will become unstable and fall apart because without the impetus to improve, people won't. Without a reason to learn, people won't. We're efficient in that manner, because time wasted developing skills we don't need would have put us at a survival disadvantage compared to those that didn't waste their time and energy at all.
That's why Western Civilization is falling apart now, because enough bought into the delusion that, absent conflict, humans would choose to invest time and energy in pursuits which would grow them, when in reality all of our behavioral dispositions handed down through the generations gear us towards only investing time and energy into that which is required.
Now, there is a catch to this, because even a civilization which seeks to avoid conflict can't eliminate it completely, because when we lack in physical conflict, the philosophical begins to rage. Namely that if you exist in an environment absent challenges, purpose and meaning become arbitrary. There is nothing that you need to do to say alive, to keep existing, and so lacking any need for purpose or effort to stay alive, a nihilistic boredom with existence sets in, and the conflict then boils down to "why am I still alive?"
With no clear "winner", people commit suicide because there's no good reason not to.
This has a eugenic effect in that, were a civilization able to sustain itself otherwise, over the course of generations only the people who could summon the motivation to push themselves harder regardless of circumstances would reproduce and the society would overcome the problems of nihilistic boredom through natural selection.
The problem is that because this is so small a portion of an existing population, the suicidal stage crashes the whole system down to nothing, and so the selective process for those types of people never has much of a chance to occur, and thus the vast majority of humanity that does survive continues to be those who require external motivations to drive their behavior, because when those advanced civilizations crash, everyone is reverted back to the most basic tiers of activity and is forced to rebuild again, or die trying.
When all the layers of automation and complexity are stripped away, all the power of our intellect as adapted to that highest tier is lost, as even the most stupid and incompetent will retain the most basic survival instincts to stay alive, instincts which are not activated or manifested until the appropriate external stimulus is applied.
This is why artificial conflict, which synthetically introduces the same instincts and drives, is necessary for advanced civilization. When an advancing civilization properly grasps this and enshrines this in its cultural milieu, when it applies it such that it affects everyone, that everyone is conditioned to face and cope with conflict and have both their instinctual and intellectual pathways activated, they'll be the first to break the cycle that humanity has been experiencing since our creation.
Western Civilization didn't do that. I wonder if the civilizations that will rise from its ashes will do better.
12.6.18
Daily Bible Study - Proverbs 10:27-29
The fear of the Lord prolongs days,
But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
The hope of the righteous will be gladness,
But the expectation of the wicked will perish.
The way of the Lord is strength for the upright,
But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.
Proverbs 10:27-29 (NKJV).
In a somewhat recent discussion a favored Christian Philosopher of mine, William Lane Craig, discussed the "Meaning of Life". A super-shortened version of his claim is that "without the supernatural, and therefore without God, life is ultimately meaningless, because the universe won't persist forever."
One of the other participants rejected this in favor of the "if you feel like your life has meaning, it does" argument, ignoring the practical reality that was serving as the context for WLC's claim.
In short, that it doesn't matter what happens outside one's life if what happens inside of it had meaning. Yet this view is essentially hedonistic in nature, betraying a childish understanding behind the concepts of "purpose" and "meaning".
If "right" and "wrong" do not objectively exist, then perception truly is reality, and there can be no coherent discussion about even things like "better" or "worse". You just "are" and it's up to you to supply subjective meaning because nothing external to you tangibly exists apart from your ability to perceive it. This is why, without at least the supernatural, all discussions of the meaning and purpose of life fall flat.
If our reality, our current circumstances the result of chance and objective truth does not exist, then there is no "good" or "bad". What you do, the consequences, exist only so far as you are required to perceive them, and they only impact others so far as they perceive them, so "good" is possible just by eliminating the perception of consequences.
Like someone overdosing on drugs.
This is an inherently wicked mindset, and why the passage discusses the disparity in behavior because, long before modern and postmodern philosophies found philosophical rationalization, the themes and premises had already existed in the human mind, they just needed a new coat of paint.
The fear of the Lord brings about respect for God's design of reality, and accepting the consequences that come from bad behavior. There is no accident that those who reject understanding of germs, of infections, of the consequences of their behavior so frequently die before those that do.
In the "Middle Ages", deaths from the "Black Plague" are almost mythical in nature, yet when you look at the numbers, a disproportional amount of deaths occurred among those with a lower intelligence, thus resulting in the average IQ of Europeans going up, not because they were smarter, but because only the smarter survived, even despite the lack of complete or correct understanding as to what caused the plague and how to avoid it.
The "hope of the righteous" is grounded in the idea that God rewards obedience, and the expectation of the wicked is that God won't punish disobedience. Can you see how, in a system designed by God where one's individual beliefs don't change the rules, the wicked who expect to escape the consequences of their choices would end up in such a bad state?
In both a literal and figurative sense, we cannot escape the consequences of our choices, and God set up this reality such that aligning with God aligns with the "rules of reality", and so that is why those in rebellion with God are so frequently challenging the "natural order" of things, so frequently trying to develop technology and laws to alleviate or eliminate the negative consequences from bad choices, so frequently trying to convince themselves that they have the power to re-write the "rules of reality".
Their hope is not in finding favor with God, but in replacing God with themselves. Their inevitable failure is always predictable, if not in the timing, the mechanisms. Evil always loses in the end, not because there's a bad hand dealt or a dice rolled, but because evil is literally fighting against God's design of reality, of existence.
Sin is, in many ways, just the label we apply to rebellion against God, who logically has every right to make recommendations as to the behavior of creatures which didn't deserve to exist in the first place. In turn, the wrath that is poured out due to the infinite ingratitude of those creatures who do not show God any respect or honor for the infinitely great gift of existence versus non-existence is terrifying, but understandeable.
Solomon is highlighting that where those who follow God have hope, those who do not have no hope, for they cannot ever succeed at doing anything but delaying their own perceptions. Consequences will come, one way or another, whether we like it or not.
And consequences scale with the sin. So learn from your own life, before it's too late, from your own failures that were not mortal in nature, lest you get caught up believing that when consequences do grow significantly in severity, you'll be able to escape them just as you think you escaped before.
You won't.
But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
The hope of the righteous will be gladness,
But the expectation of the wicked will perish.
The way of the Lord is strength for the upright,
But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.
Proverbs 10:27-29 (NKJV).
In a somewhat recent discussion a favored Christian Philosopher of mine, William Lane Craig, discussed the "Meaning of Life". A super-shortened version of his claim is that "without the supernatural, and therefore without God, life is ultimately meaningless, because the universe won't persist forever."
One of the other participants rejected this in favor of the "if you feel like your life has meaning, it does" argument, ignoring the practical reality that was serving as the context for WLC's claim.
In short, that it doesn't matter what happens outside one's life if what happens inside of it had meaning. Yet this view is essentially hedonistic in nature, betraying a childish understanding behind the concepts of "purpose" and "meaning".
If "right" and "wrong" do not objectively exist, then perception truly is reality, and there can be no coherent discussion about even things like "better" or "worse". You just "are" and it's up to you to supply subjective meaning because nothing external to you tangibly exists apart from your ability to perceive it. This is why, without at least the supernatural, all discussions of the meaning and purpose of life fall flat.
If our reality, our current circumstances the result of chance and objective truth does not exist, then there is no "good" or "bad". What you do, the consequences, exist only so far as you are required to perceive them, and they only impact others so far as they perceive them, so "good" is possible just by eliminating the perception of consequences.
Like someone overdosing on drugs.
This is an inherently wicked mindset, and why the passage discusses the disparity in behavior because, long before modern and postmodern philosophies found philosophical rationalization, the themes and premises had already existed in the human mind, they just needed a new coat of paint.
The fear of the Lord brings about respect for God's design of reality, and accepting the consequences that come from bad behavior. There is no accident that those who reject understanding of germs, of infections, of the consequences of their behavior so frequently die before those that do.
In the "Middle Ages", deaths from the "Black Plague" are almost mythical in nature, yet when you look at the numbers, a disproportional amount of deaths occurred among those with a lower intelligence, thus resulting in the average IQ of Europeans going up, not because they were smarter, but because only the smarter survived, even despite the lack of complete or correct understanding as to what caused the plague and how to avoid it.
The "hope of the righteous" is grounded in the idea that God rewards obedience, and the expectation of the wicked is that God won't punish disobedience. Can you see how, in a system designed by God where one's individual beliefs don't change the rules, the wicked who expect to escape the consequences of their choices would end up in such a bad state?
In both a literal and figurative sense, we cannot escape the consequences of our choices, and God set up this reality such that aligning with God aligns with the "rules of reality", and so that is why those in rebellion with God are so frequently challenging the "natural order" of things, so frequently trying to develop technology and laws to alleviate or eliminate the negative consequences from bad choices, so frequently trying to convince themselves that they have the power to re-write the "rules of reality".
Their hope is not in finding favor with God, but in replacing God with themselves. Their inevitable failure is always predictable, if not in the timing, the mechanisms. Evil always loses in the end, not because there's a bad hand dealt or a dice rolled, but because evil is literally fighting against God's design of reality, of existence.
Sin is, in many ways, just the label we apply to rebellion against God, who logically has every right to make recommendations as to the behavior of creatures which didn't deserve to exist in the first place. In turn, the wrath that is poured out due to the infinite ingratitude of those creatures who do not show God any respect or honor for the infinitely great gift of existence versus non-existence is terrifying, but understandeable.
