Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding,
But a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding.
Proverbs 10:13 (NKJV).
Perhaps it's just the timing, but of late it's been on my mind that our lives have an inertia to them when we are intentional about how we live. When we take the time to think about what we do, why we do it, even down to what we say, not leaving anything entirely to chance. We experience no fewer struggles or setbacks, but because we've practiced intent, when circumstances really do demand our attention and our focused application of skill, even when things are going terribly for us we can keep moving forward.
In this passage, it's easy to desire understanding, if for no other reason than to avoid the contrast with the rod to our backs. Images of old childhood disciplinary methods bubble up, and that's not accidental given that wisdom and discipline are connected.
This seems rather obvious, right? Who would want to lack understanding if that meant "the rod"?
Thus the nature of the first deceit in Genesis, and the root of the most frequent pattern that has continued to this day. The deceit is that the rod doesn't exist, that consequences don't matter. You can choose whatever you want, do whatever you want, there is no "wrong".
And in turn, there is then no value in the sacrifices, the discipline, that is associated with wisdom.
Even in modern manufacturing we see this philosophy make an appearance, designing gadgets and widgets which can be assembled and subsequently operated with less and less skill required. The superficial claim is that this means that production is more efficient, less time wasted on steps for "quality", which are by nature not "value-added" activities. The end-users also don't have to waste time learning or validating anything, but can instead spend time just "doing".
Yet in practice the results are that because the people assembling and operating the gadgets and widgets don't need to be as skilled, they'll simply adapt and yesterday's "easy" becomes today's "normal", and folks start complaining all over again about the difficulties being faced. Instead of using that extra time more effectively, we fill it with wasteful activities, because whenever we've got a surplus of a resource, we never naturally try to make the most of it.
It's abundant, so why should we pinch pennies if we're "rich"?
We instinctively relegate our learning to only to that which are absolutely mandatory, what we're forced to learn, in the name of "efficiency". While we do then spend more time "doing", when anything goes wrong we have to stop, call on the services of someone who knows what to do next, and after the problem has been resolved we can then continue. Hopefully we also learn from the event so that we can avoid requiring assistance in the future, but if assistance is readily available, there's no pressure to take that understanding upon yourself.
We become like children, entirely incapable of acting beyond our current understanding, and constantly in need of "adults" to look after us, to direct us from moment-to-moment, to issue correction so that we can understand, and yet never really needing to grow up or go beyond what we know at the same time.
None of us knows everything, we all need help and assistance from time to time, we all have a lot that we could learn and have to select only so much to try and take on at a time, but that process is not prevented by anything but our own lack of motivation. There's nothing stopping us, we just don't want to do it.
And so we invite the rod to motivate us instead.
Wisdom without the welts would be so much better, no?
Showing posts with label Understanding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Understanding. Show all posts
22.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 9:7-9
“He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
Proverbs 9:7-9 (NKJV).
We want to be the savior. We want to be the guy or gal that says just the right thing, that is just good enough a friend, that is in the right place at the right time to be the hero.
We want to be recognized as having wisdom for the social credit, but those who waste their efforts in this manner can actually be exposing their lack of wisdom by these types of demonstrations.
Social media is a convenient way to see this dynamic play out. The phrase "don't feed the trolls" exists for a reason, and it's worthwhile to distinguish between those who are simply ignorant and those who are cited in this passage.
A "scoffer" is one who "mocks or treats with derision or scorn". This is not a passive ignorance, but an intentional antagonism, and with the "freedom" of the internet and folks feeling like they can share whatever they want, do whatever they want, all without consequence, has magnified the intensity of this dynamic such that it is blatantly obvious when witnessed.
This is not wisdom being provided to someone who does not know, this is an attempt to use wisdom as the retort to someone who does not even recognize the value of the conversation, the interaction, beyond how they can leverage themselves socially, or perhaps even just for entertainment purposes.
I do not believe that the social dynamics that we experience through social media, especially with anonymous accounts, is something that is new to humanity, but that it is an existing behavioral dynamic that has been refined it down to its most basic attributes because of the medium.
In addition, thanks to the many advances in our civilization as the result of human intellect, we have doubled down on intellectual reliance and upset the balance between fantasy and reality. It was fantastical to think we could travel more than 50 miles per hour at one time, let alone travel to the moon. It was fantastical to think that we could communicate instantaneously over large distances, and yet now the whole globe cannot go a day without all of the local details being broadcast to everyone else in the world who will listen.
We live in a veritable land of fantasy, and yet we got here not simply by dreaming big, but through incremental efforts to discover how our dreams could really manifest in studying the nature of reality. We dreamed big, but knew when to wake up and get to work.
Nowadays though, more and more are refusing to wake up and do the hard work to make their ideals a reality, and so they have become detached in understanding cause and effect. They espouse lofty ideals that are entirely disconnected from reality, which while apparently making one feel good for professing such an ideal, is pointless because it cannot ever be manifest.
The "moral high ground" is a concept that encapsulates this arrogant deceit. People will pretend that, because they took the "moral high ground", that even if they acted foolishly, their actions are still to be lauded based on the ideals, not on the results.
In this manner, people will engage with scoffers, ignore the behavior and the results of the interaction and simply "do their thing", and then wonder why the praise has not heaped up for them as much as it should. Didn't they do what they were supposed to? Didn't they adhere to the loftiest of ideals, the most pure and logical of paths?
