Let Us be the Wise Man

The Bible's Proverbs and Psalms is all to clear that there are evil men among us that are lurking about waiting to entice us into thinking and doing what the standards of the Bible would consider morally questionable thoughts and actions.

It also seems evident that to be a Wise Man is to see the evil and avoid it
Proverbs 4:14Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away., nor to marvel at it Ecclesiastes5:8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

I believe that the determining factor as to whether you are a wise man would be seen within the decisions that you make in our daily life experiences.

Thus the Best Questions ("In light of my past experience, current circumstances and future hopes and dreams, what is the wsie thing for me to DO!) ASKED BEFORE the decision would afford the person the opportunity to make the 'wise decision'. This first golden nugget of wisdom "think before you act" enables the opportunity for wise decisions to be made. If we forgo this necessary thought process, then we invariably will commit a foolish act. What we predicate our wise decision making process on, our ethics and morals, is a can of worms that I will not open at this point, as invariably I believe it will open itself up within the natural course of continuing this blog.

Important to note is the separation of the heart, or emotions, from this process. Proverbs 28:26He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
The wise man is not quick to decide, but rather slow to speak, slow to wrath, and quick to listen and understand before commiting to a decision. He is also not afraid to admit he does not know and will seek out those that do know; thus he is not prideful, but humble.

It seems important to note, that within the context of this understanding is the knowledge that time is a commodity and as precious as any other commodity within our world. The wise man is all to aware that there are many parts of our life that require daily 'time' deposits in order to be fruitful and see growth within ourselves, our family, our community and our nation. Many of these aspects of life, such as our family, can not be neglected or it will deteriorate, and we will not be able to make amends by trying to digest one family gathering of 10 hours to make up for the 10, 1 hour family dinners. We can not work out for 10 hours physically to make up for the 10, 1 hour workouts we have missed.

In addition, within the framework of the world we live in, we must develop our standards that we will not compromise on! We must know where we stand so as to not fall for anything. We must write these down and say them to our family/friends so that we can consider ourselves accountable for our actions. It seems all to apparent that we can not use the standards of our society or we will be unwise...for how easy it is to see that as it says in I Timothy 6:10
10For the love of money is the root of all evil
Not surprising that sex, drugs and violence are the number one selling items in the world. Therefore we must create our own standards for what we consider ethical and moral and then DO what we say. Let us not be a hearer of the word, but a doer!

Serendipity of the Bible Resource Page

I added a permanent resources page to my web site. The link will also be permanently on our link panel over on the right side of this blog.
Enjoy! Also, as we work through our study, feel free to recommend other serendipitous passages you would like to see included.

Who am I?

Proverbs introduces us to many types of people: the wise person, the simple (or naive) person, the fool, the scoffer, the slothful (or sluggard) and the evil person.

It seems prudent to identify and relate to each type of person introduced in order to obtain a clear characterization of each individual. Hereby we can strive to stay clear from the presence of certain individuals and/or prevent acquiring these characteristics within our own personality. The Bible says you will know a tree by its fruit…so….you will know a person by his words and actions…his fruit.

The easiest person to start with seems to be the slothful or sluggard individual…aka the LAZY person.
9He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster
25The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. 26He coveteth greedily all the day long:
30I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; 31And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. 32Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. 33Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 34So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.
This type of person will only be a drain on the wise person. We should be able to recognize this type of person by his actions…which are few and unproductive.

The simple or naïve person seems to be what we all start out as when we are born. Totally void of life’s experiences and the inability to relate our current actions with future consequences. Andy Stanley in ‘The Best Question Ever’, says this type of person is the ‘clueless’ individual. Since we all start out this way, it seems to be an unavoidable condition for everyone.

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
7The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
130The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

The Best Question Ever is to ask your self BEFORE you do something:
In light of my past experience, my present circumstances, and my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing for me to do?
15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
For the naïve person, it would be to know that they don’t know and to not be afraid to ask them that do know. This is one of the characteristics of a wise person (more on this later). But most often the naïve person believes that the parent or adult is just over-reacting. A good example is the girl that says, ‘It was just a kiss, how am I going to get pregnant!!?!! It was just one kiss.’ Not realizing that it is always a series of bad decisions that leads us into the one compromising situation that will have repercussions that will last a lifetime. This is why we must set such high standards that are much more morally and ethically stringent than societies or we will be baited to the edge by society and fall prey to the evil man. Just look around at the morally suicidal culture we live in and this will be made clear. How often can we see our culture creating a world of instant gratification, of sex, drug and violence being the norm and the expected from our children. If the adults do not take hold of their children and teach them correctly at the naïve stage, they will be morally and spiritually bankrupt by their teenage years, and thus will become the fool and/or scoffer.

The fool is the one that just doesn’t care. They see the warning labels and they are just insensitive to the situation. They believe they can handle anything that comes their way as it comes. These are the types of people that will stay in the situation until the very last minute…the go cart will be breaking up and all of the wheels are shaking and the it is about to fall apart, just before they will admit they need help. Most often it takes the situation getting to this stage of development before you can even offer help. They are selfish and believe they can handle it all. As you can see, it seems to be a natural development of a naïve person to the fool if unlearned and unassisted in life’s decisions. I believe that if the situation doesn’t get to the point that they need help, undoubtedly, the fool will become the scorner.