Solomon is highlighting that where those who follow God have hope, those who do not have no hope, for they cannot ever succeed at doing anything but delaying their own perceptions. Consequences will come, one way or another, whether we like it or not.
And consequences scale with the sin. So learn from your own life, before it's too late, from your own failures that were not mortal in nature, lest you get caught up believing that when consequences do grow significantly in severity, you'll be able to escape them just as you think you escaped before.
You won't.
8.6.18
Daily Bible Study - Proverbs 10:23-25
To do evil is like sport to a fool,
But a man of understanding has wisdom.
The fear of the wicked will come upon him,
And the desire of the righteous will be granted.
When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more,
But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.
Proverbs 10:23-25 (NKJV).
If you've been keeping track of the themes which resonate with me, you know how this passage is going to go. There's a dead horse and I am going to beat it yet again.
Nobody looks wise until after consequences have landed. When the cards haven't been shown, when the dice haven't stopped, when the smoke hasn't cleared, when the dust hasn't settled, when the outcomes have not yet fully matured, there is a time of question, uncertainty. There is an excitement in that uncertainty, in taking a risk and not knowing what will come of your choice.
The problem is that not every choice in life is like this, unless you're a fool.
There are choices which have entirely predictable outcomes.
There are causes which produce the same effect every single time.
All modern technology is based on this being true. Every political system is based on this being true. Every piece of advice, every instruction, every word of warning, every caution, relies on this being true.
It's woven into the very fabric of our existence that there is a reason things happen, and that when we don't know why, that does not mean there is no reason, we just don't know what it is or how to define it.
Solomon discusses the ultimate fates of the wise and the fool so regularly and so frequently because even knowing what will come next, fools will make the same bad choice.
She knows he is bad for her but maybe this time it will be different.
He knows she doesn't respect him, but maybe the sacrifices he makes for her will change her mind.
We see the dynamics of wisdom and foolishness play out in relationships between people all the time. Choices are made not on what is going to be the inevitable result, based on what happened last time, but what we want to happen. We keep thinking that if we try again, maybe this time the odds will be in our favor.
That's our own stupidity on display, and nothing more. It's not about being a "dreamer" or an "ideologue", it's about denying reality in favor of fantasy, and then having the gall to be surprised when our fantasies do not manifest. We don't understand how or why they could, so we'll never learn whether they're even possible.
In this passage, Solomon is highlighting this for us yet again. Fools will view their rejection of wisdom like some sort of game, as if the consequences don't matter, as if all scars heal and go away, as if their ultimate fate is more random chance than anything else, so why not do what you're told not to do and see what happens for yourself?
The problem is that life is not pure chance. Humans behave in patterns, there's reasons why things happen and we can learn about them and adjust our behavior accordingly. This applies from the mundane, like the connection between brushing one's teeth and dental health, to the more intimate, like the consequences on our relationship future based on the attributes our mate possesses.
There are some aspects of life which are randomized, which do not have a clear outcome, but we do not exist in a binary where all outcomes are either all predetermined or all outcomes are random.
There's a mix, but fools act as if their choices don't matter, and then go one step further and turn the rejection of wisdom into sport.
Sometimes the choices we make won't have consequences which come to pass for many years, if not decades. Medical issues are a great demonstration of this, where past choices affect a future that is a very long ways away, or at least we hope.
We eat wrong, thinking that because the bad consequences aren't immediate, maybe they'll never show up at all. We ingest poisons, we do not exercise, we do not take care of our bodies, and by the time we've figured out how foolish we've been? It's often too late to change the path significantly because consequences have already started landing and permanently changing huge chunks of our lives at the same time.
But we invite that upon ourselves through our ignorant arrogance, our foolishness.
This is why Solomon, and in turn I, will keep beating this dead horse, why we'll keep trying to emphasize the value in wisdom in the present so that you can live it out and reap the rewards in due time, instead of only being able to appreciate what wisdom could have done for you, and only reap destruction.
But a man of understanding has wisdom.
The fear of the wicked will come upon him,
And the desire of the righteous will be granted.
When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more,
But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.
Proverbs 10:23-25 (NKJV).
If you've been keeping track of the themes which resonate with me, you know how this passage is going to go. There's a dead horse and I am going to beat it yet again.
Nobody looks wise until after consequences have landed. When the cards haven't been shown, when the dice haven't stopped, when the smoke hasn't cleared, when the dust hasn't settled, when the outcomes have not yet fully matured, there is a time of question, uncertainty. There is an excitement in that uncertainty, in taking a risk and not knowing what will come of your choice.
The problem is that not every choice in life is like this, unless you're a fool.
There are choices which have entirely predictable outcomes.
There are causes which produce the same effect every single time.
All modern technology is based on this being true. Every political system is based on this being true. Every piece of advice, every instruction, every word of warning, every caution, relies on this being true.
It's woven into the very fabric of our existence that there is a reason things happen, and that when we don't know why, that does not mean there is no reason, we just don't know what it is or how to define it.
Solomon discusses the ultimate fates of the wise and the fool so regularly and so frequently because even knowing what will come next, fools will make the same bad choice.
She knows he is bad for her but maybe this time it will be different.
He knows she doesn't respect him, but maybe the sacrifices he makes for her will change her mind.
We see the dynamics of wisdom and foolishness play out in relationships between people all the time. Choices are made not on what is going to be the inevitable result, based on what happened last time, but what we want to happen. We keep thinking that if we try again, maybe this time the odds will be in our favor.
That's our own stupidity on display, and nothing more. It's not about being a "dreamer" or an "ideologue", it's about denying reality in favor of fantasy, and then having the gall to be surprised when our fantasies do not manifest. We don't understand how or why they could, so we'll never learn whether they're even possible.
In this passage, Solomon is highlighting this for us yet again. Fools will view their rejection of wisdom like some sort of game, as if the consequences don't matter, as if all scars heal and go away, as if their ultimate fate is more random chance than anything else, so why not do what you're told not to do and see what happens for yourself?
The problem is that life is not pure chance. Humans behave in patterns, there's reasons why things happen and we can learn about them and adjust our behavior accordingly. This applies from the mundane, like the connection between brushing one's teeth and dental health, to the more intimate, like the consequences on our relationship future based on the attributes our mate possesses.
There are some aspects of life which are randomized, which do not have a clear outcome, but we do not exist in a binary where all outcomes are either all predetermined or all outcomes are random.
There's a mix, but fools act as if their choices don't matter, and then go one step further and turn the rejection of wisdom into sport.
Sometimes the choices we make won't have consequences which come to pass for many years, if not decades. Medical issues are a great demonstration of this, where past choices affect a future that is a very long ways away, or at least we hope.
We eat wrong, thinking that because the bad consequences aren't immediate, maybe they'll never show up at all. We ingest poisons, we do not exercise, we do not take care of our bodies, and by the time we've figured out how foolish we've been? It's often too late to change the path significantly because consequences have already started landing and permanently changing huge chunks of our lives at the same time.
But we invite that upon ourselves through our ignorant arrogance, our foolishness.
This is why Solomon, and in turn I, will keep beating this dead horse, why we'll keep trying to emphasize the value in wisdom in the present so that you can live it out and reap the rewards in due time, instead of only being able to appreciate what wisdom could have done for you, and only reap destruction.
1.5.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 10:10
He who winks with the eye causes trouble,
But a prating fool will fall.
Proverbs 10:10 (NKJV).
There's an adage that goes "oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
Winking of the eyes, or shuffling of the feet, are old testament phrases which connote when someone is scheming or planning something, or when you need to be able to send secret messages, and which in a high-trust society, would look entirely out of place and suspicious.
It's thus not difficult to imagine that even pretending to "send signals" will draw undue attention and problems, whether you've really anything to hide or not. Just think about it briefly, why would you behave like someone sketchy without a good reason? Why would you intentionally draw attention to your own behavior in this manner?
In addition, we've got a direct repeat of the prior phrase about prating fools, the obnoxious and verbose type of fool who runs at the mouth. So, what's the contrast here?
While behaving in an odd manner causes problems, or at least implies them, regardless of one's intent, it won't necessarily cause problems like blabbing endlessly can. While causing trouble is not good, falling is downright bad.
People may think you odd, and you may have to explain your behavior to alleviate curiosity, but if you're incessant in conversation, you'll blurt out things which you have no need to say at all in the first place.
More than once in popular culture have there been comedy routines where someone was trying to convey some sort of secret message, and their failure to do so was the source of the humor. These types of scenarios often endear us to the characters, because we can understand communication difficulties, and how perceptions can mislead and cause unintended problems.
However, we do not ever really like the chatterbox. The humor is always at their expense, mocking who they are and not just what they're doing at that time. We laugh at them, not with them.
Similarly, when outside the realm of comedy, we treat people different based on their behaviors, because those behaviors have a reason behind them and we're responding to that reason, as best we understand it.
While those who scheme may still be fools, the consequences for their behavior are different, and in the process of seeking wisdom it's good to understand that not all bad behavior leads to the exact same negative consequences. This is not to redeem or to suggest that the "less bad" are acceptable, but just to understand the dynamics of behavior and what's really going on and how our actions lead to different consequences.
But a prating fool will fall.