In this passage though, you'll note that the result of correcting a scoffer is to invite hatred.
Doesn't that result tell us something about the logic, the rationale, behind our behavior, and why it should change?
Realize that time spent trying to correct scoffers, to share wisdom with fools, is time not spent teaching those who are already receptive and ready to learn. It's a waste and generates animosity, and little else, as the scoffer is not going to have a change of heart because of our efforts on their "behalf", for "their benefit".
If someone doesn't want help, don't give it to them anyway. If someone doesn't want to understand, don't try and explain it to them anyway. If someone doesn't want to learn, don't force them to go through the motions with your lessons anyway.
This will save your time, your soul, and increase both your social and physical safety as well.
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
Proverbs 9:7-9 (NKJV).
We want to be the savior. We want to be the guy or gal that says just the right thing, that is just good enough a friend, that is in the right place at the right time to be the hero.
We want to be recognized as having wisdom for the social credit, but those who waste their efforts in this manner can actually be exposing their lack of wisdom by these types of demonstrations.
Social media is a convenient way to see this dynamic play out. The phrase "don't feed the trolls" exists for a reason, and it's worthwhile to distinguish between those who are simply ignorant and those who are cited in this passage.
A "scoffer" is one who "mocks or treats with derision or scorn". This is not a passive ignorance, but an intentional antagonism, and with the "freedom" of the internet and folks feeling like they can share whatever they want, do whatever they want, all without consequence, has magnified the intensity of this dynamic such that it is blatantly obvious when witnessed.
This is not wisdom being provided to someone who does not know, this is an attempt to use wisdom as the retort to someone who does not even recognize the value of the conversation, the interaction, beyond how they can leverage themselves socially, or perhaps even just for entertainment purposes.
I do not believe that the social dynamics that we experience through social media, especially with anonymous accounts, is something that is new to humanity, but that it is an existing behavioral dynamic that has been refined it down to its most basic attributes because of the medium.
In addition, thanks to the many advances in our civilization as the result of human intellect, we have doubled down on intellectual reliance and upset the balance between fantasy and reality. It was fantastical to think we could travel more than 50 miles per hour at one time, let alone travel to the moon. It was fantastical to think that we could communicate instantaneously over large distances, and yet now the whole globe cannot go a day without all of the local details being broadcast to everyone else in the world who will listen.
We live in a veritable land of fantasy, and yet we got here not simply by dreaming big, but through incremental efforts to discover how our dreams could really manifest in studying the nature of reality. We dreamed big, but knew when to wake up and get to work.
Nowadays though, more and more are refusing to wake up and do the hard work to make their ideals a reality, and so they have become detached in understanding cause and effect. They espouse lofty ideals that are entirely disconnected from reality, which while apparently making one feel good for professing such an ideal, is pointless because it cannot ever be manifest.
The "moral high ground" is a concept that encapsulates this arrogant deceit. People will pretend that, because they took the "moral high ground", that even if they acted foolishly, their actions are still to be lauded based on the ideals, not on the results.
In this manner, people will engage with scoffers, ignore the behavior and the results of the interaction and simply "do their thing", and then wonder why the praise has not heaped up for them as much as it should. Didn't they do what they were supposed to? Didn't they adhere to the loftiest of ideals, the most pure and logical of paths?
In this passage though, you'll note that the result of correcting a scoffer is to invite hatred.
Doesn't that result tell us something about the logic, the rationale, behind our behavior, and why it should change?
Realize that time spent trying to correct scoffers, to share wisdom with fools, is time not spent teaching those who are already receptive and ready to learn. It's a waste and generates animosity, and little else, as the scoffer is not going to have a change of heart because of our efforts on their "behalf", for "their benefit".
If someone doesn't want help, don't give it to them anyway. If someone doesn't want to understand, don't try and explain it to them anyway. If someone doesn't want to learn, don't force them to go through the motions with your lessons anyway.
This will save your time, your soul, and increase both your social and physical safety as well.
9.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 6:12-15
A worthless person, a wicked man,
Walks with a perverse mouth;
He winks with his eyes,
He shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
Perversity is in his heart,
He devises evil continually,
He sows discord.
Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NKJV).
What are worthless and wicked people like?
They are constant liars,
signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,
a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.
Their perverted hearts plot evil,
and they constantly stir up trouble.
But they will be destroyed suddenly,
broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NLT).
A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
winks with his eyes, scrapes with his feet,
points with his finger,
with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (RSV).
I've talked about the wicked and their destruction before, but this passage provides opportunity to discuss something important: translations and exegesis.
The Bible wasn't inspired in English. This is a controversial statement in that most people have an understanding of the Bible being inerrant which is not logically coherent. If you have ever asserted that a specific translation, let alone only that translation, is inerrant, you were wrong.
To start, the modern understanding of an "error" is considerably more exacting than the ancient, and many folks want to treat the Bible as if it were a textbook, a reference manual that someone sat down and wrote with the specific intent of communicating very specific messages in every passage. While this is true for some passages, like this one, it's not always clear exactly what the utility is in a section of scripture.
I enjoy the NKJV because it was translated in a word-for-word manner while attempting to reconcile the grandeur of the language in the KJV with the multitude of manuscripts that have been collected since the KJV was written. In a "word-for-word" type of translation, when an illustration, allegory, idiom, metaphor, or a cultural reference was used in the original text, instead of trying to account for those understandings in the process of translating, they're reproduced "as-is".
