TheSpiritualPilgrim Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Today I contemplated Proverbs 9:10.. It was the first verse I found in the Bible years ago that seemed to make sense to me. I though it was God speaking to me. Today I read it again: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NKJV) It implies that to have any wisdom we have to fear "God". So, in my new agnostic worldview sense, it is saying that to have wisdom at all you have to fear ultimate reality.. I understand that in the context it was written Solomon thought YHVH was ultimate reality. But still with Solomon being called "the wisest man in the world" he is basing his wisdom off of an assumption and unproved theory. His wisdom only came from his limited perception of life. In our hindsight I would completely disagree with him and counter argue that: Feat of the unknown is the beggining of ignorance! It's sad that people still call him the "wisest man". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSpiritualPilgrim Posted September 1, 2013 Author Share Posted September 1, 2013 It's supposed to be "fear" not feat. That's what I get for writing on my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 I doubt it was written by Solomon. He was like King Author. Good things attributed to him just grow and grow with each telling. Did he even exist? Nobody can even show that much. Can't find anything about the man but the Bible says he had hundreds of horses or even thousands. Yeah and the Bible says he had wisdom too and thousands of wives too and . . . . Yeah and supposedly he wrote Proverbs too. "Fear of the Lord" is from an older religion where God was not a God of Love. God was the one who would smite people with disaster and death. You respected God. You did your duty and offered your sacrifices. And you hoped that you didn't miss anything because if you did then God would frak you up. Anybody who died from bad luck was chalked up to a wrathful God. Today we have a saying that is more to the point: "safety first". If you are not paying attention or don't know about danger then you can find yourself in a situation where events can harm or kill you. But the way to deal with that isn't obeying or appeasing a god. You need to know the dangers of life and keep an eye out for trouble. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerk Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Assuming any of it is real, the ironic thing about Solomon is that immediately after the verses about his asking for wisdom and being told he has it, plus wealth, etc., he goes out and buys horses from Egypt. This is II Chron 1:1-17. Buying the horses directly violates the law, Deut 17:16. Everything written about Solomon, with the exception of the baby he offered to cut in two, shows how foolish he was. Everything! Even the book of Proverbs, written near the end of his royally screwed up life, is a mixed bag, but he is writing it as advice to his son who will be king. It is full of warnings to not be as foolish has he himself was. Of course, his son turned out to be an even bigger fool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Today I contemplated Proverbs 9:10.. It was the first verse I found in the Bible years ago that seemed to make sense to me. I though it was God speaking to me. Today I read it again: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NKJV) It implies that to have any wisdom we have to fear "God". So, in my new agnostic worldview sense, it is saying that to have wisdom at all you have to fear ultimate reality.. I understand that in the context it was written Solomon thought YHVH was ultimate reality. But still with Solomon being called "the wisest man in the world" he is basing his wisdom off of an assumption and unproved theory. His wisdom only came from his limited perception of life. In our hindsight I would completely disagree with him and counter argue that: Feat of the unknown is the beggining of ignorance! It's sad that people still call him the "wisest man". Wisdom is analyzing some idea and then determining for yourself whether it harmonizes with things you hold dear or if the idea is absurd. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of mental imprisonment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gall Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Today I contemplated Proverbs 9:10.. It was the first verse I found in the Bible years ago that seemed to make sense to me. I though it was God speaking to me. Today I read it again: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NKJV) It implies that to have any wisdom we have to fear "God". So, in my new agnostic worldview sense, it is saying that to have wisdom at all you have to fear ultimate reality.. I understand that in the context it was written Solomon thought YHVH was ultimate reality. But still with Solomon being called "the wisest man in the world" he is basing his wisdom off of an assumption and unproved theory. His wisdom only came from his limited perception of life. In our hindsight I would completely disagree with him and counter argue that: Feat of the unknown is the beggining of ignorance! It's sad that people still call him the "wisest man". Wisdom is analyzing some idea and then determining for yourself whether it harmonizes with things you hold dear or if the idea is absurd. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of mental imprisonment. Wisdom is the ability to admit you don't know, and then the strength to seek out answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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