Proverbs 10:10 (NKJV).
There's an adage that goes "oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
Winking of the eyes, or shuffling of the feet, are old testament phrases which connote when someone is scheming or planning something, or when you need to be able to send secret messages, and which in a high-trust society, would look entirely out of place and suspicious.
It's thus not difficult to imagine that even pretending to "send signals" will draw undue attention and problems, whether you've really anything to hide or not. Just think about it briefly, why would you behave like someone sketchy without a good reason? Why would you intentionally draw attention to your own behavior in this manner?
In addition, we've got a direct repeat of the prior phrase about prating fools, the obnoxious and verbose type of fool who runs at the mouth. So, what's the contrast here?
While behaving in an odd manner causes problems, or at least implies them, regardless of one's intent, it won't necessarily cause problems like blabbing endlessly can. While causing trouble is not good, falling is downright bad.
People may think you odd, and you may have to explain your behavior to alleviate curiosity, but if you're incessant in conversation, you'll blurt out things which you have no need to say at all in the first place.
More than once in popular culture have there been comedy routines where someone was trying to convey some sort of secret message, and their failure to do so was the source of the humor. These types of scenarios often endear us to the characters, because we can understand communication difficulties, and how perceptions can mislead and cause unintended problems.
However, we do not ever really like the chatterbox. The humor is always at their expense, mocking who they are and not just what they're doing at that time. We laugh at them, not with them.
Similarly, when outside the realm of comedy, we treat people different based on their behaviors, because those behaviors have a reason behind them and we're responding to that reason, as best we understand it.
While those who scheme may still be fools, the consequences for their behavior are different, and in the process of seeking wisdom it's good to understand that not all bad behavior leads to the exact same negative consequences. This is not to redeem or to suggest that the "less bad" are acceptable, but just to understand the dynamics of behavior and what's really going on and how our actions lead to different consequences.
30.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 10:8-9
The wise in heart will receive commands,
But a prating fool will fall.
He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known.
Proverbs 10:8-9 (NKJV).
Your ways will find you out, sooner or later. That is the inevitability of a world which is constantly veering towards chaos, or at least an order which is not hospitable to our own comfort, let alone survival.
Knowing that, from prior passages, the wise are already self-aware, being able to receive commands is just an extension of receiving wisdom and guidance. For the same reason that you are humbling yourself to learn from God, you can do the same for those in positions of authority over you. This is especially important when dealing with complicated circumstances where your own perceptions are limited and you need to rely on someone who is looking at things from a bigger perspective.
In contrast, we have the fools who run the spectrum on whether their folly is discovered in the short or long term. The "prating fool" is obvious, and we've all run into them in our lives, the type of person who can't be told anything but has to be the one making all the pertinent points in a conversation, dominating it. Even if all they're contributing is the sound of their voice, they must simply keep talking.
This first group falls because their decisions are only as good as their ability to act on their own perceptions, and given that we're all finite beings, we're prone to misunderstandings. There are generally three types of knowledge: what you know you know, what you know you don't know, and what you don't know you don't know.
For the prating fool, the first type of information they have in spades, at least according to them. The second type only contains information which is irrelevant or useless, and the third type simply doesn't exist. Amusingly, one does not need to think hard about circumstances in their own life where the second type of information became an issue, let alone the third, so again the failures are found in the disparity between claims and reality.
When highly competent, even the prating fool will see success, but only for a time. The immediacy of consequences is not the most important aspect compared to the inevitability of them. For the same reason that, having jumped out of an airplane without a parachute, it doesn't really matter how long you're falling before the final consequences hit, that you may still be halfway to the ground does not mean you won't ever hit the ground.
This also leads to the second group of fools which, while perhaps not as overtly talkative, is still refusing to make choices which are wise. The contrast here is between integrity and perversion, which may imply that even fools who listen to wisdom, but do not then apply it as they indicated they would, are not spared the inevitability of their choices being brought to light.
If someone gives you good advice and you choose to ignore it, the disparity will become obvious as consequences play out, because our behaviors reflect our choices, and pursuing different means will get you different ends that, even if superficially similar, are not quite the same at all.
Take used car sales. The goal is to make a profit selling used cars. One could do this by ensuring that the vehicles are adequately serviced and that you have good customer relations, or by simply pushing the vehicles out the door to the unsuspecting and focusing on volume instead of individual deals.
Both are trying to achieve the same "ends" of making a profit selling used cars, but the means are different, and one will lead to a destroyed reputation, albeit with cash in your pocket faster, than if you'd dealt with integrity and honesty. The ends don't necessarily distinguish, and so the means is how the wise and the fool are distinguished.
Because the fools and the wise behave differently, even if hidden for a time, or blatantly obvious at the outset, the differences will always come to light, and no amount of explanation after-the-fact will change the circumstances from what they are as a result of the past choices.
Listen to wisdom, the exhortations of those whose perspective encompasses information which you may not be aware of, and then move forward with integrity.
But a prating fool will fall.
He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known.
Proverbs 10:8-9 (NKJV).
Your ways will find you out, sooner or later. That is the inevitability of a world which is constantly veering towards chaos, or at least an order which is not hospitable to our own comfort, let alone survival.
Knowing that, from prior passages, the wise are already self-aware, being able to receive commands is just an extension of receiving wisdom and guidance. For the same reason that you are humbling yourself to learn from God, you can do the same for those in positions of authority over you. This is especially important when dealing with complicated circumstances where your own perceptions are limited and you need to rely on someone who is looking at things from a bigger perspective.
In contrast, we have the fools who run the spectrum on whether their folly is discovered in the short or long term. The "prating fool" is obvious, and we've all run into them in our lives, the type of person who can't be told anything but has to be the one making all the pertinent points in a conversation, dominating it. Even if all they're contributing is the sound of their voice, they must simply keep talking.
This first group falls because their decisions are only as good as their ability to act on their own perceptions, and given that we're all finite beings, we're prone to misunderstandings. There are generally three types of knowledge: what you know you know, what you know you don't know, and what you don't know you don't know.
For the prating fool, the first type of information they have in spades, at least according to them. The second type only contains information which is irrelevant or useless, and the third type simply doesn't exist. Amusingly, one does not need to think hard about circumstances in their own life where the second type of information became an issue, let alone the third, so again the failures are found in the disparity between claims and reality.
When highly competent, even the prating fool will see success, but only for a time. The immediacy of consequences is not the most important aspect compared to the inevitability of them. For the same reason that, having jumped out of an airplane without a parachute, it doesn't really matter how long you're falling before the final consequences hit, that you may still be halfway to the ground does not mean you won't ever hit the ground.
This also leads to the second group of fools which, while perhaps not as overtly talkative, is still refusing to make choices which are wise. The contrast here is between integrity and perversion, which may imply that even fools who listen to wisdom, but do not then apply it as they indicated they would, are not spared the inevitability of their choices being brought to light.
If someone gives you good advice and you choose to ignore it, the disparity will become obvious as consequences play out, because our behaviors reflect our choices, and pursuing different means will get you different ends that, even if superficially similar, are not quite the same at all.
Take used car sales. The goal is to make a profit selling used cars. One could do this by ensuring that the vehicles are adequately serviced and that you have good customer relations, or by simply pushing the vehicles out the door to the unsuspecting and focusing on volume instead of individual deals.
Both are trying to achieve the same "ends" of making a profit selling used cars, but the means are different, and one will lead to a destroyed reputation, albeit with cash in your pocket faster, than if you'd dealt with integrity and honesty. The ends don't necessarily distinguish, and so the means is how the wise and the fool are distinguished.
Because the fools and the wise behave differently, even if hidden for a time, or blatantly obvious at the outset, the differences will always come to light, and no amount of explanation after-the-fact will change the circumstances from what they are as a result of the past choices.
Listen to wisdom, the exhortations of those whose perspective encompasses information which you may not be aware of, and then move forward with integrity.
27.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 10:4-5
He who has a slack hand becomes poor,
But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.
Proverbs 10:4-5 (NKJV).
We make our own way on this side of life. We eat from what we have worked to obtain, and for those who don't work hard, they must rely on the goodwill and charity of those who did work hard to overlook the personal indiscretion of laziness to keep their stomachs full.
Sometimes people we know run into "hard times" where, even despite their efforts, things just don't go well. People get sick, accidents happen, and nobody lives in a vacuum where they get to control everything, so there are times when the unexpected happens and now you're caught short.
The problem is in figuring out whether folks who need help actually need help, or if they're just lazy and expecting that other people will take care of them. Oh, sometimes it may look like they're "busy", but spinning tires in the mud is not trying to make progress, it's just the appearance of trying.
This dynamic is then compounded in that, due to modern communications and their power, we can be made aware of those that have needs, but we can't really ever understand why. We're supposed to "trust" that everyone who is needy is so for reasons outside their control, and any attempt to validate this is met with hostility.
Pride is the main reason for this, in that people want to have the dignity and respect that is due to someone who has made good choices, but without making the good choices.
The old phrase "beggars can't be choosers" spoke to this, where folks who do not have, for whatever reason, are not entitled to anything that anyone else has, even if it would be a "good" thing to "share".
Life just isn't that simple though, and the further away from someone you are, the easier that it can be to lie about something, and the more one has to gain in doing just that. We can tell ourselves that we're doing "something good", but how many folks are able to validate that with their own two eyes?