If you look at verse 13 in the original language, it most literally states "He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers." Look again at how each of the three translations I provided are communicating that same information, just in slightly different fashion. Even better, choose from some of the other translations you're familiar with (or not) and see how the entire passage is rendered differently in each while still trying to communicate the same truths.
The reason this is important to see and understand is because much ado is made of specific words and phrases in various English translations, and yet folks to not do due diligence and reference the entirety of the scriptures we have, placing their faith on the translators having done an accurate job and not having left out any important details.
If you've ever heard someone talk about a "bad" translation, exactly how would you imagine that is possible if the Bible is inerrant in every single manifestation of it? To help drive this point home, if you tear a page out of any Bible, does it magically return to that Bible to keep it intact? Could a Bible ever be printed with a typo in its pages? Is it possible to misquote the Bible?
In each circumstance, if we are to assert that, to be inerrant, every copy or manifestation of the Bible is perfect, the answer you are required to provide to those above questions is rather different than the one you're logically inclined to provide.
We can see that damaged Bibles can be missing pages, or are perhaps defaced, but God does not somehow correct them. We have some translations that are "better" than others, and some which are downright deceptive in the efforts of the translators to re-write scripture through the translation process to suit modern proclivities.
It's this illogical assertion regarding what it inerrant that has given people like Bart Ehrman any sort of platform at all, in that they push this concept to the logical extreme, and declare that Christianity cannot be true on the grounds that there have been typos or errors in the process of transcribing or translating scripture, even if those errors do not affect any actual truth being transmitted by the scripture. The rigidity of the understanding creates a barrier to belief which was not constructed by God, but by Satan, who regularly uses false dichotomies to disarm and disable those who truly seek God's will in their life.
Think about it. If Satan can tell you both that every manifestation of scripture needs to be perfect, right down to the last jot or tittle, and then in the next breath provide examples where any manifestation of scripture has an "error", can you see what the "logical" conclusion would then be?
Satan, by emphasizing an exaggerated understanding of what scripture is supposed to be, will create the very circumstances on which he can then discredit the truth of scripture without actually arguing about any of it in specific. If anything, Satan wants the belief in the idea of scripture being inerrant to be as strict as possible by human standards, so that just as we have all fallen short, so will any scripture, so why read and study it if it will not truly lead us to understanding truth?
This is why it is extremely ignorant to presume that Satan wants to undermine the authority of scripture merely by taking potshots, by discrediting specific doctrines or theologies within a framework of debate. Satan wants the whole Bible to both be casually dismissed as well as debated to a degree of pedantry that distracts from the necessary ecumenism within the Church.
Most recently, I was struck with the naive hypocrisy in a book I've been reading recently from a Father in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, that at the surface appeared like a logical claim, but upon further inspection was a demonstration of great stupidity.
The basic nature of the claim was that, if there wasn't a specific sect in the "Church" which was "The Church", that the different sects were relative to each other, then no similar argument could be made to distinguish between the other religions of the world that would then be relative to Christianity in exactly the same fashion.
This is the logical equivalent to saying that your physical body is no more distinct from anyone else's because your hand and your foot are different. That because your hand is not your entire body, that because your tongue is not your body, and so on and so forth, that because there is no one distilled element of the body which represents The Body, there is no "body" at all, is moronic.
Look at this passage about the wicked man, and how some translations are attempting to reproduce what he's literally doing as part of his wickedness, and some are trying to communicate what the meaning or significance of what he's literally doing, really is. Each is correct, though each is different, and if any were held up as the "perfect standard", the others would be considered "wrong" or "in error".
The "high standard" which you may be tempted to think comes from God may not at all, and Satan has no qualm feeding you all the lies and rationalizations you would desire to first foster an impossibly high ideal that Satan can then turn against you to undermine your witness and your faith.
Having a standard is not the problem. Scrutinizing translations is not the problem. The problem is when we add to what God really says, when, like Eve, we add to what God has really commanded, as if to demonstrate our own superiority. The problem is that we aren't ever nearly as clever as the master of lies, who has been learning and refining how he can trick and deceive humans for thousands and thousands of years, and yet we somehow think that we're the ones with the upper hand?
If pursuing God, in earnest and in humility, we would have the upper hand, but that also comes with genuine humility, not a blind arrogance being passed off as humility. When we start erecting edifices, physical or psychological, in the name of glorfying God, but instead only make much of ourselves, it is our actions, not just our words, our declared intent, that God will judge us by.
Read various translations. Go back to the original languages. Learn about what God truly thinks constitutes as "error", and refine the Gospel that you preach to adhere only to truth, empty of all vain puffery.
Avoid being as the wicked man, where the disparity between your actions and your words betray your true master, the one whom you truly worship and obey.
Walks with a perverse mouth;
He winks with his eyes,
He shuffles his feet,
He points with his fingers;
Perversity is in his heart,
He devises evil continually,
He sows discord.
Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NKJV).
What are worthless and wicked people like?
They are constant liars,
signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,
a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.
Their perverted hearts plot evil,
and they constantly stir up trouble.
But they will be destroyed suddenly,
broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (NLT).
A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
winks with his eyes, scrapes with his feet,
points with his finger,
with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
Proverbs 6:12-15 (RSV).
