Proverbs 1
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
If you don't have a Bible handy, you can always go here: Link
v. 2-4 -- In these verses Solomon basically lays out exactly what the point of the book is. Proverbs has always been one of my favorite books in the Bible because it's so full of advice that applies to so many different areas of life. Anyone who reads through the book and does what it says will live a much happier life than they would have otherwise.
v. 7 -- Aha.... here is the rub. Solomon says, "OK guys, before we go any further, let's clear this up. If you want wisdom and knowledge, you gotta start with fearing God." It reminds me of all the people in my critical thinking class who were trying to come up with some sort of acceptable moral code without letting God into the picture. It just doesn't make any sense. If there's no God who's running the show, there's no reason to have morals to begin with.... and when you try to be wise without Him, you get nowhere, because He is the source of all wisdom.
v. 10-19 -- When people try to entice you into doing wrong things, it's often very attractive. After all, sin is usually fun. This passage talks quite a bit about the seeming positives of sin ("all kinds of precious possessions"), but Solomon makes it clear that, in the end, the sinners are the ones who get the dire consequences.
v. 20-21 -- Wisdom is often thought to be this high and wondrous mystical thing that can only be attained by long hours of difficult thought. But no.... wisdom "calls aloud". Think about it: Christianity is a religion of common sense, and all the claims to the contrary can be easily disproven. For example, people believe that, over billions of years, simple molecules eventually became man. That is almost mathematically impossible! And yet people will believe that before they'll believe that God created everything. Wisdom is right there, staring them in the face, but they want nothing to do with it.
v. 31-32 -- So many people dislike the Christians' view of God because He punishes "good" people. But no, that's not it at all. When people insist that wisdom can be found without God and run off looking for all sorts of ways to become wise and live a good life on their own, God eventually says, "Fine. If you want to be stupid, you have to pay the consequences of being stupid." God has clearly shown us His truth, and when we don't accept it, what makes us think that we can rail at Him when bad things happen to us or, worse, when we end up in Hell?
v. 2-4 -- In these verses Solomon basically lays out exactly what the point of the book is. Proverbs has always been one of my favorite books in the Bible because it's so full of advice that applies to so many different areas of life. Anyone who reads through the book and does what it says will live a much happier life than they would have otherwise.
v. 7 -- Aha.... here is the rub. Solomon says, "OK guys, before we go any further, let's clear this up. If you want wisdom and knowledge, you gotta start with fearing God." It reminds me of all the people in my critical thinking class who were trying to come up with some sort of acceptable moral code without letting God into the picture. It just doesn't make any sense. If there's no God who's running the show, there's no reason to have morals to begin with.... and when you try to be wise without Him, you get nowhere, because He is the source of all wisdom.
v. 10-19 -- When people try to entice you into doing wrong things, it's often very attractive. After all, sin is usually fun. This passage talks quite a bit about the seeming positives of sin ("all kinds of precious possessions"), but Solomon makes it clear that, in the end, the sinners are the ones who get the dire consequences.
v. 20-21 -- Wisdom is often thought to be this high and wondrous mystical thing that can only be attained by long hours of difficult thought. But no.... wisdom "calls aloud". Think about it: Christianity is a religion of common sense, and all the claims to the contrary can be easily disproven. For example, people believe that, over billions of years, simple molecules eventually became man. That is almost mathematically impossible! And yet people will believe that before they'll believe that God created everything. Wisdom is right there, staring them in the face, but they want nothing to do with it.
v. 31-32 -- So many people dislike the Christians' view of God because He punishes "good" people. But no, that's not it at all. When people insist that wisdom can be found without God and run off looking for all sorts of ways to become wise and live a good life on their own, God eventually says, "Fine. If you want to be stupid, you have to pay the consequences of being stupid." God has clearly shown us His truth, and when we don't accept it, what makes us think that we can rail at Him when bad things happen to us or, worse, when we end up in Hell?