We live in an r-selected society due to the prevalence of resources, real or imagined, and so "morality" all gets filtered through this, whether secular or spiritual in nature. If resources are abundant, than anyone "holding out" on someone else is simply being greedy.
There's enough for everyone, quit being so selfish! There's no reason for you to steward resources well either, just give money to whoever provides you the most emotional satisfaction and trust that somehow "God will put it to good use"!
What we're supposed to believe is that, despite humans having a habit of behaving according to human nature, which is sinful, selfish, and to continue beating the dead horse, solipsistic, people on the other side of the world that desperately need help would otherwise be hard working, despite their nation sucking on the teat of foreign aid for decades, and that they're not using the free resources as an excuse to avoid actually developing their own countries through diligence, but that they've just continued to have bad luck year after year despite everything they've tried?
At some point you have to realize that people exist in circumstances which are the result of their own choices, and not some cosmic unfairness in a zero sum system that just happened to hurt only them and now it's time for you to put your cape on and be their savior. People who can make money of cheating and lying are going to do it instead of working hard, whether they live next door to you or on the other side of the globe.
Nations of sheep judged as if they are responsible for the nations of goats, and how nations of goats treat themselves and their own people.
Do not be foolish with the resources you have been granted responsibility for. The only gift we can give freely is the Gospel, the good news from God to all mankind regarding the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on behalf of all, that if your faith is placed in Jesus you would be saved.
Preach Jesus, and see how quickly people want to be associated with you when the only genuinely unconditional love you have to offer comes from God.
But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.
Proverbs 10:4-5 (NKJV).
We make our own way on this side of life. We eat from what we have worked to obtain, and for those who don't work hard, they must rely on the goodwill and charity of those who did work hard to overlook the personal indiscretion of laziness to keep their stomachs full.
Sometimes people we know run into "hard times" where, even despite their efforts, things just don't go well. People get sick, accidents happen, and nobody lives in a vacuum where they get to control everything, so there are times when the unexpected happens and now you're caught short.
The problem is in figuring out whether folks who need help actually need help, or if they're just lazy and expecting that other people will take care of them. Oh, sometimes it may look like they're "busy", but spinning tires in the mud is not trying to make progress, it's just the appearance of trying.
This dynamic is then compounded in that, due to modern communications and their power, we can be made aware of those that have needs, but we can't really ever understand why. We're supposed to "trust" that everyone who is needy is so for reasons outside their control, and any attempt to validate this is met with hostility.
Pride is the main reason for this, in that people want to have the dignity and respect that is due to someone who has made good choices, but without making the good choices.
The old phrase "beggars can't be choosers" spoke to this, where folks who do not have, for whatever reason, are not entitled to anything that anyone else has, even if it would be a "good" thing to "share".
Life just isn't that simple though, and the further away from someone you are, the easier that it can be to lie about something, and the more one has to gain in doing just that. We can tell ourselves that we're doing "something good", but how many folks are able to validate that with their own two eyes?
We live in an r-selected society due to the prevalence of resources, real or imagined, and so "morality" all gets filtered through this, whether secular or spiritual in nature. If resources are abundant, than anyone "holding out" on someone else is simply being greedy.
There's enough for everyone, quit being so selfish! There's no reason for you to steward resources well either, just give money to whoever provides you the most emotional satisfaction and trust that somehow "God will put it to good use"!
What we're supposed to believe is that, despite humans having a habit of behaving according to human nature, which is sinful, selfish, and to continue beating the dead horse, solipsistic, people on the other side of the world that desperately need help would otherwise be hard working, despite their nation sucking on the teat of foreign aid for decades, and that they're not using the free resources as an excuse to avoid actually developing their own countries through diligence, but that they've just continued to have bad luck year after year despite everything they've tried?
At some point you have to realize that people exist in circumstances which are the result of their own choices, and not some cosmic unfairness in a zero sum system that just happened to hurt only them and now it's time for you to put your cape on and be their savior. People who can make money of cheating and lying are going to do it instead of working hard, whether they live next door to you or on the other side of the globe.
Nations of sheep judged as if they are responsible for the nations of goats, and how nations of goats treat themselves and their own people.
Do not be foolish with the resources you have been granted responsibility for. The only gift we can give freely is the Gospel, the good news from God to all mankind regarding the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on behalf of all, that if your faith is placed in Jesus you would be saved.
Preach Jesus, and see how quickly people want to be associated with you when the only genuinely unconditional love you have to offer comes from God.
16.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 7:21-27
With her enticing speech she caused him to yield,
With her flattering lips she seduced him.
Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
Till an arrow struck his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He did not know it would cost his life.
Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;
For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
Her house is the way to hell,
Descending to the chambers of death.
Proverbs 7:21-27 (NKJV).
Depending on how we achieved it, the stronger, or smarter, we believe ourselves to be in this life, the easier it is to come to rely on our own capacity, our own strength, our own understanding. When the source of our competence has come entirely from within, this dynamic is exacerbated through what is called the "Dunning-Kruger effect."
In short, the phenomenon is described as "...a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is."
Remember back to the beginning of Proverbs, and to the beginning of wisdom, with the reasons on why genuine humility is required to pursue wisdom? Genuine humility requires an accurate view of oneself in the grand scheme of everything. The "youth" in this passage believes the empty words of the immoral woman, believes that he understands enough to make a good choice, and then commits to his decision without hesitation, not genuinely understanding what he had chosen till it was already "too late".
Another more subtle point that Solomon is making is that this process was entirely voluntary, the result of choices and not just random chance. The "youth" was not forced against his will, he didn't just accidentally happen upon this woman and continue on his way, she didn't coerce him through circumstances or blackmail, she used words and her appearance and he believed it and made a bad choice.
The reason this is important is because it can be easy to try and "guard" against sin through prohibition, through saying that nobody can walk down that street, that the woman can't dress in a certain manner, and so on. Moralists can step in and point out all sorts of ways that, whether political or social, rules could be established to prevent any "youths" from being tempted against their better interests, whether the "youth" is even aware of or appreciates such measures being taken on their behalf.
The reality is that this dilutes the necessity for understanding, for wisdom, and thus only exacerbates the issue even further because the process of learning "the hard way" then only occurs when the stakes, the consequences, are even more serious than before. Really think about that. If a man is lusting after a woman, is it better that identifying a need to correct behavior is found through how he looks at women, or after he's already entered their bed?
I'll use an automotive illustration.
Cars were originally equipped with "manual" transmissions, as the mechanical design of such a transmission is simpler than an "automatic" transmission. Over time, the automatic transmission has overtaken the manual in the United States as the preference of consumers. Due to the lower skill requirements to drive a car with an automatic, more people can drive cars that otherwise would not be able to if required to use a manual. Because more people are driving, the opportunities to make mistakes then occur while the vehicle is already moving, as opposed to being stuck and not going anywhere.
Think about it. What are the material consequences of an "accident" from someone who is still struggling to drive a manual at all versus someone with an automatic that has never had to pay very much attention to the basics of driving at all? Would the current pandemic of "distracted driving", or even the frequency of DUI deaths, still exist if cars were sufficiently difficult to drive that only those with appropriate skill and situational awareness could drive them?
Morally, people cite pornography addictions as being terrible, and the lust it inspires is sinful and depraved, but would you rather find your son with a lewd magazine or a girl in his bed? Oh sure, ideally you'd find neither, but if people were dealing with moral failings honestly, they'd realize that catching an area of weakness while the scope of the consequences is still contained offers opportunity to correct and guide behavior in a way which will avoid even greater failures in the future.
It's the same way with children and learning about why they should not do things, like touching hot surfaces. No parent wants their child to be injured, but that one time you take them out of their hermetically sealed protective bubbles to maybe experience life, they go straight for a pan on the stove, or a hair iron, or some other exposure to "hot" that you cannot intervene in time to protect them from and they experience a burn. Contrast that to, if the first time your child is around "hot" it's a giant bonfire and still doesn't understand why they should avoid "hot things".
Or perhaps it's falling. No parent wants their child to be injured, but falling off a bed onto a carpeted floor is going to produce a much smaller set of permanent injuries than, say, falling down a flight of concrete stairs. Or off a building.
Are you grasping the subtlety beihnd the trend that a moralist with their legalisms simply could not comprehend?
We try so hard to eliminate the small problems, because it's easier, they're small, and in keeping people from small failures, they don't learn about or practice the universal fundamentals that apply to both small and big failures. You shouldn't masturbate to pornography for the same reason you should not commit adultery with someone else's spouse, but if you are that stubborn and rebellious, or instead that ignorant and uninformed, that you would reject God's wisdom to pursue your own pleasures based on your own understanding, which is going to have a larger penalty to pay, both now and in eternity?
Sinful acts are sinful acts, but there's a reason that Solomon, and later Paul, would not simply say, for example, "stop having sexual desire." They do not prohibit the urges we have, to try and eliminate the root cause entirely, but instead seek to teach responsibility with how we satisfy those desires, because those desires were designed by God with a purpose and a reason and to deny God's design does not align us with God's desires.
Scripture does not denigrate beauty, or why a man might a woman attractive, but instead lists the reasons why his being intimate with her would be illicit, irresponsible, sinful, and how instead he should find his pleasure in the "wife of his youth".