I've talked about the wicked and their destruction before, but this passage provides opportunity to discuss something important: translations and exegesis.
The Bible wasn't inspired in English. This is a controversial statement in that most people have an understanding of the Bible being inerrant which is not logically coherent. If you have ever asserted that a specific translation, let alone only that translation, is inerrant, you were wrong.
To start, the modern understanding of an "error" is considerably more exacting than the ancient, and many folks want to treat the Bible as if it were a textbook, a reference manual that someone sat down and wrote with the specific intent of communicating very specific messages in every passage. While this is true for some passages, like this one, it's not always clear exactly what the utility is in a section of scripture.
I enjoy the NKJV because it was translated in a word-for-word manner while attempting to reconcile the grandeur of the language in the KJV with the multitude of manuscripts that have been collected since the KJV was written. In a "word-for-word" type of translation, when an illustration, allegory, idiom, metaphor, or a cultural reference was used in the original text, instead of trying to account for those understandings in the process of translating, they're reproduced "as-is".
If you look at verse 13 in the original language, it most literally states "He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers." Look again at how each of the three translations I provided are communicating that same information, just in slightly different fashion. Even better, choose from some of the other translations you're familiar with (or not) and see how the entire passage is rendered differently in each while still trying to communicate the same truths.
The reason this is important to see and understand is because much ado is made of specific words and phrases in various English translations, and yet folks to not do due diligence and reference the entirety of the scriptures we have, placing their faith on the translators having done an accurate job and not having left out any important details.
If you've ever heard someone talk about a "bad" translation, exactly how would you imagine that is possible if the Bible is inerrant in every single manifestation of it? To help drive this point home, if you tear a page out of any Bible, does it magically return to that Bible to keep it intact? Could a Bible ever be printed with a typo in its pages? Is it possible to misquote the Bible?
In each circumstance, if we are to assert that, to be inerrant, every copy or manifestation of the Bible is perfect, the answer you are required to provide to those above questions is rather different than the one you're logically inclined to provide.
We can see that damaged Bibles can be missing pages, or are perhaps defaced, but God does not somehow correct them. We have some translations that are "better" than others, and some which are downright deceptive in the efforts of the translators to re-write scripture through the translation process to suit modern proclivities.
It's this illogical assertion regarding what it inerrant that has given people like Bart Ehrman any sort of platform at all, in that they push this concept to the logical extreme, and declare that Christianity cannot be true on the grounds that there have been typos or errors in the process of transcribing or translating scripture, even if those errors do not affect any actual truth being transmitted by the scripture. The rigidity of the understanding creates a barrier to belief which was not constructed by God, but by Satan, who regularly uses false dichotomies to disarm and disable those who truly seek God's will in their life.
Think about it. If Satan can tell you both that every manifestation of scripture needs to be perfect, right down to the last jot or tittle, and then in the next breath provide examples where any manifestation of scripture has an "error", can you see what the "logical" conclusion would then be?
Satan, by emphasizing an exaggerated understanding of what scripture is supposed to be, will create the very circumstances on which he can then discredit the truth of scripture without actually arguing about any of it in specific. If anything, Satan wants the belief in the idea of scripture being inerrant to be as strict as possible by human standards, so that just as we have all fallen short, so will any scripture, so why read and study it if it will not truly lead us to understanding truth?
This is why it is extremely ignorant to presume that Satan wants to undermine the authority of scripture merely by taking potshots, by discrediting specific doctrines or theologies within a framework of debate. Satan wants the whole Bible to both be casually dismissed as well as debated to a degree of pedantry that distracts from the necessary ecumenism within the Church.
Most recently, I was struck with the naive hypocrisy in a book I've been reading recently from a Father in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, that at the surface appeared like a logical claim, but upon further inspection was a demonstration of great stupidity.
The basic nature of the claim was that, if there wasn't a specific sect in the "Church" which was "The Church", that the different sects were relative to each other, then no similar argument could be made to distinguish between the other religions of the world that would then be relative to Christianity in exactly the same fashion.
This is the logical equivalent to saying that your physical body is no more distinct from anyone else's because your hand and your foot are different. That because your hand is not your entire body, that because your tongue is not your body, and so on and so forth, that because there is no one distilled element of the body which represents The Body, there is no "body" at all, is moronic.
Look at this passage about the wicked man, and how some translations are attempting to reproduce what he's literally doing as part of his wickedness, and some are trying to communicate what the meaning or significance of what he's literally doing, really is. Each is correct, though each is different, and if any were held up as the "perfect standard", the others would be considered "wrong" or "in error".
The "high standard" which you may be tempted to think comes from God may not at all, and Satan has no qualm feeding you all the lies and rationalizations you would desire to first foster an impossibly high ideal that Satan can then turn against you to undermine your witness and your faith.
Having a standard is not the problem. Scrutinizing translations is not the problem. The problem is when we add to what God really says, when, like Eve, we add to what God has really commanded, as if to demonstrate our own superiority. The problem is that we aren't ever nearly as clever as the master of lies, who has been learning and refining how he can trick and deceive humans for thousands and thousands of years, and yet we somehow think that we're the ones with the upper hand?
If pursuing God, in earnest and in humility, we would have the upper hand, but that also comes with genuine humility, not a blind arrogance being passed off as humility. When we start erecting edifices, physical or psychological, in the name of glorfying God, but instead only make much of ourselves, it is our actions, not just our words, our declared intent, that God will judge us by.
