| | First off, I want to make it known that I believe the Bible to be inerrant and the inspired Word of God. I don't budge on this point. It's a whole other argument, and discussion in itself.
Second all, I want to briefly touch on the difference between Wisdom and Morality. Morality is black and white (for the most part, and the sake of our argument). It is wrong to lie, It is wrong to kill, it is right to love God, it is right to stand up for your faith, etc. Wisdom is about what is better to do, ie what is the wise decision. Wisdom may dictate that you shouldn't allow yourself to surf the web alone with no accountability. But is it WRONG to surf the web like that? No. (you may disagree with me here, but thats another argument as well) Is it Wise to smoke (pipes, cigars, cigarettes) no, it isn't. But is it wrong? no. Is it wise to eat junk food? no, not really. But is it wrong? Absolutely not. Basically. Just because something is unwise, doesn't make it a sin, ie a morality issue. The reverse is likely true though, if something is wrong, it is always unwise.
"A sinner is always a fool, but a fool is not always a sinner"
That being said, Proverbs, in general, is a book of Wisdom. It isn't intended to be a covenant or a set of commandments. There are some obvious Wisdom statements in there that deal directly with morality (ie. Stay away from whores) but others that don't necessarily (ie. don't pierce your body). When dealing with a specific passage, that's where the debate comes in. But Proverbs should not be used as an end all be all argument for morality. As in the case of the issue of Spanking. Just because Proverbs suggests that sparing the rod is a bad idea, doesn't necessarily mean that sparing the rod is a sin. With that in mind, it becomes more of an argument of what is the best thing to do, not necessarily what is the right/wrong thing to do.
Also, assuming that it IS more of a command than a issue of wisdom, even then, it is debatable what "the rod" means here. It could easily be argued that the author is referencing systematic discipline in general and uses the term "rod" as it would be a culturally accepted term at the time. I am not saying I 100% agree with that argument but it has validity.
So that is my view, very briefly on the book of Proverbs. I hope I didn't bore you, and if you have any response thoughts I would welcome them.
Lonnie |
| | Posted 5/22/2009 8:47 AM - 10 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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