Wisdom is not just a collection of "do not", but a series of contrasts between what you should "do" and "do not", with the context of consequences to help explain why through understandable circumstances, stories, parables, fables, etc.
The immoral woman is preying upon the gullibility of the "youth", his ignorance, his lustful naivety, and the consequences for him and her will be terrible. Would it not have been better to learn the neex for discipline, control, upon being caught lustfully gazing at the scantily clad woman on the cover of a magazine at the checkout counter of a store?
He commits sin in both cases, but one is against God, and another is against both God and man. From a pragmatic standpoint, if you do desire to reduce or eliminate sin effectively, you must preach and teach responsibility, not prohibition, otherwise none will learn, none will be required to understand, to grow, and when their shortcomings are finally exposed, the consequences will be dire for all those involved.
We should teach people how to avoid failure when the failures are small, not seek to protect them from small failures so that only the bigger failures remain to provide actual opportunities for them to learn.
With her flattering lips she seduced him.
Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
Till an arrow struck his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He did not know it would cost his life.
Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;
For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
Her house is the way to hell,
Descending to the chambers of death.
Proverbs 7:21-27 (NKJV).
Depending on how we achieved it, the stronger, or smarter, we believe ourselves to be in this life, the easier it is to come to rely on our own capacity, our own strength, our own understanding. When the source of our competence has come entirely from within, this dynamic is exacerbated through what is called the "Dunning-Kruger effect."
In short, the phenomenon is described as "...a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is."
Remember back to the beginning of Proverbs, and to the beginning of wisdom, with the reasons on why genuine humility is required to pursue wisdom? Genuine humility requires an accurate view of oneself in the grand scheme of everything. The "youth" in this passage believes the empty words of the immoral woman, believes that he understands enough to make a good choice, and then commits to his decision without hesitation, not genuinely understanding what he had chosen till it was already "too late".
Another more subtle point that Solomon is making is that this process was entirely voluntary, the result of choices and not just random chance. The "youth" was not forced against his will, he didn't just accidentally happen upon this woman and continue on his way, she didn't coerce him through circumstances or blackmail, she used words and her appearance and he believed it and made a bad choice.
The reason this is important is because it can be easy to try and "guard" against sin through prohibition, through saying that nobody can walk down that street, that the woman can't dress in a certain manner, and so on. Moralists can step in and point out all sorts of ways that, whether political or social, rules could be established to prevent any "youths" from being tempted against their better interests, whether the "youth" is even aware of or appreciates such measures being taken on their behalf.
The reality is that this dilutes the necessity for understanding, for wisdom, and thus only exacerbates the issue even further because the process of learning "the hard way" then only occurs when the stakes, the consequences, are even more serious than before. Really think about that. If a man is lusting after a woman, is it better that identifying a need to correct behavior is found through how he looks at women, or after he's already entered their bed?
I'll use an automotive illustration.
Cars were originally equipped with "manual" transmissions, as the mechanical design of such a transmission is simpler than an "automatic" transmission. Over time, the automatic transmission has overtaken the manual in the United States as the preference of consumers. Due to the lower skill requirements to drive a car with an automatic, more people can drive cars that otherwise would not be able to if required to use a manual. Because more people are driving, the opportunities to make mistakes then occur while the vehicle is already moving, as opposed to being stuck and not going anywhere.
Think about it. What are the material consequences of an "accident" from someone who is still struggling to drive a manual at all versus someone with an automatic that has never had to pay very much attention to the basics of driving at all? Would the current pandemic of "distracted driving", or even the frequency of DUI deaths, still exist if cars were sufficiently difficult to drive that only those with appropriate skill and situational awareness could drive them?
Morally, people cite pornography addictions as being terrible, and the lust it inspires is sinful and depraved, but would you rather find your son with a lewd magazine or a girl in his bed? Oh sure, ideally you'd find neither, but if people were dealing with moral failings honestly, they'd realize that catching an area of weakness while the scope of the consequences is still contained offers opportunity to correct and guide behavior in a way which will avoid even greater failures in the future.
It's the same way with children and learning about why they should not do things, like touching hot surfaces. No parent wants their child to be injured, but that one time you take them out of their hermetically sealed protective bubbles to maybe experience life, they go straight for a pan on the stove, or a hair iron, or some other exposure to "hot" that you cannot intervene in time to protect them from and they experience a burn. Contrast that to, if the first time your child is around "hot" it's a giant bonfire and still doesn't understand why they should avoid "hot things".
Or perhaps it's falling. No parent wants their child to be injured, but falling off a bed onto a carpeted floor is going to produce a much smaller set of permanent injuries than, say, falling down a flight of concrete stairs. Or off a building.
Are you grasping the subtlety beihnd the trend that a moralist with their legalisms simply could not comprehend?
We try so hard to eliminate the small problems, because it's easier, they're small, and in keeping people from small failures, they don't learn about or practice the universal fundamentals that apply to both small and big failures. You shouldn't masturbate to pornography for the same reason you should not commit adultery with someone else's spouse, but if you are that stubborn and rebellious, or instead that ignorant and uninformed, that you would reject God's wisdom to pursue your own pleasures based on your own understanding, which is going to have a larger penalty to pay, both now and in eternity?
Sinful acts are sinful acts, but there's a reason that Solomon, and later Paul, would not simply say, for example, "stop having sexual desire." They do not prohibit the urges we have, to try and eliminate the root cause entirely, but instead seek to teach responsibility with how we satisfy those desires, because those desires were designed by God with a purpose and a reason and to deny God's design does not align us with God's desires.
Scripture does not denigrate beauty, or why a man might a woman attractive, but instead lists the reasons why his being intimate with her would be illicit, irresponsible, sinful, and how instead he should find his pleasure in the "wife of his youth".
Wisdom is not just a collection of "do not", but a series of contrasts between what you should "do" and "do not", with the context of consequences to help explain why through understandable circumstances, stories, parables, fables, etc.
The immoral woman is preying upon the gullibility of the "youth", his ignorance, his lustful naivety, and the consequences for him and her will be terrible. Would it not have been better to learn the neex for discipline, control, upon being caught lustfully gazing at the scantily clad woman on the cover of a magazine at the checkout counter of a store?
He commits sin in both cases, but one is against God, and another is against both God and man. From a pragmatic standpoint, if you do desire to reduce or eliminate sin effectively, you must preach and teach responsibility, not prohibition, otherwise none will learn, none will be required to understand, to grow, and when their shortcomings are finally exposed, the consequences will be dire for all those involved.
We should teach people how to avoid failure when the failures are small, not seek to protect them from small failures so that only the bigger failures remain to provide actual opportunities for them to learn.
14.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 7:6-9
For at the window of my house
I looked through my lattice,
And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding,
Passing along the street near her corner;
And he took the path to her house
In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.
Proverbs 7:6-9 (NKJV).
The phrase "if you play with fire, you're going to get burned" is meant to carry both literal and figurative meaning. A similar one is "a double-edged sword". Fires are a necessary component to advanced civilization, and swords are among the most efficient weapons for human combat.
In both phrases, what is trying to be communicated is that power comes at a price, that you cannot wield it without care, without discipline, without intention.
And the power to make choices and manifest actions is an even simpler power that humans have and often take entirely for granted.
In other writings across the internet, I've discussed the "decision making inputs" in the conceptual model I use for how people make a decision. Simply, that when humans make a choice, there are multiple inputs, not a singular cohesive stream of consciousness, and the one with the most persuasive power "wins out" and is then followed by the individual.
In animals, this almost always looks like:
Instinct = Decision
Even domesticated animals are merely "tamed" in the sense that we have found a way to short-circuit their instincts in a way that benefits us, and maybe even in turn them. A dog is still trying to be just like a wild wolf, but due to the genetic predisposition from selective breeding, in addition to the efforts of humans to "train" them through the use of conditioning, the instincts of the dog are re-written such that, while still lacking sentience, the dog's personality and behavior aligns to that of "their alpha" as part of a long-refined survival and reproductive strategy.
Some animals are nearly impossible to domesticate, and while it's entertaining to try and postulate that there is some spiritually significant reason why, the most simple answer is that unless a creature was created by God with the intent that they could be tamed, they can't be, because that "programming" exists in their genetics, and they don't have any other "inputs" to their decision making process.
If it wasn't genetic, then even the selective breeding done the "old fashioned way" would not have produced results, whether we're talking livestock or crops. Regardless of your opinion on GMOs, by definition if what is being done through that process does produce a result with tangible consequences, you must start every argument for or against that process with the full understanding of the power of genetics over the "default settings" of an organism.
For humans, our equation starts out like this:
Instinct + Intellect = Decision
Humans have an additional input to this process, and that's where the moral significance of our choices comes from, while not negating that we have instincts and "defaults" in our behavior patterns which come from our genetics, because without that input to decision making, we'd be puppets just acting out our biological "programming". Even so, the equation doesn't stop there for us.
Instinct + (Intellect + Wisdom) = Decision
Wisdom is often external, not something that we find in us as much as discover to be true. Much of Proverbs is geared towards this type of input, and while Solomon exhorts us to make that wisdom a part of us, to make it ingrained into our "hearts" or "minds", the source of that wisdom was outside of us.
Now, if you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ? It changes yet again.