Read various translations. Go back to the original languages. Learn about what God truly thinks constitutes as "error", and refine the Gospel that you preach to adhere only to truth, empty of all vain puffery.
Avoid being as the wicked man, where the disparity between your actions and your words betray your true master, the one whom you truly worship and obey.
2.4.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 4:20-27
My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.
Proverbs 4:20-27 (NKJV).
Being intentional about the choices you make does not come naturally. By default, we expect that we can just do whatever we want and, compounding this, we also do a terrible job of considering all the actual possible outcomes from making a decision. It is so easy to come up with rationalizations as to why we should be able to do everything that we want, and this is why our solipsism bubble can be so hard to burst.
The "terrible twos" are not about children intending to be evil, but in teaching them that they are not God, that there are limits to their capacity, and that despite their parents having spent the prior years meeting their every need, that system of reliance won't continue on forever.
A big part of "growing up" is just learning how to be independent of your parents, how to provision for yourself, how to make sacrifices in your time preferences to enjoy a greater reward later instead of pursuing a smaller reward now.
The thing is, if you were God, or at least a god, of any sort, then your "power" would be greater than the laws of this reality, and you'd be able to overcome the limitations that humanity constantly runs up against. While you would not be free to do the illogical, like counting the corners on a circle, the reason why we can't just do whatever we want and "be fine" is because we are limited, finite, and we can very quickly place ourselves in circumstances beyond our ability to control.
We need to eat particular foods and in a particular quantity in order to best suit the predisposition of our digestive tract. No two people have the exact same digestive system, with all its bends and turns in the gut, and without all the same microorganisms or history of biological diversity, so while a particular diet may work for one person, it may not even work for a sibling of theirs.
We can't just eat whatever we want and not worry about the consequences because we don't have the power to override our bodily functions, the natural consequences of digestion, through conscious efforts. We are not masters over our own flesh, yet we are inclined to declare ourselves masters over anything else?
Solomon emphasizes time and again the same basic premise, and what that may be tiresome, it's important to realize that he, and in turn God, found the process of making decisions important. That there is significance and meaning behind what you do and why you do it, and to understand that significance and adjust your behavior before mortal consequences come into play.
This is a theme all throughout parenting. You want your child to avoid getting hurt, but there will be a time when their desire to touch the pan on the stove while you've turned your head will overcome them, they still don't understand "hot", and so they'll touch it and burn themselves.
Or perhaps it's about falling from some height. They're a good climber and despite their success, you constantly warn them about being careful. But there will be a time when their desire to climb higher, while they still don't understand "fall = ouchie", will overcome them and they'll get a bit too confident, go past their capacity, and fall.
Parents try to avoid these lessons, to instill the importance, the lesson, without having their child need to experience "the hard way". Commands, barked from across a room, to the effect of "don't touch that" or "stop please" as the parent tries to guide the learning of their child in a way which prevents injury or harm.
But the solipsism bubble can't be burst every time in this manner. The arrogance and hubris of the small child is in full bloom, and there's nothing you can do to change it, and they're convinced they are right and you are wrong. That the reasons you're considering in doing something, or not doing something, are ignorant to the child's perceptions, and so your advice need not be heeded.
Solomon thus keeps trying, keeps emphasizing, keeps explaining the dynamics of wisdom as a way of avoiding his child from having to learn the "hard way", of a way which does not include a path towards destruction, from scars that will never fully heal.
Think of this passage less as the vapid spouting of a wiseguy and instead from the perspective of a parent whose child is visibly tempted by unwise decisions. Pick up on the subtle pleading tones, the heart of Solomon that desires only the best, and the need to try and explain the same dynamic as many different ways as possible, hoping that perhaps the latest permutation of the phrasing will be what triggers understanding.
Pursuing wisdom with vigor and zeal will not disappointed, will not let one down, and will prevent the accumulation of excess baggage that comes with poor decisions, baggage that must then be carried throughout the remainder of temporal life. Free yourself by making the right choice in the first place, and never taking on the burdens you were never meant to carry.
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.
Proverbs 4:20-27 (NKJV).
Being intentional about the choices you make does not come naturally. By default, we expect that we can just do whatever we want and, compounding this, we also do a terrible job of considering all the actual possible outcomes from making a decision. It is so easy to come up with rationalizations as to why we should be able to do everything that we want, and this is why our solipsism bubble can be so hard to burst.
The "terrible twos" are not about children intending to be evil, but in teaching them that they are not God, that there are limits to their capacity, and that despite their parents having spent the prior years meeting their every need, that system of reliance won't continue on forever.
A big part of "growing up" is just learning how to be independent of your parents, how to provision for yourself, how to make sacrifices in your time preferences to enjoy a greater reward later instead of pursuing a smaller reward now.
The thing is, if you were God, or at least a god, of any sort, then your "power" would be greater than the laws of this reality, and you'd be able to overcome the limitations that humanity constantly runs up against. While you would not be free to do the illogical, like counting the corners on a circle, the reason why we can't just do whatever we want and "be fine" is because we are limited, finite, and we can very quickly place ourselves in circumstances beyond our ability to control.
We need to eat particular foods and in a particular quantity in order to best suit the predisposition of our digestive tract. No two people have the exact same digestive system, with all its bends and turns in the gut, and without all the same microorganisms or history of biological diversity, so while a particular diet may work for one person, it may not even work for a sibling of theirs.