15The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
11As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
12Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
16A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
1A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
24Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.
7Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate. 8He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. 9The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.
6Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. 8Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

The scorner is the person that is the ‘know-it-all’ and he will criticize every situation because he knows how to do it best. He is the one that will rip apart any suggestions or positive influence or success, showing all of the flaws and mistakes and ways that he would have done it different and better. He is the one that will not take advise but has plenty of advise to give. This type of person there is no help for and it is suggested in the Bible to STAY AWAY FROM. They will only learn when it is either too late or they have hit rock bottom.

The interesting part is that the Bible says that when they need wisdom, they will not be able to find it. They will not be able to make a wise decision when sooner or later, as life always brings us, a situation will arise that requires wisdom and they will make the dumbest decision ever.

The wise and the evil person I will continue with after I do some more research and have time to reflect more on what I have written.

Should you believe in Eternity?

I will tell you that I was not hoping to engage in this topic so soon as I do not know if we are ready this early into the study. However, since my cousin Nicole raised the issue in her post it is important to at least begin this critical discussion.

Nicole stated, "I do believe, for the most part, that religion can help us to live well. But what is the point of that, if ultimately it does not drive us into God’s arms? What is the point of living well here on earth, if our eternity is not secure in God’s presence?"

I am glad that we will be covering this many times again as we go through the bible. However, for the sake of full disclosure, let me begin by stating that I never liked this idea in the bible. Dangling out this carrot of some sort of eternal bliss feels like I am being manipulated. A great cosmic bribe...

I feel this is very important because to me it does not pass the "Good Parent" test. Rewards are a fact of life and I have used them in parenting but I have always understood and believed that though they work, they are not what I am ultimately striving for. I do not want my children to only perform when they have the chance of reward. I would like them to do what is right due to their inner quality and innate drive to improve themselves. Reward and punishment as the ultimate motivation? To me, that does not pass muster...

Over time, I have grown to believe that we are just interpreting it wrong (in addition to probably interpreting heaven and hell wrong -- but let's save that for later). I also believe that as we delve deeply into the holy books, the true interpretation will become manifest.

So, how do we directly answer the question on the "Should you believe scale"? Should you believe in eternal salvation? I certainly do believe there are clues that point to non-physical things. Things outside of ourselves like Jung's archetypes, deja-vu and destiny. So, there are clues that possibly bring us to believing in more than this physical existence.

On the other side of the coin, there are certainly religions that do not talk about eternal salvation as the ultimate aim of existence. For example, karma and reincarnation, eternal survival of the species (the eternal existence of humanity as a whole), and ancestral worship (not dishonoring the family).

So, I would have to say that it is too soon to answer this question. I may be taking the position of skeptic here amongst my other family members (whom I love and respect); however, I must be honest with myself. It is too important a question for us to rush into or to only account for a single viewpoint (i.e. from one religion).
It is also predicated on many other "should you believe questions" like ...

"Should you believe in an eternal soul?"
"Should you believe in Heaven?"
"Should you believe in Hell?"
*** "Should you believe in the necessity of faith?" (not whether you have faith but does faith have intrinsic value?) ***
"Should you believe that sin permanently scars your soul?"
"Should you believe in Sin?"
On and on ...

So, I guess I am saying that we first need to build our scaffolding of logic on as firm a ground as we can muster.
Also, for the benefit of my cousin, let me state that our intention of using the "Should you believe" filter in this discussion is to have some type of concrete, objective measure upon which we make these important life judgements. Thus we are attempting to analyze the value of a belief by understanding and measuring its effect on us as individuals, on society, on history and on the universe if we receive the blessing of that much discernment.
The basic premise here is that Beliefs leave behind clues. They leave marks in life and society. Sometimes it is just their footprints we have to measure them by. (As a supporting point, let me give a brief example of a belief that I feel is damaging and wrong -- the Catholic church's ban on birth control. While I will be happy to argue this point in detail later, suffice it to say that I see this belief as damaging to both society and families. One other easy supporting point here to clarify this -- the Jewish belief against pork should not be believed because we should not mix medical advice with spiritual necessity.)

Yes, in some ways, we are attempting to use some scientific analyses to religious questions. We are certainly not the first to do this ... and we will not be the last. That is ok as the search for truth is always a beneficial journey!

The Knowledge Hierarchy ... beyond Fear

Here is my cut at the Knowledge of God Hierarchy... as you can see, Fear is merely voltage for discipline. Beyond that a deeper voltage is necessary which is Love...

Miracles and Opiates

In John Chapter 2, Jesus performs his first Miracle by turning water into wine.
Miracles, possibly more than any other part of our holy books, require a large leap of faith. They seem to go hand in hand with the conquering of death as a testimony to God's power as superior to the laws of nature.
That very leap of faith has been ridiculed as an antidote for a pain-filled world. Just recently I purchased a Tears for Fears CD where I found this short song called "ideas as opiates":

"Say what you want
Say what you will
'Cos I find you think what makes it easier

And lies spread on lies
We don't care
Belief is our relief
We don't care" (c) 1983 Mercury Records for Tears for Fears

Of course, this is just a retelling of a Karl Marx quote which goes:
"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people."

So, where do I stand on this important (even critical) issue? I don't yet know... however, I do know that I don't know everything. I would never assert that there is no mystery in the universe. Why is the universe so large? Is there life on other planets? I do not wish to have such hubris to assert that miracles are impossible.

Therefore, at this time, I would place miracles in the "agnostic" category in the "should you believe landscape" as depicted in the figure on the right.