Instinct + (Intellect + Wisdom) + Holy Spirit = Decision
Our instincts and our intellect are all "of the flesh", but when we've been saved by Jesus Christ, we are imparted with a manifestation of God in the Holy Spirit that is a helper to us, and acts like another input into our decision making process to make our alignment with God's desires for us possible in the first place.
So why am I talking about all this?
The young man that Solomon is talking about, lacking understanding, is just running on instincts, not really thinking about or understanding what he's doing, and walking right into danger, possibly on purpose. In the daylight, it's harder to hide inappropriate interactions because everyone can see what's going on, everyone can see who is talking to who, the facial expressions, and so on, yet this young man is walking down the street near the corner of the harlot.
While responsibility is always superior to prohibition, some temptations are not worth exposing yourself to. While it'd be possible to visit, say, a beach in a sunny land and avoid lusting after women dressed in manners which accentuate their physical beauty, you'd still be playing with fire.
Likewise Solomon is trying to do is set the story up so that we know that this temptation likely could have been avoided altogether. That the choices of the young man are directly leading him towards temptation, and while having trust in God can help us escape temptation, we should not behave in a way which invites temptation into our lives through our own foolishness or ignorance. For as much as Solomon will speak poorly as to the intent of the harlot, blame is laid at the foot of those who go into her for not exercising control and discipline in all that lead up to their meeting with her.
Darkness, providing a type of isolation, can then sometimes be what gives us opportunity to sin. where we think the consequences of our choices will not be found out, that maybe we'll "get away with it."
The truth, as Solomon will detail as as he continues, is that nobody escapes the consequences of sin, and we only deceive ourselves when we think otherwise. So act with understanding, of all that you do and why, and learn just how your own behavior may be inviting destruction into your life.
I looked through my lattice,
And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding,
Passing along the street near her corner;
And he took the path to her house
In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.
Proverbs 7:6-9 (NKJV).
The phrase "if you play with fire, you're going to get burned" is meant to carry both literal and figurative meaning. A similar one is "a double-edged sword". Fires are a necessary component to advanced civilization, and swords are among the most efficient weapons for human combat.
In both phrases, what is trying to be communicated is that power comes at a price, that you cannot wield it without care, without discipline, without intention.
And the power to make choices and manifest actions is an even simpler power that humans have and often take entirely for granted.
In other writings across the internet, I've discussed the "decision making inputs" in the conceptual model I use for how people make a decision. Simply, that when humans make a choice, there are multiple inputs, not a singular cohesive stream of consciousness, and the one with the most persuasive power "wins out" and is then followed by the individual.
In animals, this almost always looks like:
Instinct = Decision
Even domesticated animals are merely "tamed" in the sense that we have found a way to short-circuit their instincts in a way that benefits us, and maybe even in turn them. A dog is still trying to be just like a wild wolf, but due to the genetic predisposition from selective breeding, in addition to the efforts of humans to "train" them through the use of conditioning, the instincts of the dog are re-written such that, while still lacking sentience, the dog's personality and behavior aligns to that of "their alpha" as part of a long-refined survival and reproductive strategy.
Some animals are nearly impossible to domesticate, and while it's entertaining to try and postulate that there is some spiritually significant reason why, the most simple answer is that unless a creature was created by God with the intent that they could be tamed, they can't be, because that "programming" exists in their genetics, and they don't have any other "inputs" to their decision making process.
If it wasn't genetic, then even the selective breeding done the "old fashioned way" would not have produced results, whether we're talking livestock or crops. Regardless of your opinion on GMOs, by definition if what is being done through that process does produce a result with tangible consequences, you must start every argument for or against that process with the full understanding of the power of genetics over the "default settings" of an organism.
For humans, our equation starts out like this:
Instinct + Intellect = Decision
Humans have an additional input to this process, and that's where the moral significance of our choices comes from, while not negating that we have instincts and "defaults" in our behavior patterns which come from our genetics, because without that input to decision making, we'd be puppets just acting out our biological "programming". Even so, the equation doesn't stop there for us.
Instinct + (Intellect + Wisdom) = Decision
Wisdom is often external, not something that we find in us as much as discover to be true. Much of Proverbs is geared towards this type of input, and while Solomon exhorts us to make that wisdom a part of us, to make it ingrained into our "hearts" or "minds", the source of that wisdom was outside of us.
Now, if you've placed your faith in Jesus Christ? It changes yet again.
Instinct + (Intellect + Wisdom) + Holy Spirit = Decision
Our instincts and our intellect are all "of the flesh", but when we've been saved by Jesus Christ, we are imparted with a manifestation of God in the Holy Spirit that is a helper to us, and acts like another input into our decision making process to make our alignment with God's desires for us possible in the first place.
So why am I talking about all this?
The young man that Solomon is talking about, lacking understanding, is just running on instincts, not really thinking about or understanding what he's doing, and walking right into danger, possibly on purpose. In the daylight, it's harder to hide inappropriate interactions because everyone can see what's going on, everyone can see who is talking to who, the facial expressions, and so on, yet this young man is walking down the street near the corner of the harlot.
While responsibility is always superior to prohibition, some temptations are not worth exposing yourself to. While it'd be possible to visit, say, a beach in a sunny land and avoid lusting after women dressed in manners which accentuate their physical beauty, you'd still be playing with fire.
Likewise Solomon is trying to do is set the story up so that we know that this temptation likely could have been avoided altogether. That the choices of the young man are directly leading him towards temptation, and while having trust in God can help us escape temptation, we should not behave in a way which invites temptation into our lives through our own foolishness or ignorance. For as much as Solomon will speak poorly as to the intent of the harlot, blame is laid at the foot of those who go into her for not exercising control and discipline in all that lead up to their meeting with her.
Darkness, providing a type of isolation, can then sometimes be what gives us opportunity to sin. where we think the consequences of our choices will not be found out, that maybe we'll "get away with it."
The truth, as Solomon will detail as as he continues, is that nobody escapes the consequences of sin, and we only deceive ourselves when we think otherwise. So act with understanding, of all that you do and why, and learn just how your own behavior may be inviting destruction into your life.
8.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 6:6-11
Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-11 (NKJV).
We often think of your intellect, our ability to choose other than our base instincts, as being an intrinsic bonus to our existence, that because we are not bound by our instincts we are necessarily superior to mindless creatures, such as the ant.
Yet Solomon wants to take our thoughts into a different direction.
The ant does what it is supposed to do, and without coercion, because the ant is not distracted by the pursuit of pleasure, by the arrogance of believing that "there will be more time later" to prepare. The instincts of the and are so highly refined that self-destructive behaviors are gone. The ant just works and works and works and does not question this.
Humanity was created to glorify God, though through a different means than any other creature. Where the natural world speaks to God's power through reflection of God's designs, God's heart for the process of creation itself, both of the beautiful and the unique, humanity was to demonstrate God's glory in a manner which held more significance: choice.
People are unique in that we are not coerced into the glorification of God in this life. We are given license to live how we choose, and while God does provide a baseline influence on everyone, some will reject God and some will accept this influence.
God does not want us to be mindless, shuffling through the rituals and marching in lockstep with some moralistic dogmas. Our purpose is not to be perfect, but to be refined, and to submit to that refinement process. To do that, however, we must focus our attention to deny and escape from the distractions that the ant can so easily avoid by nature.
This is the significance of the worship that humans provide to God, that we come to understand the infinitely great gift of existence we have been granted, and that we live in a way which we choose, and that our choices reflect alignment with God. We don't do this on our own, either, as God is quick to offer help to those who cry out earnestly and in good faith. How God answers will not likely be in the manner we expect, but God is not dead.
The sluggard that Solomon speaks of is not only ungrateful for their existence, they believe that prudence in behavior is not required in order to sustain their own existence. They believe, according to the lies they'd been told, that the effort expended is simply "not worth it". We see this mindset today, assisted greatly by the numerous social and political safety nets available for those who fall.
We can even witness how some will willingly give up their future, who will enslave themselves to the will of another, merely to avoid having to bear any burdens of responsibility for themselves. To not need to overcome their own weaknesses, but to submit to someone else who can do it for them.
Solomon pleads with the lazy, the indolent, to not leave their fates to chance. It's possible that, even having not stored up, not having prepared, that dumb luck would keep someone alive. That they ended up being in the right place at the right time, and that they would be saved despite their irresponsible behavior.
But luck is indifferent to those it looks upon, and always runs out for each of us, and we never know exactly when that will be. Only those who have not relied on luck will be prepared to face the circumstances before them with any real confidence.
Solomon is also giving this advice as a warning to even those who heed it, in that those who have been lazy, who haven't prepared, are the first to become predators when their needs are no longer satisfied. The expectation to maintain their lives will not be based on reason or effort, but merely on the fact that they are now hungry and you possess the capability to feed them, so whether they are justified or not, you will become their target.
Like a chain reaction, the hunger of the sluggard causes them to strike out, to create hunger in others from whom they steal, and this does not even begin to speak of the hunger for justice when people have been wronged out of the selfish ignorance of others.
Do not be the lazy person, and protect yourself from those who are lazy, do not feel pity for them, they have brought upon them the fate that they now attempt to renounce. Time and again we deceive ourselves into thinking that "oh, if they just knew better, then they'd act differently."
Because the truth is that we always know, and knowledge is not the problem. We are not ignorant to the sins we commit, we are only more convinced of our own craftiness to try and avoid the consequences than we are in the surety of the consequences we will face.