We can't just eat whatever we want and not worry about the consequences because we don't have the power to override our bodily functions, the natural consequences of digestion, through conscious efforts. We are not masters over our own flesh, yet we are inclined to declare ourselves masters over anything else?
Solomon emphasizes time and again the same basic premise, and what that may be tiresome, it's important to realize that he, and in turn God, found the process of making decisions important. That there is significance and meaning behind what you do and why you do it, and to understand that significance and adjust your behavior before mortal consequences come into play.
This is a theme all throughout parenting. You want your child to avoid getting hurt, but there will be a time when their desire to touch the pan on the stove while you've turned your head will overcome them, they still don't understand "hot", and so they'll touch it and burn themselves.
Or perhaps it's about falling from some height. They're a good climber and despite their success, you constantly warn them about being careful. But there will be a time when their desire to climb higher, while they still don't understand "fall = ouchie", will overcome them and they'll get a bit too confident, go past their capacity, and fall.
Parents try to avoid these lessons, to instill the importance, the lesson, without having their child need to experience "the hard way". Commands, barked from across a room, to the effect of "don't touch that" or "stop please" as the parent tries to guide the learning of their child in a way which prevents injury or harm.
But the solipsism bubble can't be burst every time in this manner. The arrogance and hubris of the small child is in full bloom, and there's nothing you can do to change it, and they're convinced they are right and you are wrong. That the reasons you're considering in doing something, or not doing something, are ignorant to the child's perceptions, and so your advice need not be heeded.
Solomon thus keeps trying, keeps emphasizing, keeps explaining the dynamics of wisdom as a way of avoiding his child from having to learn the "hard way", of a way which does not include a path towards destruction, from scars that will never fully heal.
Think of this passage less as the vapid spouting of a wiseguy and instead from the perspective of a parent whose child is visibly tempted by unwise decisions. Pick up on the subtle pleading tones, the heart of Solomon that desires only the best, and the need to try and explain the same dynamic as many different ways as possible, hoping that perhaps the latest permutation of the phrasing will be what triggers understanding.
Pursuing wisdom with vigor and zeal will not disappointed, will not let one down, and will prevent the accumulation of excess baggage that comes with poor decisions, baggage that must then be carried throughout the remainder of temporal life. Free yourself by making the right choice in the first place, and never taking on the burdens you were never meant to carry.
24.3.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor detest His correction;
For whom the Lord loves He corrects,
Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 3:11-12 (NKJV).
Love in the modern world carries largely an emotional connotation. Love is a feeling, an experience, something that you can find or lose just as easily. Love always carries a sexual undertone as well, and there is no real platonic dimension to it.
This can be quickly seen in how sexual orientations which are contrary to biological norms are rationalized because "they love each other". The platonic dimension doesn't exist.
Even within families, siblings, people say "love" but they can quickly grow uncomfortable using the term because of how frequently it is used in the sexual sense and not platonic.
What we call "love" today was previously called "lust", and that is an emotional experience, connected to sexual arousal, but lacking any of the higher concepts and ideals that were attached to "love".
"I love my kids/siblings" gets connected to incest.
"I love my buddies" gets connected with closet homosexuality.
"I love my mom" gets Oedipal.
Instead people default to "I love my family" in order to try and detach individual association and instead connect to an ideal, in effort to allude to the platonic dimension.
And sure, in certain social circles these are understood in the platonic sense, but those social circles are not what is on advertisements, lauded in movies and television shows, or written about in novels. Those social circles are not the popular ones, the ones which hold a place in the current media narratives.
If you do not understand that "love", as defined in the Bible and subsequently by God, is entirely platonic, and is devoid of sexual connotation, then passages like this one will be hard to understand. If you grew up in a family where "love" held the platonic understanding of commitment, of concern for welfare, of sacrificial intent to the betterment of another, then you won't have this struggle, but it's necessary to understand the culture you're witnessing to when you seek to spread the Gospel.
You don't change what "love" is or try to find some new term, but you're probably going to have to explain what I've just explained to someone who does not grasp the platonic understanding and instead defaults to the sensual.
Now, when you understand the platonic definition of love, that makes the remainder of the verse much easier to understand, and this one isn't all that complicated either. When God loves, he cares about our future, what we're growing into, and in seeking to guide and shape what we are becoming, God offers correction, discipline, direction to us that may be different than what we were already pursuing.
This is difficult to do for humans because we're so wrapped up in our own desires and ideals on what we should be doing that God's correction often feels counter-productive. God puts limits on us, restricts our freedom, and seeks to prune growth that we've had in our life that we were trying to nurture.
Our problem is that God already knows what is best for us, and does not always explain why something is to be done in a certain manner, or how it will benefit us in the long run. While helpful, explanations do not change or improve the direction that God provides, it only softens our hearts and makes obedience easier. Sometimes that ease becomes a crutch, where lacking an explanation, we feel justified in defying God's correction in our life.
Solomon is instructing us to not resist the correction and guidance of God, similar to how he had already extolled the discipline of one's father and the law of one's mother. The parents who care for their child will be concerned for the child's future, and will be seeking to prepare them for leaving the home and bearing the burdens of life on their own.
The parent who is invested in the life of their child will see areas of growth that are not beneficial, like a cancer on their child's life, and will seek to eliminate that before it destroys their child.
