Archive for August, 2010

14:1 Wise and Foolish Women

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her own hands. Proverbs 14:1

Gulag prisoners at work, courtesy of wikipedia.

Georgi Vins tells of Christian wives who made dangerous trips of thousands of kilometers to visit their husbands imprisoned for their testimony to Christ in Siberia. Non-christian prisoners were astonished. Their godless wives did not brave distance to visit them. In fact, many divorced them; others did not even bother with that formality but informed their husbands they were living with other men. What is even more astonishing, the Christian women did not reproach their husbands for the hardships which had befallen themselves and their children because of their husbands’ arrests. Even those women who were never to see their husbands again maintained godly homes for their children.

This is owing to Christ. Such is his power in relationships that the contrast between a marriage of convenience and a marriage of true Christians can be enormous. Christianity elevated the status of women. For instance, by likening marriage to the relationship between Christ and the church, Christianity gave women a higher status than was normal in ancient societies. Anyone who studies anthropology and archaeology with honesty cannot help but notice the different status of women in non-Christian societies and in Christian.

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16:21 Facilitating Learning

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Comenius

Jan Amos Comenius, innovative educator.

The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increases learning. Proverbs 16:21

In one of her poems, Emily Dickenson wrote, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” I always interpreted this to mean to tell the truth but through simile, metaphor or other artistic devices that make knowledge more memorable and palatable—sweet lips that increase learning.

Centuries before Dickenson, the notable Christian educator Jan Amos Comenius had adopted a similar principle. He developed the first graded textbooks. These included pictures to make their content more memorable, a tactic followed by educators ever since.

Jesus also used the “slant” technique. He spoke in pithy parables and word illustrations, sarcasm, hyperbole, parallelism and other literary devices aimed to help his learners retain his word, including similes and metaphors. The results are some of the most memorable statements in all of literature, showing great wisdom and vividly illustrating the truths he wished to impart. He was the master exemplar of this proverb.

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12:22 Lying Lips, Truthful Speakers

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

John F. Kennedy

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight. Proverbs 12:22.

When John F. Kennedy was president, he had Ambassador Stevenson present fake photos to “prove” the Bay of Pigs was not a CIA action but the work of disaffected Cubans. The photos were quickly exposed as forgeries. Adlai Stevenson, who had been misinformed by the White House, was publicly humiliated and the United States embarrassed.

Politicians are notorious for their lies, but are by no means the only liars. Every adulterer who tries to keep his affairs secret from his wife is in the same category and so are newsmen and newswomen who fake their stories, ignore crucial details, or spin events to make them mean the opposite of what they really mean. Businesses which promise quality that is lacking in their products are liars. Moviemakers who ignore the consequences of sin also practice deception. All such falsehood is an abomination to God. It suppresses the truth.

When God showed the world through Jesus Christ how He would behave as a man, one of his chief characteristics was truth. Thus Jesus went so far as to declare, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and asserted to Pilate, “For this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” Little wonder that God called from heaven, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.

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