Choose God, choose to commit to the only master whose desire is to help you overcome your own self-destruction so that you can satisfy your true purpose. Choose the one in whom there is only good, who will not merely absorb the glory we give greedily, but who will reward and bless us, whether in this life or the next, for our obedience, for our alignment, for our choice to deny the distractions.
It's your choice.
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-11 (NKJV).
We often think of your intellect, our ability to choose other than our base instincts, as being an intrinsic bonus to our existence, that because we are not bound by our instincts we are necessarily superior to mindless creatures, such as the ant.
Yet Solomon wants to take our thoughts into a different direction.
The ant does what it is supposed to do, and without coercion, because the ant is not distracted by the pursuit of pleasure, by the arrogance of believing that "there will be more time later" to prepare. The instincts of the and are so highly refined that self-destructive behaviors are gone. The ant just works and works and works and does not question this.
Humanity was created to glorify God, though through a different means than any other creature. Where the natural world speaks to God's power through reflection of God's designs, God's heart for the process of creation itself, both of the beautiful and the unique, humanity was to demonstrate God's glory in a manner which held more significance: choice.
People are unique in that we are not coerced into the glorification of God in this life. We are given license to live how we choose, and while God does provide a baseline influence on everyone, some will reject God and some will accept this influence.
God does not want us to be mindless, shuffling through the rituals and marching in lockstep with some moralistic dogmas. Our purpose is not to be perfect, but to be refined, and to submit to that refinement process. To do that, however, we must focus our attention to deny and escape from the distractions that the ant can so easily avoid by nature.
This is the significance of the worship that humans provide to God, that we come to understand the infinitely great gift of existence we have been granted, and that we live in a way which we choose, and that our choices reflect alignment with God. We don't do this on our own, either, as God is quick to offer help to those who cry out earnestly and in good faith. How God answers will not likely be in the manner we expect, but God is not dead.
The sluggard that Solomon speaks of is not only ungrateful for their existence, they believe that prudence in behavior is not required in order to sustain their own existence. They believe, according to the lies they'd been told, that the effort expended is simply "not worth it". We see this mindset today, assisted greatly by the numerous social and political safety nets available for those who fall.
We can even witness how some will willingly give up their future, who will enslave themselves to the will of another, merely to avoid having to bear any burdens of responsibility for themselves. To not need to overcome their own weaknesses, but to submit to someone else who can do it for them.
Solomon pleads with the lazy, the indolent, to not leave their fates to chance. It's possible that, even having not stored up, not having prepared, that dumb luck would keep someone alive. That they ended up being in the right place at the right time, and that they would be saved despite their irresponsible behavior.
But luck is indifferent to those it looks upon, and always runs out for each of us, and we never know exactly when that will be. Only those who have not relied on luck will be prepared to face the circumstances before them with any real confidence.
Solomon is also giving this advice as a warning to even those who heed it, in that those who have been lazy, who haven't prepared, are the first to become predators when their needs are no longer satisfied. The expectation to maintain their lives will not be based on reason or effort, but merely on the fact that they are now hungry and you possess the capability to feed them, so whether they are justified or not, you will become their target.
Like a chain reaction, the hunger of the sluggard causes them to strike out, to create hunger in others from whom they steal, and this does not even begin to speak of the hunger for justice when people have been wronged out of the selfish ignorance of others.
Do not be the lazy person, and protect yourself from those who are lazy, do not feel pity for them, they have brought upon them the fate that they now attempt to renounce. Time and again we deceive ourselves into thinking that "oh, if they just knew better, then they'd act differently."
Because the truth is that we always know, and knowledge is not the problem. We are not ignorant to the sins we commit, we are only more convinced of our own craftiness to try and avoid the consequences than we are in the surety of the consequences we will face.
Choose God, choose to commit to the only master whose desire is to help you overcome your own self-destruction so that you can satisfy your true purpose. Choose the one in whom there is only good, who will not merely absorb the glory we give greedily, but who will reward and bless us, whether in this life or the next, for our obedience, for our alignment, for our choice to deny the distractions.
It's your choice.
4.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 5:7-14
Therefore hear me now, my children,
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Remove your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
Lest you give your honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
Lest aliens be filled with your wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,
And say:
“How I have hated instruction,
And my heart despised correction!
I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
I was on the verge of total ruin,
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
Proverbs 5:7-14 (NKJV).
I don't think that there is divine coincidence in that when you read scripture it's magically going to be exactly what you need to hear. I think that what's more likely the truth is that the Bible is jam packed with truth and, given the universal nature of truth, it's simply not going to take much effort to find something that is pertinent to what you're dealing with.
It's not that God is guiding you to a specific nugget of truth, it's that you're mining a huge vein of truth, so coming across it shouldn't be all that surprising. Shouldn't.
The reason I wanted to say this is because the world desires a demonic ideal called "globalism". The Neo-Babelism inherent in globalism is found in the lofty ideal that man-made systems of government could unite all the peoples on our planet to work towards a single goal, that they would all share the same identity, and that "peace" and "harmony" would exist between all humans.
This secular philosophy is demonic in the sense that it seeks to bring people together under the banner of human power, ignoring God. Whereas later in scripture we would see that "all are one in Jesus Christ", the powers of this world seek to create their own perverted unity among flesh.
Look at who Solomon says will benefit from those who follow the path of the "immoral woman": aliens, foreigners, and the "cruel". In other words, that the immoral woman will sell out her own people, seek to take them away from caring for and investing in their own interests, merely to serve her own.
Look at the political priorities in the United States under the influence of the "immoral woman". Illegal immigration is at an all time high, and billions of tax dollars, collected from legal citizens, are spent to subsidize the lifestyles and health of these foreigners. There are entire states who have prided themselves on their supposed altruism, their reallocation of resources away from the future of the people who those resources were collected from and to the benefit of the foreigner.
Even legal immigration paints no better a picture, with a majority of those who have rushed to gain entry into this country as a migrant, or a refugee, did not bring with them skills that could earn a living wage, and are themselves also significantly dependent on handouts from the government, resources stolen from those who are working hard to provide for their own families but also expected to carry the burden for others who can't or won't do it themselves.
The threat that Solomon sees is that it's not just the long-term consequences of the individual's life that giving in to temptation threatens, it's the legacy of a people. By the time that Solomon reigned, how many times had Israel come under judgment from God for chasing the gods of the people around them, the people they were supposed to put out of the promised land, the people who sacrificed children and practiced divination and sorcery?
How many times had Israel whored herself out, played the harlot, and had come under judgment of God?
The book of Judges alone recounts at least six times that this happened.
The temple was originally plated in gold, essentially floor to ceiling. Yet each time Israel abandoned God, the temple was sacked and pillaged and the glory they took for granted was stolen from them.
People who do not belong to your "tribe" will gladly take from you everything of actual value in exchange for providing you a fleeting pleasure, and this is the main sentiment behind Solomon's admonition. For the same reason that the adulterous woman steals from the wife of the man, so do nations that give in to the seductive claims of those who worship other gods find their own futures stolen away from them as well.
Solomon also makes a foreboding statement in that repentance will not come until near total destruction is upon those who have rejected sound advice. That it won't be until there's nearly nothing left to lose that an appreciation for what one already had can truly be found.
As with prior advice, Solomon wants the listener to avoid learning the "hard way", to not have to lose everything before its value can be understood, because the cost is more than any one generation can bear, let alone recover from. Throughout the Old Testament we see that Israel never goes through this cycle entirely in one generation, it's always across multiple, and we can see this dynamic play out now.
The costs of divorce do not just affect the parents and their children, but even on to the children of their children, and their children, and so on. While we live in a world abundant with resources due to human ingenuity, all we can do is effectively distract from the pain and suffering, we can't eliminate it, make it go away, or prevent its onset. The cost of sin, materially in our lives, the natural consequence of our disobedience, is terribly great, and we need to weigh that in our decisions.
Solomon did not want his offspring to follow in his footsteps in all things, only in wisdom. We'll see why as we continue in scripture, but know that Solomon is not just providing advice in a hypocritical "do as I say, not as I do", but instead from a "learn from my mistakes, so that you can avert the suffering and pain that I have brought upon myself."
Do not give up what belongs to you, your family, your "tribe" in the pursuit of temporary pleasures.
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Remove your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
Lest you give your honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
Lest aliens be filled with your wealth,
And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
And you mourn at last,
When your flesh and your body are consumed,
And say:
“How I have hated instruction,
And my heart despised correction!
I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
I was on the verge of total ruin,
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
Proverbs 5:7-14 (NKJV).
I don't think that there is divine coincidence in that when you read scripture it's magically going to be exactly what you need to hear. I think that what's more likely the truth is that the Bible is jam packed with truth and, given the universal nature of truth, it's simply not going to take much effort to find something that is pertinent to what you're dealing with.
It's not that God is guiding you to a specific nugget of truth, it's that you're mining a huge vein of truth, so coming across it shouldn't be all that surprising. Shouldn't.
The reason I wanted to say this is because the world desires a demonic ideal called "globalism". The Neo-Babelism inherent in globalism is found in the lofty ideal that man-made systems of government could unite all the peoples on our planet to work towards a single goal, that they would all share the same identity, and that "peace" and "harmony" would exist between all humans.