"You can't wear..."
"You can't watch or listen to..."
"You can't hang out with..."
"You can't marry..."
All of these are the parent's attempts to guide the life of their child towards greater success, and God does that for us on everything, not just becoming an adult, but being a complete human.
For this reason, when God puts a restriction on us, changes our direction, corrects our thoughts or actions, we should be thankful, not resentful, that we are so loved that God would care for our futures and try to guide us instead of just abandoning us, leaving us to stumble and fall alone our own wicked paths, convinced in our ignorance that we know what's best for ourselves.
Nor detest His correction;
For whom the Lord loves He corrects,
Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 3:11-12 (NKJV).
Love in the modern world carries largely an emotional connotation. Love is a feeling, an experience, something that you can find or lose just as easily. Love always carries a sexual undertone as well, and there is no real platonic dimension to it.
This can be quickly seen in how sexual orientations which are contrary to biological norms are rationalized because "they love each other". The platonic dimension doesn't exist.
Even within families, siblings, people say "love" but they can quickly grow uncomfortable using the term because of how frequently it is used in the sexual sense and not platonic.
What we call "love" today was previously called "lust", and that is an emotional experience, connected to sexual arousal, but lacking any of the higher concepts and ideals that were attached to "love".
"I love my kids/siblings" gets connected to incest.
"I love my buddies" gets connected with closet homosexuality.
"I love my mom" gets Oedipal.
Instead people default to "I love my family" in order to try and detach individual association and instead connect to an ideal, in effort to allude to the platonic dimension.
And sure, in certain social circles these are understood in the platonic sense, but those social circles are not what is on advertisements, lauded in movies and television shows, or written about in novels. Those social circles are not the popular ones, the ones which hold a place in the current media narratives.
If you do not understand that "love", as defined in the Bible and subsequently by God, is entirely platonic, and is devoid of sexual connotation, then passages like this one will be hard to understand. If you grew up in a family where "love" held the platonic understanding of commitment, of concern for welfare, of sacrificial intent to the betterment of another, then you won't have this struggle, but it's necessary to understand the culture you're witnessing to when you seek to spread the Gospel.
You don't change what "love" is or try to find some new term, but you're probably going to have to explain what I've just explained to someone who does not grasp the platonic understanding and instead defaults to the sensual.
Now, when you understand the platonic definition of love, that makes the remainder of the verse much easier to understand, and this one isn't all that complicated either. When God loves, he cares about our future, what we're growing into, and in seeking to guide and shape what we are becoming, God offers correction, discipline, direction to us that may be different than what we were already pursuing.
This is difficult to do for humans because we're so wrapped up in our own desires and ideals on what we should be doing that God's correction often feels counter-productive. God puts limits on us, restricts our freedom, and seeks to prune growth that we've had in our life that we were trying to nurture.
Our problem is that God already knows what is best for us, and does not always explain why something is to be done in a certain manner, or how it will benefit us in the long run. While helpful, explanations do not change or improve the direction that God provides, it only softens our hearts and makes obedience easier. Sometimes that ease becomes a crutch, where lacking an explanation, we feel justified in defying God's correction in our life.
Solomon is instructing us to not resist the correction and guidance of God, similar to how he had already extolled the discipline of one's father and the law of one's mother. The parents who care for their child will be concerned for the child's future, and will be seeking to prepare them for leaving the home and bearing the burdens of life on their own.
The parent who is invested in the life of their child will see areas of growth that are not beneficial, like a cancer on their child's life, and will seek to eliminate that before it destroys their child.
"You can't wear..."
"You can't watch or listen to..."
"You can't hang out with..."
"You can't marry..."
All of these are the parent's attempts to guide the life of their child towards greater success, and God does that for us on everything, not just becoming an adult, but being a complete human.
For this reason, when God puts a restriction on us, changes our direction, corrects our thoughts or actions, we should be thankful, not resentful, that we are so loved that God would care for our futures and try to guide us instead of just abandoning us, leaving us to stumble and fall alone our own wicked paths, convinced in our ignorance that we know what's best for ourselves.
22.3.18
Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 3:1-8 (NKJV)
My son, do not forget my law,
But let your heart keep my commands;
For length of days and long life
And peace they will add to you.
Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones.
Proverbs 3:1-8 (NKJV).
This section of Proverbs contains an oft cited passage that, by itself, is used to dismantle competency. "Lean not on your own understanding" and "Do not be wise is your own eyes" together, but without the context of the prior two chapters of Proverbs, sound very condemning in the general sense regarding knowledge and wisdom, and help underpin the modern strain of anti-intellectualism that has resurfaced as a reaction to the secular philosophies that have become popular.
This passage is not talking about all understanding, nor all wisdom. This is understood if you pay attention to what we are commanded to do, and not just what we aren't. Look at how we are to "acknowledge" God, the original word being "yada", is associated with "to know" and is translated as the following in other verses: acquainted, aware, becomes known, bring forth, cared, chosen, clearly understand, cohabit, comprehend.
The connotation becomes a continuation of the prior chapter's advice regarding knowing your place, and recognizing that you still have much to learn. It does not mean you will never rely on what you do know, just that you must always keep in mind your place as the perpetual student of a perfect God.
This is echoed in "Do not be wise in your own eyes", in that we are not to be using an internal standard for comparison. This is not about refusing to be recognized as wise, or denying that you have gained wisdom, but not using your own understanding and perception of wisdom, being humble and self-aware of your limitations and your strengths, and then moving forward with decision making.