This secular philosophy is demonic in the sense that it seeks to bring people together under the banner of human power, ignoring God. Whereas later in scripture we would see that "all are one in Jesus Christ", the powers of this world seek to create their own perverted unity among flesh.
Look at who Solomon says will benefit from those who follow the path of the "immoral woman": aliens, foreigners, and the "cruel". In other words, that the immoral woman will sell out her own people, seek to take them away from caring for and investing in their own interests, merely to serve her own.
Look at the political priorities in the United States under the influence of the "immoral woman". Illegal immigration is at an all time high, and billions of tax dollars, collected from legal citizens, are spent to subsidize the lifestyles and health of these foreigners. There are entire states who have prided themselves on their supposed altruism, their reallocation of resources away from the future of the people who those resources were collected from and to the benefit of the foreigner.
Even legal immigration paints no better a picture, with a majority of those who have rushed to gain entry into this country as a migrant, or a refugee, did not bring with them skills that could earn a living wage, and are themselves also significantly dependent on handouts from the government, resources stolen from those who are working hard to provide for their own families but also expected to carry the burden for others who can't or won't do it themselves.
The threat that Solomon sees is that it's not just the long-term consequences of the individual's life that giving in to temptation threatens, it's the legacy of a people. By the time that Solomon reigned, how many times had Israel come under judgment from God for chasing the gods of the people around them, the people they were supposed to put out of the promised land, the people who sacrificed children and practiced divination and sorcery?
How many times had Israel whored herself out, played the harlot, and had come under judgment of God?
The book of Judges alone recounts at least six times that this happened.
The temple was originally plated in gold, essentially floor to ceiling. Yet each time Israel abandoned God, the temple was sacked and pillaged and the glory they took for granted was stolen from them.
People who do not belong to your "tribe" will gladly take from you everything of actual value in exchange for providing you a fleeting pleasure, and this is the main sentiment behind Solomon's admonition. For the same reason that the adulterous woman steals from the wife of the man, so do nations that give in to the seductive claims of those who worship other gods find their own futures stolen away from them as well.
Solomon also makes a foreboding statement in that repentance will not come until near total destruction is upon those who have rejected sound advice. That it won't be until there's nearly nothing left to lose that an appreciation for what one already had can truly be found.
As with prior advice, Solomon wants the listener to avoid learning the "hard way", to not have to lose everything before its value can be understood, because the cost is more than any one generation can bear, let alone recover from. Throughout the Old Testament we see that Israel never goes through this cycle entirely in one generation, it's always across multiple, and we can see this dynamic play out now.
The costs of divorce do not just affect the parents and their children, but even on to the children of their children, and their children, and so on. While we live in a world abundant with resources due to human ingenuity, all we can do is effectively distract from the pain and suffering, we can't eliminate it, make it go away, or prevent its onset. The cost of sin, materially in our lives, the natural consequence of our disobedience, is terribly great, and we need to weigh that in our decisions.
Solomon did not want his offspring to follow in his footsteps in all things, only in wisdom. We'll see why as we continue in scripture, but know that Solomon is not just providing advice in a hypocritical "do as I say, not as I do", but instead from a "learn from my mistakes, so that you can avert the suffering and pain that I have brought upon myself."
Do not give up what belongs to you, your family, your "tribe" in the pursuit of temporary pleasures.
17.3.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 1:20-27
Wisdom calls aloud outside;,
Popular are the universal ideas that God's efforts will eventually bring all into reconciliation, that God doesn't "give up" on anyone, despite almost all the drama and excitement in the Old Testament with Israel coming from God having turned away from them, given up on a generation (or many) and only after their sins have been punished sufficiently does God return them to a place of favor and begin working with them again as they draw closer to God.
There will be no innocent people in hell, and God has already, through Jesus Christ, done all the work necessary to reconcile mankind to himself. Like wisdom, salvation is a gift, not of works or specific applications, but a universal offer, a universal opportunity, though the hardness of many people's hearts out of envy and hatred of God will not allow them to accept it.
In the same manner then that wisdom turns away from those who reject her, how she adds insult to injury, realize this is not a trait unique to wisdom, but is a reflection of the heart of God to mock and to belittle those who would not humble themselves but would instead defiantly claim that they are gods or that their gods are more powerful.
God is content to take people at their word, to not treat boastful declarations in some sort of divine sarcasm, and this gets back to why wisdom is so important, and calls out to everyone, and why the alleviation of consequence is so damaging to an individual.
The decisions you make in this life matter, whether within the context of this life in regard to wisdom, or in the context of eternity with salvation. Do not believe that your actions are not unnoticed. Do not think you've gotten away with anything. Do not believe that there will always be someone to save you from your sin.
Reconcile to God, through faith in Jesus Christ. Listen to wisdom, and take her lessons to heart and apply them. You life matters, now live like you understand that.
She raises her voice in the open squares.
She cries out in the chief concourses,
At the openings of the gates in the city
She speaks her words:
“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.
Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
To say something real quick on the topic, I am not going to spend a lot of time right now on the genders amidst advice. Why Solomon is providing this wisdom to his "son" and why wisdom is personified as "she" are not irrelevant topics, but they are not my focus right now, unless there's something gender-specific given as instruction or command (like with fathers and mothers).
The next time I pass through this scripture may be different, but that's well into the future.
Now, wisdom can be loosely connected to "common sense" in that you do not need an advanced degree in anything to start grasping what it offers and start applying it to your life. Where finite element analysis is somewhat more difficult, the multi-variable vector calculus often left to computers, and the material physics that it draws from in practical application are all a bit more esoteric in contrast, wisdom is universal in its application.
Whether you are an erudite or a dirt farmer, or even without any dirt to claim as your own, wisdom calls to you and is a worthwhile companion. There is no discrimination, no limits, no barriers to entry, and thus the scorn against those who reject wisdom is given justification.
If you are offered knowledge without any cost to you, and you still reject it, the traditional response to to leave you to the consequences and hope you learn through them. In our modern context, great effort is expended to eliminate the negative consequences of bad decisions, from the sympathy expressed over "bad luck" to the active efforts to eliminate the lesson from making a bad choice (shotgun weddings, abortions, divorces, etc), we have bought into the idea that people should only learn voluntarily, and that when people refuse to learn, we adjust the system to accommodate them instead of watching them hit the wall and, dazed and confused, reach out for help.
Much of the wisdom in the Bible does not preach infinite patience.
Even God, in both the Old and New Testaments, describes that at a certain point people are given over to their desires and they will bear the full cost of their sin and God will not remove it from them.
The next time I pass through this scripture may be different, but that's well into the future.
Now, wisdom can be loosely connected to "common sense" in that you do not need an advanced degree in anything to start grasping what it offers and start applying it to your life. Where finite element analysis is somewhat more difficult, the multi-variable vector calculus often left to computers, and the material physics that it draws from in practical application are all a bit more esoteric in contrast, wisdom is universal in its application.
Whether you are an erudite or a dirt farmer, or even without any dirt to claim as your own, wisdom calls to you and is a worthwhile companion. There is no discrimination, no limits, no barriers to entry, and thus the scorn against those who reject wisdom is given justification.
If you are offered knowledge without any cost to you, and you still reject it, the traditional response to to leave you to the consequences and hope you learn through them. In our modern context, great effort is expended to eliminate the negative consequences of bad decisions, from the sympathy expressed over "bad luck" to the active efforts to eliminate the lesson from making a bad choice (shotgun weddings, abortions, divorces, etc), we have bought into the idea that people should only learn voluntarily, and that when people refuse to learn, we adjust the system to accommodate them instead of watching them hit the wall and, dazed and confused, reach out for help.
Much of the wisdom in the Bible does not preach infinite patience.
Even God, in both the Old and New Testaments, describes that at a certain point people are given over to their desires and they will bear the full cost of their sin and God will not remove it from them.
Popular are the universal ideas that God's efforts will eventually bring all into reconciliation, that God doesn't "give up" on anyone, despite almost all the drama and excitement in the Old Testament with Israel coming from God having turned away from them, given up on a generation (or many) and only after their sins have been punished sufficiently does God return them to a place of favor and begin working with them again as they draw closer to God.
There will be no innocent people in hell, and God has already, through Jesus Christ, done all the work necessary to reconcile mankind to himself. Like wisdom, salvation is a gift, not of works or specific applications, but a universal offer, a universal opportunity, though the hardness of many people's hearts out of envy and hatred of God will not allow them to accept it.
In the same manner then that wisdom turns away from those who reject her, how she adds insult to injury, realize this is not a trait unique to wisdom, but is a reflection of the heart of God to mock and to belittle those who would not humble themselves but would instead defiantly claim that they are gods or that their gods are more powerful.
God is content to take people at their word, to not treat boastful declarations in some sort of divine sarcasm, and this gets back to why wisdom is so important, and calls out to everyone, and why the alleviation of consequence is so damaging to an individual.
The decisions you make in this life matter, whether within the context of this life in regard to wisdom, or in the context of eternity with salvation. Do not believe that your actions are not unnoticed. Do not think you've gotten away with anything. Do not believe that there will always be someone to save you from your sin.
Reconcile to God, through faith in Jesus Christ. Listen to wisdom, and take her lessons to heart and apply them. You life matters, now live like you understand that.
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