By themselves these verses seem to condemn the individual who seeks to learn wisdom and apply it in their life as if a person can't do that, can't internalize truth, and that's where the anti-intellectualism rears its head. Instead of learning scripture, the Bible is treated as a search engine and all that a "Christian" needs to do is be good at using the search engine. At no point do the truths need to be etched in their heart or contemplated because the truths are contained in the Bible, and since we'll "always have the Bible", there is no concern in learning what it actually says and becoming another container of truth yourself.
Memorizing scripture, and not just where to find it, is important because you may not have a literal access to the Bible at all times. Perhaps you are a missionary in a hostile culture? Perhaps you are poor and destitute without a roof over your head? Perhaps you are enslaved to some harsh master who does not let you possess anything? Perhaps you are a prisoner of war in some foreign country?
Christianity is just as real and valid in those circumstances, absent the Bible itself, as it is with it present, because Jesus Christ is the center, not the Bible. You can pursue God without the Bible, though it gets incredibly more difficult, because the signal-to-noise ratio outside scripture is so terrible and not at all in your favor for being able to discover genuine truth.
It still happens, and thus why many prominent religions will share a tenet or doctrine or teaching with Christianity on one topic, but then completely disagree on another.
The earlier portion of the passage is about making that external truth "yours". It's not about changing it, but changing yourself to align with it. It's about swapping out what you would have considered "wise" for what God considers "wise". It's about taking the external truth and inscribing it on your heart and in your mind so that God's motivations become yours. This isn't about you becoming God, but becoming more like God in how you think, how you behave, and how you make decisions.
We are to pattern ourselves after God, we are to take what God says is wise and repeat it to ourselves and live it out in our lives and preach it to all who will listen. That is the heart of this passage, not a perpetual self-deprecation, a false piety where we constantly defer to God in a manner which makes our own walk, our life, and out interactions entirely irrelevant to those around us.
If the truth does not live in us, how are any to begin to understand we've found it?
But let your heart keep my commands;
For length of days and long life
And peace they will add to you.
Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones.
Proverbs 3:1-8 (NKJV).
This section of Proverbs contains an oft cited passage that, by itself, is used to dismantle competency. "Lean not on your own understanding" and "Do not be wise is your own eyes" together, but without the context of the prior two chapters of Proverbs, sound very condemning in the general sense regarding knowledge and wisdom, and help underpin the modern strain of anti-intellectualism that has resurfaced as a reaction to the secular philosophies that have become popular.
This passage is not talking about all understanding, nor all wisdom. This is understood if you pay attention to what we are commanded to do, and not just what we aren't. Look at how we are to "acknowledge" God, the original word being "yada", is associated with "to know" and is translated as the following in other verses: acquainted, aware, becomes known, bring forth, cared, chosen, clearly understand, cohabit, comprehend.
The connotation becomes a continuation of the prior chapter's advice regarding knowing your place, and recognizing that you still have much to learn. It does not mean you will never rely on what you do know, just that you must always keep in mind your place as the perpetual student of a perfect God.
This is echoed in "Do not be wise in your own eyes", in that we are not to be using an internal standard for comparison. This is not about refusing to be recognized as wise, or denying that you have gained wisdom, but not using your own understanding and perception of wisdom, being humble and self-aware of your limitations and your strengths, and then moving forward with decision making.
By themselves these verses seem to condemn the individual who seeks to learn wisdom and apply it in their life as if a person can't do that, can't internalize truth, and that's where the anti-intellectualism rears its head. Instead of learning scripture, the Bible is treated as a search engine and all that a "Christian" needs to do is be good at using the search engine. At no point do the truths need to be etched in their heart or contemplated because the truths are contained in the Bible, and since we'll "always have the Bible", there is no concern in learning what it actually says and becoming another container of truth yourself.
Memorizing scripture, and not just where to find it, is important because you may not have a literal access to the Bible at all times. Perhaps you are a missionary in a hostile culture? Perhaps you are poor and destitute without a roof over your head? Perhaps you are enslaved to some harsh master who does not let you possess anything? Perhaps you are a prisoner of war in some foreign country?
Christianity is just as real and valid in those circumstances, absent the Bible itself, as it is with it present, because Jesus Christ is the center, not the Bible. You can pursue God without the Bible, though it gets incredibly more difficult, because the signal-to-noise ratio outside scripture is so terrible and not at all in your favor for being able to discover genuine truth.
It still happens, and thus why many prominent religions will share a tenet or doctrine or teaching with Christianity on one topic, but then completely disagree on another.
The earlier portion of the passage is about making that external truth "yours". It's not about changing it, but changing yourself to align with it. It's about swapping out what you would have considered "wise" for what God considers "wise". It's about taking the external truth and inscribing it on your heart and in your mind so that God's motivations become yours. This isn't about you becoming God, but becoming more like God in how you think, how you behave, and how you make decisions.
We are to pattern ourselves after God, we are to take what God says is wise and repeat it to ourselves and live it out in our lives and preach it to all who will listen. That is the heart of this passage, not a perpetual self-deprecation, a false piety where we constantly defer to God in a manner which makes our own walk, our life, and out interactions entirely irrelevant to those around us.
If the truth does not live in us, how are any to begin to understand we've found it?
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